Photography and Reconciliation: the Ngarrindjeri and the SA Museum. The project aims to recover, curate and exhibit a large archive of photographs of national significance created by Aboriginal photographers in the mid-20th century. Working with Ngarrindjeri custodians and the South Australian Museum, it expects to raise the status and diversity of Aboriginal voices in Australian visual culture and public life, undertaking a process of healing. Cultural revitalisation and generational learning v ....Photography and Reconciliation: the Ngarrindjeri and the SA Museum. The project aims to recover, curate and exhibit a large archive of photographs of national significance created by Aboriginal photographers in the mid-20th century. Working with Ngarrindjeri custodians and the South Australian Museum, it expects to raise the status and diversity of Aboriginal voices in Australian visual culture and public life, undertaking a process of healing. Cultural revitalisation and generational learning via the creation of a Living Archive and public exhibition are expected outcomes. Benefits include ensuring longevity of endangered heritage, broadening knowledge of southeastern Aboriginal lives and contributing new evidence to better understand the correlation between cultural revitalisation and community wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Collecting at the Crossroads: Anthropology, Art & Cultural Change (1939-85). This project will apply current scholarship on museum collecting practices, art and anthropology to produce a better understanding of one of Australia’s most significant, yet little known, collections of Aboriginal art and culture —the Berndt Museum collection. The project will explore the legacy of this collection and generate new ways of appreciating its depth in partnership with the descendants of the Aboriginal peop ....Collecting at the Crossroads: Anthropology, Art & Cultural Change (1939-85). This project will apply current scholarship on museum collecting practices, art and anthropology to produce a better understanding of one of Australia’s most significant, yet little known, collections of Aboriginal art and culture —the Berndt Museum collection. The project will explore the legacy of this collection and generate new ways of appreciating its depth in partnership with the descendants of the Aboriginal people who made it. Focusing on materials collected in inland Australia, we will develop a collaborative means of interrogating the collection. The project will benefit Aboriginal communities and the wider Australian public via the production of on-line resources and public exhibitions celebrating this unique cultural collection.Read moreRead less
Photogrammetric Reconstruction for Underwater Virtual Heritage Experiences. This project aims to enable significant underwater cultural heritage sites such as shipwrecks to be recreated in immersive underwater virtual heritage experiences. Photogrammetric 3D reconstruction techniques will be used to generate complex digital 3D models of shipwreck sites from hundreds of thousands of underwater images. This will allow vivid experiences to be created which explain the stories of these wrecks. The p ....Photogrammetric Reconstruction for Underwater Virtual Heritage Experiences. This project aims to enable significant underwater cultural heritage sites such as shipwrecks to be recreated in immersive underwater virtual heritage experiences. Photogrammetric 3D reconstruction techniques will be used to generate complex digital 3D models of shipwreck sites from hundreds of thousands of underwater images. This will allow vivid experiences to be created which explain the stories of these wrecks. The project will conduct audience engagement studies to recommend the most appropriate methods to implement underwater virtual heritage experiences for Australian audiences. The sites which will be used as test datasets are some of the most significant Australian shipwreck sites, including HMAS Sydney (II) and HMAS AE1.Read moreRead less
Learning from the Past? Evaluating the impact of Holocaust museum education. This project will determine and assess the long term educational impact of Holocaust education programs. Developed in partnership with Australia’s three Holocaust museums, our innovative methodology will enable a comprehensive understanding of these programs' potential to shape ethical thinking and engender behavioural change. The outcomes will generate more targeted and effective programs that engage students on cognit ....Learning from the Past? Evaluating the impact of Holocaust museum education. This project will determine and assess the long term educational impact of Holocaust education programs. Developed in partnership with Australia’s three Holocaust museums, our innovative methodology will enable a comprehensive understanding of these programs' potential to shape ethical thinking and engender behavioural change. The outcomes will generate more targeted and effective programs that engage students on cognitive and affective levels. With the rise of antisemitism, Islamophobia and political extremism in Australia and abroad prompting policy initiatives in which cultural institutions are characterised as agents of social change, maximising the long-term educational benefits of these programs is imperative.Read moreRead less
Investigating the impacts and future of land rights and land restitution. This project aims to develop new understandings of the effects of land rights on Aboriginal communities and the nation. The era of gaining rights has, for many, transitioned into a time of restitution and seeking economic and cultural futures for younger generations. It remains to be seen what these futures will be, how they will align with or challenge national interests, and what hopes younger Aboriginal people have for ....Investigating the impacts and future of land rights and land restitution. This project aims to develop new understandings of the effects of land rights on Aboriginal communities and the nation. The era of gaining rights has, for many, transitioned into a time of restitution and seeking economic and cultural futures for younger generations. It remains to be seen what these futures will be, how they will align with or challenge national interests, and what hopes younger Aboriginal people have for country. This project aims to uncover future aspirations, engaging with Yanyuwa claimants, the first group to lodge a land claim under the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act 1976, and land rights professionals. The project aims to reveal intercultural understandings of land rights and the future for Australian lands and waters.Read moreRead less
