Catherine Keys

Dr Catherine Keys is a Senior Lecturer in Architectural Design (Foundation Skills) in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Queensland. She earned her Bachelor of Design Studies, Bachelor of Architecture, and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Queensland. Her PhD, completed in 1999 within the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre, is titled 'The Architectural Implications of Warlpiri jilimi' and focused on the people-environment relations of Aboriginal women in Central Australia. Keys has taught courses in Aboriginal Environments and architectural research and design making subjects at the University of Queensland. She has served as principal advisor and associate advisor for several Doctor of Philosophy theses, including 'Making the Islamic Façade: Transformation in the Funerary Structures of Central Asia in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries' (2022, principal advisor) and 'Representing Cultural Routes with Digital Technology: The Sino-Korean Tribute Routes of the Ming and Qing Dynasties' (2025, associate advisor).

Keys' research explores the social and cultural properties of architectural space, with key interests in the transfer of architectural knowledge from First Nations people to migrant settlers on Northern Australia's frontiers, particularly in vernacular architectures of Queensland, and cultural histories of the Queensland House addressing issues of culture, gender, and race. Her publications include the co-authored book 'Early planning utopias: a feminist critique' (Anthem Press, 2025) with Dorina Pojani and Rory Little; book chapters such as 'Mobilising Indigenous agency through cultural sustainability in architecture: are we there yet?' (2018) with Carroll Go-Sam and 'Colonial Building at Red Cliff Point in the 1820s' (2025); and journal articles including 'Redressing the absence of military blockhouses and forts in ‘origin theories’ for the elevated house' (Fabrications, 2025), 'Nervous nation: fear, conflict and narratives of fortified domestic architecture on the Queensland frontier' (Aboriginal History, 2021) with Heather Burke et al., 'House elevation and the British military settlement of Port Essington in Northern Australia' (ABE Journal, 2023), 'The emergence of an architectural anthropology in Aboriginal Australia: the work of the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre' (Architectural Theory Review, 2017) with Paul Memmott, and 'Designing hospitals for Australian conditions: The Australian Inland Mission's cottage hospital, Adelaide House, 1926' (The Journal of Architecture, 2016). Her scholarship diversifies architectural histories by integrating Indigenous perspectives and colonial entanglements.

Professional Email: c.keys@uq.edu.au