Country under Concrete
Authors: Bywater Eden , Fredericks Bronwyn 
Published: October 2024

WARNING: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this article contains reference to people who have passed away, and content that may cause sadness and distress.

Dr Bob Morgan writes ‘my culture and worldview is centred in Gumilaroi land and its people, it is who I am and will always be. I am my country’ (Morgan 202).
Morgan and other Indigenous Australian scholars (see Moreton-Robinson, The White Possessive; Dodson; Rose, Nourishing Terrains) identify themselves through their cultural and spiritual connections to specific areas of land and the peoples of those lands. Since the colonisation of Australia, Indigenous peoples have been dispossessed of their land through squatting, land grants, leasehold, purchase, or via violence. Over time, land has been farmed, and exploited, and many prime locations developed into industrial and housing estates. This has had a lasting impact on Indigenous people who have witnessed their land harmed via development, which has often involved the damage and destruction of sacred and significant sites and the extinction of some species. The impacts of this are far-reaching. However, as Quandamooka artist Megan Cope points out, this has never severed Indigenous peoples’ relationship or obligation to the land, which she and other Indigenous people call Country. This article explores how development has impacted on Indigenous Australians and their relationship to Country. We discuss how Indigenous artists are resisting development, exercising resilience, and restoring their connection to Country.
The Significance of Country
For centuries, Country has been at the centre of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life. Dodson (41), in writing about land, explains,

to understand our law, our culture and our relationship to the physical and spiritual world, you must begin with the land. Everything about Aboriginal society is inextricably woven with, and connected to, the land. Culture is the land, the land and spirituality of Aboriginal people, our cultural beliefs or reason for existence is the land. You take that away and you take away our reason for existence. We have grown the land up. We are dancing, singing and painting for the land. We are celebrating the land. Removed from our lands, we are literally removed from ourselves.

