“Many years ago, a scientist from France came over [to our Aboriginal Australian community] and said, “Do you realize that Le Meuse is the oldest river in the world?” and he wondered why the elders did not get excited or challenge him.

When I went back to them that night, they said, “You are going back to France next week aren’t you?” Yes, I said. “That white man, he said that Le Meuse in France is the oldest river in the world — is that true?” I said, well from a science point of view, it may be at the time.

And they said, “Well what we want you to do is take some water from the Mardoowarra and you must walk and you must find the head waters of Le Meuse and you most go to Le Meuse and kneel and say that you have come, and that we have heard that you are the oldest river in the world, and so if you are the oldest river in the world, you will know what the humans have done. And we would like to ask you if you would like to share some of your memory

So I got some of the Mardoowarra and brought it to Le Meuse and wrote a play about the two rivers talking.”

— Australian Indigenous Elder Anne Poelina