From the Desert to the Sea: Managing Rock Art, Country and Culture. This Project will expand our understanding of Aboriginal settlement and land-use in north-west Australia by investigating how the mythological narratives of Australia’s deserts enable the transmission of knowledge in water-limited environments. Combining traditional ecological knowledge and novel scientific approaches (e.g. anthracology, remote sensing, oxygen-isotopes) will provide new insights into human behaviours at rock art ....From the Desert to the Sea: Managing Rock Art, Country and Culture. This Project will expand our understanding of Aboriginal settlement and land-use in north-west Australia by investigating how the mythological narratives of Australia’s deserts enable the transmission of knowledge in water-limited environments. Combining traditional ecological knowledge and novel scientific approaches (e.g. anthracology, remote sensing, oxygen-isotopes) will provide new insights into human behaviours at rock art site complexes. It will develop management regimes and formal certification for Indigenous rangers while building heritage capacity in these partner communities: enabling intergenerational, culturally appropriate knowledge transfer protocols are in place to ensure sustainable economic heritage futures.Read moreRead less
Archaeology of a Torres Strait reef island community. This archaeology project aims to document the long-term development of socioeconomic strategies by Indigenous Australians to live sustainably on small, drought-prone, tropical reef islands. It uses Tudu in central Torres Strait as a case study. This project will produce new and innovative insights into how Torres Strait Islander reef island communities built cultural and community resilience to environmental stress. It will broaden Australian ....Archaeology of a Torres Strait reef island community. This archaeology project aims to document the long-term development of socioeconomic strategies by Indigenous Australians to live sustainably on small, drought-prone, tropical reef islands. It uses Tudu in central Torres Strait as a case study. This project will produce new and innovative insights into how Torres Strait Islander reef island communities built cultural and community resilience to environmental stress. It will broaden Australian archaeological knowledge of continental rocky islands to include recently formed reef islands. Read moreRead less
Indigenous heritage: working ancient wetlands for social benefit and cultural understanding. This research will answer important theoretical and practical questions about Aboriginal community engagement with Heritage research. It will generate significant archaeological outcomes on the nature of Indigenous occupation in ancient eastern Australian landscapes, and this research will also improve the employability of young Aboriginal people.
Colonial encounters: Archaeology at Ebenezer Mission, north-western Victoria. From the 1860s, most Aboriginal people in south-eastern Australia were confined to reserves such as Ebenezer Mission, and despite official accounts which argue for the success of the 'civilising' enterprise, archaeological evidence promises to provide a new Indigenous perspective. Investigation of this key site, in collaboration with Aboriginal descendants, will reveal 1. How everyday life on the mission was experience ....Colonial encounters: Archaeology at Ebenezer Mission, north-western Victoria. From the 1860s, most Aboriginal people in south-eastern Australia were confined to reserves such as Ebenezer Mission, and despite official accounts which argue for the success of the 'civilising' enterprise, archaeological evidence promises to provide a new Indigenous perspective. Investigation of this key site, in collaboration with Aboriginal descendants, will reveal 1. How everyday life on the mission was experienced by different social groups: Aboriginal girls, boys, families and 'fringe' dwellers, and Moravian missionaries, 2. The role of gender organisation within the colonial process, and 3. How Aboriginal cultural identity was shaped by missionisation. A range of general and scholarly histories will be produced.Read moreRead less
A reliable absolute chronology for the Aboriginal rock art in the Kimberley, Western Australia. The Aboriginal rock art in the Kimberley region of Western Australia is an internationally significant record of human occupation and cultural evolution. This project will determine the antiquity of human expression in one of the richest (and possibly the oldest) rock art regions in the world using advanced analytical techniques.
