Date/Time: Friday 20 March at 2pm
Where: James Theatre, 6 Brown St, Dungog
Cost: $10 Cash/CC at the door
ILLUMINATING WOMEN SPEAKER SERIES #5.
Painting the Past: Exploring Kimberley Rock Art with Dr. June Ross.
About the size of Spain, the Kimberley is a likely beachhead for the arrival of the First Australians. Archaeological research undertaken at hundreds of magnificent rock art sites across the Kimberley provides evidence from which to address questions about the ways in which these early arrivals met the challenges of this unknown continent. A multidisciplinary research team drawn from four universities and led by Dr June Ross and the late Professor Mike Morwood, in partnership with the Wunambal Gaambera Traditional Owners spent more than a decade exploring this vast region. The team has unravelled answers to some of the most significant questions and identified fresh challenges for future research.
Biography
Over the past two decades, University of New England Adjunct Professor, Dr June Ross has worked as Chief Investigator on three major Australian Research Council (ARC) collaborative archaeological research projects across Australia with colleagues from the National Museum (NMA) and a number of Australian universities. In particular, her Kimberley research debunked previous claims of a ‘non-Aboriginal mystery race’ said to be the creators of the famous Gwion rock art figures. Her work in central Australia on contact rock art provided an Aboriginal perspective on 19th century interactions between Aboriginal people, explorers, missionaries, miners and pastoralists. Her most recent research in Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands) looked at the role rock art played in the Tjukurpa (Dreaming) by recording sites along the Seven Sisters Songline, results of which formed part of the Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters exhibition (NMA), which was subsequently shown in London, Paris and Oslo.
June served on the Kimberley Foundation Scientific Advisory Board for six years and was a founding Board Member of the University of Western Australia’s, Centre for Rock Art Studies and Management. She has published widely on rock art in national and international journals. She has supervised a cohort of Masters and PhD students at the University of New England designing and teaching one of the few rock art units available in Australia.
Her earlier career as an art educator included the development of education material for the Venice Biennale and other travelling Aboriginal art exhibitions. She has continued her interest in art with roles on a number of boards at State, Regional or local levels including Chairman of the New England Regional Art Museum, as a board member on the UNE Museum of Antiquities, Arts Northwest for Regional Arts NSW, and the Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Keeping Place in Armidale.
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