The provision of water infrastructure in Aboriginal communities in South Australia
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Date
2009Author
Pearce, Meryl Winsome
McCarthy, Carmel Marie
Ryan, Fiona Therese
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Show full item recordAbstract
The provision of water supplies to Aboriginal people in South Australia,
particularly to communities covered under the Commonwealth–State (South
Australia) Bilateral Agreement is considered world class in terms of the
suitability of the technology to the remoteness of many of the communities and
the harsh arid environment. This article explores the history of domestic water
supplies to these Aboriginal communities. The article begins with a brief outline
of pre-contact Aboriginal technologies for the maintenance of water supplies
and reflects on the continuity of these approaches through the early years of
pastoralist and missionary settlement. This is followed by a description of the
services offered by the state and federal governments since the late 1970s to
the present.