NAIDOC Week is a time to recognise the history, cultures and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. For anyone working in the built environment, it is also a prompt to think about the ground we build on.
Every site in Australia sits on Country. Before it was a plaza, a campus or a commercial precinct, it was a place with its own stories, ecology and custodians, and it still is. Increasingly, design teams, councils and institutions are recognising that projects are better when they start from that understanding rather than treating it as a heritage item to address late in the process.
This article does not try to explain Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander knowledge. That knowledge belongs to Traditional Custodians and is theirs to share. What it covers is how design and project teams can set up the conditions for meaningful engagement, the principles emerging in Australian practice, and what they mean for planting, materials and the furniture that goes into a place.
Connection to Country as a starting point
Country is a term with deep meaning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It encompasses land, water, sky, plants, animals, kinship and story, and the relationships between them.
For design teams, a useful shift is to see a site as part of a living system rather than a parcel defined by its boundary. That changes the questions asked at the start of a project:
- What was here before, and what does the land want to be?
- How does water move across this place?
- Which plants and animals belong here?
- Whose Country is this, and how can they be involved?
In New South Wales, the Government Architect NSW Connecting with Country framework sets out an approach for government projects and is widely referenced beyond them. Other states and many councils have their own guidance. The documents differ in detail, but they consistently favour early, ongoing engagement over one off consultation.
Understanding landscape history
Every site has layers: pre contact landscapes, colonial land use, industrial change, recent development. Understanding them helps a project respond to what was lost and what remains.
In practice, that might mean:
- Reviewing historical maps and ecological records to understand original vegetation communities and waterways.
- Identifying remnant trees and vegetation worth protecting.
- Recognising where a site has been heavily modified and what restoration is realistic.
This work is most valuable when it is shared with and guided by Traditional Custodians, who may hold knowledge about the place that is not in any archive.
Native planting and long term stewardship
Native planting is one of the most visible ways a project can respond to Country. Local species are adapted to local soils and climate, support local wildlife, and generally need less water once established.
A few considerations make native planting more meaningful:
- Prioritise species endemic to the local area rather than natives from elsewhere in Australia.
- Seek guidance on plants with cultural significance, including food and medicine plants, and how they should be presented.
- Plan for seasonal change. Many native landscapes look different across the year, and that is part of their character.
- Consider stewardship arrangements, including opportunities for local Aboriginal organisations to be involved in ongoing care where that is welcomed.
Where in ground planting is not possible, such as on podiums, rooftops or over services, planters allow native species to be introduced. Planter scale, material and colour can be chosen to sit comfortably with the landscape rather than compete with it.
Working with Indigenous consultants and communities
Good engagement is the part most projects find hardest, and it is where good intentions can go wrong.
Some principles commonly raised by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners:
- Engage early, before the design direction is fixed, so input can shape the project.
- Identify the right people. Traditional Custodian groups, Aboriginal Land Councils and Aboriginal led design practices each have different roles.
- Pay people properly for their time, knowledge and expertise.
- Respect that some knowledge is not for public sharing, and that decisions about what is shared rest with community.
- Be clear about how input will be used, and report back on what was done.
This takes time. Building that time into the program at the start is far easier than finding it later.
Cultural interpretation in public spaces
Cultural interpretation can take many forms: public art, language naming, wayfinding, paving patterns, landscape forms and storytelling elements.
The most respected examples tend to share a few qualities. They are developed with community rather than for it. Artists and knowledge holders are properly credited and remunerated. And the interpretation is integrated into the design rather than applied as a decorative overlay.
For project teams, a practical test is to ask whether an element would still make sense if the label were removed. If it only works with an explanatory sign, it may not have been integrated deeply enough.
Furniture and objects are part of this. Seating placed to frame a view of a significant landform, a gathering space shaped for yarning, or materials chosen for their connection to place all change how a space is experienced. On the AMA Sirius project in Canberra, the scope we delivered included the yarning circle and the joinery around it.
Practical steps for project teams
None of the following replaces engagement, but each makes it easier to do well.
- Read the relevant state or council framework at concept stage, not at design development.
- Identify the Traditional Custodians of the site. In NSW the Local Aboriginal Land Council is a common first contact; other states have their own bodies and registers.
- Allow a budget line for engagement, cultural advice and artist fees from the start.
- Brief the whole project team, including builders and suppliers, on what has been agreed and why.
- Record decisions and the reasons for them, so intent is not lost through value management.
- Plan how the place will be cared for after handover, and who will be involved.
Value management is a particular risk. Elements developed with community are sometimes cut late to save cost or time. Treating them as core to the design, rather than as an optional extra, protects both the outcome and the relationship.
Procurement is part of the picture too. Many government and institutional clients now set Aboriginal participation targets, and those targets can extend to suppliers and subcontractors. Engaging Aboriginal owned businesses, designers and artists through the project supports that intent in a practical way.
Starting well
There is no checklist that makes a place honour Country. What makes the difference is how the project is run: who is in the room early, how their input is used, and whether it survives value management.
Binowee Group works with design and project teams on furniture, planters and objects for landscapes and interiors. Where a project is guided by Connecting with Country principles, we can help source products and materials that sit comfortably within that intent.
Working on a project guided by Connecting with Country principles? Talk to Binowee Group about planters, furniture and materials that support the design intent.