The Birrarung (Yarra River) is considered an ancestral river by its indigenous custodians especially the Wurundjeri in Victoria (Australia). However, until recently river management had failed to address the extent of its ecological degradation and had somewhat neglected indigenous cultural values. The passing of the landmark legislation Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act 2017 transformed the river into a “living entity’ and aimed at healing the Country by including the indigenous people in its governance structure and adopting a decolonial perspective to recognize their stronger association as contributing to protecting the river and rejuvenating the entire landscape. Our paper understands this grant of entity status and treatment of the river as an integrated living person and institution of a stronger association between the indigenous custodians and the governance apparatus as part of healing process. Our paper combines analysis of relevant theoretical and secondary literature with ethnographic research in 2022-23 to offer a comparative perspective on relationship between earth-care and waterscapes.