Always Was, Always Will Be – Aboriginal Knowledge and STEM

Maddison Miller is a Darug Womanand Archaeologist living in Melbourne. Maddi is the co-chair of the Indigenous Advisory Group to the Clean Air and Urban Landscape Hub of the National Environmental Science Program. Maddi works at Heritage Victoria and has been responsible for projects such as the Thomas Mill community excavation. She is a member of Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria, advocating for Indigenous place making in the built environment. Maddi tells us “Australia is an incredibly diverse continent and this notion of it being one country is relatively new... From Broome to Melbourne there are very different ecologies and experiences, but one thing every mob shares is a deep understanding of the environment and how to exploit that environment to sustain community and culture... I look at what our ancestors and old people were doing and realise theywere scientists, architects, engineersand mathematicians. These are things we’ve always been doing and should continue to have a voice in. I think it’s really important to listen to Aboriginal voices and recognise the way they would use the landscape, use space and their ways of life because it’s really applicable to today.”