Australian Aboriginal Studies: Issue 1, 2025

Major articles

Wangayarta: employing architecture, landscape architecture and design for repatriation and reburial initiatives to address historical injustices to Australian First Nations People

Jeffrey Newchurch and Elizabeth Grant

Contemporary architecture, landscape architecture and design have been shown to be both a practice and an Indigenous socio-political movement towards sovereignty. This paper outlines the development of a pilot project, Wangayarta, as a ‘final resting place’ for Kaurna Old People repatriated from ‘collections’ or displaced through developments, and a contemporary cemetery for Kaurna meyunna (peoples) in South Australia. Wangayarta is a world first and a new design typology. Innovatively, this paper examines the design of Wangayarta using the lens of transitional justice, where the acknowledgement, recognition, truth-telling, reconciliation and the righting of past wrongs become essential to rectifying human rights abuses. This is the first time an Australian Indigenous project has been analysed using this framework, and it provides understandings of the design features and consultation needed to develop Wangayarta and using this lens unpacks important issues. It demonstrates that First Nations architectural and design projects cannot stand alone but need to be reconceptualised as interrelated initiatives to rectify historical injustices. Using the lens of transitional justice emphasises the role of the designer, who must act as a vessel, applying design expertise and ensuring that the First Nations peoples are seen as the clients and ‘own’ the project although funding may come from another body. Analysis of Wangayarta demonstrates the importance and role of Indigenous knowledges and cultural revivals in design and how final resting places and their narratives must be controlled and regulated by the First Nations peoples. This solemn project explains why Wangayarta and other final resting places should not be allowed to become sites of dark tourism or used for educational purposes. The paper also advocates for institutions to pass control of projects and the narratives back to the First Nations groups and consider other ways of preserving the public memory of the victims to raise the moral consciousness regarding past atrocities. The paper demonstrates that applying the principles of transitional justice can be a useful framework for conceptualising and analysing First Nations focused architectural, landscape architectural and design projects

First Nations-determined storylines: Noongar story work in the Ancestors’ Words project

Elfie Shiosaki

The project Ancestors’ Words seeks to renew Noongar storytelling about who we are and where we come from by returning letters written by Noongar people in government archives to descendants as living cultural heritage. This article explores the Noongar research methodologies designed in the project to release the voices of Noongar ancestors from the archive and speak in the here and now. These innovative methodologies rematriate letters as Noongar knowledge that is protected by Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) rights. They can be applied and tested in First Nations communities around the world seeking to revitalise archives as sites of living Indigenous cultural heritage.

Breathing life into dead wood: a snapshot of housing insecurity in Indigenous communities in Australia

Bronwyn Fredericks, Abraham Bradfield, Eden Bywater

Australia’s current housing crisis is unprecedented, and it disproportionately affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Since colonisation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have experienced housing insecurity. Australia’s recent housing crisis should thus be seen as a continuation of this insecurity, rather than a unique phenomenon. In this article, we review the literature on Indigenous peoples’ access to housing, including home ownership, the rental market, and social housing. We evaluate the policies and programs that have been implemented to address accessibility issues and discuss their achievements and limitations. The paper aims to provide a snapshot of some of the key economic and political factors that have historically shaped the opportunities and experiences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples when accessing housing in Australia.

Exploring Indigenous-led research through a reflexive pathway from an Australian context

Sophie George, Steve Kemp, Murrie Kemp, Michael Hewson, Holly Hosking, Janice Mani, Ryan du Preez, Mani Naiker

Indigenous-led research, integrated with approved, decolonial ontological ethnography, provides ethical and equitable outcomes for Australia’s Indigenous peoples and Indigenous communities. As an example, Indigenous medicine can challenge the current social norm and acceptance of western science as the sole framework for healing, highlighting the value of traditional knowledge systems. By prioritising Indigenous leadership, this approach empowers Indigenous peoples and Indigenous communities to take ownership of research, creating knowledge partnerships, reciprocal learning and meaningful outcomes. Sustaining and expanding Indigenous-led research is crucial for preserving and enhancing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems. This research depends on genuine support that ensures confidence and continuity, otherwise it risks not enduring, thereby threatening the transmission of cultural knowledge and its contributions to community wellbeing. Sustainable growth of Indigenous-led research is essential for the prosperity of First Nations communities, creating lasting impacts. This principle is increasingly recognised, exemplified by the growth of Indigenous-owned businesses like Yarbun Creations, which integrates traditional knowledges with contemporary innovation. Into the future, Indigenous-led research and business ventures are expected to become more prevalent, reinforcing economic self-determination, strengthening cultural resilience, and ensuring Indigenous knowledges thrive for future generations. Existing Indigenous-led research provides a baseline to build ‘best practice’ guidelines for future studies, ensuring culturally appropriate and sustainable collaborations. This Indigenous-led research approach aligns with the ‘Indigenous Research Agenda’ (Marshall 2017:205) and supports Indigenous peoples’ priorities of survival and self-determination within western societal structures. Additionally, these principles uphold the conservation and protection of Indigenous knowledges, languages, and cultural identities, ensuring research remains respectful, community driven, and beneficial to future generations. Indigenous peoples have the inherent right to self-determination, allowing them to freely determine their political status and pursue their economic, social and cultural development (United Nations 2008). Looking ahead, Indigenous-led research will continue to uphold self-determination, fostering opportunities and reciprocal benefits for Indigenous peoples and communities. By integrating decolonial ontological ethnography, Indigenous-led research validates and incorporates Indigenous knowledges within Western science and society. This approach promotes power sharing, ensuring the survival, conservation and preservation of Indigenous knowledges, languages, and cultural identities. This report aligns Indigenous-led research with approved decolonial ethnographic methodologies. Through a comprehensive annotated bibliography, it captures Indigenous knowledges, values, priorities, and agendas. This synthesis of literature forms the foundation of a conceptual model that outlines key steps toward successful and sustainable Indigenous-led research. These ‘steps’ align with essential Indigenous principles and ‘best practice’ guidelines drawn from the literature. Approval and acceptance by Indigenous peoples and communities of this conceptual model are paramount. By following Indigenous-approved principles and guidelines, this model advances social-justice, equity and inclusion of Indigenous peoples and communities within western science and society – now and in the future.

