A version of this piece was first published in print, in #2 of mous. magazine, available for purchase here.

Aboriginal history plays a key role in Australian culture; past and present.

It has shaped large chunks of our political climate; Aboriginal languages and culture are now taught in many schools across the country; and the complex and beautiful stories stemming from Aboriginal history have given us unique aspects to our lives, such as place names and connection to the land. 

The sweeping landscapes of inner Australia are made all the more significant because of the intricacies of their stories that tie their belonging to Aboriginal culture.

But one area that is severely lacking Aboriginal influence is consultation in design and architecture projects.

It is estimated that there are only about 10 Indigenous Australians working as registered architects in Australia, an astonishingly low number when you consider the Aboriginal population makes up about roughly 3% of the population.

There are similarly low numbers across landscape architecture and interior design with just 25 indigenous architects, interior designers or landscape architects in total who had graduated or were currently studying in 2014.

Rueben Berg is the Executive Officer of IADV, a not-for-profit founded in 2010 advocating for more awareness in strengthening the bonds between the built environment and indigenous culture. Andrew Lane, with his wife Francoise, is the director of Indij Design, a 100% indigenous owned and operated architecture and design firm.

We spoke to Rueben and Andrew about the issues facing the industry and how it can move forward from here.

Mous: The number of indigenous people working in design and architecture is quite low. Can you start by explaining to us why it is important for indigenous architects and designers to work on projects in their communities?

Rueben: Across all areas of society there is a strong push to have Aboriginal involvement to be proportional to population numbers (~3%) - and we are a long way from that in this field. It is really important for Indigenous architects and designers to be involved as they are often better placed to be able to understand the needs of the community, and can have a more in depth understanding of any relevant cultural considerations. Often times the Aboriginal community are more comfortable communicating with other Aboriginal people, which can help in ensuring that the community needs are being fully taken into account during the design process, and give greater ownership of the finished product.

Andrew: Our view is that by talking to the traditional owners and finding out the story of the land and what is important to people of the area, the designer will view the site and subsequent design differently.  If done respectfully and cleverly then the client can end up with a unique design.  For the traditional owners, often all that is required is the simple recognition that their ancestors walked the land.

Mous: Yes, recognition is an important step. How do you think collaborating in design an architecture can help the reconciliation process?  

A: People recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have lived on this land for a very long time.  By having clients acknowledge that the land their project is on has a history that extends beyond the records in the titles office brings people to a realisation that people walked across and used that land before it was known as ‘Lot ABC on Registered Plan XYZ’.  A lot of the reconciliation process is just the acknowledgement that people walked the land before Cook’s arrival.

Mous: With numbers of Indigenous people working in the field so low, how can we encourage Indigenous people to pursue careers in architecture and design?  

A: There is a more general push to encourage Indigenous students to study what are known as the STEM subjects – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.  There is opportunity for Indigenous people to add a lot to the fields of Technology/Engineering of course.  But a lot of Indigenous people think with pictures rather than figures and I think there are a lot of students who would be more attracted to Architecture as opposed to Engineering but don’t really know enough about pursuing a career in Architecture or what it means.  The way I would encourage students to study architecture is to promote it as an artistic field of study and educate on the career paths available from it.

Mous: What are some of the ramifications of sending someone outside of a community into "fix" a problem? How does education or understanding help this?

R: There are many issues that non-Indigenous designers involved in Indigenous projects may come across. There is often a risk of having a generalised understanding of Aboriginal culture, without an understanding of the diversity of these cultures across Australia. This can lead to clichéd approaches that may not be relevant to that specific community, or that only touch the surface of that culture. There can also be issues in getting full ownership of the design idea from the community. Having said that, this does not mean that non-Indigenous designers have not done some really great work across Australia, just that the process can be simplified, and possibly further enriched, if an Aboriginal person is directly involved in the process. 

A: Designers can only make decisions based on what they know.  Architects are well known for gathering site information including boundaries, contours, sun path diagrams, wind roses and other environmental data.  What they don’t know is that there is another layer of site information that is related to the history of the land and what that may mean to traditional owners of the area.  By educating designers we hope that Indigenous history (for want of a better term) might become another part of the site information gathering process.

Mous: Finally, if you had to convince someone to include an indigenous designer in their project, what do you think indigenous architects and designers bring to the profession that others can't?

R: Within this profession, I think that Aboriginal architects have the capacity to play a key role in ensuring that Aboriginal cultures can be celebrated through design - so that all Australians have a better sense that no matter where you are in Australia - you are in an Aboriginal place.

And that’s just it – all Australians should have the chance to know and respect the Aboriginal history behind the place they are living, working or travelling.

By involving indigenous people in the design process, the outcome can be transformed from a functional one dimensional building to a multidimensional, culturally aware nod to our past, present and future.

It’s this enrichment that makes involvement from many parties so important.