Indigenous water philosophy in an Uncertain Land

Right across Australia, indigenous people hold water to be sacred Their management of their use of freshwater, including care and restraint, constitutes their essential adaptation to this driest of inhabited continents Geographically, my analysis is concentrated mainly on the arid and semi-arid zones, as together they comprise approximately 80% of Australia's land mass; here the first principles of water philosophy and practice can be examined in high relief I weave the sacred geography of water with people's pragmatic knowledge and use of water. To try to separate these aspects of water knowledge would be to misrepresent the power and beauty of indigenous water praxis