Indigenous courthouse and courtroom design in Australia

If it is true that public buildings ‘reflect the beliefs, priorities and aspirations of a people’, what do Australia’s public buildings say about Australians? More specifically, what does the design of Australia’s courthouses say about the beliefs, priorities, aspirations, and agency of Australian people and in particular, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s peoples? Around the world, the design of courthouses (and the courtrooms within them) has become a powerful medium through which to convey a vision of justice and cultural agency to Indigenous peoples. South Africa’s Constitutional Court sits on the site of a prison that held activists during apartheid, and its design symbolises South Africa’s post-apartheid search for reconciliation. Communicating reconciliation and transparency were paramount in the design, and the courtroom incorporates windows to reinforce its theme of transparency, allowing passers-by to observe proceedings. In Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, design of the exterior of the Supreme Courthouse references significant cultural icons for Māori. The design of the courtroom is semi-spherical in shape lined with a tessellation of2,294 silver beech panels, the result evoking the cone of the Kauri tree, considered to be the chief of trees. These symbolic architectural gestures derive from a belief in the communicative force of architecture, and from an understanding that the courthouse and courtrooms are the canvas upon which societal priorities as to law and justice are writ large. These design precedents note the importance of correcting past wrongs and demonstrating respect for the Indigenous peoples of those countries. In Australia, commissioning bodies and architects have been considering ways courthouses and courtrooms can be designed to: (1) symbolically and physically acknowledge Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia; (2) rectify past wrongs; (3) increase Indigenous participation; (4) allow Aboriginal peoples to engage meaningfully with court processes; (5) reduce the stress felt by Indigenous users; and (6) promote Indigenous ‘ownership’ of courthouses and courtrooms. This chapter examines the design outcomes for three Australian courthouse developments of national and international significance; Port Augusta (South Australia), and Kununurra and Kalgoorlie court complexes (Western Australia).