Who owns water when it stops flowing? Who owns land when it’s underwater?

Drought and flooding are twinned threats in the global climate crisis, as rivers dry up or are dammed and sea-levels inexorably rise. How do the communities that rely on these waterways respond? How must our understanding of water rights shift in a climate-changed world?

Featuring
Sione Napi Francis, Lead Curator, Te Pasifika Gallery Redevelopment, First Peoples Department Museums Victoria
Brendan Kennedy, Director, Tati Tati Aboriginal Corporation

Sione Napi Francis is a Tongan Australian with ties to Aotearoa who grew up on Boon Wurrung country in Narrm/ Melbourne and work in the First Peoples Department as Lead Curator on the Te Pasifika Gallery Redevelopment Project at Melbourne Museum. As a museum professional, cultural leader and artist, Sione is committed to serving First Peoples and Pacific First Nations through supporting open dialogues between communities, academics and cultural institutions. Sione’s current areas of interest are First Peoples co-curating/ development models in cross-disciplinary collections across the Pacific region. Also indigenous leadership and pathways in today’s museums: guiding principles and examples. A major focus is First Nations representation in the Digital/ online area: looking at social interaction/ connections.

Brendan Kennedy is a Tati Tati, Wadi Wadi, and Mutti Mutti man and holds Director seats in Tati Tati Aboriginal Corporation, MLDRIN, relevant Native Title Committees, Victorian Traditional Owners Land Justice Group, and Museum Victoria. He currently teaches his language and practises art in his home town Robinvale.

Not a Drop to Drink: Aqua nullius and global warming, securing First Nations water rights is a session of the North Melbourne School of Displacement, part of Refuge 2019

Other sessions:

Sat 31 Aug
10.30am Over our heads: Housing and homelessness
1.30pm Lost for words: Displacement through enforced and prioritised language

Sun 1 Sep
10.30am In a strange land: How does culture survive when you can’t go home
1.30pm A billycan, a crowbar and an axe: Indigenous survival techniques for the apocalypse

Mon 2 Sep
6pm The future is Indigenous: Cultural change to survive a climate change world