Defending cultural heritage on the Murray
“The mighty Murray River is my lifeline. That water runs through my veins. It keeps me alive...”
Environmental Justice Australia is representing Wadi Wadi man Vince Kirby, as he defends cultural heritage along the Murray.
The cases challenge the Victorian Government’s approval of Cultural Heritage Management Plans for the Nyah and Vinifera floodplain engineering projects.
Vince says both projects risk permanent harm to culturally significant places on Country.
In the Nyah case, Vince argued that the approval process failed to properly identify, assess and protect Aboriginal cultural heritage, and did not adequately consult Traditional Owners before works were approved.
In the Vinifera case, Vince argues that the Cultural Heritage Management Plan failed to properly assess Aboriginal cultural heritage.
An important win but the work continues upstream
On 14 July, Vince secured an important result in his challenge to the Nyah artificial floodplain engineering project.
The Supreme Court ordered that the project’s Cultural Heritage Management Plan be redone after the Victorian Government accepted that Traditional Owners were not properly consulted and that the approval was made in error.
Just days earlier, Environmental Justice Australia filed a second case on Vince’s behalf challenging the Cultural Heritage Management Plan for the related Vinifera project, four kilometres upstream.
The Nyah project cannot proceed until a new plan is approved, while the challenge to the approval of the Vinifera project continues through the courts.
Vince Kirby"This isn't just about Nyah.
The same thing's happening up and down the Murray. That's why we're taking another case to court today. My brothers and I want our Wadi Wadi Country, our waterways and wetlands, respected and cared for properly, so we can pass them on to our kids and great grandkids."
How'd we get here?
Why are these cases necessary?
The Nyah and Vinifera floodplains are part of a living cultural landscape for Wadi Wadi people.
They hold waterways, camping places, ancestral burial sites, shell middens, earthen ovens, scar trees and fish traps. These places connect Wadi Wadi people with ancestors who have cared for this Country since time immemorial.
“We’ve looked after these rivers and wetlands forever... I am trying to protect my cultural rights, my burials, and my medicinal plants like old man weed.
— Vince Kirby
About the cases
Vince challenged the Victorian Government’s approval of the Cultural Heritage Management Plan for the Nyah floodplain project and is now challenging the approval of the plan for the related Vinifera project.
Both projects form part of a broader Murray-Darling Basin “water offset” scheme. They involve major infrastructure works on Wadi Wadi Country, including clearing floodplain forests to install levees, pumps and regulators that would divert water to selected floodplains.
“The whole process for approving these projects has shown no respect for my people. They can’t do this project without creating harm to the wetlands, the fish, the wildlife, and the heritage of the Wadi Wadi people.”
— Vince Kirby
The Nyah case
In the Nyah case, Vince argued that the approval process failed to properly identify, assess and protect Aboriginal cultural heritage before works were approved.
He said cultural heritage is a living and ongoing practice that extends well beyond a list of archaeological sites, and that the Cultural Heritage Management Plan should have considered impacts on living cultural heritage.
Vince argued that Traditional Owners were not adequately consulted about works that could permanently affect culturally significant places and ancestral remains on Country.
He also argued that the decision breached his human rights as a Wadi Wadi person and failed to properly consider his rights under Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities.
In July 2026, the Victorian Government accepted that Traditional Owners had not been properly consulted and that the approval was made in error.
The Supreme Court ordered that the approval be set aside and reconsidered.
The Vinifera case
In the Vinifera case, Vince is also asking the Supreme Court to review the Victorian Government’s approval of a Cultural Heritage Management Plan, but this time for a related project four kilometers upstream.
He argues that the plan failed to properly identify, assess and protect Aboriginal cultural heritage and did not comply with the standards required by law for these types of plans.
He says that cultural heritage includes waterways like the Murray River and Vinifera Creek but the Vinifera Cultural Heritage Management Plan does not take this precious cultural heritage into account.
Meet Vince
Vince Kirby is a Wadi Wadi man who grew up along the banks of the Murray River. His connection to Country spans countless generations.
His grandmother grew up at Nyah, and Vince has spent much of his life camping and visiting the river, wetlands and places that hold deep cultural and family meaning.
“We’ve looked after these rivers and wetlands forever. My grandmother grew up here and now I take my great-grandchildren there. We have always camped out there at Nyah. It was where we went to be on Country and enjoy our connection to Country.
— Vince Kirby
The bigger picture
For Vince, these cases are about protecting more than individual sites.
They are about protecting a living cultural landscape, and the rights of Wadi Wadi people to maintain their connection to Country and pass that connection on to future generations.
“I don’t want to take my grandkids to my beautiful rivers and the places we used to camp and have to explain why there is a giant concrete regulator in their river.”
— Vince Kirby
