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For the third consecutive year, the UNSW Global Water Institute has supported students from the UNSW School of Built Environment to spend time on Ngemba-Baakindji Country in the New South Wales town of Bourke as part of a community-led professional placement.

In 2022 and 2023 the project explored ways to improve nutritional, educational and social outcomes with and for Aboriginal people in Bourke through the Bourke community garden. Students Minglu (Alva) Yin, Mollie Shimeld, Rory Lewis and Rachel Su have been involved in the work on the Bourke community garden, which has become a thriving epicentre for locals since opening to the public in November 2023.  The garden has grown into a flourishing space for community members to connect, learn, share and nourish, now providing seasonal produce using water-sensitive techniques, a food hamper delivery program for elderly community members and a space for local pre-school children.

In 2024, the Built Environment professional placement centred on the Bourke High School ‘Brave Space’ garden, which grew from the partnerships formed in the Bourke Community Garden.  The garden design was in collaboration with Elders and the high school team, including Principal Murray Cronin, youth wellbeing support worker Matthew Mercuri and Aboriginal liaison officer Uncle Bruce Turnbull. Rory also completed concept and preliminary site works with the high school team and acted as a senior student mentor.

UNSW’s contribution to the Brave Space garden project built upon a recent University of Sydney placement where four Occupational Therapy students explored sensory aspects of the garden. The garden design represents a safe space for young people to gather in, to talk, to listen and to just be, providing a sense of refuge from other parts of the school that can be overwhelming and triggering for some.

This year’s recipient of the travel prize, Landscape Architecture student Rachel Su, spent time on the design and preliminary construction of the Brave Space garden, conducting research around Baakindji plant names and visualising the garden design. She focused on engaging with the school community through posters, by creating a garden noticeboard to share progress and welcome input, and helped to set out the preliminary garden design on site.

Rachel and Rory also continued ongoing partnership work with the Bourke Community Garden and the Royal Botanic Gardens Community Greening team.

The placements were co-led by community representatives with UNSW senior lecturer Eva Lloyd and adjunct lecturer Samantha Rich—a graduate of the Master of Architecture program at UNSW and a Wiradjuri woman dedicated to embedding First Nations worldviews into the design of the built environment.