The fastest growing legal movement in the world is the recognition of the legal rights of nature. There are over 500 rights of nature initiatives in place, and over 100 of these focus on rivers, lakes and wetlands. Birrarung (Yarra River) is formally recognised as a living entity in Victorian legislation, while across Australia, other rivers and waterways are recognised in Indigenous laws as living ancestral beings. There are multiple initiatives to increase settler law’s recognition of rivers as living entities. In 2022, the Victorian government committed to recognising all waterways as living entities in legislation, but we have yet to see what this looks like. The draft National Water Agreement included an action to recognise all waterways in the nation as living entities in settler law. As rivers and aquatic ecosystems are recognised as legal and living entities in law, this has significant implications for the organisations and individuals involved in their care and management.