Historic Rookwood Weir agreement signed between government and Darumbal people

As work on the multimillion dollar Rookwood Weir “proceeds at pace”, a “historic” agreement has been signed by the State Government and Darumbal elders. Here’s what it means.

The Fitzroy River is described as a life blood for the Darumbal people, connecting them with the Indigenous spirits, stories and communities.

But when the Rookwood Weir project was first announced, local elders were concerned about what it would mean for the river and how they use it.

But after a year of negotiations, a historic Indigenous Land Use Agreement has been signed by the Queensland Government and Darumbal People Aboriginal Corporation - RNTBC which will deliver benefits to the Darumbal people for generations.

As part of the agreement, Darumbal people, who are the traditional owners of the land at the Rookwood Weir site, will have a 500 megalitre water allocation from the weir which they can use at their will.

The water can be off-sold and used for Darumbal agricultural projects.

Water Minister Glenn Butcher and SunWater CEO Glenn Stockton signed an Indigenous Land Use Agreement with local Darumbal elders for the usage of water from Rookwood Weir.

The weir is one of the state’s largest water infrastructure projects, with the $367.2 million works jointly funded by the Federal and State governments.

Darumbal elder George James said the agreement was “very significant”.

“The river and water is very important to us, that’s how we survived in the early years,” he said.

“We were a little bit concerned of the water not flowing when the weir was built but after negotiations and talks with people we realised we do have to have water, it’s a necessity.”

Uncle George said they hadn’t yet decided how they would use the water allocation.

Water Minister Glenn Butcher said the negotiations had helped the government build a better understanding of the cultural values of the Darumbal people.

“What the ILUA means for the Darumbal people and people around the region is opportunities for the future,” he said.

As part of the ILUA the Darumbal people will have a water allocation of 500 megalitres of water.

“We talk about jobs for the local indigenous people, we talk about opportunities to use some of the money and water availability to train our children here in the Rockhampton region the traditional language of the Darumbal people, not only in our schools but, in the wonderful facility they have in Rockhampton to make sure that cultural language continues on from generation to generation.”

Rockhampton MP Barry O’Rourke said the signing of the ILUA was “historic”.

“This is a game changer for our community with this water source,” he said.

“It’ll open up a whole lot of agricultural use, but through this agreement it’ll actually allow the Aboriginal custodians of that land, the Darumbal people, to access some of that water and use it to develop other programs.”

SunWater CEO Glenn Stockton said the Rookwood Weir project was “proceeding at pace” despite a couple of setbacks.

“We have just over 180 people on site at the moment working through placing our mass concrete and preparing the works,” he said.

“SunWater is really pleased for the way the project is proceeding.

“The project was always slated to deliver first water in 2023 so we’re still proceeding at pace to deliver that expectation.”