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Paper short abstract:

Fracking in the Beetaloo Basin has sparked national debates due to excessive groundwater use and pollution, particularly for Aboriginal communities. I explore how anti-fracking activists mobilise hydrological science and Aboriginal traditions to reshape public perceptions of subterranean landscapes.

Paper long abstract:

Like other arid regions in Australia, the Beetaloo Basin relies largely on underground water for human consumption and agricultural industries. The introduction of hydraulic fracturing (i.e., ‘fracking’) industries to this region has therefore faced heavy local and national contestation. Fracking’s overuse of groundwater resources, in addition to potential pollution, has resulted in major concerns from local communities over the implications to their everyday lives and long-term survival in the region.

Fracking’s impact on underground environments raises significant and particular concerns for local Aboriginal peoples, who constitute the majority of the area’s population and frequently associate the underground with traditional Aboriginal creation narratives. Not only does this conflict add to ongoing historical and institutional injustices caused by the colonial legacy, it also raises new questions about the juxtaposition of Aboriginal ancestral land knowledge and modern influx and privileging of resource extraction(ism). Sitting at the nexus of Indigeneity, Aboriginal tradition, environmentalist ideals, and hydrological science, my ethnographic fieldwork explores how these concepts are mobilised by anti-fracking Indigenous and non-Indigenous activists. With specific attention to both hydrological science and Aboriginal traditional narratives, this work explores their collaborative potential in politicised environmental disputes to produce fresh perspectives on how subterranean landscapes gain significance in the public imagination.