Welcome to our new Newsletter! At the prompting of our Advisory Board we have invigorated and re-envisaged a Newsletter for the Centre - to let people know more about all the activities which are going on. While this will be an electronic format, arriving by email to our subscribers, we will also produce a paper copy of the CRAR+M Chronicle for those who prefer not to use the internet. In the interest of saving the Planet, this will be by exception rather than the rule! As this is the first Newsletter in a few years, there is a lot to catchup on! We have had a number of recent staff changes. We're very sorry to see Leslie Zubieta finish her two year fellowship here with us - she's been working on the Port Hedland Heritage Conservation Plan among other things; Martin Porr and Jamie Hampson have left us temporarily to take up their prestigious Humboldt and Marie Curie Fellowships (at Tubingen and Stanford/York respectively) and Alistair Paterson is away on sabbatical at Oxford for the next year. We have just appointed a new full time Lab manager position - Welcome Jillian Bateaux! (Farewell and thanks to Sean Winter who has filled various roles in the Department). Two other new positions have been filled on the Murujuga: Dynamics of the Dreaming ARC Linkage Project (welcome back Joe Dortch and Sarah de Koning!) - and Lucia Clayton Martinez has also joined us on contract as a Research Assistant (see below). We've had a busy field season this year in the Pilbara with the annual rock art field school and excavations in Murujuga rock shelter. Two successful Kimberley fieldwork trips and a long season on Barrow Island have also just been completed, all with the participation of host Aboriginal communities. We have just started - and are looking forward to working closely with the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation's Elders and Rangers on Murujuga Linkage Project over the next 3 years. We are all very sorry to hear of the passing of Senior Ranger, Ngarluma man Geoffrey Togo. Geoffrey has been a good friend and a mentor to our many students over the past few years - being responsible for cultural safety and welcome to country on Murujuga. He will be missed. We have just had a delightful visit from colleagues at CNRS in France - Carole Fritz and Gilles Tosello - who presented on their work in Chauvet Cave, including details of the new replica's construction. Magnifique!
Anyhow- Enjoy! We look forward to your feedback on this newest CRAR+M venture!
Jo