2.1 Connecting with Country

Thousands of generations of Wangal and Gadigal have lived in, flourished on and cared for the area now known as the Inner West Local Government Area. Their deep and enduring relationships with Wangal and Gadigal Countries enabled a rich, cultural, environmental and physical knowledge of place, of Country. These relationships still exist, despite the impacts of colonisation and many changes to their Countries.

In 2023, the NSW Government published the Connecting With Country Framework (the Framework) to provide guidance on how to learn about and respond to Aboriginal knowledge and understanding of Country in the planning, design and delivery of contemporary built environment projects in NSW. The Framework draws on the experiences and stories of Aboriginal communities, cultural advisors and built environment professionals to help integrate traditional knowledges into the planning and design of our cities, towns, precincts, public places and significant buildings.

The introduction to the Framework describes the benefits of Connecting with Country as follows:

From green building practices and energy efficient technologies to regenerative landscapes, Aboriginal communities can lead the way in transforming the built environment to promote sustainability, resilience and community health. Their cultural practices reflect a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of all living things, and a commitment to building a more equitable world for generations to come.

Meeting the challenges posed by climate change, pressures on housing supply and civic infrastructure, the need for accessible, high quality and versatile parks and open spaces, cultural places and health and education facilities, can all benefit from an understanding of Country.

The Framework describes 'Country' as follows:

Country encompasses everything. It includes both living and non-living elements. It holds everything within the landscape, including Earth, Water and Sky Country, as well as people, animals, plants, and the stories that connect them.

Country integrates tangible elements (all you can see and know) and intangible aspects (all that is not seen and unknowable). Aboriginal cultures and peoples belong to and originate from Country. Deep history wisdom along with contemporary understandings of places start with Country. Country holds all in interconnected networks, in which balance is achieved through caring for Country. Colonisation cannot remove or delete Country or Aboriginal Peoples' relationships to Country. Built environment projects have obligations to not cause harm to and improve the health and wellbeing of Country through their processes and outcomes.

Caring for Country, as outlined by the Framework, is a cultural obligation that Aboriginal People undertake with a deep sense of responsibility, ownership and stewardship. Caring for Country includes caring for the wellbeing of Country's interconnected systems now and for the future. The term 'Caring for Country' is associated with a complex web of Aboriginal shared authority and management, and therefore we need to ensure we do not misappropriate it.

Reciprocity is critical to achieve mutually beneficial relationships between project and Country. If built environment projects can help Aboriginal People to fulfil their obligation and responsibility to care for Country, then Country will care for us all.

Five key Outcomes for Country are outlined by the Framework:

• Healthy Country: Healthy, interconnected natural ecosystems, supported by regenerative practices based on Aboriginal knowledge.
• Healthy Community: Provide opportunities for employment and capacity building within the Aboriginal community, and support Aboriginal communities' connection to their cultural identity, which supports positive health and wellbeing.
• Protecting Aboriginal Cultural Heritage: Ensuring Aboriginal cultural heritage is protected in the built environment, both through the design and development of projects, and by acknowledging and respecting the rights of Aboriginal people and community over their cultural intellectual property.
• Cultural competency: Implementing the Connecting with Country Framework through built environment projects provides educational opportunities for project teams, clients, and the public, to develop a deeper cultural awareness and respect for Aboriginal people and culture.
• Better Places: Adopting a Country-centred approach creates better places, informs sustainable designs, integrates with the broader landscape to form place-based design responses, and promotes strong community engagement to create welcoming and accessible places.

Projects in the built environment have responsibilities to Country, including to do no further harm to the health and wellbeing of Country; reinstating original ecologies and systems; integrating sustainable materials and construction methodologies; including First Nations Peoples as participants in significant projects to the community; creating welcoming and accessible spaces and place; and ensuring inclusive and fair procurement and post-construction occupation.

The Framework uses several key terms that are used in built environment projects. These have been further defined by the Australian Institute of Architect's First Nations Advisory Committee:

Country Centred Design

Country Centred Design is a design methodology of First Nations Peoples. Country Centred Design integrates relationships, as well as tangible and intangible aspects of Country, in design outcomes. Country Centred Design is a process that enables deep history understandings, care for Country, stewardship activities, kinship, culture and cultural practices, spiritual and Indigenous ways of knowing to be integrated into the design process.

Designing with Country

Designing with Country is integrating the process of design holistically with Country through genuine First Nations' design methodologies, processes and perspectives. To be able to Design with Country you must be of Country. Designing with Country must be First Nations led. It is an approach to design that centres Country informed by First Nations knowledge systems, cultures and ways of being. Designing with Country requires designs to originate and find inspiration from First Nations' design thinking and the connection to the story, spirit, Ancestral memory, ecology and energy of Country as understood by local communities.

Built environment projects have an obligation to move from business-as-usual to a more inclusive and equitable approach in which understandings shared by Aboriginal Peoples about Country are integrated into the process and outcomes of the project. Adopting a Country Centred Design approach provides benefits of healthier environments and more inclusive communities. Creating more welcoming and accessible places – as advocated for by the Framework – produces more sustainable communities and better places for all. Inner West Council commits to the principles outlined by resources such as the Connecting with Country Framework to ensure projects in the Inner West on Wangal and Gadigal lands are culturally and Country responsive.