Lessons from Palm Island

Indigenous people living in towns and cities have access to the same infrastructure available to other residents in these urban conditions. However, around 35 per cent (almost 100,000 people) of the total Indigenous population live in remote, discrete communities - most without a good standard of housing and infrastructure.

One outcome of the Indigenous Environment Forum held earlier this year at Queensland University of Technology’s School of Design was a recent visit by five architects and researchers to the isolated community of Palm Island. Their intention was to help develop a long-term town planning concept for the community, apply a reality check on environmental health and living conditions on the island, and assess the community's planning needs.

Palm Island is one of Australia's largest Indigenous communities only a short flight from the Townsville coast. People on the island live in public dwellings rented from the community organisation and supplied by state government. Most of the existing housing stock on the island is old, dysfunctional and in need of renewal. Windows are broken, roofs are leaking and plumbing is inadequate. But even more striking is that the community averages ten persons per house.

There are no reliable figures on the exact population of Palm Island as many residents are forced to move to Townsville to find employment. However, the estimated population of around 2,500 is squeezed into 280 houses - most with three or four overcrowded bedrooms. The level of dissatisfaction about such inadequate housing is high - occupants feel the dwellings do not satisfy the needs of the household. Around a third of the population is younger than 12 years and strong population growth is forecast over the next five years. The unemployment rate on the island is said to be above 90 per cent - double the unemployment rate for all Indigenous Australians. Thousands have left the island because of its appalling living conditions, unemployment and high rate of violence, and now live in the Townsville area.

Historically, Palm Island was a place where Indigenous people were sent as a form of punishment. The government relocated people from more than 60 Queensland different tribes, each with its own language, to the island from 1918 onwards. Victor Hart, director of QUT's Oodgeroo Unit, recalls that many of his elders were sent to Palm Island from Cape York during World War II. They never returned home because they had established families on the island and access to their traditional Cape York lands was no longer possible. Palm Island is a mixture of people, languages, traditions and customs. Island culture still strongly identifies with traditional homelands but also considers Palm Island to be home. A moral obligation exists for governments to supply decent housing to these people, yet, despite decades of housing funding, there is still a waiting list of around 300.

Andrew Boe, the Brisbane-based lawyer, who represented the community council in the investigation into the death in police custody of one islander last November, has visited the island many times. He points to some facts to give a sense of the institutional and systemic disregard endured by this community. This includes that alcohol-fuelled violence is a common occurrence, and that people have lost hope and feel a sense of powerlessness for their future.

Boe points out, “If one looks at the history of the island, one can see that this settlement was set up, managed and left to flounder whilst adjoining islands and surrounding areas have prospered.” He continues, “Palm Island's council is responsible for administering public housing, roads and education which in other communities are usually a state government responsibility. The council doesn't have the necessary resources and support to meet this responsibility and has, in that sense, been set up to fail.”

Canberra has recently proposed to “privatise” Aboriginal land. Converting native title claims into property rights is a complex issue in Queensland where most communities are still on old Bjelke-Petersen style titles.

The three pillars of every healthy community are the health of the people, education and land ownership. Terry Boyd, professor of property law at QUT, was involved in similar issues in New Zealand, where work on both housing and non-housing needs of Indigenous families and communities have been carried out for years. He points out, “for much too long, land rights legislation has been a cause of Aboriginal exclusion from the mainstream economy.”

Indigenous people living in remote areas on community title land share the same aspiration to home ownership as all other Australians. It is commonly acknowledged that home ownership is the key to personal satisfaction. At present, Palm Island is covered by a Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT) title and no individual can own land or borrow from banks using land assets to establish homes or businesses. Further, the island's community is split on the subject of changes to federal law and land tenure. New federal policies could allow the community to sell land to individuals and businesses on 99-year leases - subject to the approval of traditional owners. For many this policy may appear to be the solution that will create an enterprise culture within the community, based on the assumption that people would invest in their own homes and businesses with the security of long-term leases. But caution is required.

Home ownership is an important part of reducing welfare dependency and giving Indigenous people a financial stake in the wider community. What is often forgotten is that housing markets in mainstream Australia are as old as the nation itself. Aboriginal housing markets in remote communities will be guided by a sense of community and not by capitalist values alone. That, historically, Australian states have never entered into treaties with Indigenous peoples to resolve issues of land ownership once and for all, appears to be forgotten in current debates about land privatisation. One only needs to look to Maleny and local protests against the building of a supermarket to understand that communities are more than just market forces and profits. They are human landscapes built to maintain peaceful human cohabitation. As such, a market approach to housing will not necessarily be the solution many believe it to be. In a community where people have no money, things are complicated.