Indigenous peoples’ connection to Country differs from Western perspectives. The most important difference is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples view their relationship with Country as reflexive (Rose, Nourishing Terrains). It is not merely a physical or utilitarian relationship; it involves ongoing duties and responsibilities (Waters). While Western perspectives often view land as a resource to be developed or built upon, Indigenous peoples see the land as inherently significant and integral to their identity and sense of self. Hence Bob Morgan’s statement “I am my country” (Morgan 202). Irrespective of whether land is cleared or built upon, sovereignty “can never be ceded” (Moreton-Robinson, The White Possessive, 43).
Rose explains how when Indigenous people move through the landscape, they are part of it, rather than merely across it, or on top of it. Moreton-Robinson recalls the words of her grandfather: “white people and what they have is surface. You are surface people. We are part and in and of the land. You can put on our country anything you like, but we and the land remain sovereign” (Moreton-Robinson, Speech at Clancestry). Colonial sovereignty – established through the dispossession of Indigenous peoples – is a sovereignty that is flimsy and incomplete (Moreton-Robinson, The White Possessive).
Background
Land has been a fundamental part of the British settler colonial project from the beginning of European occupation in Australia. From the beginning of colonisation in Australia, Indigenous peoples were dispossessed of their land through various means, including land grants, squatting, licencing, leaseholds, and purchases (Ford and Roberts 322). These methods, to varying degrees, involved violence, and were often met with resistance from Indigenous peoples (Ford and Roberts 322). Indigenous peoples were routinely expelled from areas by Europeans and pushed to fringe camps and missions, unable to return to their homelands which were often fiercely guarded by armed settlers (McKenna; Attwood).
Land was central to arguments theorising Australia as terra nullius, a term implying “empty land”. This notion was leveraged to justify the acquisition of territory, and often relied on assumptions of how Indigenous peoples were or were not “utilising” land. Patrick Wolffe has argued that territory is settler colonialism’s “irreducible element” and led to a logic of elimination. Wolfe sees settler colonialism as a land-centred project, coordinating a comprehensive range of agencies, from the metropolitan centre to the frontier encampment, with the aim to eliminate Indigenous societies (Wolfe 393).
Thus, all that Indigenous peoples had to do to get in the way of the settler colonial project, Rose (Hidden Histories 46) argues, is to stay home. Settlers routinely set out to reorganise the landscape (Veracini 623). Often, this involved pushing Indigenous people to the boundaries to open the land for development (Harris 167). Although this may seem like a distant colonial endeavour, government-sanctioned land acquisition and clearing is still commonplace today and has very real cultural and spiritual ramifications for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The Impacts of Development
The impacts of development on Indigenous Australians are felt through generations, scarring communities and the land they have called home for thousands of years. In developers’ search for new land, they may come across significant sites and restricted regions of Indigenous land. If it is known at all, this land's profound cultural, spiritual, and environmental significance is frequently disregarded, leading to irreparable damage. Land once revered and respected by Indigenous peoples is now farmed, exploited, and transformed into industrial and housing estates, erasing sacred sites, harming biodiversity, and physically dispossessing Indigenous peoples of the land (Fredericks, "Collaborative"; "There Is Nothing"). In contemporary times, despite cultural assessments being conducted, Indigenous groups and their significant sites often remain vulnerable. Indigenous peoples are left with limited options, such as engaging in protests through various means or pursuing legal action against developers, industries, and governments. These entities often justify their actions as being in the 'public good,' positioning themselves in opposition to Indigenous interests.
Riverlea
The recent discovery of a mass burial ground at the Riverlea housing development 30km north of Adelaide epitomises some of the issues with developing on Indigenous land: the desires and needs of corporations often contradict those of Indigenous peoples.
The Walker Corporation’s new $3 billion estate aims to house an estimated 33,000 people and build 12,000 new homes (Boscaini, "Decision"). It is part of the South Australian Government’s plan to address the housing crisis (Doherty). However, in April 2023, a shallow grave with Indigenous peoples’ remains was uncovered while conducting earthworks.
The ABC revealed the developer found “three isolated Aboriginal objects” in early 2021 while doing earthworks for the initial stages of the project, but these were only reported to the Aboriginal Affairs Department in late October 2023 (Donnellan). Since then, at least 31 individuals have been uncovered in the area. Speaking to SBS/NITV, burial ground Aboriginal Heritage manager Alison Harvey stated that there could be hundreds more skeletal remains at or near the grounds (Doherty).
The Indigenous community is distressed. The remains were exhumed and stored in a shipping container awaiting a decision on where to bury them (Iqbal). Tim Agius, Kaurna Elder, said in October that the community’s preference was that the ancestors remain in their burial ground and not be moved from Riverlea. However, he said that under the circumstances, “and with the support of Kaurna Elders, we have made the difficult decision to respectfully exhume the remains to ensure their protection” (ibid.). However, some community members, Natasha Wanganeen states, were not consulted (Boscaini, "Exhumed").
The impact on the community was profound. Kaurna, Narungga, Ngarrindjeri, and Nyoongar woman Natasha Wanganeen said the remains should be put back where they were found: "we're not playing musical bones with our elders and ancestors, that's not what we're about” (Boscaini, "Decision"). Wanganeen stated that she did not oppose development, but rather opposed "destruction of our history and heritage" ("Protesters Condemn Excavation").
The discovery of remains did not come as a surprise to everyone. Professor Lynley Wallis, from Griffith University, stated that the area’s significance has been long known (Donnellan). Although not involved with the development itself, Wallis is familiar with the local landscape. She, alongside Indigenous communities, knows that creeks, campsites, and burials are often found together (Donnellan).
The question then is how development was allowed to proceed even though there was knowledge that the site might have significance for Indigenous communities. When developers choose to ignore information that may negatively affect their development plans, communities are the ones that feel it. What happened in Riverlea was not a unique occurrence. Several other sacred sites have been desecrated, such as Juukan Gorge – a sacred rock structure in the Pilbara region of Western Australia that was legally destroyed by Rio Tinto in May 2020 (Kemp et al.).
Rio Tinto was aware of the archaeological significance of the site, but chose to ignore it in favour of securing an ore body valued at $135 million (Langton). In this instance, the Aboriginal Heritage Act in Western Australia did not work to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage, but rather “provided a fast track for mining companies to destroy it” (Langton). In 2020, the Senate referred the inquiry The Destruction of 46,000 Year Old Caves at the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia to the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia (A Way Forward). Although the problematic Section 18 of the Heritage Act has since been revised (Government of Western Australian), the Puutu Kunti Kurrama Pinikura people are still suffering from the cultural and spiritual destruction of these sacred sites.
The destruction of ancestral lands for industrialisation and urbanisation inflicts a deep sense of loss upon Indigenous communities. As sacred sites are bulldozed and ecosystems decimated, Indigenous peoples experience profound grief and anguish, feeling the echoes of destruction within their very beings. Wanjina Wunggurr elder Neidjie (51) captures this connection to the land:

I feel it with my body, with my blood. Feeling all these trees, all this country. When this wind blow you can feel it. Same for country, you feel it. You can look. But feeling ... that make you.

Neidjie captures how the destruction of Country is felt not only with the eyes but also with the body and blood. Just as people make their mark on Country, Country also makes it mark on people and their identity (Gover xv). The wind, the trees, the very essence of the land becomes intertwined with Indigenous peoples’ identity, making the destruction of Country a wound that transcends physical boundaries. For Aboriginal people, when you destroy, desecrate, or develop land, their connection to it does not cease. Similarly, sacred sites do not stop being sacred sites when developers destroy, desecrate, or develop them. Indigenous peoples’ sense of connection, obligation, and responsibility to sacred sites also continues. All Country remains country whether or not it is a sacred site. Country remains country, whether in remote, rural, regional, peri-urban, or urban areas, unaffected by levels of clearance, development, or the application of concrete, metal, and glass.

