
Overview
Background
Dr Cathy Keys completed her doctoral studies in the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre in 1999. Her doctoral thesis ‘The Architectural Implications of Warlpiri jilimi’ was concerned with the People Environment relations of Aboriginal women living in Central Australia. She is committed to exploring the social and cultural properties of architectural space. Cathy has taught in Aboriginal Environments and architectural research and design making subjects in the School of Architecture, The University of Queensland.
Availability
- Dr Catherine Keys is:
- Not available for supervision
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Design Studies, The University of Queensland
- Bachelor of Architecture, The University of Queensland
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
Research interests
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Transfer of architectural knowledge on Northern Australia's settlement frontiers
This research is concerned with exploring the transfer of architectural knowledge from First Nations people to migrant settlers to Australia - focusing on vernacular architectures in Queensland. This research is concerned with locating Indigenous architecture more centrally within existing architectural histories.
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Cultural Histories of the Queensland House
The primary focus of this research is to diversify existing architectural histories of the Queensland House through the study of issues of culture, gender and race.
Research impacts
The findings of my research into the culturally-specific needs of users involves applied research outcomes aimed at informing architects and policy writers designing and providing dwellings and institutional architecture intended for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients. This research includes techniques such as participatory design processes and post occupancy evaluations. To date this research has resulted in the development of culturally sensitive design briefs and design criteria that informed architectural housing and aged care projects in remote parts of Central Australia.
Works
Search Professor Catherine Keys’s works on UQ eSpace
2025
Journal Article
Redressing the absence of military blockhouses and forts in ‘origin theories’ for the elevated house
Keys, Cathy (2025). Redressing the absence of military blockhouses and forts in ‘origin theories’ for the elevated house. Fabrications, 1-21. doi: 10.1080/10331867.2024.2425136
2023
Journal Article
House elevation and the British military settlement of Port Essington in Northern Australia
Keys, Cathy (2023). House elevation and the British military settlement of Port Essington in Northern Australia. ABE Journal, 22 (22). doi: 10.4000/abe.15204
2021
Journal Article
Nervous nation: fear, conflict and narratives of fortified domestic architecture on the Queensland frontier
Burke, Heather, Kerkhove, Ray, Wallis, Lynley A., Keys, Cathy and Barker, Bryce (2021). Nervous nation: fear, conflict and narratives of fortified domestic architecture on the Queensland frontier. Aboriginal History, 44, 21-57. doi: 10.22459/ah.44.2020.02
2020
Journal Article
Sharing the Waterways: Shark-Proof Swimming, Penal Detention and the Early History of St Helena Island, Moreton Bay
Keys, Cathy (2020). Sharing the Waterways: Shark-Proof Swimming, Penal Detention and the Early History of St Helena Island, Moreton Bay. Queensland Review, 27 (2), 121-136. doi: 10.1017/qre.2020.11
2020
Journal Article
Shifting priorities of shade and northern Australian architecture: Colonial settlement prior to the 1920s
Keys, Cathy (2020). Shifting priorities of shade and northern Australian architecture: Colonial settlement prior to the 1920s. ABE Journal Architecture Beyond Europe, 17 (17). doi: 10.4000/abe.8008
2020
Journal Article
Australian settler bush huts and Indigenous bark-strippers: origins and influences
Kerkhove, Ray and Keys, Cathy (2020). Australian settler bush huts and Indigenous bark-strippers: origins and influences. Queensland Review, 27 (1), 1-20. doi: 10.1017/qre.2020.1
2020
Journal Article
On the lookout: defensive surveillance of convicts and foreigners as a defining element of early Queensland architecture (1820s-1880s)
Kerkhove, Ray and Keys, Cathy (2020). On the lookout: defensive surveillance of convicts and foreigners as a defining element of early Queensland architecture (1820s-1880s). Queensland History Journal, 24 (5), 476-485.
2019
Journal Article
'Lighthouse Communities' and Indigenous-Settler Cultural Entanglements: The Early Architectural History of Southern Queensland's Lighthouses and Pilot Stations
Keys, Cathy and Kerkhove, Ray (2019). 'Lighthouse Communities' and Indigenous-Settler Cultural Entanglements: The Early Architectural History of Southern Queensland's Lighthouses and Pilot Stations. Queensland History Journal, 24 (2), 213-229.
