Defending Australia, defending Indigenous rights: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander military service and Australian identity, 1946-2003. This project will examine the experiences of Australian Indigenous service personnel between 1946 and 2003, both during their times of service and in civilian life. The project will analyse the links between military service, the advancement of Indigenous rights, Australian identity, and the development of contemporary Indigenous communities.
Life after death: Exploring the birth of Gurindji Kriol, a new Aboriginal mixed language. Considerable attention is currently being directed towards the problems faced by Indigenous people living in remote communities. Just how best to help the younger generations emerge from the cycle of poor health and education standards is the topic of many debates in contemporary Australian society and politics. This project addresses the issue of what it is to be a modern Indigenous person and how this ide ....Life after death: Exploring the birth of Gurindji Kriol, a new Aboriginal mixed language. Considerable attention is currently being directed towards the problems faced by Indigenous people living in remote communities. Just how best to help the younger generations emerge from the cycle of poor health and education standards is the topic of many debates in contemporary Australian society and politics. This project addresses the issue of what it is to be a modern Indigenous person and how this identity is expressed linguistically. In understanding more clearly what it means to be a modern Indigenous person, communication channels between mainstream Australia and Indigenous communities can be improved.Read moreRead less
Objects of possession: artefact transactions in the wet tropics of North Queensland, 1870 -2013. The project's research into artefact collecting will provide Indigenous peoples, museum curators and other community members with important insights into the history of Indigenous cultures in the Wet Tropics region. Our project will contribute to the development of innovative ways of presenting Indigenous peoples' connections with their cultural heritage.
The Barrow Island archaeology project: the dynamism of maritime societies in northern Australia. This project will study human occupation from exceptionally rich sites on Barrow Island, located off northwest Australia, profiling a continuous reliance on coastal resources until isolation. Whaling and pearling started in the nineteenth century using Indigenous labourers after a 7,000 year gap in human occupation.
Violence on the Australian Colonial Frontier, 1788-1960. How many Aborigines and settlers were killed on the Australian frontier? Were they mostly killed in ones and twos or in mass killings? How can we know? These questions are of first national importance in understanding the past. This project takes a fresh approach to frontier violence by employing new analytical methods to investigate the complex array of sources to produce new estimates of casualties 1788 to 1960. The findings will be made ....Violence on the Australian Colonial Frontier, 1788-1960. How many Aborigines and settlers were killed on the Australian frontier? Were they mostly killed in ones and twos or in mass killings? How can we know? These questions are of first national importance in understanding the past. This project takes a fresh approach to frontier violence by employing new analytical methods to investigate the complex array of sources to produce new estimates of casualties 1788 to 1960. The findings will be made available in online maps and transform our understanding of the ongoing trauma of frontier violence that persists in Australian society today. Read moreRead less
Naïve island landscapes: people and environmental change in tropical sclerophyll landscapes. A detailed history of how people in tropical island environments have managed environmental change will be produced for the South Wellesley Archipelago in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The outcomes will provide new insights into the dynamic relationship between people and environment during periods of climate change.
What could World Heritage listing deliver for Indigenous people? The Australian experience in global context. This project investigates the difference between the intentions of the World Heritage system regarding Indigenous people and what it actually delivers. There is almost no research on this issue despite United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO) aim to expand the non-Western dimensions of the World Heritage program. The study will develop innovative method ....What could World Heritage listing deliver for Indigenous people? The Australian experience in global context. This project investigates the difference between the intentions of the World Heritage system regarding Indigenous people and what it actually delivers. There is almost no research on this issue despite United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO) aim to expand the non-Western dimensions of the World Heritage program. The study will develop innovative methods that integrate Western and Indigenous knowledge, substantially boosting knowledge of Indigenous perspectives on World Heritage. The outcome will be an evidence-based model that better mediates UNESCO's universalising approach with the particular interests of Indigenous communities, assisting the global 'heritage industry' to address the complex demands of the postcolonial era.Read moreRead less
Australia and Anti-Slavery: Humanitarianism and Popular Culture from 1890 to the present. This project explains how ’anti-slavery’ discourse shaped humanitarian campaigns in Australia, including Aboriginal rights, indenture, forced labour, trafficking and sexual slavery, by investigating the transmission of ideas and campaigns through international humanitarian networks in Britain, Europe and Australia. The significance of this project lies in its focus on popular culture and the visual represen ....Australia and Anti-Slavery: Humanitarianism and Popular Culture from 1890 to the present. This project explains how ’anti-slavery’ discourse shaped humanitarian campaigns in Australia, including Aboriginal rights, indenture, forced labour, trafficking and sexual slavery, by investigating the transmission of ideas and campaigns through international humanitarian networks in Britain, Europe and Australia. The significance of this project lies in its focus on popular culture and the visual representation of slavery, their influence upon public opinion and debate nationally and internationally throughout the long 20th century into our present. This project explores the role of anti-slavery history in shaping contemporary attitudes towards slavery and forced labour.Read moreRead less
History Places: Wellington Range rock art in a global context. The project aims to investigate one of Australia’s most extraordinary bodies of rock art, spread across Arnhem Land’s Wellington Range, in order to answer important archaeological research questions, provide Traditional Owners with a comprehensive digital record of their rock art heritage and develop a long term management plan. Field research will include survey, 2-D and 3-D rock art recording, limited excavation and sampling for da ....History Places: Wellington Range rock art in a global context. The project aims to investigate one of Australia’s most extraordinary bodies of rock art, spread across Arnhem Land’s Wellington Range, in order to answer important archaeological research questions, provide Traditional Owners with a comprehensive digital record of their rock art heritage and develop a long term management plan. Field research will include survey, 2-D and 3-D rock art recording, limited excavation and sampling for dating. The project is designed to situate Wellington Range rock art in regional and global contexts in order to better understand long-term north Australian Aboriginal experience and its expression in relation to other hunter-gatherer groups and to gain new insight into human cultural and cognitive development.Read moreRead less
Picturing change: 21st Century perspectives on recent Australian rock art, especially that from the European contact period. Australia, long known for its prehistoric rock art of world heritage value, will now also be known for its unique and diverse body of contact rock art. This project will benefit tourism in remote regions, many of which are or are near World Heritage Areas (eg. Kakadu, Uluru, Blue Mountains). Contemporary indigenous knowledge about important cross-cultural landscapes will ....Picturing change: 21st Century perspectives on recent Australian rock art, especially that from the European contact period. Australia, long known for its prehistoric rock art of world heritage value, will now also be known for its unique and diverse body of contact rock art. This project will benefit tourism in remote regions, many of which are or are near World Heritage Areas (eg. Kakadu, Uluru, Blue Mountains). Contemporary indigenous knowledge about important cross-cultural landscapes will be synthesised along with other new knowledge to assist with the protection of sites, the development of new management plans and applications to place particular groups of sites on a new UNESCO World Heritage rock art list. Aboriginal participants will receive research skills training and both individuals and communities will reconnect to significant remote places.Read moreRead less