One of Australia’s latest Fellows

Image Above: AILA Fellowship Certificate, Medal and Pin

Image source: Paul Herzich

Citation: On Wednesday 6 December 2023, Paul Herzich was awarded Fellowship status with the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA). For those that don't know much about Paul. He was the first Aboriginal student to complete a Bachelor of Design Studies (formerly Architectural Studies) in the year 2000 and then a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture in 2002 at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. Over the decades, he has worked tirelessly to learn more about his Aboriginal cultural heritage connections, so he can share, educate and enable others to learn about it through landscape architecture, design and public art. Paul was also AILA’s first Aboriginal Registered Landscape Architect in 2006 and he is the most senior Aboriginal Landscape Architect in Australia.

This Fellowship was awarded to Paul in recognition of his 25-year AILA membership and his long and distinguished service with the AILA at both, a State level (SA Executive Committee member - Student Representative to Secretary and Graduate Mentor and Juror for Registration) and at a National level (National Awards Juror, Co-chair of the AILA Connection to Country Committee and Cultural Advisor) for his outstanding commitment towards providing opportunities for First Nations cultural stories and heritage to be told through landscape architecture and public art within public realm settings.

Paul is a multi-award-winning Landscape Architect and Public Artist for various projects in South Australia and he has also worked on and is working on projects interstate. Paul is a proud Kaurna (Adelaide) and Ngarrindjeri (Coorong) man who is originally from Port Pirie, in the mid-north of South Australia on Nukunu Country. His Aboriginal family name is Rankine. Paul is a Traditional Owner and Native Title Holder of Kaurna Country through his Apical Ancestor, Kaurna woman, Nellie Raminyemmermin (also known as Mary Monarto). Paul is also a descendant of a Lutheran family from Brandenburg (near Berlin), Germany, who migrated to Adelaide in 1838 on a Danish ship called ‘Zebra’. After their arrival, they temporarily lived at Port Adelaide, before moving up to Hahn’s Village (Hahndorf) on Peramangk Country in the Adelaide Hills in 1839.

Over the years, he has made strong connections and a notable representation across the South Australian landscape for his work in place-making for local, regional, and remote Aboriginal communities. Paul brings over 35 years’ experience in the landscape industry and over 18 years in the public art industry. For almost two decades, he designed and delivered a diverse range of Department of Infrastructure & Transport landscapes for road and rail corridors and artworks for buildings throughout South Australia.

On behalf of this award, Paul would like to acknowledge and thank his colleagues, peers, family and friends who have somehow guided and offered support over the years which has helped Paul shape his career journey and him as a person, so that he is able to work in the professions he loves, so he never has to work a day in his life...