Exploratory fracking has commenced in the Beetaloo Basin, adjacent to Mudburra Country. At the time of writing, the Northern Territory Government is preparing to issue production licences to the gas companies involved. Environmental groups and some Aboriginal traditional owners, however, are insisting that the potential impact on land, water, pastoral operations, and Aboriginal communities has not been properly taken into account. Amongst other things, they point to the existence of stygofauna – tiny creatures that live in the underground water – which, though known to the traditional owners for millennia, are relatively new to western science. (It is likely that a word for stygofauna existed in the Mudburra language, but as far as we know it has not survived.) Research to establish environmental baselines prior to the commencement of fracking indicates that the stygofauna perform a vital function in purifying the underground water, and that they would be seriously threatened by fracking operations. As part of the protest movement against fracking, the authors have composed a song about stygofauna to be taught to the Mudburra children at Newcastle Waters School.

中文翻译：

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Yinbarnini Ngukunginyi（水之歌）

毗邻 Mudburra 地区的 Beetaloo 盆地已开始勘探水力压裂。截至撰写本文时，北领地政府正准备向相关天然气公司颁发生产许可证。然而，环保组织和一些原住民传统业主坚持认为，对土地、水、畜牧业和原住民社区的潜在影响尚未得到适当考虑。除其他外，他们指出了冥底动物的存在——生活在地下水中的微小生物——虽然传统所有者已经知道了几千年，但对西方科学来说相对较新。（Mudburra 语言中很可能存在一个表示“stygofauna”的词，但据我们所知，该词尚未保存下来。）在水力压裂开始之前建立环境基线的研究表明，stygofauna 在净化地下方面发挥着重要作用。水，并且他们将受到水力压裂作业的严重威胁。作为反对水力压裂抗议运动的一部分，作者创作了一首关于冥底动物的歌曲，供纽卡斯尔沃特斯学校的 Mudburra 孩子们学习。