2019
Journal Article
Diversifying the early history of the prefabricated colonial house in Moreton Bay
Keys, Cathy (2019). Diversifying the early history of the prefabricated colonial house in Moreton Bay. Queensland Review, 26 (01), 86-106. doi: 10.1017/qre.2019.5
2018
Journal Article
Architecture, environment, history: questions and consequences
Barber, Daniel A., Stickells, Lee, Ryan, Daniel J., Koehler, Maren, Leach, Andrew, Goad, Philip, van der Plaat, Deborah, Keys, Cathy, Karim, Farhan and Taylor, William M. (2018). Architecture, environment, history: questions and consequences. Architectural Theory Review, 22 (2), 249-286. doi: 10.1080/13264826.2018.1482725
2018
Book Chapter
Mobilising Indigenous agency through cultural sustainability in architecture: are we there yet?
Go-Sam, Carroll and Keys, Catherine (2018). Mobilising Indigenous agency through cultural sustainability in architecture: are we there yet?. The handbook of contemporary indigenous architecture. (pp. 347-380) edited by Elizabeth Grant, Kelly Greenop, Albert L. Refiti and Daniel J. Glenn. Singapore: Springer Nature. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-6904-8_14
2017
Journal Article
The emergence of an architectural anthropology in Aboriginal Australia: the work of the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre
Memmott, Paul and Keys, Cathy (2017). The emergence of an architectural anthropology in Aboriginal Australia: the work of the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre. Architectural Theory Review, 21 (2), 218-236. doi: 10.1080/13264826.2017.1316752
2017
Journal Article
Valuing “under the house”: women’s knowledge and the architectural history of the stumped Queensland house
Keys, Cathy and Steele, Wendy (2017). Valuing “under the house”: women’s knowledge and the architectural history of the stumped Queensland house. Fabrications, 27 (1), 100-119. doi: 10.1080/10331867.2016.1262713
2017
Conference Publication
The 1950s elevation debate and the tropical Queensland house: tropical storms, ‘progressive architecture’ and the devaluing of the ‘under the house’
Keys, Cathy (2017). The 1950s elevation debate and the tropical Queensland house: tropical storms, ‘progressive architecture’ and the devaluing of the ‘under the house’. 6th International Network of Tropical Architecture Conference 2017, University of Florida, FL, United States, 1-3 December 2017. University of Florida, FL, United States: International Network of Tropical Architecture Conference 2017.
2016
Journal Article
Designing hospitals for Australian conditions:The Australian Inland Mission's cottage hospital, Adelaide House, 1926
Keys, Cathy (2016). Designing hospitals for Australian conditions:The Australian Inland Mission's cottage hospital, Adelaide House, 1926. The Journal of Architecture, 21 (1), 68-89. doi: 10.1080/13602365.2016.1141790
2016
Book Chapter
Interstitial housing space: no centre just border
Steele, Wendy and Keys, Cathy (2016). Interstitial housing space: no centre just border. Housing and home unbound: intersections in economics, environment and politics in Australia. (pp. 204-217) edited by Nicole Cook, Aidan Davison and Louise Crabtree. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315669342
2015
Journal Article
Preliminary Historical Notes on the Transfer of Aboriginal Architectural Expertise on Australia's Frontier
Keys, Cathy (2015). Preliminary Historical Notes on the Transfer of Aboriginal Architectural Expertise on Australia's Frontier. Fabrications, 25 (1), 48-61. doi: 10.1080/10331867.2015.1009413
2015
Journal Article
Redefining architecture to accommodate cultural difference: designing for cultural sustainability
Memmott, P. and Keys, C. (2015). Redefining architecture to accommodate cultural difference: designing for cultural sustainability. Architectural Science Review, 58 (4), 278-289. doi: 10.1080/00038628.2015.1032210
2015
Journal Article
Interstitial space and everyday housing practices
Steele, Wendy and Keys, Cathy (2015). Interstitial space and everyday housing practices. Housing, Theory and Society, 32 (1), 112-125. doi: 10.1080/14036096.2014.938866
2014
Conference Publication
Translating the design of behaviour settings for Aboriginal well-being
Memmott, Paul and Keys, Cathy (2014). Translating the design of behaviour settings for Aboriginal well-being. Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ) Annual Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 2-5 July 2014. Gold Coast, QLD, Australia: SAHANZ.
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Catherine Keys is:
- Not available for supervision
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Towards More Inclusive Government Assets Management: A Gender Responsive Design Framework for Government Office Buildings in Indonesia
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Sonia Roitman
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Doctor Philosophy
The protection and management of cultural heritage routes using digital technology with specific reference to the Sino-Korean Diplomatic Culture Route
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Kelly Greenop
Completed supervision
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2022
Doctor Philosophy
Making the Islamic Façade: Transformation in the Funerary Structures of Central Asia in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Paul Memmott
Media
Enquiries
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