Where the Water Starts

Streaming video - 2021

Reveals how the fragile alpine region of Australia, particularly Kosciuszko National Park, the largest in the Australian Alps, is seen by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who were born or live there, or who care deeply about it. After seeing the destruction of the fragile alpine ecology of Australia's Snowy Mountains first hand, Richard Swain decides to speak out. Australia's alpine area which covers only 0.01 of the inhabited part of the continent is under threat from a combination of feral animals, artificial water flows and climate change. The headwaters of three iconic rivers, the Snowy, Murray and Murrumbidgee, start there, yet these vital water sources are being trampled by introduced hooved animals. The legal protection... of a feral animal – the horse - is a grave threat to the native species of plants and mammals living in this unique and sensitive habitat. The film's main protagonists speak about caring for Country as a shared responsibility of all Australians, revealing that the best of Aboriginal connection and of regenerative science can work together for a better future for the alpine environment and the planet. more