Heather Burke | |
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| Born | 1966 (age 58–59) |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of New England |
| Thesis | Investments of Meaning: An Archaeology of Style, Social Identity, Capitalism and Ideology in a Nineteenth Century Australian Town |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Flinders University |
Heather Burke FAHA (born 1966) is an Australian historical archaeologist and a professor in the College of Humanities,Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University. [1]
Burke attended Mount Cotton State School and Marymount College (Gold Coast,Queensland). Burke obtained a bachelor's degree in archaeology from the University of New England in 1987,and a PhD from the same university in 1997. Her doctoral thesis investigated the expression of ideology through architectural style in the city of Armidale,New South Wales,during the period 1830–1930. It was published in 1999 as Meaning and Ideology in Historical Archaeology. [2]
Heather Burke was born at the Mater Hospital,Brisbane,to Roma Burke (née Dean),formally Askew,and Peter Burke in 1966. She is the youngest of four children;Terry,Lyndell and Robyn.
In a 2022 interview with Emily Kessel,Burke emphasised how she 'looks forward' to one of her family's traditions,watching Sharknado every Christmas in North Queensland. [3]
In her earlier life,Burke found an interest in the area of archaeology and pursued it as a PhD.
After completing her PhD,Burke worked in consulting archaeology,having previously taught briefly at the University of New England. She was subsequently employed within the archaeology program at Flinders University,where she is currently a professor.
From 2011 to 2015,she was the co-editor of the journal Australian Archaeology . [4]
Burke has called for improving graduate programs in archaeology to better prepare students for positions outside of academic research. [5] Together with Claire Smith,in 2004 she published the first edition of The Archaeologist's Field Handbook, a standard manual for teaching archaeological field methods,which was revised and expanded for a second edition in 2017 (the latter published with Michael Morrison). [6] Burke and Claire Smith were recipients of the 2004 Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching (Team Award). [7]
As an archaeologist,Burke spends her time in laboratory-based classes,lecture-based classes,helping students design research projects,or spending long periods of time in various parts of Australia. Burke spends a significant portion in the field,searching for and recording artefacts and sites,excavating sites,and recording contemporary oral histories about why places are important to people today. [8]
Burke starred in the 2022 SBS documentary,"The Australian Wars",to present her knowledge on the frontier wars in early Australian history. [9]
Burke's current research focuses primarily on processes of contact and colonialism on the Australian frontier. She is a chief investigator of the ARC-funded project "Archaeology of the Native Mounted Police",which is investigating the experience of life in the Queensland NMP,Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal memories of the NMP,and the institution's history and development. [10] She is also part of the team (which includes the Western Cape Communities Central Sub-Regional Trust (Weipa) and the Queensland Museum) studying Indigenous foodways in the Cape York Peninsula,Far North Queensland. [11] [12]
She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2021. [13]
Burke is involved as an investigator in multiple active grants,recorded by The Australian Research Council (ARC). [14] The project "Slow" Digitisation,Community Heritage and the Objects of Martindale Hall' commenced on 1 October 2020 and is anticipated to end 30 September 2023. [15] By utilising knowledge on Martindale Hall,SA,and the historically significant objects it contains,the investigation will focus on how community history,heritage,and cultural collections can be better preserved and made accessible through slow digitisation techniques. A concurrent project,'Fugitive Traces:Reconstructing Yulluna Experiences of the Frontier (2021-2024), [16] is a collaboration of Indigenous peoples,archaeologists,historians,anthropologists,museum curators and educators to create the first sustained history of a hitherto elusive Aboriginal experience of the frontier. It uses oral histories of a prominent Aboriginal family whose history is involved with the Queensland Native Mounted Police. A third project,'Aboriginal Rock Art and Cultural Heritage Management in Cape York Peninsula' (2020-2025) [17] documents generations of Aboriginal Australians from their original settlement,through major environmental changes,to European invasion through the analysis of rock art in the Laura Sandstone Basin of Cape York Peninsula.
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