Scott Heyes
Dr Scott A. Heyes is adjunct associate professor (research) at the University of South Australia. He is also a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution's Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C. He undertakes place-related research with Indigenous groups in Australia, Fiji, and Arctic Canada. He holds a PhD in cultural geography from McGill University (2007) and master, honours, and bachelor degrees in landscape architecture from the University of Adelaide.
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Books by Scott Heyes
Indigenous and non-Indigenous contributors bring together oral history and scholarly research from disciplines such as linguistics, archaeology, and ethnohistory. With an emphasis on Indigenous place names, this volume illuminates how the land—and the memories that are inextricably tied to it—continue to define Indigenous identity. The perspectives presented here also serve to underscore the value of Indigenous knowledge and its essential place in future studies of the Arctic.
This chapter explores the critical importance of ethical Indigenous knowledge engagement in the knowing of living heritage landscapes and their associated built environment education, and professional practices across Australia. Recent pedagogical research undertaken by the authors across all Australian universities that teach in the built environment disciplines of architecture, planning and landscape architecture has revealed a lack of understanding of Indigenous knowledges in these professionally accredited courses (Jones et. al. 2013, 2017; Tucker et. al. 2016). We argue that the ethical incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems, through teaching strategies that are developed in partnership with Indigenous stakeholders, will contribute to scaffolding a transformation in intercultural built environment education in Australia, along with prospective changes to professional institute education policies (AACA/AIA 2012; AILA 2016; PIA 2016). Such genuine collaboration with Indigenous partners is necessary to ensure that Indigenous perspectives of ‘Country’ and living heritage are clearly understood and experienced by built environment students at the formal academic and professional career-building stages of their lifelong learning. Critically, this paper presents new ways of approaching Australian built environment education and practice, using environmental design relevant exemplars, that can elevate and progress Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. This research and associated applied practice contributes to a growing body of international literature indicating the potential of Indigenous pedagogy and epistemologies within the tertiary education and professional practice context.
This project is in support of the built environment professions. It researched the extent to which Indigenous Knowledge Systems were being taught at university built environment schools across Australia, and involved undertaking surveys on student and staff knowledge of Indigenous Australians in the built environment sector. The project was developed because the built environment disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture and planning, both academically and professionally, were not deeply engaging with Indigenous communities and the knowledge they possess of the land and sea and there were and are opportunities address this.
In this Report, the term ‘Indigenous’ encompasses Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is a term applied with all Indigenous peoples around the world. The diversity in cultures, languages, kinship structures and ways of life of Indigenous peoples are recognised and use of these terms is not intended to homogenise Indigenous peoples.
Independent Indigenous and non-Indigenous peer reviews of this project, its findings and its associated deliverables have strongly supported the approach and findings forthcoming from this project (see Appendices F and G). This conclusion is confirmed by the Indigenous chair of the project’s Reference Group (Appendix D) and the Independent Referees (Appendices B and C).
His ethnography of the Inuit and Innu people was published in 1894, but his substantial writings on natural history never made it to print. Presented here for the first time is the natural history material that Lucien M. Turner wrote on mammals of the Ungava and Labrador regions. His writings provide a glimpse of the habits and types of mammals that roamed Ungava 125 years ago in what was an unknown frontier to non-Inuit and non-Innu people.
of the lower South-East region of South Australia. It is a project that involved the collaborative effort, sponsorship, and endorsement of many Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
community groups, government agencies, and landholders in the Mount Gambier region of South Australia.
