Groundwater Geoscience for community. Making data more accessible to farmers, First Nations Australians and other natural resource managers

Geoscience Australia conducts field activities to better understand groundwater systems in areas where land-connected stakeholders, including farmers and First Nations Australians, have rights and interests. Communicating effectively, in inclusive, transparent and accessible ways is essential to ensure non-technical stakeholders understand what message is being conveyed. Creating tools for geoscientists to use for land access and other outreach or consultations helps them plan community engagement and ensures that community members have a better understanding of Earth Science and therefore improved access to the information they need to be able to make informed decisions. Simplified animations, comic-style factsheets, and physical models have been created and tested to illustrate data acquisition techniques, what interpreted data looks like and how it is used. Tailored templates have been designed to ensure that the data collected is provided to impacted stakeholders at the end of field activities. In addition, portable, interactive groundwater exhibits and activities have been created and used at community outreach events. These have been found to be successful in holding the interest of the general public, substantially increasing the number of conversations about groundwater geoscience and exposing people to the data that is publicly available and possibly of interest to them. When used in isolation, none of the engagement tools were found to be more effective than traditional ways of communicating. Instead, information is more easily understood when communication style and engagement tools are specially selected for the audience and used in combination. Presented at the 52nd Congress of International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH2025)