Participatory design is often promoted as an inclusive, open-ended, and fluid methodology for giving voice to marginalised and underrepresented user groups. In contrast, participatory design can also be used as a tool for political regeneration and is therefore sometimes criticised as ineffectual and tokenistic. Levels of stakeholder participation are not explicitly quantifiable, and the degree to which user groups may be involved in the decision-making process varies significantly. Exploring the political binaries of transformative versus tokenistic participation within an Indigenous context, this article reflects on a series of participatory workshops undertaken within the design of a preschool and community hub located in the discrete Aboriginal community of Murrin Bridge. The research draws upon Jeremy Till’s take on ‘transformative participation’ and Susanne Hofmann’s ‘Architecture is Participation’, with reference to the participatory design processes developed within Berlinbased Baupiloten’s precedent ‘Taka Tuka Land Kindergarten.’ The research also investigates the potential of adapting principles derived from Robert Chambers's Participatory Rural Appraisal as a means of adopting a socially inclusive approach to design. The article evaluates the successes and drawbacks of the participatory design methods used within the Murrin Bridge workshops and provides a critical analysis of the legitimacy of these processes as transformative, and the broader possibilities for reimagining the production of contemporary architecture through participation within in an Indigenous regional context.