Sandra Bowdler

Sandra Bowdler
Born	1946
Citizenship	Australia
Education	University of Sydney National University of Australia
Employer	University of Western Australia
Known for	Emeritus Professor of Archaeology

Sandra Bowdler (born 1946) is an Australian archaeologist, emeritus professor of archaeology and former head of the Archaeology Department at the University of Western Australia.^[1]

Education

Bowdler completed an Honours degree in archaeology at the University of Sydney in 1971 and received her PhD from the Australian National University in 1979.^[2] Bowdler's PhD thesis was on the Aboriginal archaeology of Hunter Island in the Bass Strait near Tasmania, which was later published in 1984.^[3]

Career

Bowdler was appointed Professor of Archaeology at the University of Western Australia in 1983, where her research covered Australian Indigenous archaeology, and in particular Shark Bay, Tasmania^[4] and coastal New South Wales, known as part of New England, as well as the pre-neolithic archaeology of East and Southeast Asia.^[5]

She was at various times a tutor of prehistory at the University of Papua New Guinea, a research scholar with the Department of Prehistory Research, School of Pacific Studies at the Australian National University, lecturer in archaeology at the University of New England, Aboriginal sites consultant for the Forestry Commission of New South Wales and in private practice in Sydney, and professor of archaeology at the University of Western Australia.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007 she instigated the Festival Baroque Australia, a Western Australian Baroque music festival,^[6] curating festivals and concerts in Perth.^[7]

From 2008, Bowdler was an emeritus professor and senior honorary research fellow of archaeology, and an honorary senior research fellow in the School of Music, at UWA.^[8]

Throughout her career Bowdler has held several positions on committees and boards including the president of the Australian Archaeology Association (1980-1981), member on the ICOMOS Executive Committee for Australasia (1982 - 1984), member of the Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee (1983-1992), member of the management group of the International Committee of Archaeological Heritage Management (1984-1989), on the Board of Trustees of the Western Australian Museum (1984-1989), and on the National Cultural Heritage Committee (1988-1992).^[1]

Publications

As a member of the Australian Museum in 1964, she documented the Aboriginal burial site in the Balls Head rock shelter,^[9][10] and has written extensively on the Aboriginal ceremonial Bora rings.^[11]

In 2008, a special volume of the journal Australian Archaeology was published in Bowdler's honour. Edited by Jane Balme and Sue O'Connor, the special volume was titled More Unconsidered Trifles: Papers to Celebrate the Career of Sandra Bowdler and featured contributions from many of Bowdler's students.^[12]

From 2015 to 2019, Bowdler was editor of the journal Australian Archaeology.^[13]

Bowdler has researched and published extensively on the archaeology of music and ritual, Australian Aboriginal archaeology, coastal archaeology, early Asian archaeology, gender and society in archaeology, shell midden studies, and Tasmanian Aborigines in the pre-Colonial and Colonial periods.^[14]

References

1. "Bowdler, Sandra (1946– )". Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
2. Bowdler, Sandra; Clune, Genevieve (2000). "That shadowy band: The role of women in the development of Australian archaeology". Australian Archaeology. 50: 27–35. doi:10.1080/03122417.2000.11681663.
3. Bowdler, Sandra (1984). Hunter Hill, Hunter Island: archaeological investigations of a prehistoric Tasmanian site. Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.
4. Pardoe, Colin; Bowdler, Sandra; Brace, C. Loring; Plomley, N. J. B.; Turner, Christy G.; Wolfpoff, Milford H. (February 1991). "Isolation and Evolution in Tasmania [and Comments and Reply]". Current Anthropology. 32 (1): 1–21. doi:10.1086/203909.
5. Bowdler, Sandra (1981). "Hunters in the Highlands: Aboriginal Adaptations in the Eastern Australian Uplands". Archaeology in Oceania. 16 (2): 99–111. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4453.1981.tb00014.x. ISSN 1834-4453.
6. "Articles by Sandra Bowdler | Bachtrack". bachtrack.com. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
7. Festival Baroque Australia: Festival Baroque Australia 2009, Festival Baroque, 2009, retrieved 7 October 2023
8. University of Western Australia Staff Profiles
9. Bowdler, Sandra. "Balls Head: the excavation of a Port Jackson rock shelter. Records of the Australian Museum 28(7): 117–128, plates 17–21. [4 October 1971]" (PDF). AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS. Australian Museum. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
10. "Hidden Sydney harbourside gem reveals rich Indigenous history". ABC News. 1 November 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
11. Bowdler, Sandra, 1999, A study of Indigenous ceremonial ("Bora") sites in eastern Australia, Centre for Archaeology, University of Western Australia, paper delivered at "Heritage Landscapes: Understanding Place &Communities" conference, Southern Cross University, Lismore, November 1999 Archived 14 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
12. Balme, Jane; O'Connor, Sue (2008). "More Unconsidered Trifles: Papers to Celebrate the Career of Sandra Bowdler". Australian Archaeology. 67. JSTOR i40011561.
13. "Editorial Advisory Board & Editorial Committee | Australian Archaeological Association | AAA". australianarchaeologicalassociation.com.au. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
14. "Sandra Bowdler". the UWA Profiles and Research Repository. Retrieved 7 October 2023.