An official commitment in January this year by the Australian Government was to fund an Aboriginal Cultural Precinct in Canberra has led the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (AIATSIS) to open Stage 1 of an architectural design competition for the project.
According to the planners, the $316.5 million project of the Ngurra Cultural Precinct is to be built in Commonwealth Place where it will be divided into two principal Australian cultural institutions.
The two elements will be:
1. A National Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Centre which will expand the facilities for AIATSIS to empower and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples so they can tell their own stories and celebrate the 65,000-year history of this nation”.
2. A National Resting Place to house and care for repatriated limited provenance ancestral remains and any associated cultural material on their journey back to Country.
“The Ngurra Cultural Precinct will sit on Country that is home to the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people who have lived for thousands of years amid a landscape of limestone plains, mountains, wetlands and streams.
“The word ‘ngurra’ appears in many different Aboriginal languages around Australia and means ‘home’, ‘country’ or ‘place of belonging’.”
The precinct is to join the existing institutions within the National Triangle – including the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, National Library of Australia, Questacon, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery of Australia, and the High Court of Australia.
Chairperson for the AIATSIS Council, Jodie Sizer said that for these reasons the winning design must speak to multiple audiences.
“The word ‘ngurra’ appears in many different Aboriginal languages around Australia and means ‘home’, ‘country’ or ‘place of belonging’, Ms Sizer said.
The precinct will join the existing institutions within the National Triangle – including the Tent Embassy, National Library of Australia, Questacon, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery of Australia, and the High Court of Australia.
AIATSIS Council Chairperson Jodie Sizer said that for these reasons the winning design must speak to multiple audiences.
Ms Sizer said that for Stage 1 of the competition, AIATSIS was pleased to invite eligible Australian design professionals to provide an expression of interest (EOI) to participate further in the Ngurra Cultural Precinct architectural design competition,’ said Ms Sizer.
AIATSIS Chief Executive Craig Ritchie said there was currently no facility in Australia that provides and delivers the functions in a consolidated and centralised form such as those proposed of the Ngurra Cultural Precinct.
“While respectful of the past, a central goal of the Ngurra Cultural Precinct is to look forward,” Mr Ritchie said.
