
Overview
Background
Professor Paul Memmott is an anthropologist and architect and for some decades was the Director of the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre at the University of Queensland (School of Architecture and Institute for Social Science Research). This has now become the Aboriginal Environments Research Collaborative (AERC) within the School of Architecture, Design and Planning. The AERC has provided and continues to provide an applied research focus on a range of topics in relation to Indigenous populations, including institutional architecture, vernacular architecture, housing, crowding, governance, well-being, homelessness, family violence and social planning for communities.
Paul was the first full-time architectural-anthropological consultant in Australia, being principal of a research consultancy practice in Aboriginal projects during 1980 to 2008. His research interests encompass Aboriginal sustainable housing and settlement design, Aboriginal access to institutional architecture, Indigenous constructs of place and cultural heritage, vernacular architecture, social planning in Indigenous communities, cultural change and architectural anthropology.
Paul’s scholarly research output includes over 300 publications (including 11 books and monographs), 215 applied research reports and 40 competitive grants. He has supervised over 50 postgraduate and honours students and has won a number of prestigious teaching awards in Indigenous education (including an Australian Award for University Teaching – AAUT). One of his books, titled 'Gunyah, Goondie + Wurley: Aboriginal Architecture of Australia', received three national book awards in 2008 (Edition 1), including the prestigious Stanner Award from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, and then upon the publication of an expanded edition 2 in 2022, another three national book awards.
Paul also has extensive professional anthropological experience in Aboriginal land rights claims, Native Title claims and associated court work since 1980. He has presented evidence and been examined in a variety of Australian courts as an expert witness on a cross-section of Indigenous issues, in addition to the Native Title work.
Awards
- AIA Neville Quarry Award, 2015
- Best Exhibit, Australian Architectural Exhibit, Venice Biennale 2018 (Team led by Baracco + Wright Architects, Melbourne)
Memberships
- Life Member, Academy of Social Sciences (Australia)
- Life Fellow, Australian Institute of Architects
- Fellow, Australian Anthropological Society
Availability
- Professor Paul Memmott is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours), The University of Queensland
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
- Australian Anthropological Society, Australian Anthropological Society
- Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Royal Australian Institute of Architects
Research interests
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Cross-cultural Study of the Ethno-environmental Relations of Indigenous Peoples
Five strands of research have emerged from my early career foundations that shape my research interests. (1) Vernacular Architecture and Material Culture: I have studied traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander shelters, houses and settlements for 40 years. (2) Aboriginal housing and institutional architecture: Australian Aboriginal housing and settlement research with over 50 publications in this field. (3) Indigenous homelessness: I have carried out empirical research studies on Indigenous homelessness in Australia, with some 16 publications in this field. (4) Indigenous family violence: In this difficult field I have researched the phenomenon and authored a national overview report for the Australian Government, “Violence in Indigenous Australia” that formulated a national definition of Indigenous family violence and integrated causal explanations. (5) Geography of place and cultural landscapes: I have been engaged in research for Aboriginal land claims and native title claims for over 30 years; as well as carrying out sacred site recording for Cultural Heritage agencies. My knowledge of Aboriginal geography has been applied to urban planning research and I have been involved in land and sea management issues with Aboriginal people both in terms of assisting groups to develop management plans, and to protect cultural heritage sites.
Research impacts
Five fields of applied research impacts in national and international fora:
(1) Vernacular Architecture and Material Culture
(2) Aboriginal Housing and Institutional Architecture
(3) Geography of place and cultural landscapes
(4) Indigenous homelessness and
5) Indigenous family violence.
In varied academic, industry and government sectors he presented applied and policy related research. Since 2008, he was an invited guest speaker at 20 conferences, and another 15 invited keynote addresses influencing government policy change, including Commonwealth ministerial and standing committees and policy forums, professional and industry symposiums, ‘think-tanks’ and ‘lock-ups’, public lectures, gallery openings and book launches.
The inter-disciplinary nature of his work and its indigenous-specific field, he is a specialist referee for national and international journals in architecture, urban policy, anthropology, archaeology, economics, demography, housing and medicine.
