For more than seven years, the Australian Government, in collaboration with indigenous and remote communities, has been working to build “Yutjuwala Djwarr Aged Care”—the first of three new facilities that aim to “close the gap” in Traditional Owners’ aged care.
Designed by Kautniz Yueng Architecture, the timber-rich 36-bedroom complex translates to “Little Heaven,” according to project Cultural Advisor Robyn Munungurr. It is a special place where clients spend their final time on earth before heading to “Big Heaven in the sky.”
Clad in a mixture of Colourbond and Darwin Stringybark – milled locally by the Gumatj Corporation (Aboriginal-owned and operated) – where 20 linear metres of timber was salvaged from a local mine during land clearing.
According to David Kauntiz, founder of Kautniz Yueng Architecture, the project took more than three years to design, with the location of the facility in Nhulunbuy on Yolnu County in North East Arnhem Land, more than 1,000 km from Darwin (primarily dirt) road.
“The road is cut off six months of the year by wet season flooding, leaving the only access to Nhulunby via a 1-hour flight from Darwin or a two-day barge for materials from Darwin,” Mr Kauntiz said in a case study displayed on the Kautniz Yueng Architecture website.
East Arnhem Land covers more than 97,000 square kilometres. The Yolnu people are amongst the most traditional people, with a special connection to the Country and culture—the first aged care facility was ever delivered to Yolnu clans.
“This was a project that Yolnu people had been advocating for over 20 years to stop Elders having to leave Country for care and inevitably passing away off Country,” Mr Kauntiz said, adding that “the relocation of Elders has an enormous impact on the continuity of culture and community cohesion.”
“When Yolnu Elders pass away not on their Country, it has serious ramifications for spirituality and cultural continuity…It is hugely disrespectful for this to occur.”
“Addressing this dislocation is also important in the efforts to ‘Close the Gap’ between First Nations Australians and broader society.”
As a result, the design team—in collaboration with prospective residents, Yolnu Elders, families, and organisations—has created a new model for aged care that complies with Australian Government legislation.
“Yutjuwala Djwarr walks in ‘Two Worlds,'” according to Mr Kauntiz, “it is a purposeful embodiment of an approach which seeks to unite the ancient knowledge and experience of Yolnu culture with the requirements and technology of contemporary Australia.”
“A prime example was to arrange rooms like palm fronds, separated by gardens and deep verandas,” which is not a conventional arrangement, “it results in longer trade distances and outward bound rooms, where the twin rooms are divided into two single rooms.”
“However, this approach enabled cross-ventilation, natural light, multiple outdoor spaces, and visual connection to the Country in multiple directions, deep verandas for outdoor sleeping for visitors and residents in any weather, and direct access to indoor communal spaces without corridors while complying with legislation.”
The facility, delivered by the Australian Regional and Remote Community Services (ARRCS), came as the Albanese Government announced last week that 2,700 new houses would be built in remote indigenous communities over the next decade.
It comes after Wood Central reported that a new report commissioned by the Forest Wood Products Association, with support from the Queensland and Northern Territory governments, confirmed that Northern Australia’s forest products industry could triple to $300m with more significant support for indigenous-led forestry.
It found that East Arnhem Land has at least 3 million hectares of “globally important biodiversity and ecosystem potential” that is “suitable for commercial wood production.”
For the University of Sunshine Coast’s Adjunct Professor Mark Annandale, the project demonstrates the potential for timber and non-timber-based forest products, including payment for ecosystem services that could underpin Indigenous-led commercial forestry in the region.
“The project successfully raised regional stakeholder awareness of sustainable native forestry and created expanded interest in this industry and its potential to support Indigenous livelihoods and regional development,” Associate Professor Annandale said.
“This project has generated significant momentum further to advance Indigenous-led community forestry development in East Arnhem.”
To unlock the industry’s “full potential,” it must now work with the Birany Birany community and the Gumatj Corporation—which supplied the timber for the Yutjuwala Djwarr Aged Care Centre—to test the commercial viability of Indigenous community forestry in the region.
- To learn more about the Yutjuwala Djwarr Aged Care Centre, visit Kautniz Yueng Architecture’s website.