Bonner P-6 School and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Learning and Community Centre
Bonner School is an initiative of the Education and Training Directorate to provide a 4 stream school from Preschool to year 6 that incorporates a fully integrated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Learning and Cultural Centre within the physical, cultural and intellectual curriculum of the school. It is the first school of its kind in the ACT.
Extensive consultation was undertaken with a range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and education consultants. An artwork master plan was developed by the design team, including the architect landscape architect, art consultants, client and key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives to allow for artworks to be embedded within the fabric of the buildings and landscape. Harris Hobbs received a national AILA award in the category of planning for the masterplan.
The landscape is the linking element within the site, placing the land types of the indigenous peoples across the site, forming a microcosm of the Australian landscape. The landscape design provides representations of landform that connects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to country: Mountain people, Freshwater people, Saltwater people, Island people and Desert people. The design draws inspiration from a series of aerial photographs taken by Wally Caruana of Australian landscapes from a small plane, allowing for some amazing close up shots of the patterns of the Australian landscape.