ASHA Awards

The ASHA Awards program aims to promote excellence in historical archaeology in Australasia by recognising best practice in the heritage management of historical archaeology; promoting the communication of archaeological results to the public; and rewarding outstanding research by students.

The awards are:

R. Ian Jack Award for Best Honours Thesis (annual)
Maureen Byrne Award for Best Postgraduate Thesis (bi-annual)
Judy Birmingham Award for Best Historical Archaeology Heritage Report (annual)
Martin Davies Award for Best Public Archaeology Initiative (annual)
Graham Connah Award for Best Publication (5-yearly)
Ilma Powell Honorary Award for Distinguished Service (occasional)


ASHA members are invited to nominate recent work for consideration in the ASHA Awards program. To nominate a project, complete a Nomination Cover Sheet and send with the appropriate number of copies of the thesis, book or report (as specified under each category heading) to:

ASHA Awards
c/- Dr Susan Lawrence
Archaeology
La Trobe University
Melbourne VIC 3086
Australia

Nominations are due by: 31 March 2008.

For more information download the Rules and Guidelines contact awards@asha.org.au or call Susan Lawrence on 03 9479 1790.

See also:

Rules and Guidelines
Nomination Cover Sheet
Previous Award Winners
Honorary Life Members
Award Sponsors

The Awards

 

R. Ian Jack Award for Best Honours Thesis

By training and practice a historian, Ian was also an early ASHA member.  He was one of the first practitioners of industrial archaeology in Australia, and with Judy Birmingham and Denis Jeans published two important texts on colonial technology, Australian Pioneer Technology (1979) and Industrial Archaeology in Australia (1983).  In his position of Dean of Arts at the University of Sydney in the early 1970s Ian played a further key role in the development of the field by facilitating the introduction of the first undergraduate subject in the area, which was coordinated by Judy Birmingham and to which Ian also contributed.  Ian has continued to research and publish in many aspects of Australia’s industrial heritage, including work on the iron industry (Australia’s Age of Iron, written with Aedeen Cremin) among others.

 

Maureen Byrne Award for Best Postgraduate Thesis

In 1976 Maureen Byrne was the first doctoral student in Historical Archaeology at the University of Sydney.  Two years before, she had been among the undergraduates taking the first classes in Historical Archaeology and in the following three years she took a precocious role in excavations at Irrawang, Sydney Old Burial Ground, Hill End, Addington in Ryde, and a well in Rozelle.  In Tasmania she directed the archaeological work at Ross Bridge (publishing a admirable book), completed an excavation report on the Coal Mines Station on Tasman Peninsula, and threw herself into her doctoral work at Port Arthur.  Her excavation of the first Prisoners' Barracks at Port Arthur with a large team, mainly from the University of Sydney, had a very successful first season early in 1977, but she died at the age of twenty-four in November that year after a severe asthma attack.

 

Judy Birmingham Award for Best Historical Archaeology Consulting Report (sponsored by Comber Consultants)

Judy came to the University of Sydney in 1961 to teach Near Eastern archaeology, but by the end of the decade had begun laying the foundations for the field of historical archaeology in Australia through her work on sites such as Irrawang and Wybalenna.  In 1974 she introduced an undergraduate subject in historical archaeology, with the help of Ian Jack and Dennis Jeans, and began the first formal training of students in this area.  At the same time, she was working to establish heritage legislation in NSW and participating in the federal government’s Hope Enquiry which led to the establishment of the National Estate.  Judy has been steadfast in her support of ASHA, first as secretary in the 1970s and then as president, committee member, and editor of Australasian Historical Archaeology.  Under her leadership the society expanded from a small Sydney nucleus to include members all over Australia and New Zealand, and her intellectual leadership in developing a theoretical basis for the field has been invaluable.

 

Martin Davies Award for Best Public Archaeology Initiative

Martin was among the first undergraduates to study historical archaeology at the University of Sydney in the 1970s.  He worked on the archaeological investigations of Norfolk Island and Fort Scratchley before becoming part of Brian Egloff’s pioneering conservation team at Port Arthur in 1983.  His work there was influential far beyond the significance of that site, as he instituted the field schools that helped train the next generation of historical archaeologists around the country, and, with Krystal Buckley, wrote the Port Arthur Procedures Handbook, which is still a benchmark for historical archaeologists in Australia.  Martin then moved to Parks and Wildlife Tasmania where he was influential in the conservation and interpretation of sites such as Highfield House, Eaglehawk Neck Military Barracks and Maria Island.  Martin was on secondment from Parks when he was killed in a fall in Antarctica in 1995 at the age of 37.

 

Graham Connah Award for Best Publication

Originally (and still) an Africanist, Graham turned his attention to historical archaeology when he came to the University of New England in the early 1970s and wanted to provide students with more diverse field experience.  He trained many students over the years at sites such as Saumarez Station, Winterbourne, Bagot’s Mill, and Regentville, and has had a long-standing involvement with ASHA as committee member, president, and perhaps most significantly, founding editor of what became Australasian Historical Archaeology.  A passionate advocate of the importance of publishing results, Graham has not only provided the means for others to do so, but has published diligently himself.  His 1988 book The Archaeology of Australia’s History is still the only substantial overview of the field.  He retired from UNE in 1995 but continues to take an active role in Australian and African archaeology, most recently publishing a book on his work at Lake Innes, NSW.

