A Spotlight on Queensland Archaeology in National Archaeology Week

Abstract

Queensland has a rich archaeological heritage. Over the past two years  there have been a number of important projects or discoveries that attracted some public interest or media coverage. This presentation provides members of the archaeological community and the public with the chance to hear more about some of these projects directly from the people involved.  Each short presentation will focus on different aspects of the work, such as the processes involved, community engagement and/or  the methodologies utilised.  

Check out our great line-up of presenters below and come along and join us to celebrate National Archaeology week!

Presenters

Dr Natalie Franklin

Case Studies of Management Planning for rock art sites in southeast Queensland

Dr. Natalie Franklin is Senior Archaeologist with ARCHAEO Cultural Heritage Services and Converge Heritage + Community. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Centre for Rock Art Research and Management, The University of Western Australia, and the Department of Archaeology, Flinders University, as well as an Honorary Research Fellow within the School of Social Science, University of Queensland. Natalie has extensive fieldwork experience in Australia, Spain and the Middle East and ongoing research interests in Australian rock art and archaeology, especially the Pleistocene period, the archaeology of the Middle East and the archaeological signatures for the appearance of modern human behaviour. Natalie also has over 20 years experience in cultural heritage management in the Queensland government.

Dr Phil Habgood

 A Road Most Travelled – Recent Archaeological work along Kingsford Smith Drive

Dr. Phil Habgood is Senior Archaeologist with ARCHAEO Cultural Heritage Services and Converge Heritage + Community. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor, Centre for Rock Art Research and Management, The University of Western Australia and an Honorary Research Fellow within the School of Social Science, University of Queensland. Phil has extensive fieldwork experience in Australia, Spain and the Middle East and ongoing research interests in the Neanderthals and the origin of modern humans, Australian archaeology, especially the Pleistocene period, the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods in the Middle East and the appearance of modern human behaviour within the archaeological record.

Paddy Waterson

A Sinking, Shrinking Violet: The rediscovery of a nineteenth century Australian ketch.

In 2017, wreckage of a wooden ship was exposed by erosion at Corio Bay near Yeppoon. Previously unseen in living memory, the wreck attracted the interest of local recreational fishers, who recovered some exposed items. Soon after, the site was reported to the Queensland Government’s Heritage Branch in the Department of Environment and Science, which investigated the wreck and took possession of the recovered artefacts. The subsequent investigation determined the wreck was the ketch Violet, an Australian-built sailing vessel that traded extensively along the Queensland coast before running aground during a storm in 1896. Despite the extensive damage to the ship’s hull, the archaeological potential of the site is high and the department is now working with other experts and the community to help bring the hidden story of the ship and its ‘world’ to the public.

Paddy Waterson has worked as a professional archaeologist for over twenty years, with broad experience in cultural heritage management throughout Queensland. Having initially trained in terrestrial archaeology, Paddy joined the Queensland Government Heritage Branch in the late 1990’s, working across Far North Queensland, Cape York and the Torres Strait. Paddy later returned to southern Queensland and undertook further studies in forensics and maritime archaeology, eventually becoming the Queensland Practitioner under the Australian Government Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976. Since 2017, he has been the Cultural Heritage Coordinator, leading groups dealing both with historic and maritime archaeology, and development assessment of places on the Queensland heritage register.

Holly Maclean and Tina King (Associate Director) Urbis

Come on Baby Light My…Lamp… - Early Electricity at Brisbane’s Parliament House

In 1884, “Edison Street Tubes” were laid in William Street, Brisbane, to light up Parliament House with electricity for the first time. Designed by Thomas Edison and built by the US-based Thomas Edison Company, this electrical cabling existed as some of the earliest evidence of electrical technology in Brisbane, and the only known instance of such technology in the southern hemisphere.

This rare style of electrical cabling has recently been unearthed as part of the Queens Wharf Brisbane redevelopment. The cabling will be expertly conserved before going on display at institutions around the world, bringing this historic technology to light after 134 years of life underground. This talk will present the processes involved with the recovery of the Edison Tubes in the context of consulting archaeology, including research, consultation, monitoring and in-field conservation.

Tina King is an Associate Director and Senior Archaeologist at Urbis, and has undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in archaeology from The University of Queensland and a Masters in Cultural Heritage at Deakin University. Tina was a Heritage Officer at the Environmental Protection Agency before moving to consulting work in 2006. She has specialised interest and skills in the physical conservation of heritage buildings, and has undertaken conservation, management and assessment of historic places throughout Australia.

