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The professional practice of archaeology in Australia is a relatively recent endeavor, only crystallising into a distinct discipline in the 1960s and 1970s. It was during this period that Australian archaeology was first taught at Australian universities, that professional organizations dedicated to Australian archaeology were formed, that Federal and State legislation was enacted to protect archaeological sites and artifacts, and that employment opportunities opened up, either in government departments and other institutions or in cultural heritage management. Since then, there has been an enormous increase in the number of recorded sites, as well as increasing evidence for their environmental and cultural diversity, a growing understanding of the antiquity of Aboriginal occupation within Australia and an increasing interest in colonial (historical) and maritime archaeology. However, there is still much work to be done in all areas of the country. Australian archaeology today covers a variety of interests: from Indigenous archaeology focusing on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander occupation of Australia over the last 50,000 years, to historical archaeology which deals with the last few hundred years since colonial contact.

The invasion of Australia by the British in 1788 is often portrayed as the beginning of the end of Indigenous cultures, but such colonial misconceptions should be seriously rethought. Today, it is clear that these cultures have survived. While they have undergone radical change in many parts of the country. Indigenous Australians have drawn upon the flexibility and strengths inherent in their cultures to ensure their on-going survival. The outcome has taken different shapes in different parts of the country, in the same way that Indigenous cultures had different shapes prior to contact with Europeans. The result is a diversity of Aboriginal Australian cultures in the present, as there was a diversity of these cultures in the past.

Finding funding for your project is important. Many projects cannot be undertaken without funds to cover fuel and travel costs, or to buy essential equipment. More importantly, funding also allows you to increase the quality of your work, in that it may allow you to pay specialists to undertake highly skilled technical tasks. Writing a funding application is also the best way of planning any research project, as it forces you to think deeply about how you will carry out the project, identify challenges or problems, plan a viable budget, and identify the concrete outcomes you hope to achieve. Scholars who take the time to develop a funding application will benefit from having more clearly defined goals, more detailed plans and overall better project management. This makes project outcomes more attainable. While granting agencies receive considerably more applications for support than there are funds available for distribution, you can increase your chances significantly through developing a thorough and professional application. Think of the time you spend on preparing a funding submission as a good investment.

Australia is a continent, an island and a country. Often referred to as “the big country”, it is the sixth largest country in the world. It is 50% larger than Europe and about the same size as the 48 mainland states of the USA, but has a population density of only two people per square kilometer—the lowest in the world. The Australian landmass separated from the other continents over 50 million years ago, providing a setting for the development of unique flora, fauna, and habitats (Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, 2005). Because of its unique environmental setting, Australia poses particular challenges for archaeological fieldwork, which will be discussed in this chapter. We also consider the nature of the Australian character and lifestyle, and how this impacts upon archaeological practice, and some of the practical issues that need to be navigated by any overseas archaeologist who wishes to work in Australia.

All archaeology in Australia is governed by some form of cultural heritage regulation within three concentric regulatory frameworks: federal; state; and local government. Both federal and state levels involve various pieces of legislation that mandate how heritage sites and resources are to be protected under law. Local regulation typically takes the form of municipal planning schemes or other permit processes by town, city or shire councils that involve considering heritage places and items as components of development. These local or municipal planning schemes are still tied to State level legislative frameworks for planning development and protecting heritage sites.

The many different ways in which Indigenous people have interacted with the land and with each other over the last 50,000 years have left behind many physical traces. Indigenous Australians were dynamic and highly adaptable. By 22–30,000 years ago they had used these abilities to occupy a wide range of environments, ranging from the tropical zones of northern Australia to the peri-glacial zones of Tasmania and even refuge areas in the deserts of central Australia (see Mulvaney & Kamminga, 1999). Tasmania, isolated from the rest of Australia for the last 8–10,000 years, developed its own unique culture (for more information see Chapter 2). As a result of this diversity there are many different kinds of Indigenous sites in Australia. This chapter deals with the issues of identifying the types of Indigenous sites likely to be encountered across Australia, researching Indigenous sites, and working with Indigenous Australians.

Historical archaeology studies the colonial past of Australia—the places and artifacts that have been left behind by over two hundred years of non-Indigenous activity. Britain officially colonized Australia in 1788, when the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove carrying 717 convicts, 191 marines and 19 officers. There had been contact between Indigenous people and Europeans long before this date along both the northern and western coasts of Australia (see Chapter 2), but 1788 heralded the first influx of foreign people desiring permanently to colonize the Australian continent. An enormous range and variety of people from many different countries have since settled either temporarily or permanently in Australia, so much so that until 1880 the majority of white Australians were immigrants, rather than native born (Camm & McQuilton, 1988:142). Throughout the nineteenth century these immigrants were drawn from places as diverse as the UK, Japan, Russia, Poland, Italy, Greece, Germany, China, Pakistan, India, Turkey and the Pacific Islands. As a result, historical archaeology deals with the varieties of material evidence that have resulted from more than two centuries of this colonial occupation and is much more than just the archaeology of British colonization.

Maritime archaeology encompasses more than just shipwrecks; it also includes the many land-based activities associated with maritime industry and trade, such as whaling stations, docks, jetties and shipyards, the intangible record (for instance oral histories), as well as the material vestiges of maritime lifestyles. It can incorporate ports and the various services that support maritime activities, such as lighthouses and warehouses, as well as the domestic sites associated with the people who lived and worked in these places. Inland waters and the material traces they contain are also part of maritime archaeology. For example, the Murray River, a major waterway which in part forms the boundary between NSW and Victoria and runs into South Australia, has a 19th century drydock, several historic port towns, and the fully conserved 105 year old paddle steamer, PS Marion , as well as wrecks of many other paddle steamers and barges along its length. Even the remains of the relatively recent past, such as sunken wartime relics, can become the responsibility of maritime archaeologists.

Much archaeological fieldwork in Australia is carried out within the confines of cultural heritage management projects—the “business” of archaeological consultancy. Cultural heritage management (sometimes referred to as cultural resource management) is the branch of archaeology that deals with assessing the effects of development or other potentially harmful human activity on heritage sites, and taking steps to either protect sites or to allow their destruction. The standard process for any archaeological consultancy project is to investigate a site or area, record any artifacts or relevant sites within it, and then assess the significance of those sites or relics so that appropriate strategies for conserving and managing them can be implemented. Significance assessment, conservation and management, therefore, are the three key skills that an archaeologist must cultivate if they are to work successfully in this field. Specialist non-Indigenous personnel who have undertaken specialist training as part of archaeology, anthropology, natural resources or land management degrees have traditionally practiced cultural heritage management. The current demand for cultural heritage management by Indigenous peoples not only requires a recognition of their specific needs and requirements, but also the general higher priority given to the protection and management of the physical remains of the past by Indigenous peoples.

This chapter outlines standard procedures for publishing in a range of archaeological venues. Publication is the act of communicating information to the public. Making your work available to others who have an interest in it—i.e. publishing in some form the results of your fieldwork, analysis, and assessment—is an important ethical responsibility. You should write up and publish the results of your research as quickly as practicable, with the aim of informing as wide an audience as possible. The major publication venues for archaeologists are: Technical (or consultancy) reports. Community reports. Academic books and journals.