Dr Richard Martin
Major Convenor - Anthropology
Senior Lecturer
School of Social Science
+61 7 336 53170
Researcher biography
Richard is a cultural anthropologist in the School of Social Science at UQ. His research focuses on Indigenous land rights and native title, cultural heritage, Australian anthropology, and Australian history and culture.
Richard has a PhD in social and cultural studies from The University of Western Australia. His PhD research examined relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in the remote Gulf Country of northern Australia, where he began fieldwork in 2007. After completing his PhD in 2012, Richard has continued to work in the Gulf Country on a range of academic and applied research projects, continuing to develop friendships and collaborations with Indigenous and non-Indigenous people across this area.
Since joining UQ in 2012, Richard has published a range of scholarly articles in leading academic journals as well as the popular book, The Gulf Country: The story of people and place in outback Queensland (Allen & Unwin, 2019). He has also carried out extensive applied research with Indigenous people on native title claims and cultural heritage matters across Australia, and given expert evidence in the Federal Court of Australia.
Publications
Book
Martin, Richard J. (2019). The Gulf Country: the story of people and place in outback Queensland. Crows Nest, NSW, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Book Chapters
Martin, Richard and Ginn, Geoff (2022). 'We are all still here': anthropological perspectives on cultural change. Kirrenderri: heart of the Channel Country. (pp. 39-42) edited by Michael C. Westaway, Mandana Mapar, Tracey Hough, Shawnee Gorringe and Geoff Ginn. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Martin, Richard J. (2020). Power, Poison, and Hope in the Border Country. Of Earth, For Earth: The meaning of a mine. (pp. 30-38) edited by Kathryn Moore and Dana Finch. Exeter, United Kingdom: University of Exeter Press.
Martin, Richard J. and Trigger, David (2018). Ethnographic collections, Indigenous narratives, and post-colonial rights in Australia. The social work of narratives: human rights and the cultural imaginary. (pp. 103-120) edited by Gareth Griffiths and Philip Mead. Stuttgart, Germany: ibidem Press.
Trigger, David and Martin, Richard (2017). Chinese history, Indigenous identity and mixed ancestry in Australia's Gulf Country. Mixed race identities in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. (pp. 36-48) edited by Kirsten McGavin and Farida Fozdar. New York, NY United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315559391
Martin, Richard J. and Trigger, David (2016). Intimacies with country, environmentalism and intercultural relations in Northern Australia's Gulf Country. Unstable relations: indigenous people and environmentalism in contemporary Australia. (pp. 92-121) edited by Eve Vincent and Timothy Neale. Perth, WA, Australia: University of Western Australia Press.
Martin, Richard J. and Trigger, David (2016). ‘Nothing never change’: mapping land, water and Aboriginal identity in the changing environments of northern Australia’s Gulf Country. Other people's country: law, water and entitlement in settler colonial sites. (pp. 1-18) edited by Timothy Neale and Stephen Turner. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Martin, Richard J., Sneddon, Andrew and Trigger, David (2016). Conservation, commodification and Indigenous heritage in Queensland. The right to protect sites: Indigenous heritage management in the era of native title. (pp. 137-158) edited by Pamela Faye McGrath. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
de Rijke, Kim, Martin, Richard and Trigger, David (2016). Cultural domains and the theory of customary environmentalism in Indigenous Australia. Engaging Indigenous Economy: Debating Diverse Approaches. (pp. 43-53) edited by Will Sanders. Canberra, ACT, Australia: ANU Press. doi: 10.22459/caepr35.04.2016.04
Martin, Richard J. (2014). 'Reading' the Leichhardt, Landsborough and Gregory explorer trees of Northern Australia. History, power, text: cultural studies and Indigenous studies. (pp. 523-543) edited by Timothy Neale, Crystal McKinnon and Eve Vincent. Sydney, NSW, Australia: UTS ePress.
Journal Articles
Brekelmans, Alana and Martin, Richard J. (2024). Frontier Narratives That Take on Flesh: Tracing Legacy, Labour, and Legitimacy in Outback Queensland, Australia. Oceania, 94 (1), 18-38. doi: 10.1002/ocea.5393
Martin, Richard (2023). Cultural loss and compensation in the anthropology of Aboriginal Australia. American Ethnologist, 50 (4), 632-644. doi: 10.1111/amet.13223
Adams, Shaun, Collard, Mark, McGahan, David, Martin, Richard, Phillips, Susan and Westaway, Michael C. (2023). The impact of contact: isotope geochemistry sheds light on the lives of Indigenous Australians living on the colonial frontier in late 19th century Queensland. Archaeologies, 19 (2), 299-341. doi: 10.1007/s11759-023-09469-2
Boag, Courtney J., Martin, Richard J. and Bell, Damein (2020). An 'authentic' Aboriginal product: state marketing and the self-fashioning of Indigenous experiences to Chinese tourists. Australian Journal of Anthropology, 31 (1), 51-65. doi: 10.1111/taja.12345
Martin, Richard J. (2019). Review of: The Colonial Fantasy: Why white Australia can't solve black problems by Sarah Maddison. Australian Book Review (413).
