Aspiring architect designing bright future at Cambridge

Bachelor of Environments graduate Sarah Rees has been awarded this year’s Charlie Perkins Scholarship to pursue graduate studies in architecture at the University of Cambridge.

Ms Rees says the opportunity will allow her to work towards her goal of becoming a registered architect and do something fulfilling that goes beyond the everyday life of being an architect.

The first in her family to complete a university degree, Ms Rees says the opportunity to study at Cambridge has changed the way she sees her future.

“I don’t feel like I will be in one place any more and that excites me. I want to challenge myself and the people around me,” she says.

The Charlie Perkins Scholarship scheme provides talented Indigenous Australians with the opportunity to undertake postgraduate study in the United Kingdom at either Oxford or Cambridge.

The scholarships are directed towards Indigenous Australians with potential to become leaders in their field of study and in the nation generally. Established in 2009, the scholarship is in memory of Dr Charlie Perkins, the first Indigenous Australian male to graduate from university. 

A descendant of the Plangermaireener people in Tasmania, Ms Rees will undertake a Masters of Philosophy in Architecture and Urban Design at Cambridge.

Having a builder father, Ms Rees’ passion for architecture and construction began by watching him craft things from scratch.

“The process of taking an idea that has been communicated on a piece of paper and making it a real object has always been fascinating for me,” she says. 

This interest was further developed when she spent 10 months on exchange in Italy when she was 18. Ms Rees says while exploring the foreign landscape she was able to take time to step away from her life as it was, and assess what it was that really drove her.

Looking back on photos she took in Italy cultivated her fascination for how things fit together and she cites this as a reason she enjoys architecture so much. 

“I took more photos of buildings than anything else, yet when I look back through the images now, I see that I always took photos of the elements of buildings more so than the hero shot we are accustomed to,” she says. 

Ms Rees says staff at the Melbourne School of Environment Student Centre encouraged her to apply for the Scholarship and challenge herself. 

After applying, the next step was travelling to Cambridge to experience life on campus and learn about what the degree offered. Ms Rees says the course had to support her goals. 

“I felt that the University of Melbourne had given me an excellent foundation and that if I was going to study somewhere for my masters essentially the course had to be right,” she says.

Ms Rees received affirmation that the course was right by spending time at the Architecture Faculty of Cambridge as an Aurora scholar on the 2012 study tour to the UK. 

It was here that she tried to absorb as much information about how the degree at Cambridge was structured, something she describes as an incredible opportunity.

“I was able to go and sit in the faculty for several days and talk to students about their projects, interact with the professors and contribute to discussions,” she says. 

Ms Rees believes the Charlie Perkins scholarship program is about creating role models in education to encourage and inspire Indigenous students to finish high school and go on to university and TAFE. 

This couldn’t be truer in the field of Architecture, with only seven Indigenous registered architects in Australia. In a field of thousands of architects, “that number is incredibly small,” she says.

Passionate about the capacity of education to empower people, Ms Rees says the message that needs to be communicated right now is the importance of education, especially for Indigenous students. 

“It is my hope that by going to Oxford and Cambridge, I and the other Charlie Perkins scholars might inspire Indigenous students to break the limitations that they or society have placed on them…and strive for something they never thought they could achieve,” she says.

Ms Rees would like to use the knowledge she gains at Cambridge to contribute to the Australian architecture field and will achieve this by approaching her studies with the aim to explore themes and issues that will bring cultural awareness to Australian architecture, in an everyday context. 

At the beginning of this educational journey, not knowing what is to come is the most exciting part.

“Architecture so far has taught me that if you don’t plan every single detail, the incidental things that happen along the way are what makes life (or your project) interesting,” she says. 

www.perkinstrust.com.au/