John Hunter Health and Innovation Precinct cultural program

The team visited three primary schools in the area to road test a booklet about the native vegetation on the campus. 

The booklet has been developed in partnership with botanical expert Kentan Proctor (Bahtabah LALC) and Uncle Frank Wallace, head gardener at the hospital for 30 years. It features eight plant species that are native to the campus and their role in Aboriginal culture.

The plan is to distribute the booklets to all schools in the region and to the Awabakal Medical Service to help children understand a little bit more about the hospital and the landscape so they feel welcome. 

The project team invited Aboriginal staff and community members to consultation session about artwork that will be in the new maternity suites.

The team is using research by Prof Maralyn Foureur that says the built environment can have a significant impact on a person’s neurophysiology during childbirth and that spaces can be designed specifically to facilitate a calm birth experience.

Nurses, midwives and members of the community were asked to provide their feedback on the types of proposed artwork that will feature in 13 rooms that will have baths.

The proposed options included wallpaper art, landscape photography, painting and digital illustration with photography emerging as the preferred choice.

The project recently checked in with local Elders and members of our four Local Aboriginal Land Councils along with more than 40 Aboriginal staff as part of our NAIDOC Week celebrations.

We’re really proud of the relationships that are being forged with Worimi, Awabakal, Biraban and Bahtabah Land Councils as we work together on making sure the design is a welcoming space for all members of our community.

We’re doing this in the areas of landscaping and artworks, but also the physical spaces – like areas for large families to gather and of course the services themselves. 

Representatives from the project recently attended the Gather and Grow session in Maitland. This was one of several sessions around NSW that is designed to raise awareness of the Aboriginal Procurement Policy that supports government projects to employ more Aboriginal businesses and individuals.

We made connections with several new businesses and hope to grow these relationships. 

At the same time, and with the support of the local Connectivity Centre, the project has enabled 24 locally based First Nations people to be employed in the construction industry. Visit here to learn more about the Procurement Policy and here to find out about the Connectivity Centre. 

More than 40 Aboriginal staff attended 2 sessions led by facility planners Shirley Graham and Karen Height along with Health Infrastructure Project Manager Lauren Stocks and Executive Director of Aboriginal Health Raylene Gordon.

The sessions, which were held throughout the year, walk staff through the levels of the new hospital. Staff get to see how each service will look and how Aboriginal engagement helped shape the new design features, including Designing with Country, artworks, and wayfinding.

The sessions provide staff ways to learn more about the new build and for John Hunter Hospital Aboriginal staff to network and develop relationships.

The team hosted a site visit for the John Hunter Hospital Service Managers to update them on the project's milestones for the next 12 months.

They were asked to continue supporting Aboriginal staff to participate in the Aboriginal Working Group when it kicked off again in 2024. 

The project team hosted a satellite event at their new offices to celebrate the launch of Health Infrastructure's first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).

Wonnarua Elder Uncle Richard and his wife Dawn who worked closely with the new Maitland Hospital team attended the launch. 

Senior Project Director Nicholas Rayner, a member of the Health Infrastructure RAP working group, guided the guests through the plan's principles and the 4 action focus areas.

In 2022, the team spent a day hearing important stories and traditions at the Murrook Culture Centre. Since then, they've developed strong relationships and initiatives to deliver a culturally safe and inclusive facility with elements that honour local traditional culture. 

The project team joined forces with the John Hunter Hospital’s Closing the Gap Collaborative Group to host an end-of-year barbeque.

It was a great opportunity to thank the teams for a great year, share a yarn about the new building with over 500 staff. 

During the construction a natural ochre pit was discovered onsite.

Representatives from the local Aboriginal community (including Wonnarua artist Saretta Fielding) were invited to participate in a site blessing before the ochre was collected and distributed to the Worimi, Awabakal, Bahtabah and Birabahn Aboriginal Land Councils.

Some of the ochre was identified as being Nobbys Tuff that is formed from volcanic ash and is often noticed at Nobbys Head, Newcastle.

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Video transcript

An unexpected find creates a cultural community

[didgeridoo sound playing] 
Saretta Fielding, Wonnarua artist
At the moment we're on Awabakal land at the back of the John Hunter Hospital. The new precinct is being developed here and excitingly enough, there's been a major ochre find. 
So I'm so excited to have been invited along with other community members to have a look at that site today. 
And I've bought my buckets and my spade because I would like to take a little bit of that away with the idea of creating some artworks that are uniquely linked to this country. 
John Schultz, Worimi Culture - Heritage and Education
I found some of the rocks up here resembles a Nobby's Tuff. 
So when you smash it actually flakes off like the Nobby Tuff does and there's been recorded that that there rock is significantly from this side of the coast, but they found it all the way over in WA and their Aboriginal sites. 
So from that to get from here to there would have been a lot of trading and bartering between each other. 
So, and and just remember that there was no, there were no planes back in the day. There was just a lot of walking and sharing. Yeah.
Saretta Fielding
Ochre is so important to Aboriginal people because it's a huge part of our connection to our traditional culture. 
You know, we're a living culture and ochre for Aboriginal people is evident everywhere in the art and the cave paintings we see. 
Biami here in the Hunter Valley, which is an important site for the you know, the Awabakal, the Wonnarua, even to the West, the Wiradjuri to the North to Worimi and the Darkinjung to the South. 
It was a large gathering place, and the Biami cave is done in some beautiful tones of white, red, brown and earthy ochres. 
So it's very, very exciting when we come across ochre and it's a real opportunity for community to celebrate and have a correct protocol in opening that site so that we can take from country is really important.
So yeah, this opportunity today is something that community are really pleased to be able to work alongside John Hunter Hospital. 
John Schultz
Oh, I feel like a little kid in the shop. 
It's awesome to be out here and just walk around in the Bush and see plants that I know that are from Worimi as well here, but also just being able to share it with everyone that's coming out here. 
It's pretty cool. Yeah. So, I'm just, I'm like a big kid being out here.
[didgeridoo sound playing] 

Local Aboriginal Land Councils and Elders were invited to participate in a seedling collection led by Kentan Proctor and the Green Team from Bahtabah Local Aboriginal Land Council.

