Martuwarra Must Live and Flow: What Justice and a Declaration of Peace Mean When a River Seeks Justice

What does justice mean when the subject seeking justice—and seeking a Declaration of Peace—is a River? It argues that justice cannot begin with the River: as an object awaiting allocation, injury or representation by others. Under First Law, Martuwarra is living Country: an ancestral being, source of Law and participant in relationships among Peoples, groundwater, tributaries, floodplains, ecological communities and generations. The Fitzroy River Declaration is therefore reframed as both a declaration of relational justice and a Declaration of Peace. Peace does not mean the temporary absence of conflict over development. It means maintaining right relations so that the River can live, flow, renew life and carry Law into the future. We develop Cultural Flow Integrity to identify the hydrological, ecological, cultural and ancestral relationships necessary for that peace. Against the 2026 Fitzroy-Derby Water Resources Management Plan and project-specific pressures, this manuscript distinguishes First Law authority from the narrower remedies available under Western Australian water and heritage law, Commonwealth heritage and environmental law, native title processes, merits review and judicial review. It advances six propositions for a River seeking justice: recognise the River as the subject of justice; treat the Fitzroy River Declaration as a governance mandate for peace; determine what must remain before asking what may be taken; require proponents and governments to demonstrate a commitment to the principle of Do No Harm; assess the whole connected River rather than administratively fragmented parts; and create culturally legitimate institutions through which the River can speak. Justice is prospective: Martuwarra should not have to be damaged before the legal system listens.