Houses, Mia-Mias and Gunyas Aboriginal housing: an unidentified heritage resource? Aboriginal languages of New South Wales contain many words equivalent to the English word house. Mia-mia, gunya and nganu are some of the better known words of today. Before colonisation, Aboriginal people built many different structures suited to their surroundings. As they adapted to the environments created by colonialism, land development and urbanisation, the types of houses they built and lived in changed. Aboriginal Heritage Officer, Vince Scarcella, and Heritage Officer, Bruce Baskerville, explore the evidence to find out if there are particular types of distinctly 'Aboriginal' housing. Some of the earliest descriptions of structures built by Aboriginal people describe them using building materials such as boughs and branches for timber frames covered with bark and hides for cladding. Stone structures such as caves and natural shelters were also used. Whereas numerous examples of stone structures can be seen today, wooden structures are more fragile and survive only in very dry, sheltered inland areas. But traditonal building techniques survived where materials perished. Long after European settlers had moved through a district, Aboriginal people continued to use timber and plant materials. Many new materials were also adapted to traditional techniques, such as corrugated iron and flattened metal drums for cladding, as well as canvas, hessian and other materials. Warrangesda Mission is one of the few places in NSW where mission buildings used by Aboriginal people in the late 19th and early 20th century have survived. Warrangesda operated between 1885 and 1924 and had a layout that seems typical of missions of the period. A church and assembly ground in the centre were surrounded by the manager's house, teacher's house, school room, ration store and fences. Rows of small timber-frame houses marked the edges of the settlement. As well as these weatherboard and corrugated iron-clad houses, there were dormitories for single girls and boys. Some of the houses had small fenced yards and water tanks and were furnished with government-issue items such as iron bedsteads. Beyond the formal station there were peripheral camps, usually temporary with canvas tents and bough shelters.

Traditional building techniques are shown in this early 20th century photograph, "Camp of Aboriginal Women". Photograph by Charles Kerry 1858-1928, courtesy of State Library of Victoria. Examples of traditional housing such as this mia-mia at Milparinka in north-western NSW can still be found. Photograph by Bill Elwood. The classroom at the Warangesda Mission 1885-1924 in the Riverina after a severe storm last year. Conservation work is currently underway. Descendants of people who resided on Warangesda are spread throughout NSW and it is an extremely important site to the Aboriginal community. Photograph by Steve Meredith, NPWS, Riverina Region. Examples of Aboriginal Welfare Board housing in south western NSW, 1963. Photograph courtesy of Image Library, State Library of NSW. The Heritage Council visited Aboriginal houses at Mutawintji near Broken Hill which have been built with communal living rooms, extra large food preparation areas for the cooking of game, dormitory style bedrooms and large functional outdoor areas. This type of housing is becoming more popular in Aboriginal communities to suit Aboriginal cultural needs today. Photograph by Cameron White.

Many Aboriginal people worked in the pastoral and timber industries and particular types of housing survive from such places. An interesting example of station housing is Weilmoringle in North West NSW. The Murruwari people have a cultural connection to the area with the waterhole at Weilmoringle being of great spiritual significance as the home of Mundaguddah or Rainbow Serpent. From 1857 Europeans built structures such as a pine homestead, fences, tanks, artesian wells, staff and shearers' quarters. The Murruwari people remained and established a pastoral camp working on Weilmoringle and adjoining stations. When government researcher, Charles Rowley, visited the area in 1964 he found the Aboriginal dwellings there to be 'of greater neatness and workmanship' than others he had seen. Built of iron over a bush timber frame, with earthen floors, each had a fire place for winter and attached bough shelters for shade in summer. The Pilliga Forest (or Pilliga Scrub) between Narrabri and Coonabarrabran has been a place for timber-getters since the late 19th century. Many Aboriginal men worked in the forests as sleeper cutters and loggers and in the Pilliga and Goonoo timber mills. Rows of cypress pine weatherboard houses usually fringed the mill camps and provided accommodation for the mill workers and some of their families. Aboriginal people not only worked in the Pilliga Forest but hunted and gathered bush foods and medicines. They often travelled through the forests, camping and teaching their children bush crafts and visiting important sites. Although only built as temporary structures, numbers of the mill workers' houses from the 1930s still survive in the forest. Aboriginal communities lived (often forced) on the fringes of many towns. At Port Kembla a community of fisherfolk lived around Hill 60 and North Beach. They caught and supplied fish to both local and Sydney markets until forcibly removed in 1942. Houses were scattered in the coastal bush around the hill and along the beach foreshores, consisting generally of timber-framed huts clad with canvas, iron and tin. After World War II the development of the welfare state included the provision of Aboriginal housing by agencies such as the Aborigines Welfare Board. Between 1945 and 1969 the Board provided home loans and sponsored the building of houses for leasing to Aboriginal families. The building of six timber houses at Coomaditchy Lagoon in 1963 is one example. The Board also conducted summer camps for Aboriginal children, especially those from the Far West. Some of these camps were held at La Perouse, where canvas tents and canvas nissan-hut style dormitories were erected for sleeping areas with meals provided from large canteens. The terrace houses of the Block in Redfern were originally built in the 1880s to house the workers employed at the Eveleigh Railway Workshops. In 1973 the land was purchased for Aboriginal housing. The struggle to gain ownership and control of the Block by the Aboriginal community was a major part of the movement of Aboriginal people towards self determination. Aboriginal control of Aboriginal Affairs was the major theme and it was for the Aboriginal residents of the Block that many of the first Aboriginal controlled services in Australia were developed. Over the last 20-30 years, as direct government controls over Aboriginal people have been scaled back, distinct 'types' of housing used by Aboriginal communities are less easily described. Exceptions include Mutawintji in Western NSW where the Aboriginal employment scheme workers are currently building housing featuring specific living facilities for Aboriginal people, such as large communal living areas. There is no such thing as a typical 'Aboriginal house' in NSW. Rather, Aboriginal peoples used different types of housing in different regions at different periods in the past. Identifying the surviving houses lived in by Aboriginal peoples can help us to understand Aboriginal and general history. Such houses or their sites need to be identified in heritage studies and surveys and assessed for their significance. In doing so, it is important to remember the need for culturally appropriate consultation with communities, and the critical role of oral history in locating and understanding such potential heritage places. While there have recently been significant improvements in the poor living conditions experienced by many Aboriginal people in NSW, it has been acknowledged at both state and national levels that reform is essential to ensure that Aboriginal people in both rural and urban areas are able to access safe, healthy, affordable and secure housing. Extensive consultation with Aboriginal people in NSW revealed their vision for one agency with responsibility to plan and deliver Aboriginal housing and housing-related infrastructure, to improve co-ordination, overcome duplication and maximise housing outcomes for Aboriginal people. This vision culminated in the enactment of the NSW Aboriginal Housing Act 1998 which established the Aboriginal Housing Office as a statutory authority responsible to the NSW Minister for Housing. It is responsible for developing, managing delivery of, and evaluating housing assistance programs for Aboriginal people in NSW. The AHO is governed by an all Aboriginal Board.