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Environmental
HYDROGEOLOGIST: Bradley Moggridge , [14 January 1972 - ]
Introduction Bradley Moggridge is a proud Murri from the Kamilaroi Nation (North-West NSW) - he was born in Sydney.
Brad is the current Vice President Australia Freshwater
Sciences Society.
Education Brad went to Metella Road Public School for his primary education and to Parramatta Marist Brothers at Westmead for his secondary education. He was dux of Geology. Brad has qualifications in Environmental Science (BSc) from ACU and hydrogeology (MSc) from UTS. and is currently studying for his PhD at the University of Canberra. “Because I am lucky to have a tertiary education and currently have an influential job [when he was Coordinator of Aboriginal Heritage at the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation] I owe it to my ancestors and elders to try and help protect the environment and culture in ways best for my people,” said Brad. Experience and Opportunities Brad believes he was the only Aboriginal NSW public servant who is addressing environmental protection issues affecting Aboriginal communities. In his role, [NSW DPI Water as the Team Leader Aboriginal Water Initiative] he dealt with departmental colleagues and the Aboriginal community, negotiating better ways to regulate and protect Aboriginal cultural heritage under the National Parks and Wildlife Act.
His career has also included investigating
urban salinity in western Sydney, water
quality monitoring in the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system and researching
Indigenous knowledge of water sources. “Western Sydney was an inland sea millions of years ago, so the rocks in the area are highly laden with salt,” he explained. “The clearing of trees and other vegetation allows salty ground water to rise to the surface and as it evaporates it leaves the salt behind. Lawn hosing and runoff also cause the water table to rise, and the resulting salt can move up into brickwork with rising damp. The water evaporates and the salt crystallises and potentially breaks down brickwork.” His interest in groundwater grew, and Brad completed a Master of Science (Hydrogeology and Groundwater Management) degree with UTS in 2005 through the National Centre for Groundwater Management, researching Aboriginal people and groundwater. His thesis collated and reviewed available research, providing an insight into the cultural relationships and dependence on groundwater. “Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth. Aboriginal people had a high regard for water sites. It is amazing that Aboriginal people survived for thousands of years in places like the Western Desert, where there is no surface water,” he said. While many local and regional studies had been conducted on how Aboriginal people accessed groundwater, Brad’s was the first to collate and review them all. “In the Western Desert, there were reports of Aboriginal people following dingos to find soakages, and in the Nullarbor regions Aboriginal people were noted to have followed a line of ants into a cave to find subterranean water. “ Aboriginal people had a precise system of finding water, and when they found it, they managed it carefully. Because they were nomadic, they had to have a system of finding it again, so they used oral history, dreaming stories, art and ceremonies around the sites. During his research, Brad was amazed to recognise a sign of his own Indigenous heritage. “I spoke to one of my Kamilaroi elders who was explaining three sacred waterholes that my ancestors had maintained and accessed for thousands of years.” Brad then described a painting he had created some years earlier, inspired by a dream. “He was certain I had painted these waterholes he had just described.” In Aboriginal culture, the rainbow serpent, responsible for many features in the landscape, especially water, moves from the underground to the surface, creating springs, rivers, mountains and waterholes, and is believed to rest at the bottom of some natural springs. “Elders would teach the next generation that if you distracted the serpent, or were doing things you weren’t supposed to be doing, you would wake up the rainbow serpent and it would come looking for you. This was a way to protect the water quality.” With an Aboriginal history of up to 60,000 years, and a non-Aboriginal history of only 200 years, one wonders whether the rainbow serpent is starting to stir.
He recently resigned from NSW DPI Water as the Team
Leader Aboriginal Water Initiative which was the only dedicated Aboriginal
water unit in Australia. Previously was with CSIRO Land and Water as the
only Indigenous Water Research Specialist.
Brad has an ambition of leading in his area of expertise and also promoting
Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge and finding commonalities between
Traditional Science and Western Science so this can influence policy and the
way we manage the Australian landscape. Brad has been involved in facilitating resources for Indigenous Knowledge as part of the Australian Curricular. Brad has facilitated "the water content (years 5 and 10) along with some other deadly water experts writing the content, which has been awesome." (Personal correspondence).
3 July 2022
Ockham's Razor - Indigenous voices in water planning
To learn more about Brad, look at the videos below where he tells about his Education Pathway.
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