Papers by Scott Heyes
designed to improve the knowledge and skills of tertiary students in the built environment professions including proposing strategies and processes to expose students in the built environment professions to Australian Indigenous knowledge systems. This is a positive beginning in a long-term decolonising project.
findings of a recently completed investigation of current teaching: Re-Casting terra nullius blindness: Empowering Indigenous Protocols and Knowledge in Australian University Built Environment Education. Three data sets from this investigation are analysed: a desktop survey of Australian Built Environment curricula; workshops with tertiary providers and students, professional practitioners and representatives of three Built Environment professional institutes; and an online survey of Australian Built Environment students (of which their discipline could be isolated) ascertaining what is currently being taught and learned and what changes would be feasible within the constraints of courses from their perspective. Detailed descriptions are also provided of pedagogic improvements informed by the project findings. The findings suggest minimal current exposure of Architecture students to Indigenous Knowledge content beyond voluntary engagement in self-chosen
thesis projects and elective (including studio) subjects led by passionate but largely unsupported teachers championing Indigenous issues; a paucity of teaching echoed by practitioners and accreditors who acknowledge lack of expertise in this area across the profession. This paper discusses ways in which Indigenous Knowledge might be better
acknowledged, respected and introduced to Australian Architecture students’ education. Also discussed are teaching strategies with global relevance.
Located at the northern end of the NSW Ben Boyd National Park, the Culture Camp site is a space that has been, for some time, purposefully set aside for the local Aboriginal community to share, celebrate and transmit their knowledge. Consisting of a set of separate family camping sites, each connected to a central meeting place, the campground is located within walking distance of bush foods as well as fishing and diving spots that have been important to the local Aboriginal people for generations. And while the Culture Camp serves as a modern-day hangout, where Aboriginal families typically travel to on weekends and holiday periods, the archaeological record and oral accounts indicated that the site has been occupied for thousands of years. Indeed, the site represents an old hangout location.
Through the act of "hanging out" at the Culture Camp with our students, and by learning about the use and history of the site through the insights of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal knowledge holders, we explore in this paper how the knowledge gained through the experience helped to inform and inspire design thinking about hangout places in both regional and urban contexts. This paper features design concepts developed by students, along with critical reflections on how the fishing, sketching, bushwalking, storytelling, and other camp activities imbued their design approaches with meaning.
has incorrectly perceived that there is no longer any Boandik presence in the region. This paper explores how three cultural- survival projects led by the Aboriginal community of the region—a canoe building initiative, a cultural mapping project, and a Boandik language revival project— are helping to shape broader community understandings and beliefs of Aboriginal culture. This paper discusses the context and nature of these projects, the resulting positive partnerships with government, landholders, universities, and industry, and how the projects have led to the development of new economic pathways for the Aboriginal community such as filmmaking and curating. The three projects initiated by the Aboriginal community provide a model for other Aboriginal communities that may be seeking ways to positively and instantly connect with the broader community, and which provide new research and development opportunities for the advancement of Aboriginal self- determination.
Indigenous and non-Indigenous contributors bring together oral history and scholarly research from disciplines such as linguistics, archaeology, and ethnohistory. With an emphasis on Indigenous place names, this volume illuminates how the land—and the memories that are inextricably tied to it—continue to define Indigenous identity. The perspectives presented here also serve to underscore the value of Indigenous knowledge and its essential place in future studies of the Arctic.
This chapter explores the critical importance of ethical Indigenous knowledge engagement in the knowing of living heritage landscapes and their associated built environment education, and professional practices across Australia. Recent pedagogical research undertaken by the authors across all Australian universities that teach in the built environment disciplines of architecture, planning and landscape architecture has revealed a lack of understanding of Indigenous knowledges in these professionally accredited courses (Jones et. al. 2013, 2017; Tucker et. al. 2016). We argue that the ethical incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems, through teaching strategies that are developed in partnership with Indigenous stakeholders, will contribute to scaffolding a transformation in intercultural built environment education in Australia, along with prospective changes to professional institute education policies (AACA/AIA 2012; AILA 2016; PIA 2016). Such genuine collaboration with Indigenous partners is necessary to ensure that Indigenous perspectives of ‘Country’ and living heritage are clearly understood and experienced by built environment students at the formal academic and professional career-building stages of their lifelong learning. Critically, this paper presents new ways of approaching Australian built environment education and practice, using environmental design relevant exemplars, that can elevate and progress Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. This research and associated applied practice contributes to a growing body of international literature indicating the potential of Indigenous pedagogy and epistemologies within the tertiary education and professional practice context.
