Our RAP

For over 150 years following European invasion, there has been significant frontier violence across this continent. Until we acknowledge our shared past, we cannot talk about our shared future. If we are to reconcile our colonial past and present, it is critical that we acknowledge the ongoing impacts of colonisation, such as the devastating trauma and grief suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people because of past government policies and the forcible removal of children from their families.

We recognise the Uluru Statement from The Heart and support the Makarrata Agreement and the need for constitutional reforms that empower First Peoples to take a rightful place in their own country.

“When we (First Peoples) have power over our destiny, our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.”1

McGregor Coxall is in the early stages of the reconciliation journey. We have established a RAP Working Group, drawing on differing expertise and understandings to develop tangible actions that aid the development of our personal and professional relationships with First Nations Peoples, Country and knowledge.

On this journey we want to recognise, acknowledge, and reconcile our colonial past and present. We hope to create a workplace that acknowledges the true history of this country and celebrates the 65,000 thousand years-plus of accumulated knowledge and culture of Australia’s First Nations’ peoples.

We will seek to commemorate this knowledge and build opportunities for First Nations People into our organisation and projects. McGregor Coxall acknowledges that First Peoples’ self-determination is a human right as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.2 We also recognise as individuals and professionals on this reconciliation journey, we must;3

+ Acknowledge sovereignty
+ Be honest about our history
+ Safeguard Aboriginal cultural heritage
+ Seek Aboriginal representation in all areas and at all levels of civic society
+ Pay reparations

We are committed to fulfilling our obligations to reconciliation by stepping into mutually respectful relationships with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people – relationships that are established in trust and informed by principles of self-determination, reciprocity, and cultural integrity.
These relationships are not exclusive to people but includes our organisational relationship with Country. Alison Page quotes Indigenous researcher, Daniéle Hromek’s poetic definition of Country:

“Country soars high into the atmosphere, deep into the planet crust and far into the oceans… caring for Country is not only caring for land, it is caring for ourselves.”4Alison Page takes this further in relation to design practice “Just as trees, mountains and rivers contain stories, the design of new places, objects and systems can be a purposeful extension of Country and imbue meaning and story into them, so that as we engage with them over time, multiple narratives are strengthened”.4

As built environment professionals, we recognise that design and construction of our projects takes place on stolen land – and to reconcile this approach, we must instil a culture of healing and caring for Country now. As non-Indigenous practitioners, we recognise that a Welcome to Country is an invitation onto Country, and to be part of Country. With that invitation comes a substantial responsibility – to Embrace Country, to Heal Country and to Care for Country. Through building a relationship with Country and adopting it in our everyday lives, it offers an opportunity for unity with First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians.

We recognise and value the sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges that spans millennia, and that this knowledge has the power to create positive change across Australia. Our journey of reconciliation will recognise and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge holders and create a collaborative space of cultural safety and cross-cultural respect.

This approach to building mutually beneficial and respectful relationships across our organisation, projects and community will contribute to the ongoing efforts of reconciliation in Australia and the broader decolonisation of Indigenous peoples universally. As a global design practice, we recognise that our sphere of influence is far reaching, and we have the power and the responsibility to create positive change within our profession and the built environment.

McGregor Coxall sees reconciliation as a collective journey of shared learning and understanding leading towards a prosperous future for Australia’s First Nations peoples and non-Indigenous people alike.