SEMINAR: OI Seminar Series - Alistair Paterson

The Eastern Front—Museums and Archaeology in Western Australia on the Indian Ocean

Abstract: In June 2011, the Western Australian (WA) Museum established a partnership with the British Museum. The signing of a memorandum of understanding between both institutions was witnessed by Premier Colin Barnett at the British Museum in London. This partnership will lead to an international collaboration on exhibition and research projects, and it will re-evaluate collections related to Western Australia, the Indian Ocean, and the wider world. This paper explores how the Indian Ocean has been interpreted and displayed to date by regional museums and the WA Museum in Western Australia. What role does archaeological research in Western Australia and the Indian Ocean has in future museum activities such as galleries, exhibits, community output, and research?

Bio: Professor Alistair Paterson is an archaeologist at the University of Western Australia. His research and teaching covers culture contact, historical archaeology in maritime and terrestrial settings, European colonization, historical rock art, and archaeological and historical methodology. Much of his work is located in northern Western Australia, including regional studies of Australia's Northwest, the uses of coast and offshore islands in colonial and pre-colonial settings (in collaboration with the Western Australian Museum), and early colonial settlements across the state. He is the author of A Millennium of Cultural Contact (Left Coast, 2011), The Lost Legions: Culture Contact in Colonial Australia (Alta Mira, 2008) and editor with Jane Balme of Archaeology in Practice: A Student Guide to Archaeological Analyses (Blackwell Publishing, 2006). He is past President of the Australian Archaeological Association (2005-2007), and has been involved with editing for, and publishing in, key archaeology journals including Archaeology in Oceania, Australasian Historical Archaeology, and Australian Archaeology.