Case studies of inclusiveness: planning and design of Gabmididi Manoo, Taikurrendi and Ceduna Aboriginal children and family centres

Abstract

The Council of Australian Governments has committed $564.6m to improve Indigenous early childhood development across Australia. In partnership with the Commonwealth Government, the Department for Education and Children's Services (South Australia) took the role as the lead agency in establishing four Aboriginal Children and Family Centres in various locations in South Australia. The development of Aboriginal Children and Family Centres is intended to provide a "one stop shop" that delivers the programs and services to address the needs of the child from birth to 5 years and their family. Community leaders and the working groups for the Centres recognised a unique opportunity to engage the Aboriginal communities in the planning and design processes for three new centres at Whyalla, Christies Beach and Ceduna. It was identified that there was a capacity for the design of the Centres to meet the varying and diverse environmental, cultural and socio-spatial needs of the Aboriginal users to produce educational environments that could better meet the needs of groups and to minimise the adverse effects commonly caused by poorly designed educational and community environments. This paper describes the three Aboriginal Children and Family Centres. These are the first Aboriginal early childhood and family centres in Australia designed under a participatory planning process and this paper describes the benefits and constraints of the process and product, and offers valuable insights into the future of early educational environments.