Town Planning for Aboriginal Culture (1997)

Working to the Broome Shire Council and the Rubibi Aboriginal Land Culture and Development Working Group, Ian Brashaw engaged Traditional Owners through an extensive process to identify future land uses for the Broome Peninsula. Specifically uses that recognised Aboriginal heritage and cultural needs. Integral in the process was Ian’s leaning about the meaning of Country leading to the development of a mutual trust, which endeavoured to translate the Traditional Owners’ desires into strategic planning directions for the Peninsula. Funded by the Federal Local Government Development Programme, the strategic plan was submitted to the Local Authority as an input to the Broome Town Planning Scheme Review.

Significantly, an outcome of the study was the creation of Environmental Cultural Corridors to provide for connection to Country, Flora and Fauna habitat linkage and drainage functions. A paper on the findings was presented to the Planning Institute Australia Annual Conference, Brisbane, 1998.