Paper short abstract:

This paper will discuss PhD research with Jagera Daran (Indigenous) research partners into bark/wooden material culture items from Yagera Country, which are housed in Australian and United Kingdom museum collections and their importance in holistic culturally modified tree significance assessments.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will present research findings of a PhD project conducted in a collaborative partnership with Jagera Daran (Indigenous Traditional Owners) research partners.

In Australia, very little research has been undertaken linking bark/wooden material culture items to culturally modified trees. This paper argues that understanding the form of bark/wooden artefacts, the tree species and the part of the tree that they are created from, is fundamental to understanding the full context of culturally modified trees. Often, significance assessments of culturally modified trees are carried out without a base knowledge of what Indigenous people were utilising the trees for. This results in a poor record of the overall significance of this important Indigenous cultural heritage site which, on the ground, can lead to these sites being destroyed for residential housing, roads and other infrastructure development projects.

Museums in Australia and the United Kingdom which house bark/wooden material culture items removed from Yagera Country in South East Queensland were visited as part of the PhD research. Connecting Indigenous people with their artefacts through research, along with culturally modified tree fieldwork and interviewing Indigenous people to embed their perspectives, can lead to the creation of holistic significance assessments. This can result in the better protection of these unique Indigenous cultural heritage sites.

This paper will also discuss the PhD developing best practice principles such as Traditional Owners being research partners, writing and signing a Shared Benefit Agreement, including Intellectual Property Rights, so that the Traditional Owners can utilise the research for educational purposes.