A Place of Oysters
Living Lab Northern Rivers is a space where research and community come together to create the solutions that will allow our region to thrive in uncertainty. They see that recent events across our region have shown that the old systems are outdated. Fresh knowledge is needed to create new ways of doing things - to rebuild and increase resilience for the future.
With our approach to improving social and environmental wellbeing collaboratively, we took the opportunity to partner with Living Lab Northern Rivers in hosting ‘A Place of Oysters’ on Friday 24th November, as a pre-event to the NORPA Flow performance.
The event celebrated the oyster as a symbol of regeneration, river health and community; the oysters of the Richmond River were once bountiful under Bundjalung custodianship of country and care of the catchment ensuring their abundance.
Dan Etheridge, Engagement Director of Living Lab Northern Rivers, shares on the historical and future importance of the oyster, and how we can work with them to restore our waterways for future generations:
The oyster is both a carrier of our memories, when wild oysters were plentiful, and our aspirations, in bringing them back. Even people who don’t eat them would be excited about a future with water clean enough for these beauties to thrive again.
So, what would we have to do to make this happen?
Dr. Amanda Reichelt-Brushett from Southern Cross University described oysters to me as the “canary in the coal mine” when it comes to catchment and river health. Their immobility means they can only take what the water brings them. Healthy water running off healthy land usually means healthy oysters. Polluted and sediment laden water running off poorly managed land means the opposite. The rapid and dramatic decline in oyster populations across the lower Richmond River lets us know that this canary has been singing a long and loud song.
When white settlers arrived in the Richmond River catchment, they saw massive oyster populations on Nyangbal and Bandjalang lands. Reading an interview with Marcus Ferguson, a Nyangbal man with a strong connection to the lower Richmond River, I learned that oysters were an important food source for groups across the Bundjalung nation, who travelled to the coast to enjoy them. Caring for country ensured the oysters, and the many ecological benefits they provide, were thriving.
Creating a healthy future
The land management practices brought to the region by white settlers like me are behind the current state of the catchment, and by extension, the state of the oysters. As we've cleared native forests, and the rich soil across the caldera has runoff into the waterways, and the intensity of agriculture and horticulture has increased, each oyster has suffered.
So how do we change this story?
There are a number of well understood and scientifically documented strategies for improving water quality. Several excellent programs exist, some driven by farming families, like the brilliant River Crystal Initiative out of the Casino Co-Op. These are complimented by a strong Landcare network in the region and a suite of local, state and federal government initiatives that seek to repair ecosystems within the catchment.
The big issue however is just how large and complex the drivers of poor water quality are across the catchment. To reach our dreamy goal of eating local oysters picked off the rocks at Ballina we must stay committed to this process beyond our lifetime.
Ten principles for life with Country
A piece of writing I've found helpful in grasping the scope of this task is by Dr Mary Graham, a Kombumerri and Wakka Wakka person. She has ten principles for life together after the referendum and one was, "Compliment citizenship with stewardship" and another was, "Avoid short-termism." We can shift from cycles of maximum extraction towards systems of mutual responsibility.
These are the lessons we must consider if our grandchildren’s grandchildren can partake in the long-standing cross-cultural enjoyment of gathering to eat molluscs together in the Richmond River, and once again make this a place of oysters.
We envision a future where businesses are a force for good, actively contributing to and regenerating the communities around them. Through organisations such as Living Lab Northern Rivers, we are working together to create long term and sustainable change within, and for, our local community.
To find out more about Living Lab Northern Rivers, have a read about who they are and what they do.
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