Alistair Paterson

Professor Alistair Paterson is an ARC Future Fellow in archaeology at the University of Western Australia. His research examines the historical archaeology of colonial coastal contact and settlement in Australia’s Northwest and the Indian Ocean. His key interests are Western Australia and Indian Ocean history, Aboriginal Australia, Dutch East India Company, colonialism and exploration, rock art, and the history of collecting in Western Australia in collaboration with the Western Australian Museum, State Library, Art Gallery, and the British Museum.

He is lead CI on several ongoing ARC projects: (1) Collecting the West: Reimagining Western Australia from its collections; (2) Coastal Connections: dynamic societies of Australia's Northwest frontier and (3) Shipwrecks of the Roaring Forties: A Maritime Archaeological Reassessment of some of Australia's Earliest Shipwrecks, and a CI on (4) Murujuga: Dynamics of the Dreaming.

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 (2nd edition, Blackwell Publishing, 2013).

In 2015-2016 was a visiting researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford. In 2009 he was a visiting researcher ay the University of Copenhagen and at the National Museum of Denmark. He is past President of the Australian Archaeological Association (2005-2007), past Head of the School of Social Sciences (2013-15), and past Archaeology Discipline Chair (2010-2012). He has been involved with editing for, and publishing in, key archaeology journals including Antiquity, World Archaeology, Historical Archaeology, Archaeology in Oceania, Australasian Historical Archaeology, Internet Archaeology, and Australian Archaeology.

* ARC Future Fellow
* Associate Investigator, Oceans Institute (UWA)
* Member: Center for Rock Art Research and Management (UWA)

* Chair of Maritime Archaeology Advisory Committee, WA Museum
* Affiliate member: Australian Association for Consulting Archaeologists Inc

- The historical archaeology of colonial coastal contact and settlement in Australia’s Northwest and the Indian Ocean
- Macassan contacts with the Kimberley
- Pearling and Aboriginal labor/Slavery in WA
- Collections studies

Current only:
Collecting the West: How collections created Western Australia
ARC Linkage Project LP160100078. Administering Organisation: The University of Western Australia (UWA). Project leader: Prof Alistair Paterson. Investigators: Prof Andrea Witcomb, Adj/Prof Alec Coles, Prof Jane Lydon, Prof Stephen Hopper, Prof Jenny Gregory, Dr Shino Konishi, Dr Jacqueline Van Gent, Dr Toby Burrows, Dr Tiffany Shellam, Dr Jeremy Hill, Dr Sarah Longair, Dr Gaye Sculthorpe, Dr Katherine (Kate) Gregory, Mr Damien Webb, Ms Corioli Souter, Ms Amy Wegerhoff, Ms Patricia McDonald, Dr Moya Smith, Ms Diana Jones, Ms Melissa Harpley. ($750,000)

Coastal Connections: dynamic societies of Australia's Northwest frontier
ARC Future Fellowship FT150100168. Administering Organisation: The University of Western Australia (UWA). Investigators: Prof Alistair Paterson ($917,637)

Murujuga: Dynamics of the Dreaming
ARC Linkage Project LP140100393. Administering Organisation: The University of Western Australia (UWA). Investigators McDonald, Prof Josephine; Prof Peter Veth; Prof Alistair Paterson; Asst Prof Jamie Hampson; Dr Katie Glaskin; Asst Prof Thomas Whitley; A/Prof Paul Bourke; Dr Kenneth Mulvaney. ($900,000)

Shipwrecks of the Roaring Forties: A Maritime Archaeological Reassessment of some of Australia's Earliest Shipwrecks
ARC Linkage Project LP130100137. Lead Investigator Professor Alistair Paterson, with Dr Wendy Van Duivenvoorde, Dr Jeremy Green, Winthrop Professor Roger Watling, Dr Elisabeth Smits, Associate Professor Daniel Franklin, Winthrop Professor David Lumley, Associate Professor Jeffrey Shragge, Associate Professor Paul Bourke, Mr Andrew Woods, Mr Martijn Manders, Mr Michael Nash, Mr Ed Punchard, Miss Mara De Groot, Mr J Hill, Dr Jennifer McKinnon (ARC $489,368.00; other partners including Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Curtin University, Flinders University, British Museum, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Australia, Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, National Archives of the Netherlands, Prospero Productions, The Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service, Western Australian Museum ($1,423,000: 2013-2016)

* Councillor of the National Trust (Western Australia)
* Head of School of Social Sciences
* Discipline Chair, Archaeology

I collaborate with various heritage stakeholders including communities, government, and industry. Recent collaborations have been with Ngarluma Aboriginal people, Murujuga Rangers, Mineng Noongar community, WA Museum, State Library, Art Gallery WA, British Museum, BHP Billiton Iron Ore, and Rio Tinto.

I am currently on a research intensive fellowship, and as such am not teaching.Typically I teach:
* First year archaeology
* Archaeology Field Methods
* Archaeological Laboratory Methods
* Archaeology of Colonisation and Contact
* Historical Archaeology
* Making History

I supervise PhD and MA candidates, as well as honours students. I have several projects suitable for postgraduate research and am happy to discuss them with interested researchers.

The focus of my research is the historical archaeology of colonial coastal contact and settlement in Australia’s Northwest and the Indian Ocean.

Keywords: Western Australia and Indian Ocean history, Aboriginal Australia, historical archaeology, Dutch VOC shipwrecks,
Colonialism and exploration, rock art, history of collecting in Western Australia

Danish
English