On the rooftop of the University of Western Australia’s newest Indigenous student accommodation, phones are banned, and students discuss issues and ideas, fears and hopes in small gendered groups with appropriate mentors.
By design, it’s a very private space. Circular seating around a deeply symbolic fire and smoking pit sits within a garden that is open to the sky, emphasising the relationship First Nations people have with the land and nature, and the importance of birds and animals to their songs, dances and belief systems.
But in other moments, this area is a relaxed social space, a place
