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Walgett disaster response & recovery project

Michelle Siwan has joined us for Term 3, 2024 to work on the Walgett disaster response & recovery project, which has recently received ethics approval. 

The Walgett Disaster Response and Recovery Project aims to inform the improvement of responses to, and recovery from, disasters in Walgett and other similar communities, centring the knowledge and expertise of Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs). The Walgett Aboriginal Medical Service (WAMS) and Dharriwaa Elders Group (DEG) in Walgett have been on the frontline of the consequences of poorly coordinated responses to disasters affecting their community, and have long advocated for better planning and resources for locally-led responses.

Youth drop-in hub for Aboriginal children & young people in Walgett

In Term 3, 2024 we hosted three Architecture and Interior Architecture students, Ines Aftalion, Stella Zhou and Serena Doppala. They were selected by the Dharriwaa Elders Group and supported by Yuwaya Ngarra-li Housing Project Manager Samantha Rich and the School of Built Environment’s Eva Lloyd, who has worked with the partnership for a number of years. 

The students worked to improve facilities for Aboriginal children and young people in Walgett. They visited Walgett in their mid-term break in October 2023 to see the site of their design, a wellbeing space for students at Walgett High School. They then presented their design to the Dharriwaa Elders Group. 

Quanyi Ye

Masters, Engineering, 2024

Quanyi collaborated with the Dharriwaa Elders Group (DEG) in Walgett to investigate the interactions between surface water and groundwater at culturally significant sites, including the Barwon River and Middle Creek. Quanyi used hydrogeological records and geochemical analysis of water currently at the sites, and her thesis established a framework of water geochemical signatures around Walgett, which can be used to map and quantify groundwater contributions to culturally significant surface water sites.

Quanyi was awarded ‘Best Digital Poster’ at the 2022 Australasian Groundwater Conference for her work. 

Samantha Rich

Master of Architecture, 2022

For her Master of Architecture project, Sam worked closely with the DEG to develop a model of Elders housing designed to meet community needs and priorities around connection to family, culture and Country. Sam drew on a previous qualitative research study that investigated the barriers and enablers to ageing well for Aboriginal people in Walgett, which found housing was an urgent unmet need. The housing precinct for Elders she has designed aims to provide culturally appropriate, affordable, safe, community-connected and Country-centric homes.

The NSW Architects Registration Board awarded Sam the 2023 Architect’s Medallion, given annually to a MArch graduate who has achieved distinction both in a particular subject area and generally throughout the course. She was also awarded the School of Built Environment Andrew Taylor Memorial Prize for an outstanding student whose work demonstrates sensitivity to project context, site and the Australian landscape, and was listed on the Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture Dean’s List for 2022.

Rachel Firmer

Honours in Environmental Engineering, 2020

The aim of Rachel’s honours project was to initiate work on one of the Dharriwaa Elders Group’s long-term goals to better understand and manage groundwater resources in and around Walgett. Surface water features (e.g. rivers, lakes, springs) and vegetation across the landscape are both environmentally and culturally significant, and understanding and documenting their connection to groundwater is the first step in ensuring their effective management and protection. This study investigated the likely role of groundwater in supporting vegetation and surface water in and around Walgett.

Angela Begg

Honours in Photovoltaics and Solar Energy Engineering, 2019

Angela's honours thesis included interviews with Aboriginal community members undertaken with the Dharriwaa Elders Group's Vanessa Hickey. The findings revealed the poor thermal comfort and performance of those homes and identified other issues, including:

• Thermal comfort impacts
• No insulation and very little thermal mass
• Maintenance of housing
• Large amount of dust in Walgett and how this impacts the way houses are operated
• Issues relating to water access
• Issues related to black soil and issues with the structural integrity of housing
• How well houses accommodate for culture and traditions
• Accommodation of houses to support visiting families and friends.

Aidan Alexander

Honours in Renewable Energy Engineering, 2016

Aidan's honours thesis involved observations of approximately twelve homes. While focusing on monitoring the energy use of existing homes, this thesis also found that the poor construction and design of the homes exacerbates problems relating to heating and cooling the home, including:

• Poor and inappropriate passive design that increases energy consumption
• Poor access to daylight due to shading windows to try to reduce temperature
• Air leakage that exacerbates the need for heating and cooling
• Insufficient insulation
• Single glazed aluminium windows and skylights without covers for hotter periods of the year
• Poor quality, poorly installed and ineffective air-conditioning
• Hot water units with no insulated piping, which when exposed to the sunlight and heat results in high heat loss.

Inara Walden

PhD, 2016

This research project was foundational in the development of the Yuwaya Ngarra-li Partnership.

Past Australian government policies have controlled, disenfranchised and infantilised Indigenous people, strongly contributing to their ongoing disadvantage and poverty. During Australia’s formal policy phase of self-determination, 1972 to 2004, Aboriginal people emphasised their fundamental desire to define and control their own priorities and destinies. This desire continues today, however the policy landscape is now more ambiguous than ever about the role of Aboriginal people in policy making.

This thesis makes a case study of processes taking place when a remote NSW Aboriginal community asserted its right to participate in policy planning and decision-making. The research focused on negotiations between the Aboriginal community and government as a particular policy was implemented. The study aimed to investigate the extent to which Aboriginal people desire and pursue participation in policy making, and whether this is valued and enabled by governments.The methodology is informed by grounded theory and Indigenous research methodologies. Data was collected primarily via semi-structured interviews with Aboriginal community representatives and government officers over a three year period, along with policy analysis and observational data. Reciprocity and relationship building were vital to sustaining the researcher’s collaboration with the community over time. Now enshrined in the Declaration of Indigenous Rights, participation is an emerging concept and site of debate within the scholarship and practice of Indigenous policy making. This thesis makes a timely contribution to that scholarship by applying concepts of participation developed through four decades of practice, critique and theorising in the sphere of international development. Debates about what constitutes participation are salient to analysis of everyday negotiations between Aboriginal people and governments.

The research reveals a strong drive and commitment from Aboriginal community representatives to participate as local decision-makers, and a range of imperatives that urge governments to strive to enable this. However structural and resource challenges undermined the level of Aboriginal involvement and quality of participation achieved. The study indicates that Aboriginal participation in policy decision-making may be essential to re-empower those affected by colonization, and enable Aboriginal agency in setting goals and aspirations to improve their own lives and livelihoods.