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

🌱 Follow host Mel Bampton

Follow, Rate and Review We Are The Riverkeepers on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts

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 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

🌱 Follow host Mel Bampton

Follow, Rate and Review We Are The Riverkeepers on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts

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

This is a podcast about rivers, so why are we talking about the ocean? Well, let’s just say – one thing leads to another. 

Is it inevitable when someone falls so deeply in love with the ocean, that love will eventually lead them upstream? Lead them through adoration for marine animals, leads to estuarine animals, leads to river health and to where problems might be at their source? 

Having spent the majority of her early adulthood submerged in saltwater, Zoe White was and is dedicated to protecting marine life and the ecosystems that help it thrive.

With a Bachelor of Marine Science and Management from Southern Cross University under her weight belt, running beach cleans and various marine conservation campaigns and working as a Project Manager for Ozfish, what took Zoe upriver and into the President’s chair of Richmond Riverkeeper Association? And why is it such good news for rivers when ocean folk start turning their gaze inland?

Join us for Riverfest 2025:

Richmond Riverfest is a month-long celebration of the rivers, cultures, and communities of the Northern Rivers region. The festival brings together Custodians, community, conservation groups, community organisations, artists, and educators to honour the river systems through storytelling, public events, and a shared commitment to river protection and restoration. This year, Richmond Riverfest will launch in Ballina on World Rivers Day — a fitting location where the river meets the sea and the tributaries of the upper catchments converge. 

Ballina represents the symbolic meeting point for all communities along the Richmond River and highlights the collective responsibility to care for and protect this vital waterway. The family-friendly event will feature a vibrant mix of local food, live music, educational talks, river stories, and interactive children's activities. It offers an opportunity for communities to connect, learn, and explore how cultural knowledge, science, and grassroots action can come together to heal the Richmond River. 
 
 With a focus on listening to the voices of the river and empowering community-led restoration, Richmond Riverfest is a powerful reminder that when people come together in celebration and purpose, real change can flow.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE DETAILS

🌱 Follow Richmond Riverkeepers

🌱 Follow host Mel Bampton

Follow, Rate and Review We Are The Riverkeepers on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts

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

Saundi is a member of the Native Women's Care Circle, a grassroots prayer group based in what is now known as St. Louis, Mo. She is of Cherokee and African American descent. Saundi has taken part in many prayer walks and has supported traditional water blessings for many years. Saundi is a jingle dancer as well as an educator, educational consultant, storyteller and a rock climber. Saundi joins us today from her homelands in Missouri, in the United States.

Tess Eckert is an independent movement artist and facilitator, creatively exploring the relationship between inner and outer landscapes via contemporary dance, poetry, sound, and mixed-media. Tess utilises the language of movement and the somatic arts for community building, healing, and social justice. Eckert is descended on her mother’s line from the Chickasaw Tribe of Oklahoma (US First Nations) with connections to the Mississippi river, as well as Swedish ancestors, and from German ancestry on her father’s line. Having migrated to the Bundjalung Nation in Australia 13 years ago from the Rocky Mountains of North America, central to Eckert’s collaborations is an investigation of how to create a sense of belonging. Tess has been working as a spaceweaver in the natural disaster recovery space, and is passionate about the vital link between the health of waters and lands and the well-being of our communities. Tess joins us from Widjabul Wia-bal Country in Northern NSW Australia

Saundi McClain-Kloeckener and Tess Eckert are from long-lines of waterkeepers, connected to their ancestors through the waterways that sustained life, culture and knowledge for many generations before colonised boundaries dissected rivers and people from continuums of custodial care, something they are devoting their lives, in different ways, to restoring through the knowledge that was passed down to them, and between them. 

Support the Native Women's Circle and learn about the prayer walks at https://www.nibiwalk.org/

And if you'd like to contribute to Crossing The Water, you can support the coming together of global waterkeepers here.

