Autonomy and the intercultural: interpreting the history of Australian Aboriginal water management in the Roper River catchment, Northern Territory

Integrated discussions of the multi‐valency of objects and the use and appropriation of natural resources in colonial contexts are uncommon. By combining previously scattered historical, legal, and ethnographic sources, this article examines A ustralian A boriginal dam and weir construction along the R oper R iver, focusing on the repeated re‐purposing, re‐contextualization and reinterpretation of the structures over time by both A boriginal and non‐ A boriginal protagonists. Through that process, it contributes to contemporary theoretical debates about intercultural colonial relations and about the relative autonomy of indigenous peoples within colonizing societies. In particular, the article highlights the historical evolution of constraints on local autonomy in colonial contexts and the role of individual agency in constituting and/or reconfiguring intercultural relations. Previously little known, these temporary water regulation structures are now the best historically documented instance of A boriginal water management in A ustralia, enabling a diverse array of interpretations and the critical evaluation of key contemporary social‐theoretical concepts.