We Are The Riverkeepers

How We Ended Up Here with Adele Wessell

Associate Professor of History, Adele Wessell approaches the river a little differently. Having lived in the Northern Rivers for 30 years and teaching history at Southern Cross University over that time, she’s developed a multi-layered relationship with the Richmond in Northern NSW on Widjabal Wia-bal Country. Hers is personal, as well as professional and steeped in stories of the past – Indigenous and Colonial. She is a founding member of Richmond Riverkeeper [https://richmondriver.org.au/] as well as the Richmond River Historical Society and has completed a number of projects on local history… including the development of the Richmond River Open Access Repository [https://www.scu.edu.au/library/about-us/special-collections/richmond-river-open-access-repository-rroar/]. It's in the storytelling itself that Adele  sees a pathway to connection, and the subsequent care for the river that follows, when that connection is made. In this episode hear the extraordinary story of the Red Cedars - the reasons for their large scale extraction might surprise you - the actions that caused the wounds that the river carries today. 🌱 Follow Richmond Riverkeepers [https://www.instagram.com/richmondriverkeeper/] 🌱 Follow host Mel Bampton [https://www.instagram.com/melbampton_] Follow, Rate and Review We Are The Riverkeepers on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3JYHN9rrPpBP43LCpbpGTq?si=7c5d6edf577747fc]or on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-are-the-riverkeepers/id1807437249] This podcast has been made possible with support from the Australian Government through the Emergency Response Fund, administered by NSW Reconstruction Authority's Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program 2022-23. Delivered by North Coast Regional Landcare Network through the Caring for Catchments project. Let’s work together, to make rivers swimmable, fishable and drinkable, worldwide. You, me, We Are The Riverkeepers

Connect To Protect with Marc Yaggi

Marc Yaggi is a man brimming with stories.  As the Chief Executive Officer of Waterkeeper Alliance, an organisation based in New York but with members and allies all over the globe, Marc serves as a leading voice for a global movement dedicated to securing clean, healthy, and abundant water for all people and the planet. He is connected to hundreds of people around the world doing extraordinary things and his connections, connects them all. His commitment to environmental advocacy, is unwavering, he is calm, inspiring and on this mission. With a strong focus on the impact of the climate crisis on water quality and availability, Marc is committed to addressing the most significant issue of our time - climate change. Waterkeeper Alliance has amassed monumental legal and advocacy victories, some of which you’ll hear about in this episode that will make your heart sing and hopefully further stoke your fire for action.  But every one of us had a starting point, somewhere that we connected emotionally to water, a relationship that drives us to advocate for change our own water story – our water WHY. I wonder, what is yours? Where did it begin for you? And how important is that WHY in the fight for rivers that are fishable, swimmable and drinkable? For Marc Yaggi it began in Pensylvannia… 🌱 Follow Richmond Riverkeepers [https://www.instagram.com/richmondriverkeeper/] 🌱 Follow host Mel Bampton [https://www.instagram.com/melbampton_] Follow, Rate and Review We Are The Riverkeepers on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3JYHN9rrPpBP43LCpbpGTq?si=7c5d6edf577747fc]or on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-are-the-riverkeepers/id1807437249] This podcast has been made possible with support from the Australian Government through the Emergency Response Fund, administered by NSW Reconstruction Authority's Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program 2022-23. Delivered by North Coast Regional Landcare Network through the Caring for Catchments project. Let’s work together, to make rivers swimmable, fishable and drinkable, worldwide. You, me, We Are The Riverkeepers

