The Kinchela Boys Home project seeks to make legible the devastating and ongoing impact of Stolen Generations policies on the Aboriginal community.

The knowledge holders of this site are the KBH Survivors – the ‘KBH Uncles’. This project is their story and their journey of healing. Too often survivors are placed within the typical processes and hierarchy employed to deliver projects, inherently colonial. They become ‘Stakeholders’ – to be consulted, but not in control.

The ‘KBH Fig Tree’, on the KBH site, was a place where trauma and abuse occurred. Today the Survivors stand at this site and explain that the tree is a living embodiment of their journey. This sense of ownership exists because the Uncles are in control. Just like the powerful roots of this tree that mirror the cantilevering branches above, on a fundamental, structural level, the form of the KBH project is shaped and governed by the Uncles. It moves with them, is guided by them. We as architects must come to see that just like this incredible tree, the Uncles, with the right support, will grow to meet their needs in a way no one could design.