This project is in support of the built environment professions. It researched the extent to which Indigenous Knowledge Systems were being taught at university built environment schools across Australia, and involved undertaking surveys on student and staff knowledge of Indigenous Australians in the built environment sector. The project was developed because the built environment disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture and planning, both academically and professionally, were not deeply engaging with Indigenous communities and the knowledge they possess of the land and sea and there were and are opportunities address this.
In this Report, the term ‘Indigenous’ encompasses Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is a term applied with all Indigenous peoples around the world. The diversity in cultures, languages, kinship structures and ways of life of Indigenous peoples are recognised and use of these terms is not intended to homogenise Indigenous peoples.
Independent Indigenous and non-Indigenous peer reviews of this project, its findings and its associated deliverables have strongly supported the approach and findings forthcoming from this project (see Appendices F and G). This conclusion is confirmed by the Indigenous chair of the project’s Reference Group (Appendix D) and the Independent Referees (Appendices B and C).
His ethnography of the Inuit and Innu people was published in 1894, but his substantial writings on natural history never made it to print. Presented here for the first time is the natural history material that Lucien M. Turner wrote on mammals of the Ungava and Labrador regions. His writings provide a glimpse of the habits and types of mammals that roamed Ungava 125 years ago in what was an unknown frontier to non-Inuit and non-Innu people.
of the lower South-East region of South Australia. It is a project that involved the collaborative effort, sponsorship, and endorsement of many Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
community groups, government agencies, and landholders in the Mount Gambier region of South Australia.
designed to improve the knowledge and skills of tertiary students in the built environment professions including proposing strategies and processes to expose students in the built environment professions to Australian Indigenous knowledge systems. This is a positive beginning in a long-term decolonising project.
findings of a recently completed investigation of current teaching: Re-Casting terra nullius blindness: Empowering Indigenous Protocols and Knowledge in Australian University Built Environment Education. Three data sets from this investigation are analysed: a desktop survey of Australian Built Environment curricula; workshops with tertiary providers and students, professional practitioners and representatives of three Built Environment professional institutes; and an online survey of Australian Built Environment students (of which their discipline could be isolated) ascertaining what is currently being taught and learned and what changes would be feasible within the constraints of courses from their perspective. Detailed descriptions are also provided of pedagogic improvements informed by the project findings. The findings suggest minimal current exposure of Architecture students to Indigenous Knowledge content beyond voluntary engagement in self-chosen
thesis projects and elective (including studio) subjects led by passionate but largely unsupported teachers championing Indigenous issues; a paucity of teaching echoed by practitioners and accreditors who acknowledge lack of expertise in this area across the profession. This paper discusses ways in which Indigenous Knowledge might be better
acknowledged, respected and introduced to Australian Architecture students’ education. Also discussed are teaching strategies with global relevance.
Located at the northern end of the NSW Ben Boyd National Park, the Culture Camp site is a space that has been, for some time, purposefully set aside for the local Aboriginal community to share, celebrate and transmit their knowledge. Consisting of a set of separate family camping sites, each connected to a central meeting place, the campground is located within walking distance of bush foods as well as fishing and diving spots that have been important to the local Aboriginal people for generations. And while the Culture Camp serves as a modern-day hangout, where Aboriginal families typically travel to on weekends and holiday periods, the archaeological record and oral accounts indicated that the site has been occupied for thousands of years. Indeed, the site represents an old hangout location.
