Remembering Country: how ADA is embedding First Nations Knowledge in Built Environment education

A transformative approach to design education is reshaping how students at UNSW’s School of Built Environment understand and relate to Country. Through the ‘Remembering Country’ methodology, students and staff are engaging deeply with First Nations Knowledge, belonging, and care for all life, earning national recognition through the Deans and Directors of Creative Arts (DDCA) ‘Creative Teaching  Award’. In ‘Remembering Country’ Dharug Dharawal Country is recognised as the course convenor and so is the ultimate recipient of the award.

Associate Professor Bernadette B. Hardy, a Dharug and Gamilaraay Custodian, explains: “Remembering Country is not a curriculum innovation, it is a cultural transformation. It reshapes how we teach, learn and share Country. Remembering Country is a methodology, developed through my forthcoming PhD and shared with UNSW staff and students, calling us into a sense of belonging through design.”

Remembering Country takes place within the honours programs of the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (LAND), now in its 51st year, and the Bachelor of Interior Architecture (INTA), in its 31st.

Despite the school’s proximity to Kamay, the site of first contact, it is only recently that First Nations leadership and Knowledge have been embedded into the curriculum.

“‘Remembering Country’ as a methodology grounded in place, signifies much more than the common meaning or heritage of a nation or state. It represents a deep connection to the world’s oldest continuous living culture being remembered through spatial design,” says Hardy.

Grounded in cultural protocols, ‘Remembering Country’ prioritises time, listening, patience, and grassroots dialogue. It invites students to walk, story, and care for Country, shifting design from an extractive process to one of reciprocity and kinship.

“Design shifts from an extractive process to one grounded in care, kinship, and responsibility,” Hardy says.

How does it work?

Students begin their journey with Warami (also known as Warimi), which is a Dharug protocol of introducing themselves to Country. And the course always ends with Walama, meaning to come back and share reciprocity through design. Through this shared process, Country becomes understood not as a site or place, but as a living entity rich in knowledge and Lore.

“Country is where physical and spiritual worlds interweave, creating a shared sense of connection and belonging for all beings on the planet,” explains Hardy.

One student reflected on the experience: “Being able to unlearn and relearn what Country means was an amazing experience.”

Remembering Country is multi-model in its delivery and includes:

1) Walking and sensing Country – to form a personal relationship with Country beyond Cartesian notions of ‘site’.

 2) Storying Country – through canvas and journaling, shifting focus from output to process and relationship-building with Country.

 3) Commitment to Country – written love letters and reciprocity statements of care for Country hold oneself accountable.

4) Caring for Country – moving toward active healing and repair, in the course and beyond.

“In LAND Graduation Studio and first-year Landscape Analysis courses, students actively map relationships between keynote fauna and flora species, connecting soils, geology, water bodies, and microclimates to restore ecologies,” says Sara Padgett Kjaersgaard, Discipline Director Landscape Architecture.

 “In INTA Graduation Studio, students explore the adaptive reuse of White Bay Power Station, for human and more-than-human kin,” says Eva Lloyd, Senior Lecturer Interior Architecture.

Interdisciplinary approaches

Along with Hardy’s ‘Remembering Country’ method, researchers Dr Sara Padgett Kjaersgaard, Eva Lloyd, Sing d'Arcy bring interdisciplinary approaches to foster culturally safe environments where multi-generational storytelling and ecological restoration are central to design practice.

The team’s work has created accessible bridges between culturally diverse students, staff, and communities, fostering a shared commitment to care, belonging, and cultural capability.

“The School of Built Environment is becoming a living laboratory for truth-telling, healing, and designing with ecologies of love through design,” says Hardy.

This cultural transformation is iterative and continues to inspire new ways of learning, designing, and living with Country—led by community, care, and reciprocity.

“Importantly, we demonstrated Walama by donating the money we received from the DDCA Awards to the Dharug Community Initiative,” says Hardy.

This contribution supports:

·       Dharug women sustaining families and continuing storying by operating Koorabung as a contemporary nawi (canoe), strengthening women’s water knowledges.

·       Training and employment of Dharug and other Indigenous people to run, maintain, and operate the boat and associated programs in a sustainable way.

·       Developing river-centred caring for Country programs for schools, colleges, universities, tourists, government agencies and corporations.

Find out about the School of Built Environment.