Understanding Sydney: A City on Country

Alison Page is a descendant of the Dharawal and Yuin people and is an award-winning creative at the forefront of the contemporary Aboriginal cultural movement. She is a leading force in the Australian design scene and her extensive career spans public art, exhibitions and urban design. She is the founder of the National Aboriginal Design Agency and Saltwater Freshwater Arts Alliance. In 2015, she was inducted into the Design Institute of Australia Hall of Fame and in 2022, won the Interior Design Excellence Awards Gold Medal. Alison was a panellist for eight years on the ABC television program The new inventors, which showcased Australian innovation. She is currently Associate Dean (Indigenous Leadership and Engagement) at the University of Technology Sydney Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, and a member of several cultural boards, including the National Australia Day Council, Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, and the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Paul has worked for the past 25 years with Aboriginal heritage and history. He has comprehensive experience in all aspects of Aboriginal cultural heritage management, including Aboriginal community consultation, development assessment, strategic heritage planning and developing management plans for specific places, and all aspects of archaeological assessment, such as survey, excavation and specialist analysis. Paul is the author of the 2017 book Hidden in plain view: the Aboriginal people of coastal Sydney (winner of the 2018 NSW Premier’s History Award for Community and Regional History) and has been collaboratively researching Sydney’s Aboriginal history for many years with members of the La Perouse Aboriginal community.