Heather Burke
Dr Heather Burke is an Australian historical archaeologist and a Professor in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University.[1]
Burke obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in archaeology from the University of New England in 1987, and a PhD from the same university in 1997. Her doctoral thesis investigated the expression of ideology through architectural style in the city of Armidale, New South Wales, during the period 1830–1930. It was published in 1999 as Meaning and Ideology in Historical Archaeology.[2]
After completing her PhD, Burke worked in consulting archaeology, having previously taught briefly at the University of New England. She was subsequently employed within the archaeology program at Flinders University, where she is currently a professor.
From 2011 to 2015, she was the co-editor of the journal Australian Archaeology.[3]
Burke has called for improving graduate programs in archaeology to better prepare students for positions outside of academic research.[4] Together with Claire Smith, in 2004 she published the first edition of The Archaeologist’s Field Handbook, a standard manual for teaching archaeological field methods, which was revised and expanded for a second edition in 2017 (the latter published with Dr Michael Morrison).[5]
Burke’s current research focuses primarily on processes of contact and colonialism on the Australian frontier. She is a chief investigator of the ARC-funded project “Archaeology of the Native Mounted Police”, which is investigating the experience of life in the Queensland NMP, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal memories of the NMP, and the institution’s history and development.[6] She is also part of the team (which includes the Western Cape Communities Central Sub-Regional Trust (Weipa) and the Queensland Museum) studying Indigenous foodways in the Cape York Peninsula, far north Queensland.[7][8]
