Western Bulldogs
Whitten Oval Redevelopment
Traditional Owner Engagement and Codesign
Greenshoot provided cultural and historical mapping and Traditional Owner engagement for the proposed upgrades to Whitten Oval in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Completion / 2024
Client / Western Bulldogs
Lead Architect / Populous
Traditional Owners / Wurundjeri, Bunurong and Boon Wurrung
Location / Melbourne, Victoria 
Whitten Oval is built upon the traditional, unceded lands of the Woiwurrung Wurundjeri and Boon wurrung language groups of the Kulin Nation. The proposed redevelopment of the oval provided a unique opportunity to amplify First People’s connection to the site and the potential to create a benchmark in First Peoples engagement and design.
To support this aspiration, Greenshoot researched the site’s pre-colonisation history, as well as important First Peoples figures in Western Bulldogs Football Club, to draw out preliminary cultural themes to inform consultations with the Wurundjeri, Bunurong and Boon Wurrung stakeholders.
Greenshoot facilitated workshops with Elders across the three Traditional Owner groups, as well as key First Peoples stakeholders, to expand on these themes and explore the site using our First Peoples Design Consultation Pillars. This allowed Greenshoot to map opportunities identified by Traditional Owners and First Peoples stakeholders against the domains of Narrative, Design and Activation, and workshop these with the design team to facilitate the embedding of Traditional Owner knowledge and culture into the redevelopment of the site.