Alister Malcolm Bowen, PhD

7 November 1968-16 May 2018

It is with sadness that we mark the death of Dr Alister Bowen.

Alister graduated with Honours in Archaeology from the ANU in 1999 and then moved to Melbourne where he completed his PhD in at La Trobe University in 2007. His ground-breaking research on Chinese fish curing was based on excavations at Chinaman’s Point, Pt Albert. The work was subsequently published in several journal articles and as Archaeology of the Chinese Fishing Industry in Colonial Australia in the ASHA monograph series, Studies in Australian Historical Archaeology. While a PhD student Alister received the ‘Best Student Paper’ prize for his paper at the 2005 ASHA conference and he later received ASHA’s Maureen Byrne Award for Best PhD Thesis.

Alister believed strongly in the public dissemination of research and worked closely with the local community in Pt Albert to develop a display at the Port Albert Maritime Museum. In documenting the full extent and importance of Chinese fish curing Alister’s work made a significant contribution to the study of the overseas Chinese. Alister worked in commercial archaeology after moving back to Canberra in 2012.

Alister was a fine scholar, valued colleague, and good friend. He is survived by his partner Carol and children Harriet, Hugh and Samm. He will be greatly missed.

Members may be interested in a range of archaeology-related blogs available to access, that can be found no the following link: http://pastthinking.com/links/

Just two more weeks to go until National Archaeology Week kicks off in Australia! The week begins on 21st May, and there are lots of events happening in and around the week (most are free!) that you can pop in to and spread the word about the wonderful archaeological work going on across the country! For more information, including a calendar of events, see: http://www.archaeologyweek.com/