Hey humans! In our first episode of season one, Living with Birrarung, we're diving straight into the question of what it means for a river to be alive.

Birrarung was recognised as "one, integrated and living entity" in Victorian legislation in 2017.

Since then, the ripples of that recognition have become waves that continue to influence policy, governance, community action, and our relationship with the river today.

In this episode we heard from:

• Uncle Andrew Gardiner, Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Elder and member of the Birrarung Council.

  Read more about the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung vision for Birrarung, community and Country in Nhanbu narrun ba ngargunin twarn (Ancient Spirit and Lore of the Yarra).

• Dr Erin O'Donnell from the Melbourne Law School and member of the Birrarung Council.

  You can find out more about the Birrarung Council at https://www.birrarungcouncil.vic.gov.au/.

• Emma Barnett, Community Engagement and Education Officer at the Yarra Riverkeeper Association.

  You can find out more about the Yarra Riverkeeper Association's work at https://yarrariver.org.au/.

  Juanita Sundberg’s 2014 paper, Decolonising Posthumanist Geographies is a good starting point for some of Juanita’s ideas Emma introduced this episode.

• Andrew Kelly, author and convenor of the Waterways Network, and former Yarra Riverkeeper.

  You can view and download the Concerned Waterways Alliance's report on the living entity and the planning scheme mentioned in this episode here.

  Andrew Kelly's children's book Prayer for a River was written with Uncle Glenn Loughrey and is published by Wild Dog Books.

• Charity Mosienyane, lead convenor of the Swimmable Birrarung project at Regen Melbourne.

  You can read more about the Swimmable Birrarung project at https://www.regen.melbourne/.

You can find out more about the Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act 2017, including access to a recording of the full address by Wurundjeri Elders to the Legislative Assembly of Victoria here.

For even more, head to morethanhumanpod.net and click "Dive Deeper".

More Than Human is an independent podcast series produced by Tim McIntosh-Hannah and Mark Spencer (Here Media). You can contact us at morethanhumanpod.net/contact.

Hi Humans, Tim here.

 We created this podcast because we wanted to explore those interesting and porous boundaries between the human and non-human, the things we share with the other species, ecologies, geologies, and more of planet Earth.

The things that make us question what makes us uniquely human and where we fit in this incredible and complex world.

Each episode we'll introduce you to the individuals, groups and organizations redefining our relationship with the natural world, challenging us to interrogate our worldviews and relationships with the more than human.