Modelling Landscape Rehydration

The Mulloon Institute has won an ‘Inspiring Australia – Science Engagement’ grant from the Australian Government to deliver its ‘Modelling Landscape Rehydration for Catchments, Communities and Curriculum’ project thanks to the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. The project aims to empower citizens to understand landscape rehydration science through co-creation. 

Workshop in the Capertee Valley involving TMI, Kandos School of Cultural Adaptation, Capertee Valley Landcare and University of Wollongong students, 2020. [Photo: Alex Wisser]

Led by TMI’s Laura Fisher, the project will see an array of ‘citizen-scientists’ participate in physical and digital model-making: artists, community groups, students from several regional schools, the University of Wollongong and the Australian National University. 

Water moves through our landscapes in ways that can feel very mysterious to many of us. Interactive models and digital tools that illustrate hydrological processes can help people interpret our landscapes and understanding how broken water cycles can be healed. This project will unfold over three years in the spirit of collaboration and experimentation, blending art and science in many different settings. 

As part of this project, we have taken exciting early steps on a digital experiment involving Joseph Guillaume and 3rd year students from ANU’s Institute for Water Futures. This project will test how a “digital twin” of a sub-catchment can support storytelling about landscape change and help people visualise the different scales of a catchment landscape from the micro to the macro. Meanwhile, Visual Arts students studying ‘Art, Nature and the Environment’ at the University of Wollongong are currently experimenting with how to represent chains-of-ponds, braided waterways, incised gullies, and spongey floodplains with any material of their choice (including food!).