Jessica Livia Darmali

Hearing the Silo of Tatura

In commemorating the untold history of Australian wartime camps and their occupants, this thesis contributes to a regional network of built forms that are significant for and engage local farming communities. The project proposes an addition to the Silo Art Trail that will also act as a creative landmark and a public facility and venue. Whereas other silos in the regional network are remote visual markers, this design gives the landmark a greater purpose and a voice. The design is themed on exploring the phenomenology on how the internees had related to Tatura’s context in the past. By reimagining the internees’ journey from the camps to Waranga Basin, the aim is to convey the notion of momentary release from confinement in their engagement with the landscape.

By tying the formal form of a Silo to the sense of momentary freedom in reminiscing the past journey in Waranga shore, the project explores the music camp as a mnemonic bridge between the local culture and a more complex nostalgia for a di­fficult past.