Eulimbah from above at Gayini. Photo: Annette Ruzicka
Ibis at Gayini. Photo: Vince Bucello
Ibis at Gayini. Photo: Vince Bucello
A pied cormorant at Gayini. Photo: Glenn Whittaker
Plumed whistling ducks and four ducklings at Gayini. Photo: Janette Rodgers
A rainbow bee eater at Gayini. Photo: Annette Ruzicka
A sacred kingfisher at Gayini. Photo: Anita Payne
Waterbirds flock to Gayini. Photo: Annette Ruzicka
An Australian pelican touches down at Gayini. Photo: Annette Ruzicka
Black-winged stilts, also known as white-headed stilts, at Gayini. Photo: Ann Killeen
Eulimbah at Gayini is full of water and breeding waterbirds. Photo: Annette Ruzicka
Jamie Woods, Gayini land manager, Nari Nari Tribal Council. Photo: Annette Ruzicka
A river red gum tree crowded with cormorant nests from a past flood, stands in the dry Loorica Lake bed. Photo: Peter Stephen
Mark Schneider and Rene Woods manage Gayini for conservation, agriculture and culture. Photo: Annette Ruzicka
Nari Nari elders Mabel Fitzpatrick, left, and Kerrie Parker. Photo: Annette Ruzicka
A smoking ceremony at the Gayini Nimmie-Caira announcement, Maude, NSW. Photo: Tony Jupp
Oakan, Jamie and Bronx Woods with a young eastern long-necked turtle. Photo: Annette Ruzicka
Torry Plains homestead on Pollen Creek at Gayini. Photo: Annette Ruzicka
Traditional signing ceremony with TNC Australia Country director Rich Gilmore adding his handprint to the Gayini Nimmie-Caira agreement in May 2018. Photo: Tony Jupp
An eastern great egret at Gayini. Photo: Annette Ruzicka
UNSW Sydney's Centre for Ecosystem Science, as part of the Gayini consortium, this month applauded the return of almost 88,000 hectares of internationally significant Murrumbidgee floodplain to its Traditional Custodians.
Gayini, in southern NSW, is now legally back in the hands of the Nari Nari people, as it has been spiritually for 50,000 years, after more than 150 years of dispossession.
The Nature Conservancy leads the consortium which includes the Nari Nari Tribal Council, Murray Darling Wetlands Working Group and UNSW's Centre for Ecosystem Science.
Professor Richard Kingsford, Director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science at UNSW, welcomed the good news.
“This is a wonderful outcome and an opportunity for UNSW. We have been working in this area for more than 30 years and we look forward to the great partnership that we have established with our partners in this consortium in the restoration of one of the most environmentally significant areas in the Murray-Darling Basin,” Prof Kingsford said.
“It is an area where we will continue to work with the Nari Nari Traditional owners and our other partners on how best to manage such an important region not only for the wildlife but also for its communities.
“The Centre for Ecosystem Science sees this as an amazing place where we can do significant research on environmental flow management which supports the efforts of government and communities, and also provides opportunities for sustainable economic and social growth.”