Colonialism to Country: Truth Telling through Architecture with Professor Braden Hill
Image courtesy of Property Council WA
Recently, we were lucky to host a Friday evening power talk with Professor Braden Hill, titled Colonialism to Country: Truth Telling through Architecture.
Professor Braden Hill is a Noongar Wardandi man from the southwest of Western Australia and currently serves as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students, Equity and Indigenous) at Edith Cowan University (ECU). In recent years, he has focused on the new ECU City Campus, where he has played a key role in integrating Noongar and broader Indigenous narratives into the architecture and life of the campus.
Drawing from his project insights and personal experiences, Braden's talk covered a tonne of important ground. He emphasised the importance of always remembering that you are on Country, wherever you are in Australia, and highlighted the need to involve Indigenous leaders in projects from the earliest stages. He also stressed the responsibility of everyone involved – including clients, architects, and landscape architects – to carry out thorough research into the histories of a site and the people connected to it. Underpinning all of this was Braden’s call for us all to be open to learning and becoming more comfortable with the discomfort that can arise in these necessary conversations.
Some other key takeaways were nicely summed up by Richard Kendall, one of the talk’s attendees:
Don't ask for guidance from Indigenous colleagues without having done your prior research. Put some bloody effort in. There is no magic website.
Surfacing stories about individuals otherwise lost to history is important.
If you're sharing a decision-making table, don't allow others to leave the table for a smaller more exclusive table where the 'real decisions' are made.
A huge thank you to Braden for all that you shared. And thanks to everyone who joined.
