LOCATION
Bairnsdale, Victoria

CLIENT
Gippsland & East Gippsland Aboriginal Co-Operative

SECTOR
Community

PHOTOGRAPHY
Peter Clarke

TRADITIONAL LAND OWNERS
The Gunaikurnai people


Note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that the following page may contain images of deceased persons.

‘Dala Yooro’ (meaning Little Gum Trees), is a new facility catering for a 66-place childcare centre. The building incorporates a shared entry foyer and includes renovations to the existing administration and cultural rooms of the adjacent building.

In collaboration with GEGAC, early concepts developed a structural form for the building that was derived from the wing of 'Booran the Pelican', an Aboriginal Dreamtime symbol from the Gippsland lakes region.

An integral part of the brief was to incorporate natural materials within the design. Rammed earth external walls were constructed using local aggregates and gravels, resulting in banded tones of colour. Large laminated timber posts & rafters create a series of structural frames, emulating the structure of a pelican wing along the southern and northern boundaries.