Macquarie University Students are constantly engaged with Macquarie University History Museum
Here's what our students have been doing lately:
Environmental Science 1505: Indigenous Science
Renee Cawthorne, Indigenous Fellow in the School of Natural Sciences has helped her students to engage with the Macquarie University History Museum. Posters created by these students are about to be displayed in the Museum gallery.
The posters were created in 2024 by students: Caitlin Fairbrother, Emily Hansen and Imogen Street. These students were required to create a poster on one of the topics covered in the Indigenous Science unit, aimed at fostering a deeper understanding of both Indigenous and Western scientific perspectives, encouraging students to appreciate the richness and diversity of different knowledge systems. Students were required to present a balanced view, highlighting both Indigenous and Western perspectives. This involved researching and synthesising information from a variety of sources, including lecture notes, academic articles, books, and Indigenous knowledge holders.
From the various topics, these students chose to focus on Archaeology. This choice allowed them to explore the fascinating intersection of Indigenous and Western approaches to understanding the past. These posters showcase how Indigenous communities have long histories of land use and cultural practices that are deeply intertwined with the natural environment. They highlight the importance of oral traditions, storytelling, and cultural artefacts in preserving and transmitting knowledges across generations. The posters also present Western archaeological methods, which often involve systematic excavations, scientific dating techniques, and analysis. The students’ work demonstrates how both Indigenous and Western methods have contributed to our understanding of human history and prehistory, providing different, but complementary, perspectives to archaeology.