Living on the Edge: River Country was a multi-year collaborative project that explored the relationships of Australian communities with freshwater ecological communities, with a particular focus on connecting to threatened species and places. This project considered what these places are like, why they matter and how we can protect and regenerate them.
The project brought together a wide range of community voices and perspectives—including cultural researchers, writers, curators, traditional custodians, artists, school children, policymakers, scientists and community conservationists—to share knowledge and explore ideas. Ultimately, it aimed to create both spaces and resources for a broad public dialogue on our changing relationships with watery places through a series of public and scholarly events, broadcasts, publications, and the development of educational resources.
This project ran from 2023-2026 and was developed by the National Museum of Australia (through the James O Fairfax Senior Fellow in Culture and Environment Program) and the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney, and was led by Kirsten Wehner (NMA), Cameron Muir (NMA), and Thom van Dooren (SEI).
On Sunday 15 October 2023, Living on the Edge: Caring for Australia’s Threatened Places was launched at the National Museum of Australia with talks, walks and creative activities suited to all ages.
Participants learned about the Murray–Darling’s unique river and wetland communities, why these places matter and how we can protect and regenerate them.
To end the day, Natasha Mitchell from ABC RN’s Big Ideas hosted a premiere screening of More than a Fish Kill, a powerful documentary exploring how artists, fisheries managers and First Nations custodians came together in the aftermath of devastating fish kills along the Barka (Darling River).
Hosted at the University of Sydney on Thursday 11 April 2024, and recorded for ABC Radio National's Bid Ideas Podcast, the radical work of mourning: the power of grief in a time of extinction explored the surprising and moving possibilities for radical care, hope, and action in an unlikely place: the work of mourning.
The panel discussed the activities of some of the many scholars, artists, and activists embracing mourning as a form of transformative ethical and political work in the extinction crisis. From artworks and public funerals for departed species to mass “die ins" hear how taking time to dwell on loss can cultivate a closer, richer sense of our planet and our place on it by listening to the recording.
Chaired by Multi-award-winning journalist and radio presenter Natasha Mitchell for ABC Radio National Big Ideas, panellists included field philosopher and extinction researcher Thom van Dooren, scholar and practitioner of design Zoë Sadokierski, and researcher of climate emotions and activism Blanche Verlie.
