Museum of Sydney

2018

In collaboration with Shannon Foster, a D’harawal Saltwater Knowledge Keeper, and Sydney Living Museums, this modest intervention is designed for an under-utilised archive room in the Museum of Sydney to provide teaching spaces for school aged children.

The simple addition of a circular custom made carpet replicates the act of sitting around a fire pit without in a circle, without hierarchy. A space for all to share stories of and knowledge of the local indigenous history.

An installation of the night sky overhead provides a mechanism to link the stories with the original indigenous constellations, the lights programmed to illuminate each key arrangement.

The teaching spaces extend onto the Museum of Sydney upper forecourt where indigenous planting was planted in repurposed pots with explanatory signage, re-introducing the now lost local flora.

Through a few simple modifications and additions, this unique and critical teaching space has been created in the heart of the city of Sydney.