Flood-proofing a treasure store in the desert

Wilcannia is about 900km west of Sydney. Its pretty dry with annual rainfall 255mm.

Not somewhere you would expect flooding to be the engineering problem.

But the town sits on the banks of the Baaka (Darling River). Even the name Wilcannia comes from an Aboriginal word meaning "gap in the bank where floodwaters escape." It can flood pretty badly.

The BAAKA Cultural Centre is a new cultural hub on Barkandji Country, designed by our friends at Kaunitz Yeung Architecture. At its heart is a Keeping Place: a space for Barkandji artifacts, some centuries old, returning home for the first time.

Our job was to make sure the water could not reach them.

Flooding

The Keeping Place sits in the basement. Cool, stable temperatures. A direct connection to Country. But also lower ground, so flood exposure was real.

We modelled the flood behaviour of the local flooding and designed protection measures to keep flood waters away from the basement level. The community needed certainty, not probability.

Stormwater

The outdoor garden is designed as an oasis. 255mm of rain a year does not sound like much. But when it falls, it falls fast.

We designed the stormwater system to keep the outdoor areas dry and functional, and to make water a feature rather than a hazard. In a dry landscape, it turned out pretty cool.

Water and sewer

New water and sewer servicing for the cafe, commercial kitchen, and amenities. Complicated by the remoteness more than anything else.

The centre opened in 2025. Its one of the more meaningful projects we have worked on. Good engineering does not draw attention to itself. Here, it just keeps something irreplaceable safe.