The protection of Australia's commemorative places and monuments report

This document has been released recently, prepared by the Australian Heritage Council and the Department of the Environment and Energy heritage staff, on the request of the Minister, the Hon Josh Frydenberg MP, who sought advice on the adequacy of existing legal protections for places and monuments that relate to the early interactions between European explorers and settlers and Australia's Indigenous peoples.  The report finds that the current legislative and policy framework across the country is adequate, but also makes a number of recommendations to allow Australians to further recognise and promote our shared Indigenous and colonial heritage.

The report can be found at https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/4474fb91-bd90-4424-b671-9e2ab9c39cca/files/protection-australia-commemorative-places-monuments.pdf

Re-appointments to the Australian Heritage Council (AHC)

in March 2018 the Minister responsible for the AHC, the Hon Josh Frydenberg MP, announced that five AHC members were being re-appointed: the Hon Dr Kemp AC (chair), Dr Jane Harrington (historic heritage), Associate Professor Don Garden OAM (historic heritage), Dr Lyndon Ormond-Parker (Indigenous heritage) and Ms Rachel Perkins (Indigenous heritage). They join current members Dr Steve Morton (natural heritage) and Dr Jennie Whinam (natural heritage) on the seven-seat Council.

For further information on these people see http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/organisations/australian-heritage-council/about

Melbourne Domain and Parkland Precinct added to the National Heritage List (NHL)

Also, in March 2018, it was announced that this place had  been added to the NHL after a review of the earlier Emergency Nomination Listing.  It was seen as an iconic part of Melbourne and the place as a whole is a parkland landscape developed and shaped by its historic and on-going function as a rare government domain. The Kings Domain Resting Place within the parklands is also of particular significance because of its association with Australia's national story of the repatriation of Indigenous people's remains.

For further information see: https://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/melbourne-domain-parkland-memorial-precinct

ACT Region Heritage Symposium 2018 - Update

Heritage On The Edge: Continuity With Change In Canberra? -

This year's Symposium will focus on Canberra's Modern ('Modernist') Architecture, a style widely used in Canberra for public buildings and private housing in the mid-20th Century, and of international standing.  Its minimalist form is not a contemporary style today as Canberra rapidly changes with a focus on innovation and development, and high rise living.  Change is a constant, but how are we applying it in Canberra so heritage is identified and protected to ensure a connection with our past, and a continuity of our sense of place?

With the sub-themes Vital and Vulnerable: threats to the Modern Urban Landscape; Continuity with Change: sustaining Canberra's Modern heritage; and Hidden yet Found: revealing invisible Modern heritage, the Symposium will look at what Canberra's Modern Urban Landscape is and what its heritage values are—central to Canberra story, and its vulnerability.  How can we take such values into account with development and the broader impact on heritage with change?  What processes, what guidelines can we apply to sustain Canberra's modern heritage, and our heritage and its landscape more generally to ensure continuity with change and maintain a sense of place—a sense of community engagement?  What are methods to see hidden aspects of this heritage, applying tools, such as the archaeology of structures, oral histories, and other evidence, so the Canberra community and visitors can appreciate this aspect of Canberra's story.

The diverse program features local and interstate perspectives, exploring Canberra's modernist heritage from different angles: design for learning; conserving the marble facade of the National Library; a creative approach to engagement with Northbourne Ave's public housing precinct; working with planning legislation; managing Canberra's mid century landscapes; lessons from Sydney, Hobart and Armidale about valuing, conserving and celebrating our mid century spaces and places. 

Take a tour of ANU's mid-century architecture; get involved in a panel discussion on key issues; and end the day with a light-hearted look at the symbiotic relationship between cocktail culture and mid-century life in the capital.

The program will be available shortly but I have been assured that there will likely be talks of interest to historical archaeologists within the general topic as there has been in previous years.

Date: Saturday 18 August 2018

Time: 9.00am - 5.00pm

Venue: RN Robertson Building (46) Science Road ANU 2601

Cost: $75 full registration; $55 members host organisations; $35 concessions, fulltime students, speakers

Registration, and the program, when available, can be found at: https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/event/act-region-heritage-symposium-2018/

Archaeology in the Pub, Canberra

Call for presenters now open!  The format is 8 researchers, 8 minutes to tell a story, wow the crowd or share a breakthrough: we've had ecology stand up comedy, chemistry experiments, biology quizzes, and physics poetry.  Contact Phil to get involved. He takes a broad view of the subject... palaeontology, anthropology, history, all welcome.
WHEN: 7 PM Friday 21 September
WHERE: Smiths Alternative, 76 Alinga St Civic
COST: Free thanks to Inspiring the ACT and Physics@ANU.

See for further information and contact https://www.facebook.com/events/1779747452120727/

Professor Peter Stone OBE talk: Protecting cultural property in conflict. Critical responsibility or unnecessary, impossible, distraction?

Special Centre for Archaeological Research Centre/Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies seminar, ANU, 3.30pm 10 August 2018, in Room 2.02, Sir Roland Wilson Building.

Cultural property (not only archaeological sites but archives, library and museum collections, and art) is always damaged and destroyed during a conflict - it is what happens, and there is nothing that can be done about it. However, a proportion of such damage and destruction is frequently avoidable and has been regarded as bad practice by military theorists for over 2,000 years.  National and international attempts, with varying success, have been made to reduce these losses.  The Blue Shield organisation was created in 1996 in an attempt to raise the profile of cultural property protection. Since then it has worked with the military and other relevant organisations to flag the importance of this work. Progress has been slow but recently significant steps have been taken.

For further information see http://www.anu.edu.au/events/special-carcentre-for-heritage-and-museum-studies-seminar

ANU's Triabunna Barracks, Tasmania, Archaeological Field School 2019 announced

This will be held 4 -27 January 2019.  Organised by the School of Archaeology & Anthropology, Research School of Humanities & the Arts, ANU College of Arts and the Social Sciences, under the supervision of Ash Lenton.  It will again focus on the investigation of the military barracks which serviced the adjacent Maria Island convict settlement in the 1840's.

Contact: Sooa.admin.cass@anu.edu.au

See for further information https://m.facebook.com/TriabunnaBarracksANU.Dig/ and Twitter #TriabunnaBarracks

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.