Through the act of "hanging out" at the Culture Camp with our students, and by learning about the use and history of the site through the insights of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal knowledge holders, we explore in this paper how the knowledge gained through the experience helped to inform and inspire design thinking about hangout places in both regional and urban contexts. This paper features design concepts developed by students, along with critical reflections on how the fishing, sketching, bushwalking, storytelling, and other camp activities imbued their design approaches with meaning.
has incorrectly perceived that there is no longer any Boandik presence in the region. This paper explores how three cultural- survival projects led by the Aboriginal community of the region—a canoe building initiative, a cultural mapping project, and a Boandik language revival project— are helping to shape broader community understandings and beliefs of Aboriginal culture. This paper discusses the context and nature of these projects, the resulting positive partnerships with government, landholders, universities, and industry, and how the projects have led to the development of new economic pathways for the Aboriginal community such as filmmaking and curating. The three projects initiated by the Aboriginal community provide a model for other Aboriginal communities that may be seeking ways to positively and instantly connect with the broader community, and which provide new research and development opportunities for the advancement of Aboriginal self- determination.
Inuit storytelling in the Ungava Bay region of Northern Quebec, Canada is a mode of communication that has rapidly decreased over the last decade. Many myths and legends which contain information about the natural, physical, and spiritual environments of the region are no longer being passed on to young generations. In an effort to revitalize knowledge that is embedded within Inuit stories, a virtual building has been designed, at the conceptual level, to serve two functions: (1) as a storytelling space for the Inuit residents of Ungava Bay and for those interested in the North; and (2) as a facility to communicate Inuit stories of the region that the Smithsonian Ethnologist, Lucien McShan Turner (1847-1909) documented between 1882 and 1884. A virtual storytelling space representing the Ungava Bay region is likely to be more accessible to Inuit across the North than is a physical space.
As non-Inuit and local Inuit pass through the virtual doors of the storytelling space they gain an appreciation of the mythological and spiritual importance of the surrounds of Ungava Bay. By engaging with the virtual storytelling space, non-Inuit visitors gain an appreciation of the Ungava Bay region as a living landscape where Inuit hunters and fishers are interacting with their ancestors through narratives and stories. The storytelling space captures the human and spiritual elements of the Arctic landscape and seascape.
This article explores the ethnographic and design processes that were undertaken to generate the virtual storytelling space. The design vision is based on fieldwork and interviews that have been carried out with Inuit experts on myths, legends and hunting knowledge. With the form and function of the building based on local stories, the proposed centre offers a way to mingle with the ancestors and for Inuit knowledge to be shared through design.
inappropriate description of the environment. Unlike the Northern Hemisphere interpretation of seasons, Australia is riddled with particular regions that are affected by varying cyclic patterns and movements of natural systems. To
record the subtle patterns, processes and seasonal events of Australian bio-regions, indigenous knowledge has proved
imperative in establishing seasonal frameworks and calendars. Aboriginal 'local readings' of the landscape have been translated into seasonal calendars throughout the continent to accurately depict the differences between bioregions.
This paper stresses the need to abolish the European calendar in Australia and discusses the implications of understanding the inherent qualities of regional environments. A new calendar for the Adelaide Plains in South Australia is
proposed in this report, responding to indigenous Kaurna knowledge of the area.
A poster presented at the 2010 Smithsonian Institution "Inside-out" Folklife Festival, Washington DC, Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History
A poster presented at the Cultural Waters Exhibition, Curated by S Heyes, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, the University of Melbourne
peoples of the region. His ethnography of the Inuit and Innu people was published in 1894, but his substantial writings on language and natural history never made it to print. His unpublished notes on the mammals of the region,
many derived from Inuit and Innu knowledge and stories, are finally presented in the book, Mammals of Ungava and Labrador: the 1882-1884 Fieldnotes of Lucien M. Turner together with Inuit and Innu Knowledge, edited by Scott
Heyes and Kristofer Helgen (Smithsonian Scholarly Press, Washington D.C., 2014). The map featured on this poster, which appears in the book, shows the journey that Turner took to reach Ungava in 1882.
Map generated by Scott Heyes and Phil Easson, 2014. Graphics by Phil Easson. Map exhibited at the National Library of Australia, 01 July, 2014 and the Smithsonian Institution's Arctic Spring Festival 8-10 May, 2015 at the National Museum of Natural History.