Gunyah Goondie + Wurley: The Aboriginal Architecture of Australia

The updated edition of the definitive guide to Australian Indigenous architecture, richly illustrated with rare photographs.

Here is the definitive guide to Australian Indigenous architecture, comprehensively updated to showcase the flourishing Indigenous design practices reshaping Australia’s architectural landscape.

The award-winning Gunyah Goondie + Wurley: The Aboriginal Architecture of Australia is the only continental survey of this country’s First Nations’ innovative architecture. It explores the range and complexity of Indigenous-designed structures and spaces, from minimalist shelters to semi-permanent houses and villages, debunking false perceptions of early Aboriginal constructions and settlements.

Built on decades of research and field work and richly illustrated with rare photographs, Gunyah Goondie + Wurley offers insight into the lifestyles and cultural heritage of Australia’s Indigenous peoples, and how they combine to have a dynamic influence on this country.

‘Among Australia’s great ethnographers, from Elkin to Merlan, Stanner to Sutton, Paul Memmott’s long work with the great tribes of the Carpentarian gulf, and in particular his work on the ethnography of domicile and habitat in Australia, is a monumental achievement for which we can only express great esteem and gratitude.’
– Noel Pearson

‘Anyone still thinking that terra nullius describes pre-colonial Australia should read this book. There are words and images here that should stop Australians in their tracks. Your country is a rich one, Australia, please learn her story, learn to love her.’
– Bruce Pascoe

‘Ingenious insights into Aboriginal space, place and design.’
– Jackie Huggins

‘An architecture which was invisible to white invaders turns out to be as complex as the religious laws and kinship rules of the society that produced it. I thoroughly enjoyed it.’
– Peter Carey

‘This book should be the prescribed reference work for all involved in town planning, civil construction and especially housing and accommodation involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents.’
– Marcia Langton

About the author

Professor Paul Memmott AO is an anthropologist and architect. He founded the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre at the University of Queensland (School of Architecture and Institute for Social Science Research), where he has been Director for several decades. His research interests encompass Aboriginal sustainable housing and settlement design, Aboriginal access to institutional architecture, Indigenous constructs of place and cultural heritage, vernacular architecture, social planning in Indigenous communities, cultural change and architectural anthropology. Memmott also has extensive professional anthropological experience in Aboriginal land rights claims and Native Title claims.