Guest Lecturer Dr June Ross
Adjunct Professor University of New England Armidale Anaiwan Country NSW AUSTRALIA
Following an earlier career in art, June has worked as an archaeologist and rock art specialist in the Kimberley for more than three decades. She has explored the rugged gorge systems on hiking trips and by helicopter, and has enjoyed time camped on remote parts of the Kimberley coast.
After completing a PhD at the University of New England focusing on the rock art of the central Australian arid zone, she coordinated and taught one of the few specialised rock art units offered at Australian universities. She continues to supervise post-graduate students, advise on rock art conservation and management, work with Indigenous communities and undertake research projects as an Adjunct Professor at UNE. She has worked as Chief Investigator on three Australian Research Council collaborative archaeological projects across Australia. The Kimberley ARC project she led was undertaken in collaboration with the Wanambul Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation. Research included the documentation of hundreds of rock art sites, the excavation of eight locations and the completion of a scientific rock art dating program. The important results of this research have been widely disseminated in academic publications, films, radio interviews and magazines. She served on the Kimberley Foundation Scientific Advisory Board and as an Adjunct at the University of Western Australia where she was a founding member of the Rock Art Research + Management board.