Books by sarah martin
The purpose of the Mutawintji National Park Research
Project was to provide comprehensive inform... more The purpose of the Mutawintji National Park Research
Project was to provide comprehensive information to
assist the Office of the Registrar, ALRA to identify and,
with their consent, place the names of the Aboriginal
owners of Mutawintji National Park on the Register of
Aboriginal Owners.
This report is drawn from the reports of the research
project team: the focus is Aboriginal family history,
cultural associations with Mutawintji National Park,
and Aboriginal traditions, observances, customs,
beliefs and history in relation to that land.
This 2023 version contains ORALRA minor edits correcting some mistakes in the 2008 publication
Australian Archaeological Consultancy Monograph Series Vol 4, 2011
The Australian Archaeological Consultancy Monograph Series is a peer reviewed report series provi... more The Australian Archaeological Consultancy Monograph Series is a peer reviewed report series providing examples of best practice consultancy reports in archaeology and cultural heritage management. The series provides access to the results of investigations as part of the commitment of the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists Inc. to the continued improvement of the profession. The scope of the series includes the full range of consultancy activity, such as site assessment, regional survey, remote sensing, excavation, management and public education. Projects that display successful liaison and collaborative research initiatives with Indigenous communities and other stakeholders are encouraged. The views expressed in this work are not necessarily those of the Editors or Publisher. Contributors are responsible for gaining appropriate clearances from Indigenous communities and other stakeholders, relevant institutions, agencies and clients before they submit reports for consideration.
Papers by sarah martin
Archaeology in Oceania, 2024
This paper describes a collaboration between Wilyakali Indigenous Custodians and a group of archa... more This paper describes a collaboration between Wilyakali Indigenous Custodians and a group of archaeologists. This collaboration has generated a shared and integrated understanding of the cultural landscape, Ancestral Creation Histories, and archaeology of the Broken Hill region of western New South Wales. The Broken Hill landscape is ancient beyond imagination, and complex geological processes/Creation Histories have resulted in distinctive landscape features and resources including quartz suitable for stone artefact manufacture. Wilyakali stone knappers employed specialised and varied technological processes to overcome the diverse and sometimes intractable nature of the quartz material, resulting in efficient use of this local stone resource. Wilyakali interpret the Country through their knowledge of the travelling sacred Bronzewing Pigeon and its creation of landscape features and resources such as quartz and water. Empirical archaeological data complement traditional knowledge, with the two ways of knowing coming together to reconstruct a nuanced interpretation of the cultural landscape. This shared narrative has had ongoing and inter-generational benefits to the Wilyakali people, with knowledge communicated to younger generations by Elders, enabling them to interpret both the archaeology and Ancestral Creation Histories with confidence. This paper also highlights the inconsistent recognition of Indigenous ways of knowing and connection in Aboriginal cultural heritage assessments in the region.
Two of Australia's iconic river systems, Baaka in New South Wales (NSW) and Martuwarra in Western... more Two of Australia's iconic river systems, Baaka in New South Wales (NSW) and Martuwarra in Western Australia (WA), are described in a narrative that connects Indigenous custodianship, bio-physical features and art, and contrasts settler law with First Law to provide multiple ways of seeing the two river systems. Our narrative is a shared response to: (1) upstream water extractions that have imposed large costs on Baaka and its peoples; and (2) threats of water extractions and developments to Martuwarra. By scribing the voices of the two river systems, we have created a space to reimagine an emerging future that connects the past and present through the concept of 'EveryWhen', where First Law has primacy, and where art connects Indigenous knowledges to non-Indigenous understanding. Through a dialogue process with Indigenous knowledge holders, artists and water researchers, five action processes, or journeys, are identified to guide water decision making towards water justice.
Archaeology in Oceania, 2022
Fish traps and fish weirs built by Indigenous people in the Barwon-Darling River system of the Mu... more Fish traps and fish weirs built by Indigenous people in the Barwon-Darling River system of the Murray Darling Basin (MDB), southeastern Australia, are an important component of their traditional social, spiritual and economic systems. The celebrated Brewarrina stone fish traps (Ngunnhu) on the Barwon River are the largest and best documented stone fish traps in the Basin. However, there has been minimal research on the many other stone fish traps in this system. This paper focusses on the in-stream stone fish traps downstream of Brewarrina along the Darling (Baaka) River, some still partly extant, remembered, or documented in historical material. Wooden and earthen bank fish traps and weirs, while not as enduring and archaeologically visible as stone fish traps, were frequently used on the Darling (Baaka) floodplain lakes, swamps and billabongs. Archaeological evidence, traditional cultural knowledge and historical materials are utilised to document the complex social processes and modification of landscapes associated with fish traps and weirs. By demonstrating that Barkandji were active and successful managers of the river and its ecology prior to colonisation, and that much of this cultural knowledge is retained by current generations, the authors make a case for them to renew their custodianship and a decision-making role in water management.
