Publications
Mapping Hidden Heritage: Self-supervised Pre-training for Archaeological Stone Wall Mapping in Historic Landscapes Using High-Resolution DEM Derivatives
A groundbreaking approach using self-supervised deep learning has achieved high accuracy in mapping dry-stone walls within the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The method, DINO-CV, leverages cross-view pre-training on high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) derived from airborne LiDAR data, effectively addressing challenges like vegetation occlusion and limited labeled training data. Achieving a mean Intersection over Union (mIoU) of 68.6% in test areas and maintaining 63.8% mIoU with just 10% labeled data, this framework demonstrates potential for large-scale, automated mapping of cultural heritage features. The approach not only advances archaeological documentation but also offers scalable solutions for environmental monitoring and heritage preservation in complex landscapes.
Indigenous Water Engineering and Aquaculture Systems in Australia: The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape and Baiame’s Ngunnhu (the Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps)
Australia's First Peoples have demonstrated millennia of sustainable water management through sophisticated engineering, including fish and eel trapping structures and weir systems. The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in Victoria and Baiame’s Ngunnhu (Brewarrina Aboriginal fish traps) in New South Wales stand as some of the largest continuing sites of such practices globally. Recent scholarship and heritage listings, including Budj Bim's World Heritage status, highlight these systems' cultural significance and their potential to inform modern water governance. These ancient techniques, maintained through social and environmental stewardship, offer insights into sustainable innovation for addressing contemporary challenges in water management, Indigenous rights, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Aquaculture
Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, located in southeastern Australia, represents one of the world's most extensive and ancient aquaculture systems. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is centered around a lava flow from volcanic eruptions that occurred over 30,000 years ago. Over four decades, the Gunditjmara people have collaborated with archaeologists to document and map intricate kooyang trapping and aquaculture facilities, revealing a sophisticated interplay of cultural and environmental systems. The landscape's significance lies in its dual role as both an archaeological treasure and a living testament to the Gunditjmara's enduring connection to their land, with recent efforts seeing the return or acquisition of key lands by the Gunditjmara community.
Caring for Waterscapes in the Anthropocene: Heritage-making at Budj Bim, Victoria, Australia
A sophisticated ancient Aboriginal aquaculture system, practiced by the Gunditjmara people of western Victoria for thousands of years, was one of the world's oldest and most extensive. This system involved swamp engineering and eel farming in the volcanic landscapes of Budj Bim but was disrupted within 150 years of European colonization due to violence, dispossession, and hydrological changes. Recent collaborative efforts have enabled the Gunditjmara to restore the Budj Bim wetlands and revive their cultural practices, demonstrating resilience in adapting to historical and environmental changes. The study uses critical theory and concepts related to waterscapes and hydro-social relations to interpret these efforts, highlighting the community's capacity to negotiate change and care for both past and future heritage.
An ‘authentic’ Aboriginal product: State marketing and the self‐fashioning of Indigenous experiences to Chinese tourists
A key insight from this study is that the marketing of Indigenous tourism experiences, particularly those tailored for Chinese tourists, is often constrained by arbitrary government policies and notions of 'authenticity,' rather than being guided by local Indigenous aspirations. The research reviews Victorian state policies on Indigenous tourism and examines a case study involving the Gunditjmara people's tourism initiatives at the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape. It reveals that while Chinese tourists generally show little interest in Indigenous experiences, state governments persist in promoting such products under the assumption they align with Chinese preferences. This approach not only overlooks local Indigenous entrepreneurship but also perpetuates a rigid framework that limits meaningful economic engagement for Indigenous communities.
The Field Guide to the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape app: A Partnership Between the Gunditjmara Community and Museums Victoria
A groundbreaking collaboration between Museums Victoria and the Gunditjmara community resulted in the creation of the Field Guide to the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape app, the first of its kind to integrate traditional knowledge with scientific biodiversity data. The app features over 250 species from the Budj Bim Cultural Heritage Landscape, including 854 previously unrecorded species discovered during a 2011 Bush Blitz survey, with traditional names, uses, and stories for two-thirds of them. This innovative project combines Gunditjmara expertise with scientific findings, offering educational value to local communities, researchers, and visitors while serving as a model for similar initiatives globally.
Kurtonitj stone house: Excavation of a mid‐nineteenth century Aboriginal frontier site from Gunditjmara country, south‐west Victoria
A groundbreaking excavation at the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in south-west Victoria reveals new insights into Aboriginal stone house construction and occupation during the mid-19th century. The study, published in Archaeology in Oceania, documents the first detailed excavation of such a site, uncovering a cache of 34 iron nails dating to approximately 1840–1870, which suggests occupation during periods of violent and negotiated resistance against European pastoral expansion. Taphonomic analysis indicates that stone artefacts predate contact objects, hinting at earlier use or construction. The findings challenge assumptions about the timeline of stone house development and offer clues about their integration with eel trapping facilities over 6600 years.
You are here:
World Heritage Explorer > World Heritage Research > World Heritage Sites > Budj Bim Cultural Landscape