Indigenist Archaeology: New Ways of Knowing the Past and Present. This project aims to explore how Indigenous Australian worldviews can transform archaeological practice and understandings of the past. Archaeological research practice has typically relied on Western science, theories and interpretive frameworks. As an alternative approach, we will develop a new epistemological conceptualisation for how archaeology can be practiced. Based on surveys and interviews with six Aboriginal communities ....Indigenist Archaeology: New Ways of Knowing the Past and Present. This project aims to explore how Indigenous Australian worldviews can transform archaeological practice and understandings of the past. Archaeological research practice has typically relied on Western science, theories and interpretive frameworks. As an alternative approach, we will develop a new epistemological conceptualisation for how archaeology can be practiced. Based on surveys and interviews with six Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory and South Australia, and using Indigenous theories and concepts, the project will identify and explore how Aboriginal ways of knowing (epistemology), being (ontology) and doing (axiology) can be integrated into a new model for archaeological research that we call “Indigenist Archaeology”.Read moreRead less
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
Connecting Indigenous Community Photographies: a transnational case study. The project aims to conduct the first transnational comparison of Indigenous community-controlled photography, exploring Indigenous peoples’ ways of seeing and documenting their worlds. The project seeks to significantly advance Australian and global understanding of Indigenous vernacular photography through investigating formerly unexplored private collections of images created by Indigenous photographers during the mid ....Connecting Indigenous Community Photographies: a transnational case study. The project aims to conduct the first transnational comparison of Indigenous community-controlled photography, exploring Indigenous peoples’ ways of seeing and documenting their worlds. The project seeks to significantly advance Australian and global understanding of Indigenous vernacular photography through investigating formerly unexplored private collections of images created by Indigenous photographers during the mid 20th Century in four communities across three countries. One of the outcomes of the project is a nuanced visual history that cannot be excavated from other sources. The benefits of this project include public exhibitions, a book, symposiums, and a scholarly anthology that encourages the public’s connection with the past.Read moreRead less
Re-Activating Australian Dance Theatre’s Archive for the Future. This project aims to investigate how the rich, vulnerable heritage of Australian Dance Theatre (ADT), Australia’s oldest contemporary dance company, can be re-activated for the future. In partnership with Indigenous leadership from ADT, it will collaboratively research Western and Indigenous choreographies to generate an innovative work. Case studies of ADT's female Artistic Directors will produce new knowledge of gender in Austral ....Re-Activating Australian Dance Theatre’s Archive for the Future. This project aims to investigate how the rich, vulnerable heritage of Australian Dance Theatre (ADT), Australia’s oldest contemporary dance company, can be re-activated for the future. In partnership with Indigenous leadership from ADT, it will collaboratively research Western and Indigenous choreographies to generate an innovative work. Case studies of ADT's female Artistic Directors will produce new knowledge of gender in Australian dance, and it will experiment with 3D imaging of the costume collection. Outcomes include an exhibition, dance work, film, and a networked digital dance archive. It will benefit the performing arts by producing archival resources that can be adapted across the sector to preserve Australia’s cultural heritage.Read moreRead less
Nuclear Nation: a contemporary archaeology of Australia's atomic heritage. The history of nuclear science in Australia is of growing interest to scholars, however the physical remains of this controversial legacy are yet to be investigated. This interdisciplinary project would bring together leading academics, curators, scientists and First Nations researchers, using innovative contemporary archaeology approaches, to generate new understandings of the significance of Australia’s atomic heritage ....Nuclear Nation: a contemporary archaeology of Australia's atomic heritage. The history of nuclear science in Australia is of growing interest to scholars, however the physical remains of this controversial legacy are yet to be investigated. This interdisciplinary project would bring together leading academics, curators, scientists and First Nations researchers, using innovative contemporary archaeology approaches, to generate new understandings of the significance of Australia’s atomic heritage in global context. Expected outcomes include improved capacity for heritage management, and new resources and methods for understanding and interpreting Australia’s role in the Nuclear Age. This should generate substantial benefits for the Partner Organisations, and for Australia's tourism and cultural sectors more broadly.Read moreRead less