In the Dreaming when the earth was soft, the land was occupied by Ancestral beings. They were part animal, plant and human and they travelled up through the earth and across it, shaping the land and leaving behind them tracks of knowledges. This created a network of connected sites and totemic relationships between plants, animals and people, that clan groups had responsibilities to care for.
This created a purposeful and clear understanding of the cultural landscape that allowed for the effective management of the environment and the communities living there. These stories were spoken, sung, danced and painted on bodies and etched in objects and reinforced through ceremony and lore. In this worldview there is no separation between art, design, science and the environment.
There is a new awakening fuelled by ecological necessity to redesign our future and the relationship that we as people have with nature and each other. We can design our built environments to be a part of the managed landscapes that formed the basis of First Nations ecology since time immemorial. Our objects, interiors and places can be an extension of the Songlines that crisscross this country in every direction and are a web of knowledge embedded inour everyday lives.
This New Australian Design, which started over 65,000 years ago will improve the wellbeing of people and create places that ultimately mean more to all of us. It will extend Country, not abrogate it, and it should be created with that in mind – because we are all connected to Country.