Palm Island Council leader, Erykah Kyle, is understandably suspicious and worried about the contentious plans for private land ownership on the island. “Given the current structure,” she asks, “can it be dealt with in a transparent and fair way, to the benefit of the island community, and not to the advantage of only a few?” Economic development is needed, no doubt, and decisions have to be made soon, but this does not mean they should be rushed simply to soothe the moral panic of non-Indigenous governments and people. This, after all, has often been the central failing of Indigenous policies in Australia for more than 200 years. It is certainly time to move, but also to move thoughtfully, if the benefits are to be sustainable.

At the moment there are few opportunities on Palm Island for employment and none for long-term economic independence. Nor is there a long-term master plan for sustainable development that takes its special topographical conditions, tropical climate and lifestyle of residents into consideration. Decisions on housing are taken in far-away Brisbane and post-occupancy evaluation is almost never done. Currently only four new houses are being built under the government's program. This number needs to be significantly increased. Likewise, the refurbishment of existing housing, as well as a major infrastructure upgrading, needs attention. It comes as no surprise that the state government's own “smart housing” website offers no information on housing for Indigenous communities.

The Queensland Government also needs to provide Indigenous residents with better design options for new houses. For example, climate-responsive houses would be more sustainable than current housing, and could be built without any additional cost. The current approach to housing is one of import substitution - both design and cost are imported. This denies local engagement with, and development of, a sense of ownership and pride in the built environment of the community.

So what exactly is the nature of dwellings needed? Palm Island is in the tropics. If design principles for building in the tropics are applied, housing would offer living areas facing north with generous verandahs, shaded by wide roof eaves and overlooking a tropical garden, with shade trees planted on the western side of the lot, removing a need for air-conditioning. If we reassess the way a building might relate to Aboriginal culture and how architecture might be derived from the specific needs of Indigenous people, we will recall the tradition of personal shelters in Aboriginal architecture which strongly express the “spirit of the place”. We should also remind ourselves of the need for a participatory role in the actual design and construction for the future occupants, including the community's youth.

However, current housing solutions are far removed from this and do not correspond with the residents' ideas and real needs. Houses are simply imposed upon the island, most of the time disrespectful of any orientation or context. Large covered decks for outdoor life are frequently forgotten, houses face towards hills, away from the sun and the view. A new approach to housing needs to be investigated and tested so that housing becomes a community inspired solution rather than a government convenience.

Wandering around the island today, one finds many half-finished houses where the building has not been sufficiently robust and landscaping is absent.

It is obvious that there is an immediate need for reduction of overcrowding and waste removal. One would think Queensland would have developed a vast array of knowledge of tropic-suitable housing models, and that these models would be commonly available, to develop housing more fitted to the climate and Indigenous cultural needs. It should have typologies that deal with local climate, topographical conditions and residents' lifestyles, with appropriate washing facilities and kitchens. These could have courtyards which might include pavilion-like extensions to cater for extended families and communal gatherings. They could also have larger verandahs for social events, with sliding doors that open onto the bush, thus ensuring good natural cross-ventilation and solar-orientation and, by avoiding solid walls, the house would impart feeling of being closer to nature.

Modular houses offer the potential for diverse internal configurations for floor plans and allow for the affordable addition of more rooms as they become necessary. Prefabricated houses compare favourably in cost, making better design affordable and reducing damage to the site during construction. Modular housing constructed off-site, and delivered by ferry in large components, could be put together by teams of trained Aboriginal builders in a short timeframe.

More local people would, therefore, be involved in the construction of these houses, thus further reducing costs, building up sustainable local expertise and bringing much needed employment to the community. Since the current system for delivery and maintenance of the housing stock is inappropriate, creating a new local housing association model that has a say in design decisions and is in charge of the ongoing management of the housing stock, would be a useful program to initiate. Any new authority, however, would need to encourage more and better informed consultation with residents.

At present, Palm Island residents do not have access to tools or building materials; there are no retail outlets such as a hardware shop where residents can buy building materials to repair houses; no workshops to practice craftsmanship; few adequate sports facilities for youth; no modern waste disposal plant; no landscaping; no barbeque facilities for families; no public toilets or reasonable public space; no decent public gathering spaces; no community garden; and, no decent townscape.

And as long as important buildings such as the council building, bank and post office are nothing more than run-down sheds, and there is no library, how can civic pride be nurtured? It is surprising that the treatment of Aboriginal people on the island has not attracted more international censure as the history of Palm Island is a raw example of the failings of “first world” government policy in respect of Indigenous people.

The Queensland Government and the community leaders on Palm Island need to be the agents of change and real progress, to give hope to the population and a chance at future economic development.