Key Points
- It is a common misconception to think of Indigenous culture as being the same everywhere in Australia. It’s not.
- A developing shift in built environment design is seeking to make projects based on Country, the norm breaking away from business-as-usual urban planning.
- In Country-led design, from planning to delivery, First Nations knowledge-holders, the environment, and the practices of the specific project site, drive the process.
Indigenous ownership of Indigenous cultural expression in all its facets is protected under the .
In recent years in Australia, a lot of work has been done for establishing when working with First Nations peoples on arts projects.
But how does one make Indigenous knowledge and continuous practices visible in our living spaces in Australian cities?
We asked both Indigenous and non-Indigenous experts to share their insights on creating spaces and buildings that draw from both Aboriginal and Western knowledge systems.
Designing with Country, relationality, and cultural continuity in mind recognises that each place in Australia carries distinct history spanning tens of thousands of years. Here, wildflowers are seen in Karijini National Park in WA. Source: Getty / TED MEAD
He is one of the co-authors of the , setting best practice protocols for culturally responsive commercial design.
He explains why for any built project, whether it is a public building, a square or a mural, design needs to meet Indigenous culture at the very place the project is situated in.
All knowledge comes from place.Professor Brian Martin, co-author International Indigenous Design Charter
“And that's why best practise protocols are about looking at Traditional owners of that location and what knowledge… relates to that particular place and Country.”
Indigenous-led design is Country-led design because there is not just one Indigenous culture in Australia.
“The idea of homogenising ignores things that are locally specific. For example, the Boonwurrung Country in Victoria is very different to Kamilaroi in New South Wales, to Bidjara in Queensland or Noongar in Perth,” Prof Martin explains.
Jefa Greenaway agrees. He is one of the early recognised Aboriginal architects in Victoria, originally from NSW, a descendant of the Wailwan/Kamilaroi and Dharawal Peoples.
Mr Greenaway says that acknowledging the diversity of Indigenous cultures in architecture “becomes an opportunity to support voice and agency”.
“It supports the idea of design equity... Invariably, First Nations people haven't necessarily had a seat at the table to engage within major built form projects.”
Jefa Greenaway: “We know across this vast island continent that there are over 270 distinct language groups and 600 dialects.” Credit: Aaron Puls
Walking around Melbourne University’s city campus you can see an example of this Country-led design approach at the site where the student precinct connects with the Central Business District (CBD) at Swanston Street.
Mr Greenaway, who co-led the project, says that Indigenous stakeholders were involved in the design process right from the start, pointed to old watercourses near the site where eels have migrated through for more than 60,000 years to reach the Birrarung (Yarra River) for breeding.
The team designed an amphitheatre and plaza route to recreate the creek, used native vegetation and materials and created a water collection network with ponds around the campus.
While the old creek line was piped to support the city’s stormwater system, eels continue to migrate through it.
It recasts an understanding that we're building upon a legacy of 67,000 years of continuous connection to this place.Jefa Greenaway, Greenaway Architects
Mr Greenaway says the design brought Indigenous cultural continuity to the forefront.
A University of Melbourne built project recreating the eels’ migration path from water to land, is a metaphor for Indigenous resilience, says architect Jefa Greenaway. Credit: Peter Bennetts
Designers need to continuously engage with the place and its people, and not to view cultural protocols as checklist tasks ending at a certain project phase.
“Relationships are built around the time of the project, whether it be a research project or a design project.
“Be it an architectural firm or government body or practitioners themselves, they still need to build the relationality with people and place.”
Desiree Hernandez Ibinarriaga, is a Mexican woman of Mayan, Aztec and Basque heritage, and senior Lecturer at Monash University’s Department of Design.
During her PhD research, collaborating with Indigenous young women in Australia and Mexico and non-Indigenous teachers, she developed a project design methodology for privileging First Nations knowledge and biocultural diversity.
The sense of cultural identity is integral to Indigenous design methodologies, says Dr Ibinarriaga. “In design we focus on problem-solving and so [in Country-led design] it becomes essential to look locally, harnessing our surroundings.” Credit: Desiree Hernandez Ibinarriaga
“It took me eight months to build a relationship and be accepted by the girls, the teachers and the school staff.”
Her research culminated in a biocultural workshop aimed at strengthening students’ cultural identity through links with Country.
“Country is the place we exist in; I call it 'Tonantsintlalli', that means Mother Earth in my ancestors’ language, in Nahuatl,” Dr Ibinarriaga says.
“In Indigenous methodologies we centre [design around] Country, the land, the skies, the waters that we live in.
"But also, relationality, that is the relationships that we have with the material and immaterial.”
Where Eels Lie Down by Kamilaroi artist Reko Rennie is one of the features referencing Country in Parramatta Square.
Together with a dedicated team, including principal architect Dillon Kombumerri, a Yugambeh man from the Gold Coast in Queensland, they co-developed the .
Project stakeholders adopting the framework were committed to design built-environment projects that deliver positive outcomes both for Country and community.
“It's for Aboriginal communities to use on their projects to champion the outcomes that they would like to see there,” Ms Hyde says.
“It's for local government agencies to encourage them to engage appropriately and respectfully with Aboriginal communities on the projects that they're looking after.
It's also for architects and other built environment designers and developers to ensure that the projects that they are delivering are creating healthy Country outcomes.”
Five years in the making, the framework has incorporated elements of Country-led approaches seen in already existing projects, like Parramatta square.
“It was designed with Dharug cultural knowledge holders right from the outset,” Ms Hyde explains.
“So, there was a very embedded process working with community in the development of the plans for the square.”
Country-led design reasserts the primacy of the place where an infrastructure project is situated. The Waratah flower, found across southeastern Australia is the protagonist of a Dreamtime story explaining its red colour. Here, a Waratah flower light installation during Vivid Light 2017 in Sydney. Credit: Manfred Gottschalk/Getty Images
I've got the experience of being approached near the end of tendered processes, where it's like ‘Oh, we've got to include an Indigenous person.’Professor Brian Martin, co-author International Indigenous Design Charter
“What gets missing in that narrative is it's not Indigenous-led.
“You end up with something that does not integrate the fabric of Country within the process and then within the finished building, product, whatever it may be.”
In the case of Parramatta square, designers worked to make the history and continuing practices of the site visible, Ms Hyde says.
Features include an Indigenous artwork, a Dharug gathering circle and a series of inlays into the paving referencing historical evidence of Indigenous gatherings dating back thousands of years.
“It talks to the long-term inhabitation and cultural importance of this place for Aboriginal people.
“But it's also about recognising that culture goes on and it's living and it's forever.
“And so, it's making sure that living cultural practises can be kept alive and celebrated and are open to everyone, but also specific people where that’s appropriate.”
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