REPRESENTATION Archives - Unsettling Queenstown

THE ADVOCATE

Ben Cottam on 16 May 2023

THE ADVOCATE

MUIR+OPENWORK

LOCATION
VIC
St Andrews Place, East Melbourne
Wurundjeri Country

The project is an unpicking of a certain kind of State Space. A site that only held the sanctioned voice of “the civic” now makes space for other voices,
Other invitations, and other forms of occupation.
Tactics

A political and societal shift has occurred, signaling a state of regress. A significant site. Bookending a particular time, a particular place. Adjacency. The Commonwealth. The Fitzroy Gardens. An authoritative voice borrowing the landscaped vistas beyond. Firm. Defiant. Present. Silent.
Purple planting is employed as a signifier of the memorial’s cause. This is not simply a landscape intervention. This is a formal and political intervention.

Family Violence is not ‘concluded’
Acknowledgment of the immeasurable
No names
But individual memories
This is a memorial in motion
A memorial that provides the space for this acknowledgment to occur. Resilient. Silent.

An erosion of colonial cultural heritage
A smudging of the past
In this role, architecture is the advocate for societal change
It is the enabler for education. It is the enabler of many voices.
It listens. It sits. It nurtures. Resilient. Firm.

A collaging of parts to make a whole
These are not singular gestures they are informed gestures
Layered
A slippage of form
Feet touching the ground
A meeting of parts, a meeting of cultures
This is not one voice, this is many

Decolonise

DESIGN TEAM MEMBERS
Alessandro Castiglioni
Amy Muir
Liz Herbert
Marijke Davey
Mark Jacques
Toby McElwaine

INDIGENOUS ADVISOR
Sarah Lyn Rees, JCB

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Phil Gardiner, WSP

TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS AND CULTURAL ADVISORS
Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural
Heritage Aboriginal Corporation
Boon Wurrung Foundation
Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal
Corporation

STAKEHOLDERS AND COLLABORATORS
Department of Premier and Cabinet,
Office for Women
City of Melbourne
Victims Survivors’ Advisory Council
Forced Adoption Practices

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MAKING VISIBLE

Ben Cottam on 16 May 2023

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MAKING VISIBLE

CAPTURING THE TIME AND LABOUR OF CARING

Lucinda McLean, Susan McLean

LOCATION
VIC
Somers
Coolort, Boon Wurrung Country

These prints are made with my mother. She comes to stay with me, and we spend time observing the life of the Indigenous garden that I have been slowly regenerating for over 20 years. This regeneration work is done with the knowledge that I gained from her, and it takes the time and the labour of caring. At this time in her life, when she no longer has the capacity to remember the immediate past or plan the future, her observation of the moment is even more acute.

Ten minutes of a sunny day exposes the cyanotype print. A print is made with the vegetation not of it. (A mushroom spore print is made overnight when she stays, the pressing of leaves, flowers and seaweed takes longer). It is, at the same time, making her life visible and plants visible.

Contemplating recent writing by Lesley Head, we ask how we can work in a more direct relationship with plants and the labour of caring:

‘… the invisibility of plants in human history is closely tied to the invisibility of women… often accompanied by children’ p 121

…That is, as written by Western historians.’ p 5.

Zena Cumpston, Michael-Shawn Fletcher and Lesley Head. Plants: Past, Present and Future. Australia, Thames and Hudson, 2022

nmbw.com.au

AUTHORS
Lucinda McLean
Susan McLean

PLANT SPECIES
from left to right:
04/12/22 Dichondra repens
03/01/23 Austrodanthonia caespitosa
06/01/23 Lagenophora stipitate
12/01/23 Pelargonium australe
15/01/23 Bursaria spinosa
15/01/23 Themeda triandra
19/02/23 Pandorea pandorana
19/02/23 Daviesia latifolia

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RETURNING CULTURAL MATERIAL TO COUNTRY

Jessie Lewis on 16 May 2023

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RETURNING CULTURAL MATERIAL TO COUNTRY

LINKING FIRST NATIONS' CULTURE, HISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE

Phillips/Pilkington Architects

LOCATION
VIC
Breakaway Creek
Gunditjmara Country

The Keeping Place & Business Centre redresses corrosive colonial actions by re-homing ‘stolen’ cultural artefacts and supporting an on-going Gunditjmara economic future. Gunditjmara have occupied the area around Tae Rak (Lake Condah) for millennia with many eventually ‘re-homed’

in the former Lake Condah Mission, where this project is located. The Lake Condah possum skin cloak, ‘collected’ in 1872 and displayed in the Melbourne Museum is the focus of the cultural repository. These cloaks provided weather protection but were also intimately linked with a person’s life story and connection to Country, recorded in designs on the cloak. The museum-grade repository also houses spears, recently excavated stone tools and eel traps.

