Creating respectful and sustainable connections to care for Country and precious wetlands are all in a day's work for Jiarra Atkinson.
Jiarra has been the Cultural Liaison Officer for the Murray Darling Wetlands Working Group for 2 years. She has been working with First Nations people and groups to seek their cultural guidance and knowledge in environmental water delivery. It's a role supported by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH).
"Being able to listen to community has been a real highlight in my role. It's been good to be able to build relationships and connect with people to identify their community's wants and needs," Jiarra said.
"Working together and walking together has been great both personally and professionally."
Jiarra is a proud Bangerang woman. She said the time taken to build trust had laid a solid foundation for the wetland group's ongoing work with First Nations people, the CEWH and other environmental water partners.
"The relationships we've been able to build are really genuine. They are more like friendships," she said.
"Many of the conversations we started having with mob have changed over time. Some of them are looking at other engagement options like cultural surveying and ecological monitoring.
"A number of the plans we've got for the next 12 months are very different to the initial discussions. That's been the beauty of watching these relationships grow.
"The biggest win has been having the community members understanding each wetland system we work in."
Jiarra represented Australia as the first non-government First Nations youth delegate at COP15 Convention on Wetlands in Zimbabwe last year. It was another career high point.
"Being able to be a voice for my community in the Ramsar wetlands international movement was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that was quite special."
*Jiarra is on leave from the Murray Darling Wetlands Working Group until November 2026.
