Understanding the rich culture of Miriwoong people
The first, immersive meeting with the Miriwoong people in the geographically isolated town of Kununurra, Western Australia proved to be the most important aspect of an award-winning primary school masterplan project, says design consultancy Ecoscape.
After winning the contract Ecoscape’s team made the 3000 + kilometre trip from Perth to the eastern extremity of the Kimberley to gain valuable insight into the rich culture of the local people. That visit allowed the team to “respect, visualise and laugh” with the St Joseph’s community as locals shared stories, ideas and experiences, says Nicole Croudace, managing director of Ecoscape. The bond developed during that time gave “meaning, connection and a way for the school to articulate its vision”.
The project was about finding opportunities to extend the learning environment outside guided design solutions to support outdoor learning hubs, while also celebrating Miriwoong story telling, dance and ceremony.
The project - the St Joseph’s Nature Play Masterplan - won the consultancy the AILA’s Landscape Architecture Award for Community Contribution this year. The jury noted it “exemplifies the role of the landscape architect in collaborative and culturally sensitive partnerships.
“Recognising the school was the future of the community, the design team consulted with major stakeholder groups including the Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring Language and Culture Centre and Waringarri Aboriginal Arts,” the jury’s citation read. “As a result, the final design is rich in its cultural connectivity.
“The masterplan builds on the existing school curriculum and fosters continued learning of the Miriwoong language – of which fewer than 20 fluent speakers remain – through outdoor classrooms, language posts and artworks. The contribution to the wider community is significant, building greater community involvement with St Joseph’s and the continued preservation of the culture and language of the Miriwoong people.”
Respecting culture and exploring country was paramount, it involved a number of sessions with past students, Traditional Owners and the Director of the MWLCC. Berrayinga Miriwoong Dawang yoowoorriyantha. This is our country, Miriwoong Country.
Miriwoong has been identified as a language that is critically endangered. The Mirima dawang Woorlab-gerring Language and Culture Centre (MWLCC), have recognised that the preservation and revitalisation of the language will enable Miriwoong people to reconnect with their heritage and ensure the culture of this country will live on.
St Joseph’s school has a 60% aboriginal student demographic with a total of 120 students from kindy to Year 6. With such a high percentage of indigenous students the school has embraced the language centre’s vision: “Together, we come to the place to keep Miriwoong alive by capturing, sharing and nurturing our language and culture. Together, we build a strong, proud and respectful community where our people have a sense of who they are and the land to which they belong.”
The current curriculum includes the integration of the Miriwoong Language Nest program, creating an immersive environment which exposes young children to new language experiences on a weekly basis.
Kununurra is a community of around 5000 people, and one that is very connected and supportive of the education of their youth. Croudace says the objective of her team’s visit was to engage with significant community contributors to the school.
This extensive consultative process provided the grounding and definition of values: to facilitate opportunities for the masterplan vision to integrate country and culture into not only their curriculum, but also their school setting.
Respecting culture and exploring country - which has a special meaning for Aboriginal people - was paramount, she said. Country to them takes in everything within the landscape - landforms, water, air, trees, rocks, plants, animals, foods, medicines, minerals, stories and special places.
The current school curriculum includes the integration of the Miriwoong Language Nest programme, which creates an immersive environment, exposing children to new language experiences on a weekly basis. This positive in-class approach to learning was explored as the key design driver; providing inspiration for pattern on country, seasonal calendar planting, artwork and materiality, says Croudace.
A number of opportunities to extend the learning environment outside guided design solutions to support outdoor learning hubs for a variety of group sizes as well as formalising a ceremonial place to support Catholic religion but also celebrate Miriwoong story telling, dance and ceremony.
The bush tucker planting areas.
Another key design idea was the reinvention of the outdoor food classroom as a Bush Tucker Garden. The bush tucker planting areas are proposed to have three separate plots of varying scale to cater to different ages and abilities as well as species requirements. The aim is to partner with the MWLCC to collect seed on country, propagate, grow and then learn how to traditionally use the plants either for eating or medicinal purposes.
Art is a crucial way of communicating and learning so the masterplan includes seasonal artworks aligned with the planting strategy, listening posts and language posts to record approved stories from past students and about country, and the inclusion of super graphics highlighting key words from the Miriwoong language as a connection to the current spelling that occurs on the pavement with chalk.
Creative and artistic outdoor spelling lessons is a crucial method to communicating and learning to keep Miriwoong alive by capturing, sharing and nurturing language and culture.
Sustainability and appreciation for country were strong themes identified in the consultation. The design rationales explore elements of the landscape and how the community engages with country for recreation as inspiration for the nature playground’s design. These ideas have been articulated using sustainably sourced materials from a local recycling centre and other gifted or donated materials to imbue a connectedness between the school and the broader region.
Design elements include a dry creek and boat, play structures to look out over the landscape, pavement treatments, a recycle station, translocation of a number of trees and the refurbishing of existing heritage play equipment. Consideration of the environment has informed material selection, potential for shade of play areas and the creation of creek beds to gather storm water runoff and address existing drainage issues.
Croudace says the combination of the nature playground spaces, the language nest programme and the potential new art and recycling programmes identified have defined a pathway for the school community to facilitate an amazing integration of culture and country within the school environment in an artistic and sustainable way.