The green team from the Bahtabah Local Aboriginal Land Council was invited to harvest seeds of plants that are important to First Nations culture.

The team collected around 750 seeds from a number of species that will be regenerated into seedlings and planted in the garden of the new acute services building.

We continue to work with our local Aboriginal community to raise awareness of the importance of native vegetation on the site of the new Precinct. 

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Video transcript

From little things big things will grow

[Music]
Sheryn Barrack, Aboriginal Engagement Manager
We engaged one of our local Aboriginal Land Councils, our green team from Bahtabah Land Council and we partnered with them to do a seed collection.
So, our first collection, we collected about 750 seeds, and we'll be working with another local Aboriginal Land Council called Worimi Land Council, and they'll be regenerating our seedlings in their greenhouse.
And they'll be regenerating our seedlings in their greenhouse, and we'll be using that to then replant in the buildings as well.
[Music]
Kiel Crofts, Bahtabah Aboriginal Land Council
Kind of excited really, just knowing that, you know, we've put in effort to grow them from seed, and then you know, to bring them back onto Country and help reestablish the bushland kind of thing. Very exciting and rewarding stuff. 
[Music]
Sheryn Barrack
This is the first process or should be the first process in any new build. 
So, including our local communities, our Land Councils to ensure we're not building on significant sites, we're not disturbing any cultural heritage as well. 
But it's also important in closing the gap to ensure that our local community feel like they're valued, and they're heard, and they will come and use our service. 
Kiel Crofts
Even if, you know, I'm not around at the time when it's at its peak and it's a big bushland, at least the next lot of people to come through will be able to enjoy it. 
And it's got a home and food for animals and habitat and all that sort of stuff. So yeah, I don't know, it's just getting back to what to what I think we should be doing in that sense.
[Music]

We held arts strategy workshops to seek the opinions of staff, our Aboriginal stakeholders and those working in the arts and creative fields.

Our hands-on workshops asked questions like, ‘How can arts and culture have a positive influence in health and innovation settings?’ 

"It's exciting that arts in health refers to all art forms including design, architecture, heritage, painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, weaving, photography, lighting, video, filmmaking, digital design, crafts, conceptual art, textile arts, literature, poetry, music, song, theatre, dance, movement, and anything in between. A heartfelt thank you to staff and community who were incredibly generous with their time and insight. We look forward to our continued work together.”

Brigette Uren

Growing evidence shows that incorporating arts into health facilities has proven clinical benefits to the whole health system.

Our Arts in Health Infrastructure program was established in 2018 to deliver improved health outcomes for NSW communities and health professionals. It builds arts into the very core of health infrastructure.

Learn more about our Arts in Health Infrastructure program.  

The project team developed a unique partnership with local Aboriginal communities to raise awareness of the importance of native vegetation and soil deposits in First Nations culture. 

Prior to any site clearing, we invited members of our 4 Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs) and Elders to Walk on Country. A meeting with the Bahtabah Aboriginal Land Council helped us learn more about native flora and fauna and its role in Aboriginal culture. 

We identified valuable trees and trees that were to be retained and gifted to the Land Councils so they can be turned into furniture and other artefacts. 

Site engineers can now identify different types of trees and tell the difference between various plant types. Construction workers are now able to use their newly learned knowledge of Country to identify plants that can be used for bush medicine.

Additionally, the site walks promote ecological and cultural safety by educating site designers, engineers and workers on the new build.

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Video transcript

Connecting with Country from the ground up

[Music]
Ashley Williams, CEO - Birabahn Local Aboriginal Land Council
So, we're looking for constantly appropriate wood. So, anything that we can make with some cultural material. 
So, we want to repurpose it and reuse it. So, coolamons, boondis, bommerangs, whacking sticks, clapping sticks, you name it, we can make it out of out of the trees that are here. 
So, we're trying to find a variety and yeah, just repurpose it for cultural uses. 
Obviously without clapping sticks and our digging sticks, we need a hardwood. 
And then with our coolamons and things a lot of us like to use Angophoras that are already naturally shaped a certain way the same as our boomerang. 
So, it's less work, but it ends up with a really good result. We think it's great. 
We don't get these opportunities very often to literally walk through the Bush and pick what would we want. So yeah, this is a really, really good start and we're excited to be part of it.
[Music]

Involving the local Aboriginal community in all aspects of the development was a key request from the community during consultation and engagement.

The team built strong relationships with the local Aboriginal Land Councils. We recently spent a day at the Murrook Cultural Centre where we saw Australia through the eyes of a local Aboriginal person. 

The team continues to work on integrating Indigenous cultural elements within the Precinct and delivering a welcoming environment for the broad community served by the John Hunter and John Hunter Children’s Hospitals.

"Revisiting cultural immersion over the life of the project, through engagement with the Murrook Centre and other Local Aboriginal Land Councils would also be a great initiative that has my support. It was inspiring and insightful [...] where I was able to deepen my understanding of the Indigenous history within the region."

Nick Rayner, Project Director - John Hunter Health and Innovation Precinct