🌱 Follow Richmond Riverkeepers

🌱 Follow host Mel Bampton

Follow, Rate and Review We Are The Riverkeepers on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts

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

Rhoda Roberts is from a long-line of patient, powerful First Nations people, innovators and advocates, who have created newspapers, radio, cultural and healing hubs, spaces and services to overcome the profound and ongoing impacts of colonisation. Rhoda holds was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the performing arts, leadership, advocacy and promoting contemporary Indigenous culture. She holds too many awards to mention here. 

Rhoda was the founder and Artistic Director of the Festival of the Dreaming, Sydney Dreaming Festival and the Dreaming Festival (1995-2009), co-founder and Artistic Director of the QPAC Clancestry Festival and was Garma Festival’s festival director in 2010.

In 1989, she presented the SBS Television program First In Line becoming the first Indigenous presenter on prime-time television , she produced and was broadcaster of the national weekly radio program Deadly Sounds and also worked for Network 10 and ABC Radio National. Rhoda Roberts was the first Indigenous person to present a prime time current affairs program. 

In 1997 she founded the Festival of the Dreaming, and in 2000 was appointed Indigenous Cultural Advisor for the Olympic Games in Sydney and in 2012 was appointed head of Indigenous programming at the Sydney Opera House – these are just a few of Rhoda’s phenomenal contributions.

Rhoda and her family have experienced the most extreme ends of racial profiling and racial violence, resulting in the murder of her twin sister Lois, yet Rhoda continues her work to dismantle discrimination and to care for Country through arts and culture. Her most recent one-woman show is called My Cousin Frank she currently holds the position of Cultural Lead at the Koori Mail and she is a powerful voice for her region, through which some of the most significant rivers in NSW flow. 
 
Rhoda Roberts is an Elder and one of the most important voices for the rivers of Bundjalung Country. This conversation is a privilege. It will touch on cultural knowledge, practical solutions and ways to keep enduring (and hoping) in order to find a better way forward for rivers into the future and for the generations to come. 

🌱 Follow Richmond Riverkeepers

🌱 Follow host Mel Bampton

Follow, Rate and Review We Are The Riverkeepers on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts

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

When humans harm the rivers, how does that in turn harm humans? What can we do to turn the tides on unhealthy rivers and make them places again to play, fish, work and enjoy?

Prof. Amanda Reichelt-Brushett has spent 3 decades studying one of the most significant waterways in NSW, a river with a unique geomorphology that sees the river behave in extraordinary ways during large rain events - the Richmond River.

In this episode, we talk about:

💧What place does compassion play in improving river health?
💧What makes the Richmond River so unique and why is that significant to understanding global river systems?
💧How can organisations help communities form relationships with their rivers?
💧Why did the Richmond River get a D+ rating - the worst in NSW?
💧What can we do on a daily basis to improve the health of the rivers we love?

Mandy is the Departing Inaugural President of the Richmond Riverkeeper Association, she has an international research profile and is published in
numerous scientific journals (Google Scholar H-index 31), presented her research findings atnational and international conferences and co-authored a book chapter. She has 30 years of experience in investigating human impacts on the environment with a focus on catchment management and land and water interactions. Her research focus is based on enhancing our
understanding of sources, fate and consequences of contaminants in our environment and includes several subthemes:

💧 ecotoxicology, bioindicators and ecological risk assessment,
💧sediment and water quality assessment and management,
💧benthic and riparian assessment,
💧sustainable practice, rehabilitation and restoration.

She is Editor and co-author of a new book titled “Marine Pollution -monitoring, management and mitigation”.

Helpful links:

Pesticide occurrence in a subtropical estuary, Australia: Complementary sampling methods: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2023.123084

Richmond River Estuary Coastal Management Program - Protecting our Estuary and its Catchment:

https://www.hydrosphere.com.au/_files/ugd/97fd4e_4a1562f8dbb34083ba8d4c9c92d67d3f.pdf

This link to the Richmond River Keeper website has some of the management plans:

https://richmondriver.org.au/catchment-atlas

🌱 Follow Richmond Riverkeepers

🌱 Follow host Mel Bampton

Follow, Rate and Review We Are The Riverkeepers on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts

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