Marine and Freshwater Research, 2021
In the summer of 2018-19 mass fish kills occurred in the Lower Darling (Baaka) River in southeast... more In the summer of 2018-19 mass fish kills occurred in the Lower Darling (Baaka) River in southeastern Australia. The fish kills received national and international attention and have been the focus of numerous government agency and independent assessments. Although fish kills have previously been recorded in the Lower Darling region, the size and rapid succession of the 2018-19 'Menindee' fish kills made them unprecedented in the Murray-Darling Basin, placing significant pressure on the native fish community. Although the deaths of millions of fish were documented, the significant negative effect that the fish kills had on local communities, particularly the traditional Baakandji people, was largely ignored. The social and cultural aspects of such events can have major non-economic effects on local communities. In this paper we document heartfelt feelings conveyed by local community members. Their sense of loss, despair and helplessness is compounded by frustration regarding water management and policy decision making in the Murray-Darling Basin. However, these tragic events have increased understanding of traditional Baakandji connection to the river and its fish and, together with local recovery efforts, now provide prospects for enhanced community and agency cooperation to improve the health of the lower Darling Baaka River and restore its native fish populations.
Environmental Archaeology The Journal of Human Palaeolecology, 2011
The characteristic mounded cultural deposits on the Murray Riverine Plain, regionally known as 'm... more The characteristic mounded cultural deposits on the Murray Riverine Plain, regionally known as 'mounds', 'earth mounds' or 'oven mounds', are unique archives of palaeoecological information. Excavations of two large mounds on a distributary of the Lower Murrumbidgee River provide tangible evidence of past environments and human exploitation of these environments. The excavation data bridge the nearly 5000-year time gap between the construction of the excavated mounds and the 19th-century ethnohistorical observations linking women to specialised knowledge of wetland management, plant harvesting and preparation, and cooperative cooking in heat retainer ovens on mounds. Macroscopic charcoal, pollen and plant imprints from the mounds suggest that the ethnohistorically observed baking/steaming of carbohydrate-rich wetland plant foods such as Typha, Bolboschoenus and Triglochin in baked clay heat retainer ovens on mounds had its origins during the mid-Holocene. The consistent amounts of wetland faunal bone and shell and the clustered spatial patterning of mounds around specific types of current and former 'reed-beds', swamps and lakes, also provide evidence of a mid to late Holocene focus on wetland environments. This paper aims to encourage new palaeoecological research into these relatively neglected but extremely significant cultural deposits.
Antiquity, 2016
Skeletal remains from a burial in New South Wales exhibit evidence of fatal trauma, of a kind nor... more Skeletal remains from a burial in New South Wales exhibit evidence of fatal trauma, of a kind normally indicative of sharp metal weapons, yet the burial dates to the mid thirteenth century-600 years before European settlers reached the area. Could sharp-edged wooden weapons from traditional Aboriginal culture inflict injuries similar to those resulting from later, metal blades? Analysis indicates that the wooden weapons known as 'Lil-lils' and the fighting boomerangs ('Wonna') both have blades that could fit within the dimensions of the major trauma and are capable of having caused the fatal wounds.
pamphlets & booklets by sarah martin
We took on this project to describe the nature and distribution of the archaeological record at t... more We took on this project to describe the nature and distribution of the archaeological record at the Menindee Lakes to ensure that a detailed mapping and interpretation would be made available for negotiations between the Barkandji people whose heritage this is and government agencies making plans about water. The major aim of this Project was to develop a database of archaeological and sites information in the Menindee Lakes area as an aid to future decision making.
A predictive map was constructed from 6,695 sites or data points. This is a powerful tool for understanding the distribution of the archaeology around the Menindee Lakes – a road map if you will of how people made use of, and travelled around the Lakes over the course of days, seasons, generations and millennia.
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Books by sarah martin
Project was to provide comprehensive information to
assist the Office of the Registrar, ALRA to identify and,
with their consent, place the names of the Aboriginal
owners of Mutawintji National Park on the Register of
Aboriginal Owners.
This report is drawn from the reports of the research
project team: the focus is Aboriginal family history,
cultural associations with Mutawintji National Park,
and Aboriginal traditions, observances, customs,
beliefs and history in relation to that land.
This 2023 version contains ORALRA minor edits correcting some mistakes in the 2008 publication
Papers by sarah martin
pamphlets & booklets by sarah martin
A predictive map was constructed from 6,695 sites or data points. This is a powerful tool for understanding the distribution of the archaeology around the Menindee Lakes – a road map if you will of how people made use of, and travelled around the Lakes over the course of days, seasons, generations and millennia.
Project was to provide comprehensive information to
assist the Office of the Registrar, ALRA to identify and,
with their consent, place the names of the Aboriginal
owners of Mutawintji National Park on the Register of
Aboriginal Owners.
This report is drawn from the reports of the research
project team: the focus is Aboriginal family history,
cultural associations with Mutawintji National Park,
and Aboriginal traditions, observances, customs,
beliefs and history in relation to that land.
This 2023 version contains ORALRA minor edits correcting some mistakes in the 2008 publication
A predictive map was constructed from 6,695 sites or data points. This is a powerful tool for understanding the distribution of the archaeology around the Menindee Lakes – a road map if you will of how people made use of, and travelled around the Lakes over the course of days, seasons, generations and millennia.