About the IHH

The Indigenous Hospitality House is a community house in Naarm (Melbourne) that offers hospitality and accommodation for Indigenous patients and their families who are in town for hospital business. We are a space where people can discuss their actions and responsibilities as people living, working, learning, caring and sharing on unceded, sovereign Aboriginal land.

The IHH seeks to:

  • be based on a model of solidarity and not welfare

  • be accountable to the Indigenous community

  • create a space for connection and sharing

  • offer hospitality with awareness of power dynamics in this country

A TASK-BASED COMMUNITY

The IHH is a community that exists not for its own sake, but for a common task: offering hospitality to guests.
This is the primary purpose of the IHH, and forms the basis for all decisions made in the house:  will this affect our ability to offer hospitality and act in solidarity?

PEACE OF THE HOUSE

Maintaining the ‘peace of the house’ is a key philosophy in determining how the house operates on a day-to-day basis.  People at the house focus on maintaining a commitment to creating a peaceful atmosphere in communal areas. We seek to resolve tension and conflict through respectful negotiation, acknowledging diversity and encouraging inclusion.

We aspire to provide and hold a restorative space that guests that can come home to through responsiveness to their needs and experiences.

SUSTAINABILITY AND CONSISTENCY

The IHH has recognised the need to ensure its sustainability into the future. This often influences the policies adopted by the house.
​​Over the past 23 years we have maintained stable, responsive care and accommodation for Guests and Residents alike. Our everyday house structures are informed by practices that aim to nourish and sustain the future generations of Residents to be able to continue to provide peaceful care and to ensure a holistic standard of cultural sensitivity.

It has also been recognised that in order to maintain the unity and peace of the house, it is essential that residents act as a consistent team to ensure that Residents and guests alike are clear about what the IHH offers. This informs the range of care in which we can operate within, knowing our capacity and working with Aboriginal Liaison Officer’s to ensure safety is a priority. We are a responsive project that evolves alongside the needs of the people who we are in service to; guests, Aboriginal Liaison Officers and our wider community.