In addition to his research publications (including 230 journal papers, 10 books and monographs), I was commissioned to write 215 applied research reports and 36 competitive grants (incl. as Team Leader on two ARC Discovery).
Works
Search Professor Paul Memmott’s works on UQ eSpace
Featured
2012
Book Chapter
Aboriginal architecture
Memmott, Paul (2012). Aboriginal architecture. Encyclopedia of Australian architecture. (pp. 1-4) edited by Philip Goad and Julie Willis. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Cambridge University Press.
Featured
2003
Book Chapter
Customary Aboriginal behaviour patterns and housing design
Memmott, Paul (2003). Customary Aboriginal behaviour patterns and housing design. TAKE 2: housing design in Indigenous Australia. (pp. 26-39) edited by Paul Memmott and Catherine Chambers. Canberra, ACT Australia: The Royal Australian Institute of Architects.
2025
Book Chapter
Life stories: the Wild Australia Show (1892-1893)
Aird, Michael, Allen, Lindy, Knowles, Chantal, Memmott, Paul, Nugent, Maria and Richards, Jonathan (2025). Life stories: the Wild Australia Show (1892-1893). Reframing indigenous biography. (pp. 301-307) edited by Shino Konishi, Malcolm Allbrook and Tom Griffiths. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003351863-23
2024
Journal Article
Housing initiatives to address Strep A infections and reduce RHD risks in remote Indigenous communities in Australia
Lansbury, Nina, Memmott, Paul, Wyber, Rosemary, Burgen, Clarissa, Barnes, Samuel K., Daw, Jessica, Cannon, Jeffrey, Bowen, Asha C., Burgess, Rachel, Frank, Patricia N. and Redmond, Andrew M. (2024). Housing initiatives to address Strep A infections and reduce RHD risks in remote Indigenous communities in Australia. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21 (9) 1262, 1262. doi: 10.3390/ijerph21091262
2024
Journal Article
Housing design for health in a changing climate for remote Indigenous communities in semi-arid Australia
Memmott, Paul, Lansbury, Nina, Nash, Daphne, Snow, Stephen, Redmond, Andrew M., Burgen, Clarissa (Waanyi), Matthew, Paul, Quilty, Simon and Frank, Patricia Narrurlu (Warumungu) (2024). Housing design for health in a changing climate for remote Indigenous communities in semi-arid Australia. Architecture, 4 (3), 778-801. doi: 10.3390/architecture4030041
2024
Journal Article
Mapping Trans-Indigeneity Across the Trans-Tasman: Architectural Practice, Research, and Education
‘Ilaiū Talei, Charmaine and Memmott, Paul (2024). Mapping Trans-Indigeneity Across the Trans-Tasman: Architectural Practice, Research, and Education. Fabrications, 33 (3), 1-27. doi: 10.1080/10331867.2024.2369369
2024
Conference Publication
Environmental health in remote community homes to reduce rheumatic heart disease
Lansbury, N., Memmott, P., Redmond, A. and Frank, P. (2024). Environmental health in remote community homes to reduce rheumatic heart disease. National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Environmental Health Conference, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 13-16 May 2024.
2024
Conference Publication
Deep time evolution of the Indigenous peoples and architecture of Australia
Memmott, Paul (2024). Deep time evolution of the Indigenous peoples and architecture of Australia. CARTA Symposium, How humans came to construct their world, Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA, United States, 11 October 2024.
2024
Book
Design & Building on Country: First Knowledges for younger readers
Page, Alison and Memmott, Paul (2024). Design & Building on Country: First Knowledges for younger readers. Cremorne, VIC, Australia: Thames and Hudson.
