Centre for Rock-Art Studies

UWA's Centre for Rock-Art Studies brings together researchers with extensive experience and allows them to work in collaborative, partnership-based research projects with Indigenous communities around Australia and abroad.

Of critical importance to their success is a well-developed understanding and awareness of cultural protocols, ethics, and sensitivities in dealing with Indigenous cultural heritage.

In creating a socially acceptable working environment, Centre staff engage in ongoing community consultation and negotiation and are recognised internationally through publication and conference presentations on their approaches to working with Indigenous communities.

Our archaeologists work closely with Indigenous community groups such as Native Title and Indigenous Ranger organisations on training and education initiatives, as well as innovative results reporting methods including 3D site visits and community posters.

School of Indigenous Studies

UWA also has a vibrant School of Indigenous Studies.

Some of the key areas of interest for the School’s staff include:

• promoting the protection and significance of Indigenous cultural heritage (particularly rock-art) from vandalism and development
• working together with Indigenous communities to collect oral histories as a form of cultural continuity
• looking at the different ways Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have seen and experienced Australian history, and how they have been constructed within British-Australian terms, ideas and perceptions.

Noted author and artist, Professor Sally Morgan, is one of Australia’s most recognised Indigenous artists and is highly regarded for her writings on art, heritage, and traditional attachments to country.