Shaped by community, grounded in Country and designed to support culture, wellbeing and reconciliation, the Whittlesea Aboriginal Gathering Place provides a culturally safe and inclusive place for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to connect, gather and share knowledge.
The project sits on a horseshoe-shaped ridge within bunjil nganga Parkland, a traditional meeting place of the Wurundjeri Willam patriline of the Wurundjeri Balug clan, Woi-wurrung language group, Kulin nation.
Taking an existing schematic design, we worked to create a gathering place that gives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a culturally safe, inclusive space to connect. Storylines of Bunjil, Pallian and Waa inform the architecture and are interpreted through landscape, watercourses, terrain and sky. Timber and texture unify two pavilion buildings, connecting the interior spaces with the landscape and with outdoor yarning and welcoming circles.
The project was developed in close collaboration with the Whittlesea Aboriginal Gathering Place Advisory Group, made up of local Aboriginal community members and Traditional Owners, together with the Whittlesea Reconciliation Group and the City of Whittlesea. This sustained collaboration informed the design in detail, creating an enduring community place for cultural connection, storytelling, art, music, language and shared experience.
Read more about the Whittlesea Aboriginal Gathering Place and our work with Country and place. Photography by Fergus Floyd.