The design of the Keeping Place promotes connection to Country through the use of the circular plan and the domed roof, together with volcanic rock and timber, all traditional forms and materials of the Gunditjmara, which provide a story-telling link with the possum skin cloak. The project continues Gunditjmara care of Country, being self-sufficient, independent of all power and water needs.

phillipspilkington.com.au/projects/cultural/

gunditjmirring.com

CLIENT
Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation Inc. RNTBC

ARCHITECT
Phillips/Pilkington Architects

ENGINEERS
PM Design (all disciplines)

QUANTITY SURVEYOR
Heinrich Consulting

LANDSCAPE DESIGN
Viesturs Cielens design

CULTURAL HERITAGE MANAGEMENT PLAN
Context in Association with Extent Heritage Advisors

BUILDER
AW Nicholson

PHOTOGRAPHER
Terry Hope Photography

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RE-FRAME

Jessie Lewis on 16 May 2023

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RE-FRAME

Sibling Architecture

LOCATION
VIC
Melbourne, City of Melbourne
Eastern Kulin Country

Existing historical monuments that sit in the public realm demarcate moments in history. These monuments construct an idealised, fraught, and sometimes deeply painful representation of history.

The Re-Frame tactic uses an architectural device to enact a type of required confrontation, to reposition and re-think the histories conveyed by these structures. Re- Framing focuses attention to new details that allow us to question the narratives embedded within these objects.

Re-Framing was used in the ‘Over Obelisk’ project, where a new occupiable structure was erected around the John Batman monument, located within the Queen Victoria Market. The Re-Framing acted as an interruption to the monumentality of the structure, but also Re- Framed the inscription which stated that Melbourne was “unoccupied” prior to 1835.

The folly draws attention to the monument that needs to be reconsidered as the market precinct undergoes redevelopment. It asks passers-by in English and Woiwurrung: “Do you acknowledge that the events referred to by this monument are inaccurate?” prompting people to re-frame their own position or complicity with the histories presented.

siblingarchitecture.com/projects/over-obelisk/

CONTRIBUTORS
John Tanner
Nicholas Braun
Amelia Borg
Lauren Crocket

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Reclaiming Place

Jessie Lewis on 16 May 2023

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RECLAIMING PLACE

SUBVERTING THE COLONIAL GAZE

Aileen Sage Architects with Dr Danièle Hromek Of Djinjama, Jean Rice Architect, Dr Noni Boyd and the City of Sydney

LOCATION
NSW
Redfern
Gadi Country

Sited on a prominent corner and ridge line in Redfern, the former post office building was chosen by local Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander community representatives as the site for a new community facility. Redfern is, was, and continues to hold great community significance as a place of activism, social resistance and change.

While the symbolism of keeping the existing colonial building relatively intact may seem discordant on first reading, there are a number of narratives that inform and result from this decision. Significantly, the building lends its prominence to the new use.

A strongly patterned masonry lift tower clearly demarcates the new entrance, creating a counterpoint to the original colonial clock tower. A dedicated and celebratory entry space is created, defining a new way
of entering and inhabiting the colonial spaces within. Prominent colonial symbols are also removed and stored.

Ways of better understanding and living with Country are initiated through improved visual and physical connections throughout, with new openings, improved natural air flow and the creation of outdoor spaces.

aileensage.com/publiccommercial#/redfern-community-facility/

PROJECT TEAM
Aileen Sage Architects with Dr Danièle Hromek of Djinjama
Jean Rice Architect
Dr Noni Boyd and the City of Sydney

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IDENTITY BRICKS

Jessie Lewis on 15 May 2023

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IDENTITY BRICKS

SYMBOL OF RECIPROCITY AND MUTUAL EXCHANGE

University of Melbourne with Lyons, NMBW Architecture and Jefa Greenaway

LOCATION
VIC
University of Melbourne Parkville Campus
Woi Wurrung (Wurundjeri) people of the Kulin Nation

Permanently embedded into the structural columns of a heritage building within the Student Precinct, Identity Bricks serve as creative recognition of this site as an Indigenous place with a continuing and diverse First Nations presence.