The River Runs Through Our Veins with Mitch King

Mitch King is a Yaegl Bundjalung multi-disciplinary artist with deep connections to the rivers that grew him and his ancestors up. As a story teller he has translated this thread of connection – the rivers that run through his homelands, the creation stories that make clear - and heed the warnings - of the importance of looking after the waterways – through dance, hip hop and contemporary overlays of multimedia onto indoor and outdoor stages, that have at the centre of his work a deep sense of bringing community together. To share stories, provoke conversations and find the commonality of shared impact when we are disconnected from land and water, as well as the joy that comes when we remember to care and to play. Mitch King is a gifted creative, who’s own journey of self-discovery is only deepening with time and with each layer he translates that into something visual for us all. In this episode we talk about the role that art plays in healing our rivers, as well as what he’s learned from his Elders about himself when the rivers run through your veins. 🌱 Follow Richmond Riverkeepers [https://www.instagram.com/richmondriverkeeper/] 🌱 Follow host Mel Bampton [https://www.instagram.com/melbampton_] Follow, Rate and Review We Are The Riverkeepers on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3JYHN9rrPpBP43LCpbpGTq?si=7c5d6edf577747fc]or on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-are-the-riverkeepers/id1807437249] This podcast has been made possible with support from the Australian Government through the Emergency Response Fund, administered by NSW Reconstruction Authority's Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program 2022-23. Delivered by North Coast Regional Landcare Network through the Caring for Catchments project. Let’s work together, to make rivers swimmable, fishable and drinkable, worldwide. You, me, We Are The Riverkeepers

Following The River Home with Ella Bancroft

Is there a relationship between unwell minds and unwell rivers? Is there a connection between crime and corrupted waterways? Ella Bancroft is a poet, an advocate, an activist, a potent voice full of vigour, love and fury. Most of all Ella Bancroft is Bundjalung, deeply connected to her ancestral lands and the water that gives her home its name. This is a story of weaving ourselves back into the fabric from which we were all born and have been so damagingly unpicked from – the great tapestry of nature, of which we are not separate, we are made of one and the same. So what is the price we pay - physically, emotionally, spiritually - when we turn our backs on the very water that runs through our own veins and how do we find our way back home? If ever there was a voice to lead us there, it is the voice of Ella Bancroft. 🌱 Follow Richmond Riverkeepers [https://www.instagram.com/richmondriverkeeper/] 🌱 Follow host Mel Bampton [https://www.instagram.com/melbampton_] Follow, Rate and Review We Are The Riverkeepers on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3JYHN9rrPpBP43LCpbpGTq?si=7c5d6edf577747fc]or on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-are-the-riverkeepers/id1807437249] This podcast has been made possible with support from the Australian Government through the Emergency Response Fund, administered by NSW Reconstruction Authority's Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program 2022-23. Delivered by North Coast Regional Landcare Network through the Caring for Catchments project. Let’s work together, to make rivers swimmable, fishable and drinkable, worldwide. You, me, We Are The Riverkeepers

Living with Risk: Life Beside The River with Elly Bird

The aftermath of catastrophic flooding reveals our deepest relationship with rivers. When waters rise unexpectedly, destroying homes and livelihoods, how do communities rebuild not just physically, but emotionally? Elly Bird, former Lismore City Councillor and Executive Director of Resilient Lismore, has dedicated years to answering this question. This tension manifests in Lismore's physical relationship with the Wilson River (Marmon). Like many towns, Lismore has historically "turned its back" on its waterway, with buildings facing away and industrial uses dominating riverbanks. Now, as climate change brings more frequent and severe flooding, the community faces profound questions about its future. Elly shares innovative approaches for flood-resilient communities, from "rewilding" flood-prone areas to mobile infrastructure that works with the river's natural patterns. She reflects honestly on the limitations and the potentials of both political action and grassroots activism in creating change. 🌱 Follow Richmond Riverkeepers [https://www.instagram.com/richmondriverkeeper/] 🌱 Follow host Mel Bampton [https://www.instagram.com/melbampton_] Follow, Rate and Review We Are The Riverkeepers on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3JYHN9rrPpBP43LCpbpGTq?si=7c5d6edf577747fc]or on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-are-the-riverkeepers/id1807437249] This podcast has been made possible with support from the Australian Government through the Emergency Response Fund, administered by NSW Reconstruction Authority's Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program 2022-23. Delivered by North Coast Regional Landcare Network through the Caring for Catchments project. Let’s work together, to make rivers swimmable, fishable and drinkable, worldwide. You, me, We Are The Riverkeepers