50 YEARS OF ASHA
26 November 2020 marks fifty years since the inaugural meeting of ASHA at the University of Sydney. The physical distancing measures associated with COVID-19 have meant that planning for face-to-face celebrations remain on hold. However we have a growing number of online inititives to mark the occassion. Smaller physical events may be held later in the year if conditions allow.
![Australasian society for historical archaeology - fifty years [logo]](/images/conferences/2020_Conference_Logo_Banner.png){kind=logo}
FIFTY SITES, FIFTY STORIES
To celebrate the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology’s 50th year in 2020, we are collecting stories about important historical archaeological sites from the Australasian region. Nominations are open to everyone so if you know of an important terrestrial, maritime or other site, and it meets our criteria, then we would love you to nominate. Read more here.
READING AND VIEWING THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALASIAN HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Later this year, ASHA will release a fiftieth anniversary special edition of Australasian Historical Archaeology. In the meantime, you might wish to check-out these key readings and recorded presenations.
ARCHIVAL MATERIAL
- Australian Socitey for Historical Archaeology Newsletter: Introductory Issue November 1970
- ‘A Proposal to Found a Society for Historical Archaeology’, State Library of NSW Q913.06/4
PREVIOUS SPECIAL ISSUES
- Australasian Historical Archaeology: Volume 27, 2009 – Papers in honour of Graham Connah.
- Australasian Historical Archaeology: Volume 24, 2006 – Papers in honour of Judy Birmingham.
- Australasian Historical Archaeology: Volume 20, 2002 – Twenty years of the ASHA Journal.
VIDEOS
Craig Barker. ‘A life in Archaeology: In Conversation with Judy Birmingham’, interview 27 March 2017 at the Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney. YouTube.
SPECIFIC PAPERS
Bickford, Anne. 1981. ‘The Patina of Nostalgia’. Australian Archaeology, no. 13 (December): 1–7. [external link]
Cremin, Aedeen, and Judy Birmingham. 1990. ‘Honours and Postgraduate Theses in Historical Archaeology 1979- 1991’. Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology 8: 78-81.
Macready, Sarah. 1991. ‘A review of urban historical archaeology in Auckland’. Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology 9: 14-20.
Mulvaney, John. 1996. ‘“Musing amidst the Ruins…”’. Australasian Historical Archaeology 14: 3–8. [An address given at the 25th anniversary of the inaugural ASHA meeting.]
Paterson, Alistair, and Andrew Wilson, ‘Australian Historical Archaeology: Retrospects and Prospects’, Australian Archaeology, no. 50, 2000, pp. 81–89. [external link]
Ritchie, Nevile. 2003. ‘Taking stock: 20 Years of Australasian ‘overseas Chinese archaeology’’. Australasian Historical Archaeology 21: 4-10.
Smith, Ian W.G. 1991. ‘The Development of Historical Archaeology in New Zealand 1921 – 1990’. Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology 9: 6–13.
BOOKS
Campbell, Matthew, Simon Holdaway and Sarah Macready. 2013. Finding our Recent Past: Historical Archaeology in New Zealand, New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph 29, New Zealand Archaeological Association, Auckland. [external link]
Connah, Graham. 1988. Of the hut I builded : the archaeology of Australia’s history, Cambridge University Press. [external link – free to borrow]
Lawrence, Susan, and Peter Davies. 2011. An Archaeology of Australia since 1788, Contributions to Global Historical Archaeology. Springer. [external link]
FURTHER RESOURCES
- ASHA Newsletter archive – every newsletter ever issued, available for free.
- NSW Archaeology Online: Grey Literature archive – 1000s of digitised reports, hosted by the University of Sydney
- Heritage NSW Library – 1000s of digitised reports relating to archaeology and heritage management in NSW
- Heritage Victoria – Archaeology and Shipwrecks in Victoria
- Archsite – the New Zealand Archaeological Association’s Archaeological Site Recording Scheme website.
Above image: Invitation to the Inaugural ASHA Meeting, 26 November 1970 (Judy Birmingham Archive, University of Sydney Archaeological Archives, copy courtesy of Andrew Wilson)