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 New interactive website invites storytelling about the Narran Lakes
Local residents from the Lower Balonne River - Narran Lakes region are invited to contribute to a major ecological study of the area through an innovative new interactive web page, called The Living Book. Everyone in the Narran region is encouraged to contribute information, recollections, and ideas about the ecosystem’s values and functions as part of this study.
The Living Book web page, at , has been set up by the CRC for Freshwater Ecology (CRCFE) to help them obtain information about the area from as many people as possible.
People who know the Narran Lakes and surrounding area can enter their own observations, memories, history, and comments, on-line, and also read material entered already by others. “We hope the result will be an unfolding story of the region, its history and natural history”, says Janey Adams, Senior Community Scientist with the CRCFE at Goondiwindi.
Narran Lake and the Narran Lakes Nature Reserve make up a Ramsar-listed Wetland of International Importance near the New South Wales-Queensland border. In partnership with the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, CRCFE researchers from the University of Canberra, Monash University (Melbourne) and the Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre at Goondiwindi have begun studying the hydrology, biology, water quality, sediment chemistry and ecology of the Narran Lakes system.
The information contributed by the local community will help scientists and decision-makers to understand the community’s vision for the Narran Lakes region and also supplement the scientific research.
The researchers are asking local people to contribute historical information and ecological knowledge about the Narran River, Narran Lakes, and the Lower Balonne floodplain to the project. Janey Adams says, “Local residents have a valuable store of knowledge about the ecology of the area and we want them to share it. “
“By local residents, we mean the people who have depended on this floodplain ecosystem for their livelihoods; who have watched the rivers and wetlands through all weathers, wet and dry; who have seen family photographs and listened to the stories.”
Janey adds, “People without internet access, or especially anyone who can contribute copies of family photographs, farm diaries, etc. to the collection, can telephone or write to me.”
Members of the CRCFE’s knowledge exchange team will also interview long-time residents of the area. The team plans to publish the collected information in an oral history. For further details or to contribute information, please contact Janey Adams.
Contacts
Janey Adams
Murray Darling Freshwater Research Centre Northern Laboratory
PO Box 1176 (116 Marshall Street), Goondiwindi QLD 4390
Tel: 07 4671 4650 or Mobile: 0429 876 458
Fax: 07 4671 4858, Email jadams@northernlab.net.au
Ralph Ogden
CRC for Freshwater Ecology
Tel: 02 6201 5369, Email rogden@enterprise.canberra.edu.au |