MELISSA WHITE
Freshwater ecologist, water allocation planning officer, Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources
South Australia, Australia
Growing up in the outdoors on a small cattle farm and spending weekends camping and bush-walking, Melissa dreamt of having a job working out-bush in nature. After studying Environmental Science, she was drawn to the remoteness of the arid zone, and the camaraderie of the community and people researching Australian desert rivers. This is where she undertook further study and researched freshwater turtles. Her passion was enhanced when she met and worked with Aboriginal people, first in the Northern Territory and then in South Australia where she learnt about science from a cultural perspective. Having loved working in natural resource management with pastoralists and Aboriginal people across the arid-zone rangelands, she is now embarking on a new journey on Aboriginal water planning and policy for the South Australian River Murray.
