Naa marni
(are you all good)?
Puki Puki tampi'dlu, nartangka wapi'dlu, marnintya
(Welcome. Let us recognise the past, act in the present and build a better future)
Introducing Yitpi Yartapuultiku – Soul of Port Adelaide
Image credit: City of Port Adelaide Enfield with Ashley Halliday Architects, Wax Design and the Yitpi Yartapuultiku Custodian Group. Concept Image: Wax Design
Friday 26 May is National Sorry Day, where we remember and acknowledge the strength of Stolen Generation survivors, and reflect on how we can all play a part in the healing process for our people and nation.
Sorry Day begins Reconciliation Week; A time to learn about our shared histories, and First Nations cultures and achievements.
At the City of Port Adelaide Enfield, we are conscious of our sphere of influence and aspire to be a City that values its diverse community and embraces change through innovation, resilience, and community leadership. This vision can only be fully realised through the strengthening of identity, wellbeing, and sense of belonging for First Nations people in our community.
We are continuing our own reconciliation work in PAE with our vision for Yitpi Yartapuultiku – Aboriginal Cultural Centre Port Adelaide and can now reveal the concept renders for this culturally safe and nurturing community place that will play an important part in ongoing healing process.
This much-anticipated Aboriginal Cultural Centre and open space will be built beside the Port River in the centre of Port Adelaide. It has been created through a collaboration between the City of PAE, the PAE Aboriginal Advisory Panel, and the local First Nations community.
With a name that means ‘Soul of Port Adelaide’, it will be an authentic and unique community space for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to learn, experience and be immersed in Aboriginal culture and to connect with each other, land and nature. It will be a place to unify, heal, share, celebrate and educate the rich cultural history amongst us, together as a community.
Our approach to this project over the past two years, has allowed for cultural exchange, with Council and Aboriginal Custodians working together to co-design Yitpi Yartapuultiku, in a shared and respectful way. It will be a safe and nurturing community place for healing, connection and reconciliation, for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to learn, experience and be immersed in Aboriginal culture.
Follow the project for updates.
Yitpi Yartapuultiku has been recognised as an outstanding example of authentic and collaborative planning and design with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, winning the Planning with Country award for South Australia in the 2022 Planning Institute Australia Awards.
Naming Yitpi Yartapuultiku – The soul of Port Adelaide
The Aboriginal Cultural Centre to be built at the reserve formally known as Western Region Park (where Old Port Road meets Bower Road, north west corner) has been officially named. The project group met with local Elders to discuss ideas and concepts, and together decided on the Kaurna name Yitpi Yartapuultiku. This means ‘Soul of Port Adelaide’: Yitpi meaning Soul, Yartapuulti being the name that the Kaurna people gave to the land around the Port River and ku means ‘of’, a Kaurna joining word.
On Tuesday 16 August 2022 we held a naming ceremony at the site, which included a Welcome to Country by Senior Kaurna Elder Lewis O’Brien, a Smoking Ceremony by Michael O’Brien and three ceremonial fires.
Yitpi Yartapuultiku will be a community place providing a range of activities and opportunities for both First Nations and non-First Nations people. It will be an authentic place to be immersed in local culture and will have indoor and outdoor activity and performance spaces, public amenities, office and meeting rooms, extensive landscaping, artwork and entry statements and areas with access to the water.
Join us on our journey planning an Aboriginal Cultural Centre for PAE
We have been working closely with local Aboriginal Custodians, including the Aboriginal Advisory Panel, to create a shared vision for a new Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Yartapuulti, the heart of Port Adelaide.
In March 2022 Council endorsed a Concept Plan and Business Case for the project, and agreed to start on detailed designs. The occasion was momentous with Project Custodian Group members present, some of whom have been actively advocating for a Centre for over twenty years.
We've undertaken intensive culturally-embedded co-design processes with Custodians to establish a Concept Plan for the Centre. The shared design direction includes strong cultural principles developed in partnership with leadership from Custodians. The Concept Plan sets up a framework to ensure the delivery and ongoing management of the Centre is grounded in people and place.
A tender process is currently underway to select the principal contractor to construct Yitpi Yartapuultiku. This process will ensure the project achieves value for money, high quality, respect for cultural principles and design direction, employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and engagement with Aboriginal supply chain.
Find out more about this project below and continue down the page to share your vision for the Cultural Centre. You can add this as public or private feedback.
Our shared vision
The concept of an Aboriginal Cultural Centre in PAE has been discussed for more than 20 years.
Our Aboriginal Advisory Panel, Elders and community, our Project Custodians, have been instrumental in developing this shared ambition.
Our shared vision is
- A place for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to learn, experience and be immersed in Aboriginal culture.
- A culturally safe place to gather. A place to practice, share, celebrate and record culture past, present and emerging.
- A place to connect to country and culture.
The Aboriginal Cultural Centre is envisaged as a community place providing a range of activities and opportunities for both First Nations and non-First Nations people. It will be an authentic place to be immersed in local culture.
The Centre will have indoor and outdoor activity and performance spaces, public amenities, office and meeting rooms, extensive landscaping, artwork and entry statements and areas with access to the water.
What is the proposed location?
The proposed site is formally known as Western Region Park, Port Adelaide, with its direct connection to Yerta Bulti Country (the area around the Port River) and the rich cultural history of the Kaurna People.
It is essential that our Aboriginal community is empowered to select a suitable Kaurna name, with the guidance and cultural authority of local Elders.
Our approach for this project allows for cultural exchange within the design process, offering an example of a working method that is collaborative and respectful.
Council staff facilitated a series of discussions involving Project Custodian Group members, Aboriginal Advisory Panel members and representatives from Kaurna Warra Karrpanthi Kaurna language research team at the University of Adelaide.
The project group met with local Elders to discuss ideas and concepts, and together decided on the Kaurna name Yitpi Yartapuultiku. This means ‘Soul of Port Adelaide’: Yitpi meaning Soul, Yartapuulti being the name that the Kaurna people gave to the land around the Port River and ku means ‘of’, a Kaurna joining word.
On Tuesday 16 August 2022 we held a naming ceremony at the site, which included a Welcome to Country by Senior Kaurna Elder Lewis O’Brien, a Smoking Ceremony by Michael O’Brien and three ceremonial fires.
Project Custodians share their thoughts on the meaning of the journey, the cultural centre, place, culture and Country (four short videos).
View our extended playlist of Aboriginal Cultural Centre Videos here
Artwork by Ingrid O'Loughlin