2023
Book
Design and the Vernacular: Interpretations for Contemporary Architectural Practice and Theory
Paul Memmott, John Ting, Tim O'Rourke and Marcel Vellinga eds. (2023). Design and the Vernacular: Interpretations for Contemporary Architectural Practice and Theory. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury. doi: 10.5040/9781350294349
2023
Journal Article
Fractal politics and diplomacy: religion, governance, and conflict management in classical Aboriginal Australia
Memmott, Paul (2023). Fractal politics and diplomacy: religion, governance, and conflict management in classical Aboriginal Australia. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 77 (6), 606-611. doi: 10.1080/10357718.2023.2268545
2023
Journal Article
What is the link between housing, crowding, infections and high rates of kidney disease in a remote Aboriginal town?
Lansbury, Nina, Hoy, Wendy, Shaw, Barb, Barnes, Samuel K., Memmott, Paul and Redmond, Andrew M. (2023). What is the link between housing, crowding, infections and high rates of kidney disease in a remote Aboriginal town?. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 47 (2) 100030, 100030. doi: 10.1016/j.anzjph.2023.100030
2023
Conference Publication
Crowding and WASH infrastructure affect COVID risks in remote Indigenous communities
Lansbury, Nina, Memmott, Paul and Redmond, Andrew (2023). Crowding and WASH infrastructure affect COVID risks in remote Indigenous communities. WASH Futures Conference, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 13-17 February 2023.
2023
Book Chapter
Archibald Meston (1851–1924)
Richards, Jonathan and Memmott, Paul (2023). Archibald Meston (1851–1924). Australian Dictionary of Biography. (pp. 1-3) Canberra, Australia: The Australian National University.
2023
Book Chapter
Reflections on Engaging with Aboriginal Lifestyles and Housing Design in Central Australia
Memmott, Paul (2023). Reflections on Engaging with Aboriginal Lifestyles and Housing Design in Central Australia. Papulu-ku Nyinjjiki (seeing houses). (pp. 10-10) edited by Norman (Jupurula) Frank. Melbourne, VIC Australia: Office.
2023
Book Chapter
Introduction
Memmott, Paul and Vellinga, Marcel (2023). Introduction. Design and the vernacular, interpretations for contemporary architectural practice and theory.. (pp. 1-17) edited by Paul Memmott, John Ting, Tim O'Rourke and Marcel Vellinga. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury. doi: 10.5040/9781350294349.ch-I
2023
Journal Article
Australasia and Oceania in global architectural history: reflections on catching up
Memmott, Paul (2023). Australasia and Oceania in global architectural history: reflections on catching up. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 82 (3), 257-259.
2022
Book Chapter
Camps, cottages and homes: an introduction to the exhibition
O'Rourke, Timothy, Mapar, Mandana, Memmott, Paul and Aird, Michael (2022). Camps, cottages and homes: an introduction to the exhibition. Camps, cottages and homes: a brief history of Indigenous housing in Queensland. (pp. 4-17) edited by Timothy O'Rourke and Mandana Mapar. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland, School of Architecture.
2022
Other Outputs
COP27: On Country, health and Indigenous knowledges
Lansbury, Nina , Matthews, Veronica, Atkinson, Amba-Rose , Mohamedi, Janine , Mosby, Vinnitta , Nona, Francis , Ford, Linda Payi , Beal, Cara , Memmott, Paul , Jupurrurlan, Norman Frank , Quilty, Simon , Jackson, Melissa , Lee, Amanda , Redmond, Andrew M., Hempenstall, Allison and Burgen, Clarissa (2022, 11 07). COP27: On Country, health and Indigenous knowledges Croakey
2022
Book
Gunyah, Goondie + Wurley: the Aboriginal architecture of Australia
Memmott, Paul (2022). Gunyah, Goondie + Wurley: the Aboriginal architecture of Australia. Port Melbourne, VIC Australia: Thames & Hudson Australia.
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Paul Memmott is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Available projects
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Indigenous Cultural Landscape Research
Postgraduate proposals that examine the ways in which Indigenous people relate to and value significant places and cultural landscapes can be supervised. Such topics might extend into human geography, urban design, urban history, landscape architecture, town planning or cultural heritage. Topics may also relate to how buildings are but positioned into and expressed in this cultural landscape.
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Indigenous spatial behaviours
Research topics can be supervised in relation to forms of spatial behaviours of Indigenous groups including in relation to customary land tenure, territoriality, setting theory, crowding and privacy cognitive space and people-environment transactional theory.