 

Ilma Powell Honorary Life Membership Award for Distinguished Service

Ilma' special talents were closely involved when ASHA was founded in 1970-1971: thereafter she was a slave-driving member of the ASHA committee for twenty five years.  In turn Hon Secretary and Hon Treasurer her work was key to keeping the Society financial, and maintaining its correspondence and administration. Similarly her pivotal role as admin assistant in Historical Archaeology to Judy Birmingham from 1970 to 1996 at Sydney University was critical during those heavy years of double teaching and research. Ilma maintained the HA paperwork, berated accounts departments, logged student assignments, excursions and records, and welcomed students and ASHA members alike as 'her darlings'. Who of us will ever forget her warm-hearted enthusiasm for ASHA and HA, along with her successful orders, repeated over twenty five years, to 'bring back the receipts'!

Winners of the Inaugural 2007 ASHA Awards

 

R. Ian Jack Award for Best Honours Thesis

Lisa-Maree Campbell

Bound by Bricks or a Working Man's Paradise: The Archaeology of Labour Organisation in a Shale Mining Company Town

 

The thesis presents an anlysis of domestic archaeological evidence, including brick quality and settlement layout, to understand the archaeological signature of labour organisation at Joadja, NSW.  The thesis challenges conventional interpretations of industrial places as static and unpeopled by using the domestic archaeological record to reveal social structure and organisation in a mining town.  The thesis also develops and presents a new methodology for the analysis and interpretation of bricks, demonstrating how bricks can be used to investigate questions about social structures and labour organisation.

 

 

Maureen Byrne Award for Best MA or PhD Thesis

Angela Middleton

Te Puna: The Archaeology and History of a New Zealand Mission Station, 1832–1874

 

This thesis documents the interpersonal relationships between missionaries and Maori over nearly 50 years.  It is an exploration of history and archaeology which uses material objects to throw new light on gender, class and racial tensions in early colonial New Zealand.

 

 

Judy Birmingham Award for Best Historical Archaeology Heritage Report
(sponsored by Comber Consultants)

Ainsworth Heritage

Evans Head Memorial Aerodrome: Archaeological Management Plan

 

This report has contributed to the discipline by applying the principles and theory of historical archaeology to a relatively unique type of World War II temporary air defence site, in order to establish the site’s archaeological significance and ensure that this significance is protected in the likely future development of the site.  This archaeological management plan is the first time that AMP principles have been applied to a WWII aerodrome and thus it may become a benchmark study in archaeological approaches to temporary WWII sites in Australia.

 

 

Martin Davies Award for Best Public Archaeology Initiative

(Two winners)

 

The Mill Point Archaeology Project

 

The MPAP examines the site of a late 19th-century timber milling settlement on the shores of Lake Cootharaba on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.  This project has raised awareness and understanding of historical archaeology in Australia through interactions with visitors, school groups, local community groups and the media.  It has generated a sustainable project with strong interest and support from key local community stakeholders which will enhance the knowledge, protection, and management of the site.  Opportunities provided for archaeology students to gain hands-on experience and undertake research at the site will provide ongoing benefits to the discipline.

 

Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority
Port
Arthur Public Archaeology Program

 

This award recognises 30 years of leadership in public archaeology.  Port Arthur introduced archaeological field schools in the 1980s and has run them in conjunction with a public archaeology program since 2001.  It is the longest-running such program in Australia and has provided thousands of visitors the chance to experience archaeology.  At the same time, it has shown hundreds of student volunteers the value of public archaeology.

 

 

Ilma Powell Honorary Life Membership Award for Distinguished Service

R. Ian Jack

 

By training and practice a historian, Ian was also an early ASHA member .  He was one of the first practitioners of industrial archaeology in Australia, and with Judy Birmingham and Denis Jeans published two important texts on colonial technology, Australian Pioneer Technology (1979) and Industrial Archaeology in Australia (1983).  In his position of Dean of Arts at the University of Sydney in the early 1970s Ian played a further key role in the development of the field by facilitating the introduction of the first undergraduate subject in the area, which was coordinated by Judy Birmingham and to which Ian also contributed.  Ian has continued to research and publish in many aspects of Australia’s industrial heritage, including work on the iron industry (Australia’s Age of Iron,written with Aedeen Cremin) among others.

Honorary Life Members

 

Judy Birmingham

Graham Connah

R. Ian Jack

Award Sponsors

 

ASHA wishes to thank the following sponsors for their generous contributions:

 

Platinum sponsors

Comber Consultants

 

Gold sponsors

 

Silver sponsors

 

Bronze sponsors

Mark Staniforth

 

General sponsors

University of Queensland Archaeological Services Unit