Earlier this year, Living Lab Northern Rivers asked the Lismore community about their vision for the town's future through Look Ahead: Ideas for a future Lismore, gathering ideas through meetings, small group chats, and many cups of tea.

A common thread across these discussions was the desire for a future shaped by Indigenous knowledge and culture.

"Through our conversations with the Lismore community, a strong message has emerged: people want to explore a future grounded in Indigenous Knowledges and connection to Country”, said Dan Etheridge, Engagement Director, Living Lab Northern Rivers.

Around the same time, the NSW Government committed to ensuring that all built environment projects in the state are developed with a Country-centred approach, guided by Aboriginal people, who know that if we care for Country, Country will care for us. 

As we continue this cultural shift, what does it really mean to work with Indigenous Knowledges? What do people mean by cultural land management? How can—and should—Indigenous custodianship integrate with European concepts of land ownership, planning, and management systems?

(Red cedar tree. Photo: Tom Wolff)

Tracing the Past, Shaping the Future explores these questions by examining how the physical environment has changed from pre-colonial times to the present day. It does this through the lens of plant communities, contrasting the environmental conditions shaped by the Country-centred worldview of the Bundjalung people with those shaped by the dominant Eurocentric, human-centred perspective of today.

“Our ongoing collaboration with Jagun Alliance and Zion Engagement and Planning has been instrumental in shaping this exhibition”, said Dan Etheridge. ”With the added creative expertise of Agency in Design, we've incorporated community voices and cultural insights into an exhibition that delves into new ways of caring for and living with the land."

Elle Davidson, Director, Zion Engagement and Planning agrees, viewing this exhibition as an invitation to unlearn and relearn some of the ways we’ve come to understand the land or Country.

“It’s an opportunity to open ourselves to a different approach, guided by First Nations Knowledges, and to think about how we can build a future that honours Country in a way that benefits us all," Elle said.

Join Dan and Elle at the Living Lab Northern Rivers shopfront for the opening of this exhibition;

Date: Thursday 31 October

Time: 5.30—7.00pm

Address: 11 Woodlark Street, Lismore

Cost: Free. All are welcome.

The Tracing the Past, Shaping the Future exhibition runs from 5 November 2024 to 6 February 2025, Tuesday to Thursday, between 1pm and 4pm. It will be closed for the summer holiday period from 20 Dec 2024 to 13 Jan 2025, reopening on Tue 14 Jan 2025.

For more information visit https://www.llnr.com.au/tracing-the-past-shaping-the-future.

About Living Lab Northern Rivers

Living Lab Northern Rivers is a space where research and community come together to create the solutions that will allow the region to thrive in uncertainty. A collaboration between Southern Cross University, University of Technology Sydney and NSW Reconstruction Authority, Living Lab Northern Rivers brings a diversity of groups to the table to create new ways of doing things to help rebuild better and foster resilience for the future.