Traditional owners and uni students work together to unearth history

Deep within Ityamaiitpinna Yarta Glenthorne National Park, in Adelaide's southern suburbs, tools tinker against the earth beneath silver-striped gumtrees.Eleven traditional owners from across Australia work alongside a group of Flinders University archaeology students to unearth history.There is no shortage of colonial history at the park, which was formerly Glenthorne Farm — a warhorse training ground, a colonial house, and research station.In the few days the traditional owners and students have been on site, they have found colonial era bottles, a medicine bottle, part of a glass pane and a window frame.The traditional owners and students are at the site as part of a new five-day course designed by the Australian Resources Sector, Flinders University and traditional owner groups.The federal government-funded program teaches students and traditional owners the theoretical and practical skills involved in excavation, archaeological surveying and ground-imaging.Ashley Wedding-Corbett says he hopes to use his experience to do field work on Country. (ABC News: Stephen Opie)Western Australian traditional owner Aunty Lorna Corbett, a member of the Palyku-Jartayi Aboriginal Corporation, said she valued being able to participate in something she believed "should have happened many years ago"."I think it's very important to have Aboriginal people right across Australia to be called upon in the initial stages of anything to do with Country," she said."Creating this workshop, allows us to go out there … and be involved in what decisions they make on Country."Palyku and Noongar man Ashley Wedding-Corbett, who is also a Palyku-Jartayi member, said he hoped to use his experience to do field work on Country."It'd be awesome to do that where I live … to try and get into that kind of environment and be out there actually doing it," he said. Course a two-way learning experienceWhile the program does not give participating traditional owners formal qualifications in archaeology, they do receive a certificate equivalent to one graduate level topic in archaeology.Ian Moffat says traditional owners have been "doing as much teaching" as they have done learning. (ABC News: Stephen Opie)Professor of Archaeological Science at Flinders University Ian Moffat said the training added to the traditional owners' cultural knowledge."Sadly, archaeology in Australia has done a terrible job at bringing First Nations people to universities and providing practical training," he said."Our traditional owner partners are the people that are on Country, managing heritage."Mr Moffatt said the traditional owners "have been doing as much teaching … as they have doing learning", by sharing their cultural knowledge with the students."We really appreciate them coming, sharing their cultural knowledge, sharing their perspectives and the best way to manage heritage in Australia," he said.Aunty Lorna said she had enjoyed sharing her cultural knowledge with the Flinders students."It's just like a two-way learning … whether it's here in the classroom or in the field," she said.Hopes the course will continueThe university has secured funding to run the program over the next five years.Traditional owners hope the program will become a mainstay, saying it is a crucial step to help preserve and pass down cultural knowledge to the next generation."It's very important for our culture to keep those histories," Ms Corbett said."That's why oral history is very important."We are here today because of our ancestors."