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There’s a lot that can happen with the Indigenous communities all around, not just Brisbane but Australia, and we’ve got so many mobs around Brisbane. We’ve got the Jagara; we’ve got the Turrbal people; we’ve got the different mobs that are in the Quandamooka that I think can get really excited about what’s going to happen for the Olympics.
But I think that excitement’s only going to happen if we’re actually working with the Aboriginal communities appropriately. We’re not just bringing the Olympics to them, but we’re having them be a part of the Olympics, have a say in the Olympics and not only showcase Brisbane, but we can showcase the fact that Brisbane has been land here for thousands of years and there have been people catering to that land for thousands of years. I think it’s a really awesome place to set a stage not just for Brisbane but for the traditional owners of Brisbane to go: “Hey we’re here, we’re living it”. This is what we can bring not just to Australia but to the world.
I think from a designing point of view we need to make sure that we’re not just bringing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to the table but we’re also getting everyone off the table. We’re coming to Aboriginal people to discuss what should this look like and then listening to what their ways of seeing are; their ways of being and doing; and how we can incorporate that.
There’s a term people use which is ‘designing for country’ and everywhere we go in Australia we are on country in one way or another, and we could really use this as an opportunity to design on country, for country with Aboriginal people.
When Aboriginal people think about Australia we have connections to land everywhere. We have connections to land; we have connections to the water.
Three dimensionally, we think about songlines. Songlines tell us stories of the land and they tell us stories of where we’re going, where we’ve been, and what to do next and I think we can use the same thing. We can tell stories with what we’re going to build, with what we’re going to develop, and I think Aboriginal people can be incorporated for that because not only have there been stories in Brisbane for thousands of years told orally through songlines, told through dance, told through culture, but we can tell new stories.
Aboriginal people can be a part of that telling of new stories and one day that will be a legacy and a culture that Aboriginal people have left, not just throughout the thousands of years that they’ve been here, but a new culture and a story that they can leave with the Olympics coming.
Aurecon is not a sponsor of the Australian Olympic Committee Incorporated, the International Olympic Committee, any Summer or Winter Olympic Games, the organising committee for any Summer or Winter Olympic Games, an Australian Olympic team, a section of an Australian Olympic team, or an individual member of an Australian Olympic team. This material is not intended to suggest that Aurecon has any formal association with, or has provided any sponsorship or sponsorship-like support for, any of these parties.
People Movement & Place Practice Leader – VIC & SA, Australia
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