USQ anthropologist awarded prestigious grant

Head of USQ School of Humanities and Communication, Professor Bryce Barker, and Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, Dr Lara Lamb have recently been awarded $50,000 for their research project The archaeology of Juru ceremony and spirituality: The Mine Island Ceremonial Stone Arrangements by the Australian Government’s Indigenous Heritage Program.

Professor Barker and Dr Lamb’s research is looking at the Mine Island stone arrangement complex, which is one of the largest ceremonial sites in Australia with deep significance to Juru/Birri Aboriginal peoples. The arrangements are in excess of 20km of looping and u shaped aligned stones.

Professor Barker said their project will attempt to link the mysterious evidence of ceremony and ritual sites, with modern oral traditions and the historical record.

“It is also the intention of this part of the project to comprehensively map the kilometres of stone arrangements and properly record all of the midden sites and ochre quarry on the island in order to produce in partnership with the Gudjuda Aboriginal Reference Group (Ayr), a cultural heritage management plan for the island in preparation for the sites proposed heritage listing,” Professor Barker said.

“Historically, archaeology in Australia has had a tendency to separate the practical or utilitarian meanings of cultural items, from those derived from ritualistic and ceremonial items. They have therefore occupied opposite positions within a dualistic framework for examining indigenous lifeways.

“Recently however, archaeologists have begun combining the two positions by incorporating the spiritual world into interpretations of previously-held economic items and by acknowledging the interrelatedness of economy with spiritual landscapes (Spiritscapes) in the interpretations of previously-held ceremonial items.”

The small island is currently part of a mining lease, in which cultural heritage sites have never been properly recorded and is subject to increased pressure from development and recreational use.

For more information on Professor Barker or Dr Lamb’s work please contact the University’s Faculty of Arts on 4631 1047.


Contact Details:
Connie-Louise Rego, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 2977