![Professor Paul Memmott](/sites/default/files/profiles/39.jpeg)
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
2016
Journal Article
Staged savagery: Archibald Meston and his Indigenous exhibits
McKay, Judith and Memmott, Paul (2016). Staged savagery: Archibald Meston and his Indigenous exhibits. Aboriginal History, 40, 181-203.
2016
Other Outputs
Housing conditionality, Indigenous lifeworlds and policy outcomes: Mt Isa case study
Memmott, Paul and Nash, Daphne (2016). Housing conditionality, Indigenous lifeworlds and policy outcomes: Mt Isa case study. AHURI Final Report Melbourne, VIC, Australia: AHURI (Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute).
2016
Book Chapter
Fission, fusion and syncretism: linguistic and environmental changes amongst the Tangkic people of the southern Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Australia
Memmott, Paul, Round, Erich, Rosendahl, Daniel and Ulm, Sean (2016). Fission, fusion and syncretism: linguistic and environmental changes amongst the Tangkic people of the southern Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Australia. Land and language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country. (pp. 105-136) edited by Jean-Christophe Verstraete and Hafner, Diane. Philadelphia, United States: John Benjamins Publishing Company. doi: 10.1075/clu.18.06mem
2016
Book Chapter
We are good-hearted people, we like to share: definitional dilemmas of crowding and homelessness in urban indigenous Australia
Greenop, Kelly and Memmott, Paul (2016). We are good-hearted people, we like to share: definitional dilemmas of crowding and homelessness in urban indigenous Australia. Indigenous Homelessness: Perspectives from Canada, Australia and New Zealand. (pp. 270-299) edited by Evelyn J. Peters and Julia Christensen. Winnipeg, Canada: University of Manitoba Press.
2015
Journal Article
Isolation of cellulose nanofibrils from Triodia pungens via different mechanical methods
Amiralian, Nasim, Annamalai, Pratheep K., Memmott, Paul and Martin, Darren J. (2015). Isolation of cellulose nanofibrils from Triodia pungens via different mechanical methods. Cellulose, 22 (4), 2483-2498. doi: 10.1007/s10570-015-0688-x
2015
Journal Article
Differing relations to tradition amongst Australian indigenous homeless people
Memmott, Paul (2015). Differing relations to tradition amongst Australian indigenous homeless people. Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, XXVI (2), 59-72.
2015
Journal Article
Erratum to "Optimization of resin extraction from an Australian arid grass 'Triodia pungens' and its preliminary evaluation as an anti-termite timber coating" [Ind. Crops Prod. 59 (2014) 241-247]
Amiralian, Nasim, Annamalai, Pratheep K., Fitzgerald, Chris, Memmott, Paul and Martin, Darren J. (2015). Erratum to "Optimization of resin extraction from an Australian arid grass 'Triodia pungens' and its preliminary evaluation as an anti-termite timber coating" [Ind. Crops Prod. 59 (2014) 241-247]. Industrial Crops and Products, 67, 512-512. doi: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2014.12.037
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
Other Outputs
Wild Australia: Meston’s Wild Australia Show 1892-1893
Aird, Michael, Mapar, Mandana and Memmott, Paul (2015). Wild Australia: Meston’s Wild Australia Show 1892-1893. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
2015
Journal Article
Easily deconstructed, high aspect ratio cellulose nanofibres from Triodia pungens; an abundant grass of Australia's arid zone
Amiralian, Nasim, Annamalai, Pratheep K., Memmott, Paul, Taran, Elena, Schmidt, Susanne and Martin, Darren J. (2015). Easily deconstructed, high aspect ratio cellulose nanofibres from Triodia pungens; an abundant grass of Australia's arid zone. RSC Advances, 5 (41), 32124-32132. doi: 10.1039/c5ra02936h
2015
Book
Wild Australia, Meston's Wild Australia Show 1892-1893
Aird, Michael, Mapar, Mandana and Memmott, Paul (2015). Wild Australia, Meston's Wild Australia Show 1892-1893. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
2015
Conference Publication
Transitional housing and conditionality for Indigenous social housing tenants in Mt Isa and Tennant Creek
Nash, Daphne and Memmott, Paul (2015). Transitional housing and conditionality for Indigenous social housing tenants in Mt Isa and Tennant Creek. National Housing Conference 2015, Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Perth, Western Australia, 28-30 October 2015.
2015
Conference Publication
Differing relations to tradition amongst Australian Indigenous homeless people
Memmott, Paul (2015). Differing relations to tradition amongst Australian Indigenous homeless people. IASTE 2014: Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 14-17 December 2014. Berkeley, CA, United States: International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments.
2015
Book Chapter
Cultural Relativism and Indigenous Family Violence
Memmott, Paul, Nash, Daphne and Passi, Charles (2015). Cultural Relativism and Indigenous Family Violence. Preventing violence in Australia: policy, practice and solutions. (pp. 164-185) edited by Andrew Day and Ephrem Fernandez. Annandale, NSW Austraila: Federation Press.
2014
Other Outputs
How is crowding in Indigenous households managed?
Memmott, Paul, Greenop, Kelly and Birdsall-Jones, Christina (2014). How is crowding in Indigenous households managed?. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: AHURI (Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute).
2014
Journal Article
Harvesting as an alternative to burning for managing spinifex grasslands in Australia
Gamage, Harshi K., Memmott, Paul, Firn, Jennifer and Schmidt, Susanne (2014). Harvesting as an alternative to burning for managing spinifex grasslands in Australia. Advances in Ecological Research, 2014, 430431.1-430431.12. doi: 10.1155/2014/430431
2014
Other Outputs
Case Study Rationale and Location Scoping Study
Moran, Mark, Memmott, Paul, Birsdall-Jones, Christina and Nash, Daphne (2014). Case Study Rationale and Location Scoping Study. St Lucia, QLD Australia: AHURI.
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.
2014
Conference Publication
In search of the Wakaya 'clever man' and research on social problems in Barkly Region, N.T. and Qld
Memmott, Paul (2014). In search of the Wakaya 'clever man' and research on social problems in Barkly Region, N.T. and Qld. AIATSIS Indigenous Studies Conference 2014, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 26-28 March, 2014. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
2014
Journal Article
Late Holocene changes in shellfishing behaviors from the Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Australia
Rosendahl, Daniel, Ulm, Sean, Tomkins, Helene, Wallis, Lynley and Memmott, Paul (2014). Late Holocene changes in shellfishing behaviors from the Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Australia. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 9 (2), 253-267. doi: 10.1080/15564894.2014.880757
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
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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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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
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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, Dr 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
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
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
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
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2012
Doctor Philosophy
The well-crafted mija: Traditional Aboriginal building skills and knowledge in the Australian Wet Tropics
Principal Advisor
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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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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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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 Amelia Brown, 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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