Calder Park Drive Level Crossing Removal

First Nations at the Centre

BKK arrived at this project without finished designs. We arrived with open questions, and the Elders answered them in ways we didn't anticipate. It was Aunty Julianne who suggested telling the story of the megafauna, a proposal that became the catalyst for the project. The cultural name 'giant wombat' and the scientific name Diprotodon appear side by side throughout the project, each acknowledged as a legitimate and valuable way of knowing.

The Woi-wurrung word ‘Wominjeka’ for Welcome is pressed directly into the rammed-earth welcome markers at the entry are made from rammed earth, their tones drawn from the colour of core samples drilled on site. To support Elders working remotely, lead architect Vaughan Howard developed a 'virtual walk on country' using Google Earth, a multimedia presentation that moved from the scale of the volcanic plains to the detail of the site, enabling rich conversations about significance and story that have since shaped BKK's approach on other projects.

Footprints

BKK converted precise Diprotodon footprints into stencils and sandblasted them life-sized into the new shared user path. The Diprotodon moved with a heavy, deliberate 1.3-metre stride. Its 50-centimetre footprints now cross the path alongside the tiny prints of the Plains Wanderer, a critically endangered grassland bird recently spotted in Melbourne's western suburbs for the first time in two decades.

One extinct. One vanishing. The pavement becomes a quiet statement about ecological fragility, legible to a child on a scooter, and to anyone willing to look down.