For the 2024 Aboriginal Housing and Homelands conference we prepared a photographic exhibition, ‘Housing changes’. The idea was to show the various forms that Aboriginal housing has taken, the range of materials used, and how the process of housing has shifted. The current historical moment is peculiar in that Aboriginal people are so little involved in their own housing.
Introduction
In the Northern Territory, not many Aboriginal people live in a good house. These photos show housing from
1877 to 2023.
You’ll see traditional shelters and houses that Aboriginal people made out of new materials, in new shapes. In some
cases, Aboriginal people were given materials or money to make their own houses.
You’ll also see houses that non-Indigenous people provided for Aboriginal people. Sometimes Aboriginal people were involved in the design and construction of their houses; often they were not.
How do you want housing to happen?
Does your family or community want to decide:
- where your houses go
- what size and shape they are
- what materials they’re made with?
Do you want to choose how to spend the money – what things are most important and what you can live without? Do you want to do the construction work (or parts of it)?
We welcome your comments.
PLEASE NOTE: some photos show people who have passed.
Photos of Aboriginal housing, 1877 to 2023
You can also download the exhibition layout (PDF 17mb).
