Dr Michael Morrison

Biography

Associate Professor Morrison is an archaeologist with a career-long interest in the heritage and histories of Aboriginal communities in northern Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Queensland. This research investigates two key themes: (1)  occupation histories, foodways and lifeways during the Holocene, and; (2) cross-cultural entanglements, political economies and negotiation of new structures of power during the early colonial period (1865-1939). He is an advocate for a community-engaged approach to research; that is, research projects designed to address questions and priorities identified by community and industry partners, and to generate distinctive outputs for partners, adopting culturally appropriate methods, approaches and philosophies.

Dr Morrison also has considerable experience in the Australian cultural heritage sector, providing advice, training and support to Aboriginal custodians and other stakeholders in the management of homelands and cultural heritage places and values. This includes work supporting Aboriginal land and sea management initiatives and on telecommunications, energy, mineral exploration, mining, roads and water infrastructure projects. He has published and taught on cultural heritage and continues to do so from Anaiwan country on the northern New England Tablelands, NSW.

Dr Morrison has over a decade of experience teaching archaeology students at all levels (undergraduate to PhD), having developed and delivered units in environmental archaeology, coastal archaeology, archaeological method and theory, cultural heritage, and digital humanities. He is a co-author of the Archaeologist’s Field Handbook (Allen and Unwin, 2017), a text used in many University archaeology field methods courses internationally.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy, Archaeology, Flinders University (Adelaide) 2010
• Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours), Archaeology, James Cook University (Townsville) 2000

Teaching Areas

ARPA320/520 Professional Archaeology and Heritage Management

HINQ302 Researching the Past in the Digital Age

HINQ301 Indigenous Heritage

Primary Research Area/s

Research Supervision Experience

I have supervised some 25 completed student research projects, encompassing Masters, Honours and PhD research projects. These studies mostly comprised investigation of research questions emerging from my own research. I am open to supervising new research students at all levels where proposed projects align with my current or prior research interests, regardless of discipline. This includes students in archaeology, history, anthropology, GIS, earth sciences, palaeontology, Indigenous studies and other related disciplines. It is recommended you contact me with a brief (<100 word) synopsis of your research interest and the problem you seek to address before developing a more fully-fledged proposal.

Memberships

Member, Australian Archaeological Association.

Member, Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

Member, New Zealand Archaeological Association.

Member, Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology

Consultancy Interests

Community based land occupancy and cultural mapping

Strategic research

External Profiles

• Google Scholar Profile
• ResearchGate Profile
• ORCid Profile
• LinkedIn Profile