Designing Place: An archaeology of the Western District

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: Harriet Edquist was one of three editors of Designing Place: An archaeology of the Western District. Edquist also wrote a substantial scholarly essay in the book: 'Stony Rises: The Formation of a Cultural Landscape' pp. 62-78. The project made a significant contribution to critical, creative and historical understandings of the complexity of place making. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: The editorial team, of which Edquist was a member, designed a text that embraces this complexity through its selection of contributors who together provided a multi-disciplinary reading of the culturally rich, geologically remarkable and politically contested Western District of Victoria. They included indigenous and non-indigenous theorists and practitioners from the sciences, humanities, the arts and design and their contributions reflected their varying practices. In addition, the book's designer was an important factor in the success of the published artefact, adding a significant layer of interpretation to the assembled contributions, and the quality of the book's design has been noted by many. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: Designing Place has been reviewed in academic and popular contexts such as Landscape Architecture Australia, regional ABC Radio and by academic peers who have commended it for providing a groundbreaking model for our understanding cultural landscapes.