Collaborative mapping and digital storytelling as tools of Walbunja resurgence

Annick Thomassin, Tayla Nye, Kim Spurway, Linda Carlson, Adam Nye, Sherrie Nye, Adam McCarron, Jake Chatfield, Janet Hunt, Karen Soldatic

For several decades, members of the Walbunja community around Mogo and Batemans Bay (New South Wales) have aspired to exercise their sovereignty and strengthen their capacity to influence the development and environmental management decisions across their land, freshwater and sea territories. This paper reflects on the experience and findings emerging from the Environmental Stewardship Resurgence in Walbunja Land and Sea Country project funded through the AIATSIS Indigenous Exchange scheme. It explores some of the opportunities and challenges associated with using collaborative mapping applications and digital storytelling to document Walbunja contemporary connections to Country and support the resurgence of Walbunja stewardship responsibilities across their territory. We explore whether these platforms can be used creatively by local communities to exercise their sovereignty, on a day-to-day basis, by taking control over the cartographic expression and knowledge produced about their territories. We also examine whether this process can help transform the ties between the Walbunja and non-Indigenous people living on their territories by stimulating dialogues and fostering better understandings by the latter of the contemporary reciprocal commitments that the Walbunja people maintain with Country.

Defining ‘Indigenous agriculture’ in Australia

Joshua Gilbert, Jim Pratley, Paul Prenzler, Jeff McCormick

The Indigenous Estate covers more than half of the Australian landmass, with agricultural activity occurring on much of these lands by non-Indigenous farmers. As Indigenous enterprise grows across the broader business sector, compounding consideration grows as to how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples may realise the full economic benefit of the Indigenous Estate, including through exerting more control over Indigenous held lands. This paper explores a potential definition of ‘Indigenous agriculture’, providing a practical solution based on business activity rather than debating pre-colonial understanding. Significantly, business structures are explored, noting the importance of the threshold test for ‘Indigenous business’, particularly given that the dominant agricultural business structure is a partnership. Lastly, potential models for certifying Indigenous businesses and/or products are proposed, exploring current national and international models for reference.

More than a memorial: the proposal to establish a National Resting Place for Indigenous Ancestral Remains in Australia

Anne Maree Payne and Heidi Norman

This article details the proposal to establish a National Resting Place to care for the repatriated Ancestral Remains of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people unable to be returned to their place of origin. We consider the proposed Resting Place in the context of First Nations aspirations for the site, engaging with theoretical debates about memorialisation, and reflecting on selected memorial sites in Australia and around the world dealing with respecting the deceased and trauma. We argue that the National Resting Place will need to be more than a memorial, providing a First Nations-centred place for the care of Ancestors, contributing to healing the wounds of the past, and performing a vital role in educating all Australians about the ongoing legacy of the dehumanising practices of collecting and displaying Ancestral Remains.

Change in Bathurst and Melville Island art: Baldwin Spencer’s spears at Melbourne Museum, Victoria, Australia

Harry Allen, Lily Grossbichler, Melanie Roberts

Melbourne Museum has 184 spears from Bathurst and Melville Islands collected by Baldwin Spencer between 1911 and 1913. Fifty-seven of these spears were studied to document Tiwi spear technology at that time and to consider changes since then. The study confirms Spencer’s original typology but adds numerical and morphological information particularly the frequency of spear types in the collection. The majority have low- to medium-sized barbs on a single side of the spear shaft and are decorated with simple bands of colour. These spears appear adapted for hunting and general fighting rather than for ceremonial or display purposes. These hunting spears ceased being manufactured during the twentieth century, being replaced by spears similar to those in use on the adjacent Australian mainland. Despite collecting bias, ceremonial spears with large intricate barbing and complex decoration were in the minority. Such spears played a role in Tiwi marriage arrangements, ceremonies and as indicators of status. As marriage and resident patterns changed under the influence of Christian missions and Australian Government policies, so did the role of ceremonial spears. They now represent commercial art objects and symbols of Tiwi identity.