A Short History of the School of Archaeology and Anthropology Celebrating the First 50 Years 1974–2024

This small book marks the first half century of the (now) School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University, charting its contribution and development through various incarnations: a complex story of changing names and administrative structures all too common at Australian universities. Following decisions to start undergraduate teaching at the ANU, the School was established in 1973 when John Mulvaney (already the Professor of Prehistory based in the Department of History) set up what was then called the Department of Prehistory and Anthropology. He was joined the next year by Anthony Forge in the equivalent position of Head of Anthropology, with a power-sharing agreement where the two Professors took turns as the Head of the joint Department. The well-known tensions between Mulvaney and Forge shaped many subsequent developments. Nevertheless, the two main partners in this arranged marriage of convenience between Social Anthropology and Archaeology are still together, although they have always led somewhat separate lives, with Biological Anthropology as a lesser, albeit important, third party and other, often short-lived, additions to the family. In a brief introduction, Nicholas Peterson outlines the background to the establishment of the School and some subsequent developments. Chapter 2 which follows directly on from it is an edited version of a short account of the establishment of the Department written by John Mulvaney in 1992, seen, naturally, from his personal perspective. Chapter 3 by Matthew Spriggs is a chronological view of the development of what became the paramount centre for Australian and Pacific archaeology in Australia. Issues of staffing, teaching and research are set against the constant adjustments to and constraints imposed by ever-changing university policies, structures and fluctuating funding. There is more detail on the two decades or so of his own professorial role (from 1997), but enough on the fundamental work of the two previous incumbents—John Mulvaney (until 1985) and Isabel McBryde (1986–1994)—to make their political, administrative and academic contributions clear. Of particular note are Isabel's initiatives in encouraging Indigenous students and researchers, the similar encouragement of students from PNG and the Asia-Pacific region, and locally, the organisation of the Centre for Archaeological Research, beneficial in drawing together academic and archaeologists from other sectors in and around Canberra. Nicholas Peterson's chapter on Social Anthropology takes a somewhat different approach. Rather than using a chronological framework, he considers a series of different themes, starting with staffing and teaching. Other topics include field schools, development studies, the Masters of Culture Health and Medicine, Indigenous anthropology, the Centre for Centre for Cross-Cultural Research and the Centre for Native Title anthropology. Many of these highlight significant innovations and demonstrate the changing nature of anthropological work, especially in providing expert support for Native Title claims. Chapter 5—Biological Anthropology—by Robert Attenborough is different again. There is less here of the political and financial challenges but a more personal and discursive account of evolving approaches to teaching and research, with an attempt ‘… to conjure up some sense of atmosphere and human interaction’. This makes for more entertaining reading than the other, more formal chapters. Laura–Jane Smith provides a brief note (Chapter 6) on Heritage and Museum Studies, which for some years had its home within the School of Archaeology and Anthropology until it was moved elsewhere in 2019. A short story by Nicholas Peterson, ‘How the Department got its fieldwork budget’, gives an insight into some of the inner workings of the ANU in the early 1970s and the strategies used to persuade the university to provide essential funding for field-based projects by postgraduate students. As Peterson also notes in his Introduction, there are few historical records easily available so that a comprehensive history of staff, students and achievements would be a major undertaking. Even compiling the lists of appointments in each chapter was no easy task. Nor was that of putting together the list of nearly 300 PhD theses completed in the Department over 50 years (about 55% in Social Anthropology, 25% in Archaeology, 16% in Biological Anthropology and 2% in Museum and Heritage Studies). Perhaps inevitably there are some mistakes in this list. It is also a pity that it was not more neatly and uniformly set out, or that some further analysis of trends in research or students background was not attempted. But it still provides a substantial testament to a long-term, active and important culture of research and research-training. This booklet—of immediate interest to those within this Canberra bubble more than those outside—is simply produced and clearly not intended for general distribution. Even so it would have been nice for it to have included a few illustrations, putting faces to at least some of the many people who have been part of this history. It provides an outline which could be a starting point for a more substantial study where the many factors that go toward creating and maintaining a successful academic department might be fully explored, along with more complete descriptions and assessments of the School's many contributions to scholarship and to society.