Diving into the Desert. Indigenous and Future Floodplain Management (2023-2026)

This project aims to discover how Indigenous communities managed cycles of drought and flood in the Lake Eyre Basin, and to learn from this to manage Australia¿s inland rivers sustainably. By integrating archaeology ¿ done underwater, on land and from the air ¿ with Indigenous knowledge and environmental and flow modelling, the project expects to uncover a deep history of Indigenous environmental engineering in one of the world's last unregulated desert river systems . The project's outcomes ¿ an Australian National Maritime Museum touring exhibition plus written, audio and 3D immersive communications ¿ seek to benefit Australia's cultural life and flood mitigation, and to protect the Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation's culture and country.