Archaeology in the Long Grass:
Understanding Contact Through the Analysis of Urban Aboriginal Fringe Camps. This research will contribute to the priority goal of Strengthening Australia’s Social and Economic Fabric through: 1) conceptual and methodological advances in archaeology; 2) making a substantive contribution to Native Title debates; 3) contributing to Closing the Gap of Indigenous disadvantage; 4) developing Indigenous research capacity; and 5) increasing public understandings of Abor ....Archaeology in the Long Grass:
Understanding Contact Through the Analysis of Urban Aboriginal Fringe Camps. This research will contribute to the priority goal of Strengthening Australia’s Social and Economic Fabric through: 1) conceptual and methodological advances in archaeology; 2) making a substantive contribution to Native Title debates; 3) contributing to Closing the Gap of Indigenous disadvantage; 4) developing Indigenous research capacity; and 5) increasing public understandings of Aboriginal culture. The Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation will benefit from new data to inform policy decisions and recommendations, interpretive materials for planned tourism ventures and enhanced research capacity through the quality training of Aboriginal research associates.Read moreRead less
Rockshelters and Rock Art in the River Murray Gorge: New Data and Syntheses. This project, undertaken in partnership with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation, aims to explore Aboriginal rock art and rockshelter occupation deposits in the Upper Murray River Gorge, South Australia. The project will conduct the first archaeological excavations of stratified rockshelter sites in this region in more than 50 years and record a threatened and rapidly diminishing corpus of rock art. The c ....Rockshelters and Rock Art in the River Murray Gorge: New Data and Syntheses. This project, undertaken in partnership with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation, aims to explore Aboriginal rock art and rockshelter occupation deposits in the Upper Murray River Gorge, South Australia. The project will conduct the first archaeological excavations of stratified rockshelter sites in this region in more than 50 years and record a threatened and rapidly diminishing corpus of rock art. The cultural importance of the located sites will be considered in conjunction with their archaeological significance to produce meaningful narratives. New understandings about Holocene societal and environmental changes will be generated. Traditional owners will benefit from a range of socio-economic capacity-building measures.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101087
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$444,281.00
Summary
10,000 years of Indigenous fisheries informs future Great Barrier Reef. This project aims to document the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in shaping the fish resources of the Great Barrier Reef over millennia. Using novel analyses of archaeological faunal remains, this project expects to generate new knowledge on how people’s actions transformed marine systems and modified fish communities. Expected outcomes include establishing pre-European baseline data essential for manag ....10,000 years of Indigenous fisheries informs future Great Barrier Reef. This project aims to document the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in shaping the fish resources of the Great Barrier Reef over millennia. Using novel analyses of archaeological faunal remains, this project expects to generate new knowledge on how people’s actions transformed marine systems and modified fish communities. Expected outcomes include establishing pre-European baseline data essential for managing contemporary fish populations, and a long-term perspective on human exploitation of a dynamic Great Barrier Reef. Benefits include a framework for integrating Indigenous fisheries management into conservation agendas and foregrounding the deep human history of the Reef to support future social-ecological resilience.Read moreRead less
Kimberley Visions: rock art style provinces in northern Australia. This project aims to examine the role that art has played in managing social and environmental change over the past 50 000 years. The project seeks to carry out the first systematic comparative analysis of different rock art repertoires and associated archaeology from the Kimberley and Arnhem Land. It is intended that identifying continuities and changes in this archaeological signature will provide direct evidence of how people ....Kimberley Visions: rock art style provinces in northern Australia. This project aims to examine the role that art has played in managing social and environmental change over the past 50 000 years. The project seeks to carry out the first systematic comparative analysis of different rock art repertoires and associated archaeology from the Kimberley and Arnhem Land. It is intended that identifying continuities and changes in this archaeological signature will provide direct evidence of how people adapted and signalled their identity. Intended outcomes are new understanding to contribute to inter-regional rock art studies and inform Indigenous and government heritage management practices.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal rock art and cultural heritage management in Cape York Peninsula. The Laura Sandstone Basin of Cape York Peninsula hosts one of the richest bodies of rock art in Australia and the world. It documents the life-ways of generations of Aboriginal Australians from their original settlement, through major environmental changes, to European invasion. This vast area, much of which is now jointly managed as National Parks by Traditional Owners, remains virtually unexplored archaeologically. Th ....Aboriginal rock art and cultural heritage management in Cape York Peninsula. The Laura Sandstone Basin of Cape York Peninsula hosts one of the richest bodies of rock art in Australia and the world. It documents the life-ways of generations of Aboriginal Australians from their original settlement, through major environmental changes, to European invasion. This vast area, much of which is now jointly managed as National Parks by Traditional Owners, remains virtually unexplored archaeologically. This project aims to record this unique rock art so that its testimony remains for future generations. This will provide a framework for its sustainable management and findings will have profound implications for our understandings of the cultural behaviour and dispersal of the earliest modern humans to colonise Australia.Read moreRead less