Munga Lake is a culturally significant site located close to the town of St George, approximately 500km west of Brisbane. Munga means ear in Mandandanji. The lake name therefore means ‘listening place’ and is an important place of learning.  This project started with a vision from Mandandanji Traditional Owner Aunty Kay Blades for Mandandanji people to be able to enjoy Munga Lake once again, rehabilitating it from sick Country to healthy Country, with the aim to increase biodiversity, improve water quality and maintain or increase the frequency of flows to the lake.

Water Technology has been working collaboratively with Relative Creative, Firestick Alliance, Aunty Kay Blades and Queensland Aboriginal Rangers over the last three years to better understand how Indigenous Knowledge and First Nations land management practices could be incorporated into technical projects for landscape management, rehabilitation and resilience outcomes.

The overall key project objectives included:

• For Traditional Owners to see on the ground improvements to the environmental and cultural values of Munga Lake and remain involved throughout the project.
• To challenge business as usual approaches to water modelling through incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge.
• To demonstrate how First Nations Knowledge and technical consulting approaches to landscape restoration can be implemented, through a co-design process, for government and industry to consider.

The Project Team have walked on Country on multiple occasions to understand the Country, hear from the Traditional Owners and help to identify the causes of environmental degradation of Munga Lake. The objectives for the site were set, led by historical knowledge of Munga Lake, which has been passed down through storytelling.

Desktop assessments and modelling have been undertaken to help answer some of the Traditional Owner’s concerns and guide the development of rehabilitation actions for the site to help achieve the objectives.

A 0.57 hectares works area on the margin of Munga Lake was selected to be the focus for trialling rehabilitation actions. The actions implemented have included cultural burning, weed control, ecological thinning and the installation of nest boxes. Water quality was measured as part of an Aboriginal Waterways Assessment in 2022. Remeasurement of water quality remains as a longer term objective.

During the project it became clear that cultural or environmental flows were not readily available within this catchment’s water plan. Aunty Kay Blades continues to lead conversations around environmental and cultural flows.

The Project Team were delighted to clearly observe on ground improvements during their June 2025 site visit following the implementation of the actions. Noticable improvements included an increase in bird activity, a dramatic reduction in weed cover, and an abundance of natural native vegetation recruitment including plants such as Warrigal Greens and River Red Gums. A great reward for a tremendous collaborative effort.

This is just the beginning for Munga Lake and next steps include:

• Continuing maintenance of rehabilitation work done to-date by the Queensland Aboriginal Rangers.
• Repeat photopoint photos every six months by Aunty Kay Blades.
• Seeking funding for ongoing rehabilitation.