Remaking Indigenous Place in Melbourne

In 2008, representatives from the Victorian Traditional Owners Land Justice Group, Reconciliation Victoria and the City of Melbourne Arts and Culture branch formed a working group to advance a proposal for an indigenous cultural precinct in the heart of Melbourne. The proposal of such a precinct is profoundly significant in the history of urban Australia, marking a new recognition of the centrality of indigenous culture to our national identity. While Australian Indigenous culture has a long and rich history, very little of it is manifest in built artefacts. Thus translation into contemporary architecture that is a meaningful expression of that history is challenging. Out of this working group evolved the idea for a research partnership between academics from the Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, University of Melbourne (Janet McGaw, Anoma Pieris, & Graham Brawn) and Deakin University (Emily Potter), The Melbourne City Council’s Indigenous Arts Program (Janina Harding) and Reconciliation Victoria. This research project was funded by the Australian Research Council, 2010- 2014. It followed three lines of inquiry which produced distinct outcomes: a precedents study, a collaborative creative engagement with Indigenous architects, artists and Traditional Owner communities and a theoretical inquiry.