Title: Connections between groundwater, people, and landscapes in Western Australia

Abstract: Human survival has always relied on an understanding of hydrology and the ways water is stored within and moves through landscapes. Surface water that persists during times of low or no rainfall is generally connected to the groundwater system. By understanding patterns of water persistence, Traditional Knowledge also includes an understanding what we now call hydrogeology. In Western Australia (W.A.), the Traditional Knowledge of groundwater developed by Aboriginal people has been accumulated and passed on through oral tradition for at least 60,000 years. Past climate change, ancient rivers that are now buried deep underground, and sea-level rise at the end of the last ice-age are all recorded in the Songlines and lore of Aboriginal people. More recently, since 1826, colonial settler communities have relied on groundwater systems for potable water and economic development through a Western lens. The geological systems that host these groundwater resources include sedimentary basins formed during the break-up of Gondwana, mineral-rich provinces that underpin Australia’s economic prosperity, and some of the oldest rocks in the world (e.g. Yilgarn Craton). In contemporary W.A., groundwater remains the dominant source of water, and is also under increasing pressure due to climate change with landscapes drying in the temperate south and increasing extremes in the (sub-)tropical north. This presentation outlines a colonial settler’s attempt to weave together these threads to understand the connections between groundwater, people and landscapes that underpin the practice of hydrogeology in this ancient, and yet dynamic, place.

Bio: Dr Sarah Bourke is a Hydrogeologist with expertise in environmental tracers, surface water – groundwater interaction and contaminant hydrogeology. Sarah is Course Coordinator of the Master of Hydrogeology in the School of Earth and Oceans at the University of Western Australia. Current research projects focus on understanding responses of groundwater systems to changes in climate and human groundwater use. She also has an interest in decolonizing the practice of hydrogeology and working with Aboriginal communities on issues that affect them (declaration.iah.org.au).
Sarah completed her Bachelor of Earth Science at Flinders University, South Australia, followed by Honours at the University of Western Australia. Her PhD applied environmental tracers to understand surface water – groundwater interaction in areas modified by mining. Following this, Sarah worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, studying potential impacts on groundwater from mining and agricultural operations overlying clay-rich sediments.
When not thinking about groundwater, Sarah sings in a choir and potters in the garden.