The Identity Bricks Project invited Indigenous students, staff and alumni to share and embed their cultural stories and journeys in a permanent installation on campus – they symbolise reciprocity and mutual exchange related to working on Wurundjeri Country. Through this exchange, participants acknowledge the gifts they have received from Country and its custodians, and gifted something of their story, Country or community in return.

Identity Bricks is a culmination of the combined efforts of the Architectural team, Murrup Barak Melbourne Institute of Indigenous Development, Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development and the wider Indigenous community at the University of Melbourne.

students.unimelb.edu.au/student-precinct/gallery/identity-bricks

PRECINCT LEAD ARCHITECT
Lyons

BUILDING ARCHITECT
NMBW Architecture

CULTURAL STRATEGY
Jefa Greenaway

ART CURATOR
University of Melbourne

ARTIST
Eucalyptus leaves – Charlie Miller, Kanolu and Gangulu

CONTRACTOR
Kane Constructions

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UNSPOKEN

Ben Cottam on 15 May 2023

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UNSPOKEN

A QUESTIONING OF THE MYTH OF SETTLEMENT

Paul Johnston Architects

LOCATION
TAS
Tasmania
lutruwita

Questioning our presumptions is fundamental to making sense of the world. This is especially true in the making of architecture in Tasmania where the past is presented in a conclusive manner, yet the origins of settlement are hidden or disguised. Our cultural privilege today exists only at the expense of the Indigenous Palawa of lutruwita. The cultural amnesia of dispossession and genocide is perpetuated in institutions that represent cultural heritage today. And yet concepts of heritage are intimately related to notions of truth as evidenced in its buildings.

These are stories unspoken.

We propose a tactic to re-contextualize the making of colonial architecture inclusive of invasion that re-evaluates the myth of settlement from which new narratives may emerge.

Central to this inquiry are the landscapes at the heart of Aboriginal culture that were appropriated, exploited, and re-imagined as Arcadian and Picturesque places, complete with a village and church, a ‘little England’. These structures occupy prominent aspects across the countryside, marking the land, yet they remain without a critical understanding of their making.

They are now the places where such truth can be spoken.

AUTHORS
Paul Johnston, Melika Nejad

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REVOLUTIONARY TERRAINS_ PLURALITY

Ben Cottam on 15 May 2023

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REVOLUTIONARY TERRAINS_ PLURALITY

RECOGNISING SIGNIFICANT SPATIAL, TEMPORAL AND OCCUPATIONAL LAYERS

Dr Rachel Hurst, Dr Katica Pedisic, Dr Matthew Bird
UniSA Masters of Architecture Research Practices 2019

LOCATION
Adelaide, Murray Bridge, Tailem Bend, Coonalpyn, Keith, Bordertown, Nhill; Dimboola, Warracknabeal
Kaurna, Ngarrindjeri, Ngargad, Bindjali Bodaruwitj, Jupagalk, Wergaia, Jadawadjali, Jaadwa, Wotjobaluk

Revolutionary Terrains is the result of a collaborative research workshop by UniSA Masters of Architecture students. It uses experimental ways of reading and depicting Australian regional landscapes, architecture, and artifacts as a terrain of colonial ambition, imposition, and obsolescence.

Across nine Aboriginal lands and declining country towns, 16 archetypal ‘monuments to the everyday’ were selected as evidence of conscious and incidental colonization. These town halls, silos, clubs, and courthouses were reimagined as speculative drawings of uncanny objects, invading the lands of First Nations peoples.

Each alien image is oriented simultaneously to origin, destination, and the star Acrux – central to the Emu in the Sky, Koodjal Koodjal Djookan, and Southern Cross constellations, significant to both First Nations and Western cultures. Animated as a 16-minute video, the ghostly journey superimposes multiple perspectives of place, occupation, time, and signification. What might be the ‘afterlife’ of the things we build if we consider and care for them in larger cultural, temporal, and celestial contexts?