Holly Maclean is a Senior Heritage Consultant and Senior Archaeologist at Urbis, and has completed undergraduate and postgraduate studies in anthropology/archaeology at The University of Queensland and a Masters in Cultural Heritage at Deakin University. She worked at the Queensland Museum before moving into the consulting world in 2008, and has worked on places of archaeological, historic and Aboriginal heritage significance across Australia. Holly has a particular interest in the interpretation of heritage places, and enjoys excavating with the University of Sydney at Pella in Jordan

Jane Skippington

Archaeology at the Queensland Museum

This talk will highlight the QM’s archaeology programme over the last 12 months and into 2018-2019. We will outline QM’s role and responsibilities in caring for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage, discuss our participation in major projects including the large-scale, federally funded repatriation of cultural heritage seeking to return sacred rock engravings back to Country, collaborative research and exhibition and engagement outcomes as a Partner Institution on the 34 Million dollar ARC Centre of Excellence for Biodiversity and Heritage, cross-institutional collaborations at Ravenswood, supporting the current travelling exhibition ‘Egyptian Mummies: Exploring Ancient Lives’. For this year’s National Archaeology Week we will host facilitated sessions with teachers, students and curators exploring stone artefacts and the curriculum at QMSB, and a Maritime Archaeology short-course at the Museum of Tropical Queensland.

Jane Skippington is the Principal Curator, Indigenous Cultures at the Queensland Museum network. She has previously worked as a field archaeologist and heritage advisor in northwest Australia. Jane is currently a PhD candidate on the Barrow Island Archaeological Project based at the University of Western Australia. Her research aims to investigate the relationships between people and changing environments by employing stable isotopes ecology to reconstruct palaeo climate and vegetation at sites dating to the terminal Pleistocene – Early Holocene. More broadly, her research interests include the application of analytical chemistry in archaeology, sustainable heritage practice and indigenous land use.

Dr Steve Nichols

MY ARCHAEOLOGY RULES!

This talk will explore the treatment of archaeology in the popular Channel Seven reality TV series, My Kitchen Rules. As an archaeologist and ethnographer, my participation as a contestant in the 2018 season of MKR provided a unique 'inside' opportunity to observe and consider the ways in which producers of popular culture think and act about archaeology and archaeologists. While predictable misconceptions and stereotypes loomed large in the broadcast version of the series, there is also much to be learned from what didn't make the final cut. Sit back and enjoy this behind the scenes look at a reality television juggernaut. Bon appetite!

Dr Steve Nichols is an Australian archaeologist with the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships where he is responsible for administering the state's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage legislation. Steve has held a variety of positions in both the academic and cultural heritage management sectors and has a PhD in public archaeology from the University of Queensland. In a former life he was also a chartered accountant with international consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. In his spare time Steve likes to explore the urban jungle and write poetry, feel free to check it out on insta @bilbymagic

Cameron Harvey

Just little pieces of the puzzle: archaeology and other things at the Morayfield Plantation

The Morayfield Plantation site, located just south of the Caboolture River, is a place of State heritage significance for its historical and archaeological values. Operating as a sugar plantation from the 1860s and with subsequent farming and dairying associations, the place is a potential source of information about some uncommon and more common aspects of late 19th and early 20th century Queensland rural life. My association with this place is long, commencing with its initial identification and then heritage-listing in 2010-2011, to further historical investigations and oral histories for a developer-supported community heritage project in 2014, through to the most recent archaeological recording and surface collection works undertaken jointly by Niche Environment and Heritage and Timeline Heritage. This short presentation will endeavour to illustrate some of the complexities of working on local archaeological sites today and that archaeology is only a part of any solution to the historical puzzles this site presents.

Cameron Harvey is the Queensland Regional Manager for Niche Environment and Heritage, a professional environmental and heritage consulting firm operating along the east coast of Australia. He has worked on Aboriginal, maritime and historical heritage projects, though is a historical cultural heritage specialist with general interests in historical archaeological practice in Queensland and applications of GIS in contemporary heritage practice. His experience has included work as a cultural heritage officer for the Queensland Government, for over 12 years, which included roles managing Aboriginal heritage data and information under the now repealed Cultural Record Act, historical cultural heritage policy and guideline development under the Queensland Heritage Act 1992, and research and significance assessment for built and archaeological places for possible entry in the Queensland Heritage Register. Over the last 6 years he has worked on over 150 projects as a heritage consultant or project manager under Queensland and NSW regulatory contexts.