Hydrospatial narratives in the Coquun–Myan–Hunter River

Abstract

Current scientific and technocratic frameworks for managing coastal and estuarine urban sustainability and water security are insufficient to address climate change risks, offering limited capacity for adaptating, understanding, responding, and coping with increasing threats. This paper emphasises the vital role of water and hydrological systems in estuarine cities, analysing urban threats and future water scenarios in response to climate change, and exploring the need to rethink urban–water relationships. Focusing on Newcastle, a heavily industrialised estuarine city on Australia’s East Coast situated within the catchment of the Coquun–Myan –Hunter River, the study maps transformative phases from precolonial times, revealing hidden, erased, and living water places in the estuary. The methodology combines archival, geographical, and spatial data to visualise the historical impacts of transformative colonial, capitalist, and postcapitalist extractive practices, and to identify the challenges and opportunities that climate change poses for urban and territorial sustainability and resilience. The paper highlights the importance of promoting culturally and ecologically inclusive design and participation by incorporating participatory water management practices grounded in water culture and environmental principles. It also calls for revisiting Australian Indigenous deep‐time knowledge and Care for Country principles that have prioritised resilient ecologies and cultures for millennia. The findings highlight urban threats, new scenarios of water emerging from an evolving climate, and the importance of rethinking urban–water relationships through culturally and ecologically inclusive design practices in estuary cities, overall framing a unique and particular form of estuarine urbanism.