Watch animation

PROJECT LEADERS
Dr Rachel Hurst, Dr Matthew Bird

PROJECT PRODUCTION
Dr Katica Pedisic

PROJECT ASSISTANTS
Rupert Piccoli, Edward Ramsay

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
Agastya Adhar, Courtney Bain, Hana
Broughton, Nathan Buder, Hisham
El-Jourdi, Yong Gan, Ryan Herbst,
Blake McDougall, Milad Nahravani,
Alyssa Nelson, Bec O’Brien, Billy
Roumeliotis, Giulia Talotta, Shannon Wark

PROJECT INSTITUTION
University of South Australia.

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A Sc(ore) for Listening

Jessie Lewis on 15 May 2023

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A SC(ORE) FOR LISTENING

ATTUNING TO THE HIDDEN MATERIAL BODIES OF QUEENSTOWN

Jacqui Alexander, Paul Mylecharane, Polly Stanton

LOCATION
TAS
Queenstown
timkarik, lutruwita

Mountainous and isolated, so-called ‘Queenstown’ is
a wild, uncompromising place. Forged by the violence
of extraction, the town’s history is imprinted in the landscape as both residue and rupture. Exploring these entangled forces, we engage listening as a creative tactic to expose the complexities of ‘Queenstown’ and its hidden material bodies.
Architectural labour is by its very nature dis-embodied: removed from the sites in which material production, construction and destruction take place. Through the architectural drawing, life worlds are reconstructed as future commodities. Instead, we propose listening as a form of in-action and being-with. Listening can attune us to voices, bodies, and materials both present and critically absent – including the historic loss of palawa culture and language. Here, listening and the score itself are conceptualised as a form of disobedience, of non- productivity – undermining the irrationality of endless growth and extraction.

public-office.info

ARCHITECTURE
Jacqui Alexander

GRAPHIC DESIGN
Paul Mylecharane

ART
Polly Stanton

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REVOLUTIONARY TERRAINS_TOOLS

Ben Cottam on 15 May 2023

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REVOLUTIONARY TERRAINS_ TOOLS

LOOKING AT ORDINARY THINGS WITH EXTRA-ORDINARY TOOLS

Dr Rachel Hurst, Dr Katica Pedisic, Dr Matthew Bird
UniSA Masters of Architecture Research Practices 2019

LOCATION
Murray Bridge Silos, Coonalpyn Institute, Coonalpyn Silos, Keith Garage, Keith Memorial Institute, Keith Silos, Bordertown Institute, Bordertown Town Clock, Bordertown Silos, Bordertown Bowling Club, Nhill Post Office, Warracknabeal Town Hall
Kaurna, Ngarrindjeri, Ngargad, Bindjali Bodaruwitj, Jupagalk, Wergaia, Jadawadjali, Jaadwa, Wotjobaluk

Revolutionary Terrains is a collaborative research workshop by UniSA Masters of Architecture students. It uses experimental ways of depicting Australian regional landscapes, architecture, and artifacts as a terrain of colonial ambition, imposition, and obsolescence.

Gathering photographic data on a group road trip across southeastern Australia, students selected recurrent typologies, the built evidence of both conscious and incidental colonization. From nine towns and Aboriginal lands, these 16 archetypal ‘monuments to the everyday’, such as post offices, courthouses, and silos, were reimagined as uncanny objects, rolling through – invading – the landscape.

Using hybrid analogue drawing and iPhone apps, individuals made multi-perspectival images of each edifice, layered simultaneously from origin, destination, and cosmic viewpoints. These depictions collapse traditional and contemporary representational tools but also the temporal stasis of conventional drawing. The basis for a final stage animation, the works connect the lineage of embodied hand-drawing to the currency of 21st-century virtual communication.

Watch animation

PROJECT LEADERS
Dr Rachel Hurst, Dr Matthew Bird

PROJECT PRODUCTION
Dr Katica Pedisic

PROJECT ASSISTANTS
Rupert Piccoli, Edward Ramsay

PROJECT INSTITUTION
University of South Australia