Fig. 1: Even with the shades of concrete, metal, stone, and glass, the Brisbane CBD is still Aboriginal land. Country, 27 June 2024 by Bronwyn Fredericks.
Indigenous Resistance and Resilience through Art
Aboriginal people in Australia have felt the implications of the development and exploitation of their land for many years. Art has been a central vehicle for the expression of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders’ grief, resistance, and resilience in the face of colonialism (Bell; Fredericks et al.).
In 2021, the Brisbane-based Aboriginal artist collective proppaNow presented OCCURRENT AFFAIR at UQ Art Museum, which featured artists Vernon Ah Kee, Tony Albert, Richard Bell, Megan Cope, Jennifer Herd, Gordon Hookey, and Laurie Nilsen. Established in 2003, proppaNow is one of Australia’s leading cultural collectives, where artists reflect on Indigenous issues in Australia (UQ Art Museum).
In OCCURRENT AFFAIR, Quandamooka artist Megan Cope showcased a triptych of paperbark sheets suspended from the ceiling of the University of Queensland Art Museum (fig. 2). Entitled Deadwood, the work portrays a series of assessments evaluating the environmental impact of European colonisation from an Indigenous perspective. Moreton-Robinson defines Indigenous Standpoint Theory as research rooted in Indigenous ontological, epistemological, and axiological frameworks that critically analyse knowledge production and associated power dynamics (‘Standpoint Theory’). Cope's work utilises these frameworks to critique governmental reports commonly used to assess 'heritage' sites. Dead Wood reimagines Indigenous Traditional Owners as landlords and the paperbark sheets as an environmental evaluation. Cope illustrates that, from an Indigenous standpoint, European settlers' stewardship has been reprehensible; they have neglected their responsibility to the forcibly acquired Country. The paperbark sheets symbolise an eviction notice.

Fig. 2: Deadwood, Megan Cope (2021). Paperbark, rice paper, bees wax, ink. Reproduced courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane. Photo: Carl Warner.
The title of Cope's triptych derives from the phrase 'dead wood,' a metaphor for things that have become obsolete. It signifies how outdated colonial practices in behaviour, action, and governance have severely impacted on Country and Indigenous peoples, hindered opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and allowed non-Indigenous individuals to uphold colonial dominance. Since colonisation, European settlers have imposed themselves on Indigenous lands and Country, positioning themselves as the 'rightful proponents of the correct order of things' (Porter and Kelly 15). They act as landlords and owners, seizing control of the lands, waters, and inhabitants, including Indigenous peoples.
Cope’s visualisation of this dynamic may help audiences to understand the contemporary influence of settler colonialism and understand the cultural and spiritual impact of development on Indigenous communities. Furthermore, her work, like Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art more broadly, “reflects Indigenous beliefs, identifies issues of cultural importance, stakes a claim to Country, speaks back to unwanted development, and affirms Indigenous place and identity to wider non-Indigenous Australia” (Fredericks and Bradfield 37). It is at once “an ongoing expression and affirmation of Indigenous identities and connections to Country within the present moment” (Fredericks and Bradfield 36). The significance of this should not be understated, particularly when organisations and states frequently disregard the continued relevance of sacred sites for Indigenous communities.
Much of the development on sacred cultural land is enabled by corporations' disconnection from the land, and, more broadly, from Aboriginal people’s interests. Aboriginal art thus provides an opportunity to engage and confront the conditions that enable this disconnection. Further, art can allow Aboriginal people to re-engage with Country after colonisation has made them feel disconnected (Bradfield 153; Foley, Art of Politics; Foley, "Disrupting the Silence"; Fredericks and Bradfield; Fredericks et al.; Da Silva and Nowell; Fredericks, "Collaborative"; Fredericks, "There Is Nothing"’).
Conclusion
Indigenous connections to Country are deeply rooted in cultural and spiritual ties that transcend physical boundaries. Indigenous peoples' relationship with the land is not utilitarian – Country forms the core of their identity. It is based on a reflexive relationship that involves ongoing duties and responsibilities. Despite centuries of dispossession and the impacts of development, Indigenous peoples continue to assert their connection to Country, highlighting its ongoing significance.
Protecting sacred sites is still a difficult task for Indigenous communities as developers disregard, or are completely ignorant of, the cultural significance of Country. The case of the Riverlea mass burial ground underscores the need for greater recognition of Indigenous heritage in development processes. Current protections of Aboriginal land appear to be inadequate and the impacts on Indigenous communities are profound.
Art has been an important mechanism for Indigenous people to protest the development of Aboriginal land. Artists like Megan Cope challenge mainstream conceptions of rightful land ownership. Their work not only highlights the impacts of development but also reaffirms Indigenous connections and responsibilities to Country. These connections might be challenged by development, but they certainly do not disappear – a result of Indigenous communities’ resistance and resilience.
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