Snaking its way through 1500 kilometres of outback, the Darling River is a national icon: a ribbon of life in a treeless desert and a critical artery in the vast river system of the Murray-Darling Basin.
To the Barkindji people of far western New South Wales, the river channel marks the course of the Naatji - the rainbow serpent. It has sustained cultures and communities for thousands of years.
Today, more than 3 million Australians rely on water from the Murray-Darling Basin. So do 40 per cent of all Australian farms, producing $24 billion worth of food and fibre every year.
But the Darling River - a storied waterway once plied by paddle steamers carrying wool from the vast sheep stations that lined its banks - is in danger, and the people living and working along its course face an uncertain future.
Mass fish kills near the tiny town of Menindee almost three years ago drew global attention - albeit briefly - to the river's disastrously poor health.
Join journalists Tom Melville and John Hanscombe and photographer Dion Georgopoulos as they take you up the Darling River and introduce you to the people fighting for its life: the Indigenous communities, the farmers and the townsfolk who rely on its water and who refuse to let the Darling become the forgotten river.
Find out more in our video trailer about and subscribe to the podcast now ahead of the full release on September 16.
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