Camps, cottages, and homes

A brief history of Indigenous housing in Queensland

By Heidi Hynd

Four people sitting in front of a grass house on a beach in front of palm trees. The photograph is old and is in black and white.

Image: Queensland State Archives

Image: Queensland State Archives

School of Architecture & Anthropology Museum exhibition launch

On Friday 19 August, UQ officially opened “Camps, cottages, and homes: A brief history of Indigenous housing in Queensland”, a collaboration between the School of Architecture and UQ Anthropology Museum. More than 90 guests were welcomed by the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Heather Zwicker, Associate Dean (Indigenous Engagement) Sandra Phillips and guest speaker, Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Architecture, Alexander Ackfun.

Alexander Ackfun, Sandra Phillips and Heather Zwicker welcomed guests to the exhibition.

The exhibition draws on 50 years of housing research and longstanding connections to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities, initiated by Professor Paul Memmott and Dr Tim O'Rourke from the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre and School of Architecture respectively.

Exhibition contributors Dr Timothy O'Rourke, Museum Curator Mandana Mapar, and Professor Paul Memmott of the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre.

The first exhibition of its kind, the Indigenous housing exhibition seeks to engage a wide audience, including in industry, government, academia and the larger community to encounter the untold histories of Indigenous people and places through an architectural lens.

Three people standing in front of two framed architectural drawings at a museum exhibition.

Alexander Ackfun, Sandra Phillips and Heather Zwicker welcomed guests to the exhibition.

Alexander Ackfun, Sandra Phillips and Heather Zwicker welcomed guests to the exhibition.

Three people standing behind a model house at a museum exhibition

Exhibition contributors Dr Timothy O'Rourke, Museum Curator Mandana Mapar, and Professor Paul Memmott of the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre.

Exhibition contributors Dr Timothy O'Rourke, Museum Curator Mandana Mapar, and Professor Paul Memmott of the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre.

A map drawn in charcoal on discoloured white paper depicting an area of Cloncurry, Queensland

Gordon Hookey ‘Up the hill, over the Coppermine Creek, in Cloncurry’, 2022. Charcoal drawing on paper. Image: Gordon Hookey and Milani Gallery

Four charcoal images of the front, end, floor plan, and exterior of a three-room house

Gordon Hookey ‘My childhood home’, 2022. Charcoal drawing on paper. Image: Gordon Hookey and Milani Gallery

A map drawn in charcoal on discoloured white paper depicting an area of Cloncurry, Queensland

Gordon Hookey ‘Up the hill, over the Coppermine Creek, in Cloncurry’, 2022. Charcoal drawing on paper. Image: Gordon Hookey and Milani Gallery

Four charcoal images of the front, end, floor plan, and exterior of a three-room house

Gordon Hookey ‘My childhood home’, 2022. Charcoal drawing on paper. Image: Gordon Hookey and Milani Gallery
Two men standing in front of a framed architectural drawing at a museum exhibition.

Anthropology Museum Director Michael Aird with artist Gordon Hookey.

Anthropology Museum Director Michael Aird with artist Gordon Hookey.

Two Indigenous men standing in front of photographs of houses at a museum exhibition.

Community representatives Teddy Moon and Lawrence Burke from Mornington Island

Community representatives Teddy Moon and Lawrence Burke from Mornington Island

These remarkable stories of resistance and adaptation to the new political and physical environments are recounted in this exhibition through collections of interviews, archives, photo essays and newly commissioned artworks by renowned artist Gordon Hookey.

Anthropology Museum Director Michael Aird with artist Gordon Hookey.

Communities featured include Aurukun, Acacia Ridge, Birdsville, Boulia, Cairns, Cape Bedford, Cherbourg, Cloncurry, Coopers Plains, Dajarra, Darnley Island, Dunwich, Ipswich, Inala, Mapoon, Mornington Island, Myora, Mt Isa, Normanton, Palm Island, Torres Strait Islands, Urandangi, Weipa, Woorabinda, Yarrabah and Zillmere.

Community representatives Teddy Moon and Lawrence Burke from Mornington Island

Director of the Anthropology Museum, Michael Aird, and Museum Curator, Mandana Mapar, carefully incorporated artefacts from private Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family collections throughout Queensland, as well as the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre, Queensland State Archives, the State Library of Queensland, National Archives of Australia, and The University of Queensland's Fryer Library.

A house in stilts surrounded by small trees and a wooden fence. The ground is dry and covered in sand and dirt.

Yam Island, Torres Straight, 1980. Image: National Archives of Australia

An Indigenous woman and three Indigenous children standing on the balcony of a small cottage on stilts.

Mary, Naomi, Waverley and Grace Stanley, Murgon, Queensland 1973. Cherbourg prefab house Perkins Street, Murgon. Image: National Archives of Australia 

A house in stilts surrounded by small trees and a wooden fence. The ground is dry and covered in sand and dirt.

Yam Island, Torres Straight, 1980. Image: National Archives of Australia

An Indigenous woman and three Indigenous children standing on the balcony of a small cottage on stilts.

Mary, Naomi, Waverley and Grace Stanley, Murgon, Queensland 1973. Cherbourg prefab house Perkins Street, Murgon. Image: National Archives of Australia 

In addition to the educational benefit for UQ, the architecture industry and broader community, this exhibition hopes to encourage additional scholarly research on Indigenous housing and establish a novel platform for architectural advocacy to improve the design of housing in Queensland and beyond.

Come and experience Camps, cottages and homes for yourself until October 28. Entry is FREE!

Open Monday – Friday, 11am – 3pm
Level 1, Michie Building (9)
The University of Queensland
St Lucia, Brisbane

More details are available here.

Text reading 'This exhibition has been generously supported by donations from'. Logos of the Australian Institute of Architects, BlightRayner, Conrad Gargett, Deicke Richards, Guymer Bailey Architects, JDA Co., PAWA Architecture, People Oriented Design, Populous, Robinson Architects, Sparks Architects, Thomson Adsett, Queensland State Archives, and The University of Queensland Fryer Library

Acknowledgment of Country

The University of Queensland (UQ) acknowledges the
Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands
on which UQ operates. We pay our respects to their Ancestors
and their descendants, who continue cultural and spiritual connections to Country. We recognise their valuable
contributions to Australian and global society.

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