101 Collins Street holds relationships with First Nations people that are grounded in reciprocity and strengthened by action and accountability.

Relationships built on trust and care are key to First Nations ways of operating. For 101 Collins Street to strengthen relationships with First Nations people and communities, we need to take meaningful action and be accountable.

Reciprocity is key to building strong relationships with First Nations people by ensuring balance and being in the right relationship with each other and with Country. When we take energy, we also put energy back in.

101 Collins Street centres Country in programs, practices and processes across the building and ecosystem. Country is a term used by First Nations people to refer to the lands, waters and skies to which they are connected through ancestral ties and family origins.

101 Collins Street can centre Country by prioritising sustainability and regenerative practices, educating people to understand what Country is, and creating opportunities for staff and tenants to connect to Country (e.g. organising a bush food tour for staff, run by local First Nations people).

101 Collins Street embeds First Nations knowledge and truth-telling across their events, communications and physical space.

Truth-telling involves having honest conversations about this continent’s history to improve relationships and drive collective healing. Truth-telling is an opportunity for First Nations people to record evidence and share stories about their cultures and histories with the broader community.

101 Collins Street can embed truth-telling by acknowledging Country, using traditional place names and learning about the true history of this place. It’s not only about confronting the atrocities of the past, but it’s also about centring First Nations voices and the deep knowledge and innovative solutions they hold.

A story that takes you on a journey from dawn till dusk.

Written and narrated by Stacie Piper.

The 101 Collins Soundscape follows a storyline that emulates the direct experience of being out in the hinterland of Wurundjeri Country. The sounds were recorded during women’s ceremony on Coranderrk, Healesville, and in Corhanwarrabul among the manna gum and mountain ash trees.

These mountain ash forests on Wurundjeri Country hold some of the highest levels of carbon on the planet and our clean drinking water. These forests are a source of health and vitality to all elements of Country, wildlife, people and planet –  listeners will experience an energy exchange through the sounds produced. These sounds include waterways from the highland, native animals and the Woiwurrung language, a language that is waking up and getting stronger after three generations.

As the creative moves through these settings through a 15-minute period, the listener will go on a journey through the moments they would experience if they were surrounded by what used to be. The objective is to re-create what would have been, but also lean into the strength and energy still felt through Country.

This project is a collaboration between 101 Collins and Common Ground First Nations Pty Ltd.

Stacie wrote the story in collaboration with her cousin, Mandy Nicholson, and the narration was recorded at home in Stacie's studio. She wanted the sounds of the birds, the river, the creek, the wind, the crickets and the breeze of the mountain Country to permeate through 101 Collins Street, so those who immerse themselves are taken through a short story whilst connecting with the elements and birds that would have inhabited this area more densely before the buildings were placed. The tall building of 101 Collins reminds Stacie of mountains and tall mountain ash trees that traverse the layers of Country from the sky down to the soil. Traditional instruments accompany sounds of Country for a 15-minute immersion, to ground and remind us that all people and place are connected.

Stacie is a proud Wurundjeri, Dja Dja Wurrung and NguraiIllum-Wurrung woman, a Djirri Djirri dancer, educator and former chairperson of the Victorian NAIDOC Committee. Stacie holds the position of First Nations Curator at the Victorian Indigenous Research Centre, State Library Victoria accountable for engaging with the Victorian First Peoples community and developing exhibitions and events to present stories of South East Australian Aboriginal communities.

Stacie recently completed her Masters in Social Change Leadership at Melbourne University as a part of the Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity. Upon completion, Fellows become Senior Global Atlantic Fellows and attend their first convening with other change-makers from across the seven hubs around the world. This global, lifelong network is coordinated and led by the Atlantic Institute, located in Oxford. As of 2023, 683 Fellows have been drawn from 70+ countries.

Stacie has a great love for community, a desire to support and witness the progress of First Peoples, and a drive in protecting and healing Country through her work.