Country Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung

Role Aboriginal Engagement Lead (Design)

Design Team BKK Architects, SMEC

Client MRPA (Fulton Hogan + LXRA)

Year 2024

Kaylee partnered with Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Elders to integrate cultural wisdom through the project from inception to completion. She facilitated engagement, developed place-specific cultural values mapping, and provided design advice to uphold cultural integrity. Working alongside design teams, she built capacity to embed cultural wisdom into the bones of the project, ensuring Elders' voices and cultural direction guided design decisions. She coordinated specialist input, including Museums Victoria's palaeontologist for the Diprotodon footprints.

Co-Design Outcomes

Guided by Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Elders, the project delivered a public gathering space with welcome markers featuring "Wominjeka" in Woi-wurrung language and rammed earth benches. A gathering symbol is etched into the space. Footprints of the extinct Diprotodon optatum and the critically endangered plains-wanderer link deep history to present ecology. The pedestrian path's switchback design draws its colours from the surrounding grasslands. Historical markers and information panels tell Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung history of the Victorian Volcanic Plains, inviting visitors to learn about culture and Country. Over 100,000 native plants, trees and grasses were planted to restore the landscape, honouring Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung connection to their unceded lands.