Title
Design & Building on Country
Author
Alison Page
Secondary Authors
Paul Memmott
Illustrators
Blak Douglas
Publisher, Date
Thames & Hudson Australia, 2024
Audience
Primary, Secondary, Upper Primary
ISBN
9781760763565
Language
English
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Subjects
- Art techniques
- Australian Government policy
- Basket making
- Bush tucker
- Camping
- Ceremonies
- Colonisation
- Country
- Culture
- Dreaming
- Environmental protection
- Family
- Fishing
- Hunting and gathering
- Indigenous knowledge
- Land management
- Plants
- Recycling
- Relationship to place
- Science
- Social life and customs
- Songlines
- Tool making
- Visual literacy
- Wild foods
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Annotation
This is a book overflowing with information about Australia’s First Nations, their Culture and the very deep connection to Country and the understanding that there is no separation between people and Country. It is part of an endless flow of life and ideas that has no beginning or ending and is known as the Dreaming.
‘Design & Building on Country’ provides an excellent explanation of these cultural foundations particularly the importance of Country. All things, all knowledge have come from Country, and it is important to know and respect your Country and the Elders, the holders, and teachers of this knowledge. This translates into Songlines, oral stories, painting, music, or dance that contain everything needed to survive.
Country is part of everything that is made on and used on Country and this understanding is woven through the book’s descriptions of tools and structures.
The book is divided into nine chapters with information provided in bite-sized pieces and interspersed with examples and stories that enables readers to see how design and building can take many different forms. The illustrations by Blak Douglas are brightly coloured and work cleverly with the book’s design making the information inviting and easily accessible.
This is a celebration of Australia’s First Nations people, the world’s oldest continuous culture, and the book provides an opportunity to learn from their knowledge, history, and truth-telling about the past. Included at the back of the book is a list of 14 ‘important words and concepts’ plus an index.
Alison Page is a descendant of the Walbanga and Wadi Wadi people of the Dharawal and Yuin Nations and is an Associate Dean (Indigenous) in the Design, Architecture and Building Faculty at the University of Technology Sydney.
Professor Paul Memmott AO is an anthropologist and architect. He founded the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre at the University of Queensland where he has been director for several decades.
Blak Douglas is proud of his Dhungutti Aboriginal origins and has won a number of awards including the 2022 Archibald Prize. His works are held by a number of major galleries both in Australia and overseas.
Shortlisted CBCA 2025 Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
Series title: First Knowledges series for younger readers
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Teaching Resources
- Scholastic Teaching notes for ‘Design & Building on Country’ First Knowledges for younger readers series https://resource.scholastic.com.au/ResourceFiles/100135572_124570.pdf
- Kids’ Book Review 4 October 2024. Sarah Steed reviews ‘Design & Building on Country’ by Alison Page & Paul Memmott http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2024/10/review-design-building-on-country.html
- Story Links 27 September 2024. Mia Macrossan reviews ‘Design & Building on Country’ https://storylinks.booklinks.org.au/2024/09/27/design-building-on-country-first-knowledges-for-younger-readers/
- Landscape Australia 16 July 2021 Review of ‘Design: Building on Country’ by Alison Page and Paul Memmott (this is a review of the original adult version published in 2021) https://landscapeaustralia.com/articles/design-building-on-country/