(Un)regulated wetlandscapes – laang tageek baany in Boonwurrung Country, Nairm

This paper examines laang tageek baany (rockwells) on Boonwurrung Country within the complex wetlandscapes surrounding Nairm (Port Phillip Bay), Melbourne. We use the term ‘wetlandscapes’ to describe the interconnected system of modified wetlands shaped by water flows, geology, vegetation and human activity. Within these hybrid water environments, laang tageek baany unsettle colonial classifications of water and expose limitations in contemporary urban water governance. While colonial legal systems divide water into surface, ground and stormwater, Indigenous relational ontologies understand water as a living entity embedded in Country, memory and kinship. As ephemeral, hybrid, human-modified seepage features, laang tageek baany fall outside regulatory frameworks because they do not fit these imposed categories. Their ambiguous status highlights both the constraints of colonial water management and the endurance of Indigenous hydrological knowledge shaped through deep time. Drawing on an Indigenous-led project and On-Country learning, the paper traces the relational presence of these sites, showing how laang tageek baany embody connections between geology, ecology, story and custodianship. Their ongoing care by Boonwurrung people contrasts with fragmented institutional governance. Guided by Indigenous methodologies and the Australian Indigenous Design Charter, we argue that the (un)regulated status of laang tageek baany offers a productive space for rethinking urban water governance grounded in relationality and Indigenous authority.