Whose river? Water colonialism in urban planning for Dyarubbin

Dyarubbin (also known as the Hawkesbury-Nepean River) is an urban river, which has been cared for by Darug custodians for millennia and has, in recent years, experienced substantial change through new plans and developments. This paper contributes to crafting an understanding of contested Dyarubbin, drawing on qualitative research completed in 2021 which included a survey, document analysis and semi-structured interviews, to discuss how the historicisation of Indigenous water values in ‘Our River’ marginalises Dyarubbin’s place as (part of) Darug Country. The paper discusses how the marginalisation and historicisation of Indigenous water values can be read as water colonialism in an urban setting. By building on recent research in the area of water justice, the paper illustrates how planning initiatives have so far persistently failed to incorporate Indigenous water values. While water colonialism in early settler colonial Australia and rural Australia has been well established, the paper provides insight into how such practices endure in urban planning practices.