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Indigenous Architecture Research
Postgraduate proposals that address Indigenous architectural problems can be supervised. Such proposals might apply to Indigenous housing design, procurement, policy or management. Proposals might also include post-occupancy evaluation. Non-housing topics might embrace the architectural needs of Indigenous people in correctional centres, courts, hospitals, schools or clinics. Another research area embraces Indigenous cultural centres and museums.
Other research topics on Indigenous architectural issues may relate to theories on customary behaviours, cultural change, cultural identity, material culture, architectural meaning and the role of tradition. Topics may pertain to either architect-designed buildings or vernacular buildings.
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Spinifex Research
I was the Team Leader for a research project on Spinifex which was titled, ‘Towards Novel Biomimetic Building Materials: Evaluating Aboriginal and Western Scientific Knowledge of Spinifex Grasses’, 2008-2013, which was the first multi-disciplinary study of spinifex in Australia with three key original contributions. PhD scholars are welcomed who can extend this research into bio-architectural and bio-material applications.
1. New Applications of Aboriginal knowledge: Our partnership is with the Myuma Group who are the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of the Camooweal/Upper Georgina River basin, and who contributed their environmental steward-ship and ethics, their regional Aboriginal geographic knowledge, and human and infrastructure resources. Our project, through a series of published papers and culminating in a museum exhibition, drew together all of the Aboriginal knowledge on spinifex and its uses from the diverse ethnographic sources. We then applied this ethnographic knowledge to broader exploratory investigation of spinifex properties.
2. New plant knowledge: Using electron-microscopy we prepared cross-sections of grass leaves from all 69 species in the Triodia genus. Pronounced differences in leaf anatomy generated a division into 42 ‘hard’ species with stronger fibres, and 27 ‘soft’ species with weaker fibres but having a resin yielding capacity. Hard spinifex species appear to have double the photosynthetic capacity of soft species with stomata located on both the outer and inner surfaces of the folded leaves, as well as larger bundles of fibres for extra rigidity. Soft species have photosynthetic features restricted to inside of leaf only, but have resin secreting cells. Evolutionary modeling of species diversification during the Miocene and Pliocene climate changes has been developed using DNA analysis. We also addressed the different modes of spinifex reproduction and propagation (seeds, runners, re-sprouts), including the ecological relevance of wildfires. We operated on the premise that spinifex materials would have a unique morphology owing to the fact that Triodia is a xerophyte (arid-area plant requiring little water) which could be expected to display different properties to mesic plant species (moderate water content) from which most biomaterials are derived.
3. New material inventions: Our bio-engineering team (material engineers, chemists, botanists, architects, Aboriginal consultants) developed techniques for separating plant fibres and resin, and profiled spinifex resin chemistry (a mixture of volatile and nonvolatile terpenoid and secondary compounds: belonging to the thermoplastic class of bio-polymers). Within a low-tech to high-tech spectrum of possible applications, a variety of products were researched ranging from shade roofs, evaporative cooling walls, spinifex reinforced-earth walls and slabs, spinifex insulation batts (all at the low-tech end), to nanowhisker paper, resin to replace urea formaldehyde, coatings that may have anti-termite and ultra-violet screening capacities, bio-composite materials of fibre and resin, polymer derivatives and nano-fibrillated spinifex cellulose (patented) (at the high-tech end). Although few, if any plant resins have been used to generate commercial polymers, our research indicates potential for both Triodia resin and fibres as potential building blocks for renewable polymers and/or composite materials. One particular interest is the exudation cycle of the resin on the surface of the soft spinifex species and whether it functions to protect against excessive moisture loss from its spongy storage mass, whilst simultaneously allowing an osmotic process of gas exchange for photosynthesis; an ongoing subject of one of our PhD students.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Master Philosophy
Aboriginal Dwellings of Southeast Queensland and Northern New South Wales During the 19th Century
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Timothy O'Rourke
-
Doctor Philosophy
Household-Based Environmental Health Interventions to Improve Community and Householder Health Outcomes in Aboriginal Social Housing in Remote Australia
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Nina Lansbury
Completed supervision
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2024
Master Philosophy
Aboriginal Dwellings of Southeast Queensland and Northeast New South Wales During the 19th Century
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Timothy O'Rourke
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Design for social and cultural practices of Indigenous residents in aged care homes, South East Queensland
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Timothy O'Rourke
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Pasifika Well-Being and Trans-Tasman Migration: A Mixed Methods Analysis of Samoan and Tongan Well-Being Perspectives and Experiences in Auckland and Brisbane
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Mark Western, Associate Professor Kelly Greenop
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2016
Doctor Philosophy
From Thatch to Concrete Block: Architectural Transformations of Tongan Fale
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Timothy O'Rourke
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2014
Doctor Philosophy
'LIVIN' THE DJ WAY': Aboriginal housing and health in Dajarra
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Cameron Parsell
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2014
Master Philosophy
Building an Implementation Framework for Agreements with Aboriginal Landowners: A Case Study of The Granites Mine.
