Every place has a threshold, a crossing from elsewhere into here. For the City of Perth, those thresholds have long been marked by the practical language of infrastructure: signs telling you where you are, but say nothing of who was here before you, or whose Country you are on.
New acknowledgement markers are a deliverable of the City of Perth’s Reconciliation Action Plan, a formal commitment to recognise country. The markers would stand at four main arterial entry points, acknowledging the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, whose Country Perth was built upon and continues to grow.
The acknowledgement markers have been developed in close and ongoing consultation with the City of Perth Elder Advisory Group who guided the process with vision, knowledge and stories, which underpin every design element of the acknowledgement markers.
Surprise and Delight
In silhouette, the Karak (the endangered Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo), perched and still, might present much as the Ngoolark (the White-Tailed Black Cockatoo) does. Dark, composed, and familiar to the south-western sky. But when the Karak takes flight, something extraordinary happens. Its tail feathers open; painterly, vivid, unmistakably red, a disclosure of colour so sudden and generous it feels like a treat of nature. A moment of surprise and delight that rewards the attentive eye. This reveal, the unexpected flourish, became the conceptual heart of the entry acknowledgement markers.
Fourteen Tall Tail Feathers
Each piece of an individual acknowledgement marker is composed of fourteen individual geometric elements, presented as feather-like forms, one for each of the Noongar groups whose Country extends across the south-west of Western Australia. Together, the forms represent a culture of extraordinary depth and geographic reach, present and connected on this land for tens of thousands of years.
An Artwork That Moves With You
The form of each element draws from the Karak’s tail. Geometric and considered in its overall composition, yet alive with the suggestion of movement, of something about to be revealed. Embedded within each feather-like form is an infill artwork by Noongar artist Sharyn Egan. A luminous, painterly gradient carrying the soft horizon tones of the Carrolup tradition, where colour blends gently from earth to sky in the way a landscape does at first light or last.
These artworks do not present themselves all at once. Like the Karak in flight, they reveal themselves in discreet intervals, glimpsed as the visitor moves around the marker, appearing and receding depending on angle and approach, revealed as the visitors move through it.
Every Day, Every Night
The experience of the entry statements shifts with the light. By day, the geometric forms read as bold and grounded, a guardian like presence at the City’s edge. As evening falls and the city’s light changes, the pieces transform. Illuminated from within, the artworks of Sharyn Egan glow at each entry point, forming quiet beacons of cultural acknowledgement, an unmistakable nod to Whadjuk Nyoongar Boodja.
Finding a Place to Land
The on Country acknowledgement markers have yet to find their place within the Perth landscape, but Publik is hopeful they will someday be realised, sharing to all visitors “you are welcome here, and this Country has a name”.
Entry Acknowledgement Markers designed by Publik in consultation with the City of Perth Elder Advisory Group. Infill artwork by Noongar artist Sharyn Egan. Landscape design by Ecoscape and lighting design by ETC.
A deliverable of the City of Perth Reconciliation Action Plan.
