Being Wiradjuri Together: Co-Designing Self-Determination

Background: This research spans several years undertaken with Wiradjuri Nation citizens and design, media and arts scholars. This follows prominent Indigenous scholars (Behrendt 2003; Moreton-Robinson 2015) that argues that Indigenous sovereignty is foundational to all relationships in Australia, by respecting Indigenous laws, land, languages and cultural practices that have existed long prior to colonisation. RMIT team led the co-design with Wiradjuri Nation citizens, giving visibility to Wiradjuri stories as a celebration of self-determination. Contribution: The co-design process led to the production of a portfolio of outcomes that included print media, video footage of events, multi-platform social media campaigns, a web-based digital platform and methodological description of co-designing community-led events. The co-design process supports Wiradjuri sovereigns to self-determine, renew cultural practices and express being Wiradjuri. The research contribution is significant for Indigenous self-determination, catalyse Treaty discussions, and for design research and practice, to demonstrate how to participate in co-designing Australia’s shared futures together. Given strong critiques that design and digital media are implicated in perpetuating impacts of colonisation (see Decolonising Design by Schultz et al, 2018 and Designs for the Pluriverse by Escobar 2018), this body of work is pioneering by modelling how Indigenous sovereign relationships is, and can be, central to the design process and outcome, generating new knowledge in the fields of design and digital media. Significance: This real-world excellence was recognised as Social Impact Winner in the GDA2018, Australia’s longest and most prestigious acclaim of national and international achievements in design. This body of work sits alongside impactful peer-reviewed publications (Akama et al 2017; Akama et al 2016; Tye et al 2020), generated through an ARC Linkage on Indigenous Nation Building (2014-2017).