Principal Advisor
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2014
Master Philosophy
An investigation of sustainable spinifex-harvesting and knowledge revival: A case study in northwest Queensland
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Susanne Schmidt, Emeritus Professor Ian Lilley
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2013
Doctor Philosophy
'It gets under your skin': Place meaning, attachment, identity and sovereignty in the urban Indigenous community of Inala, Queensland.
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Sally Babidge
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2013
Doctor Philosophy
Munu gukooreree: Aboriginal children's use and experience of space and place in Cherbourg
Principal Advisor
-
2012
Doctor Philosophy
The well-crafted mija: Traditional Aboriginal building skills and knowledge in the Australian Wet Tropics
Principal Advisor
-
2012
Doctor Philosophy
Social relations and layered identities in a remote Aboriginal town, Mornington Island, southern Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor David Trigger, Emeritus Professor Ian Lilley
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2012
Doctor Philosophy
The Way it Changes Like the Shoreline and the Sea: The Archaeology of the Sandalwood River, Mornington Island, Southeast Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Ian Lilley
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2010
Doctor Philosophy
Casas de Paja: Maya House Architectures, Traditions and Transformations
Principal Advisor
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2006
Doctor Philosophy
PRACTICING SELF-DETERMINATION: PARTICIPATION IN PLANNING AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN DISCRETE INDIGENOUS SETTLEMENTS
Principal Advisor
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2006
Master Philosophy
ABORIGINALITY AND ARCHITECTURE
Principal Advisor
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2005
Doctor Philosophy
The Indigenous Living Conditions Problem: 'Need', Policy Construction, and Potential for Change
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr David Wadley
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2005
Doctor Philosophy
GIDYEA FIRE: A STUDY OF THE TRANSFORMATION AND MAINTENANCE OF ABORIGINAL PLACE PROPERTIES ON THE GEORGINA RIVER
Principal Advisor
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2003
Doctor Philosophy
CONSIDERING ABORIGINAL CULTURAL IMPERATIVES IN BUILDING DESIGN. A CASE STUDY OF YOLNGU BEHAVIOUR PATTERNS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF LIVING ENVIRONMENTS
Principal Advisor
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2002
Master Philosophy
THE HOUSING NEEDS OF SINGLE INDIGENOUS TEENAGE PARENTS IN THREE COMMUNITIES IN QUEENSLAND
Principal Advisor
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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
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Catherine Keys
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2021
Doctor Philosophy
Functional response of Triodia species to the Australian arid zone
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Susanne Schmidt
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2015
Doctor Philosophy
Remembering the Mother Mission:Exploring Trauma, Cultural Heritage Values and Identity at Mapoon, a Former Mission Village in Western Cape York, Queensland.
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Sally Babidge
Media
Enquiries
Contact Professor Paul Memmott directly for media enquiries about:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies
- Aboriginal Australia
- Indigenous homelessness - Australia
- Indigenous housing
- Indigenous violence - Australia
- Native title
- Poverty - Indigenous Australia
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