Acknowledgements
A version of this paper was given as the Public City Lecture, at the State of Australian Cities conference in Adelaide on 28 November 2017. I am grateful to Kate Shaw, Margo Huxley, Wendy Shaw and Ani Landau-Ward who each read versions at different stages. I especially want to acknowledge Mark McMillan for helping me see the invitation to sovereign relationship, and Mik Edwards for sharpening my awareness of, and responsibilities for, the histories sleeping under my feet.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.