Adams, Shaun, Martin, Richard, Phillips, Susan, Macgregor, Colin and Westaway, Michael (2018). Truth-telling in the wake of European contact: historical investigation of Aboriginal skeletal remains from Normanton. Archaeologies, 14 (3), 412-442. doi: 10.1007/s11759-018-9354-x
Trigger, David and Martin, Richard J. (2016). Place, indigeneity, and identity in Australia’s Gulf Country. American Anthropologist, 118 (4), 824-837. doi: 10.1111/aman.12681
Martin, Richard (2016). Richard Martin reviews 'Native title from Mabo to Akiba: a vehicle for change and empowerment?' edited by Sean Brennan et al.. Australian Book Review (383), 72-72.
Martin, Richard J. and Trigger, David S. (2015). Negotiating belonging: plants, people and indigeneity in northern Australia. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 21 (2), 276-295. doi: 10.1111/1467-9655.12206
Martin, Richard J. (2015). Reconfiguring indigeneity in the mainland Gulf country: mimicry, mimesis and the colonial exchange of difference. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 26 (1), 55-73. doi: 10.1111/taja.12124
Martin, Richard J. and Trigger, David (2015). 'Nothing never change': mapping land, water and Aboriginal identity in the changing environments of northern Australia's Gulf Country. Settler Colonial Studies, 5 (3), 317-333. doi: 10.1080/2201473X.2014.1000906
Dalley, Cameo and Martin, Richard J. (2015). Dichotomous identities? Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and the intercultural in Australia. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 26 (1), 1-23. doi: 10.1111/taja.12120
Martin, Richard J. (2015). Imagining landscapes: past, present and future. Anthropological Forum, 25 (1), 102-104. doi: 10.1080/00664677.2013.805476
Martin, Richard (2015). Returns: becoming indigenous in the twenty-first century, by James Clifford. Anthropological Forum, 25 (2), 201-202. doi: 10.1080/00664677.2014.960142
Martin, Richard J. (2014). National days and the politics of Indigenous and local identities in Australia and New Zealand. American Ethnologist, 41 (2), 390-391. doi: 10.1111/amet.12082_6
Martin, Richard J., Mead, Philip and Trigger, David (2014). The politics of indigeneity, identity and representation in literature from north Australia's Gulf Country. Social Identities, 20 (4-5), 330-345. doi: 10.1080/13504630.2014.997201
Martin, Richard J. (2013). Sometime a fire: re-imagining elemental conflict in northern Australia's Gulf country. Australian Humanities Review (55), 67-91.
Martin, Richard J. (2013). The politics of the voice: ethnographic fetishism and Australian literary studies. Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, 13 (2), 1-14.
Martin, Richard J. (2013). 'Reading' the Leichhardt, Landsborough and Gregory explorer trees of northern Australia. Cultural Studies Review, 19 (2), 216-236. doi: 10.5130/csr.v19i2.2814
Martin, Richard J. (2011). Singing saltwater country: journey to the songlines of Carpentaria by John Bradley with Yanyuwa families. Aboriginal History, 35, 215-217.
Conference Paper
Martin, Richard J. (2020). Applied Anthropology and Indigenous Land Justice in Australia. AY2019 International Workshop: Call and Response in Indigenous Research: Cases from Australia and Japan, Kyoto, Japan, 15 December 2019. Kyoto, Japan: Ryukoku University Press.
Newspaper Article
Adams, Shaun, McGahan, David, Collard, Mark, Westaway, Michael and Martin, Richard (2023, 05 01). Isotope analysis helps tell the stories of Aboriginal people living under early colonial expansion The Conversation
Research Reports
Langford, Zannie and Martin, Richard (2023). Submission to the Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP) Reform. Brisbane, QLDAustralia: National Indigenous Australians Agency.
Martin, Richard J. (2017). Kurtjar Connection Report, Prepared for HWL Ebsworth Lawyers and Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation. HWL Ebsworth Lawyers and Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation.
Martin, Richard J. (2017). A History of the Burke Shire, 1865-2015. Prepared for the Burke Shire Council. Burke Shire Council.
Martin, Richard J. (2016). Cultural Heritage Survey Report for Burke Shire Council’s Proposed Activities in the Gregory Area, northwest Queensland. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: UQ Culture and Heritage Unit.
Martin, Richard J. (2015). Anthropological Connection Report on Gkuthaarn and Kukatj People and Countries. Brisbane, Australia:
Martin, Richard, Trigger, David and Maclean, Hilda (2013). Ganggalida eastern area report. UniQuest Project No: C00871 St Lucia, QLD, Australia: UQ Culture & Heritage Unit, UniQuest.
Martin, Richard J. (2012). Anthropologist's Report Concerning Ganggalida and Garawa Water Places, Gulf of Carpentaria. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: UQ Culture and Heritage Unit.