ABSTRACT
Australia has a rich legal history in water law, as it moved from common law rules to elaborate water licensing systems very early in its history. This achieved a broader use of water to more users than just the riparian owners of land. Land and water remained bundled together until 1983, when South Australia created a limited water market system (Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation 2012). In 1992 the federal government provided financial incentives to all the State governments to start the processes to unbundle water from land to create water markets (Council of Australian Governments 1994; National Water Market 2012).
