Ten classics of Indigenous design

Blak Design Matters is the first exhibition in Australia specifically dedicated to contemporary Indigenous design. Its curator, architect and academic Jefa Greenaway, describes the show as a snapshot that “takes the pulse of what’s happening now”.

Indigenous art is well known but the Blak Design Matters exhibition prompts one to think about other iconic Indigenous expressions of “design” throughout our history. Separating art from design is not always clear cut, especially when you consider people like William Barak and Tommy McRae - arguably communication designers of their time. Both used art to bridge culture and facilitate understanding during a highly tumultuous period for Indigenous people.

I believe we need to find better ways to acknowledge the Indigenous design excellence that has long existed in the home of the world’s oldest, continuous living cultures. We should celebrate the engineering genius of the Boomerang and sophistication of the Budj Bim aquaculture systems in south-western Victoria, which predate the Egyptian pyramids.

Read more: The detective work behind the Budj Bim eel traps World Heritage bid

In 2015, David Unaipon (Ngarrindjeri), a prolific and talented industrial designer, was inducted posthumously into the Design Institute of Australia Hall of Fame. Ironically, he had died in 1967, the year Indigenous people were finally recognised in the constitution. Unaipon, who features on our $50 note, registered over 19 provisional patents inventions during his life including the mechanical shearing clippers. In 1929, he wrote: “As a full-blooded member of my race I think I may claim to be the first, but I hope not the last, to produce an enduring record of our customs, beliefs and imaginings”.

Culturally oriented, Indigenous-owned businesses including design companies are now on the rise. We still have a long way to go but here is my (subjective) list of iconic Indigenous designs. These designs are informed by the times in which they were created - yet they resonate across cultures as an enduring record of “Indigenous customs, beliefs and imaginings”.

Aboriginal Flag, 1971

Designed by Harold Thomas, a Luritja man of Central Australia, the flag was first flown on National Aboriginal Day in Adelaide in 1971. It has had an impact like no other contemporary Indigenous design. Thomas created the flag as rallying symbol of race and identity. The black represents the Aboriginal people, the red the earth - a connection to land - and the yellow, the sun, giver of life. The flag has become a symbol for change, displayed at protest marches, on banners and posters. In 1998, I met Thomas and asked him if he thought the Aboriginal Flag would eventually become Australia’s. His answer was no! He wanted it to remain an activist flag, as originally intended.

Cycle of Life opera cape, 1987

This full-length opera cape with a hood of hand-painted, cotton drill was designed by Bronwyn Bancroft, a Bunjulung woman, and is now part of Sydney’s Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences collection. A wearable work of art, it represents the journey through life of an Indigenous man and woman. Designed specifically for a parade at the Paris department store Au Printemps in 1987, the interest this cape generated helped blaze a trail for the current crop of Indigenous fashion designers.

ATSIC logo, 1990