Role in the Project
As one of the Chief Investigators in the project Lynley’s principal role involves managing and leading the project. She has responsibility for planning and coordinating archaeological fieldwork in the northwest Queensland study area, directing archaeological excavations, helping train Aboriginal field officers in archaeological techniques, carrying out oral history interviews, archival research, directing post-excavation analysis of materials, and preparing papers about the project outcomes.
Why She’s Excited About the Project
When Lynley first began working in northwest Queensland 15 years ago with members of the Woolgar Valley Aboriginal Corporation, she was told about a series of massacres that happened after a Sub-Inspector of the Native Mounted Police was killed by Aboriginal people. All of the people Lynley met and worked with were descended from a single survivor of that massacre. She was astounded at the impact of this single event on the lives of so many people yet confounded that so few people seemed to know about this history.
Her Background
Lynley has worked in Indigenous archaeology for the past 20 years, having undertaken archaeological research with Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley, southwest, Pilbara, goldfields and Great Victorian Desert regions of Western Australia, the Edward Pellew and Wellesley Groups of islands in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and most extensively in arid inland northwest Queensland. This work has typically been community driven, with Aboriginal parties being collaborators on the projects, and oriented towards research goals and outcomes determined to be important by the Aboriginal partners. Lynley has also worked on a variety of historical archaeology and palaeoenvironmental projects.
Qualifications
- BSc Hons (Archaeology) University of Western Australia (1994)
- PhD (Archaeology) The Australian National University (2001)
Memberships
- Australian Archaeological Association
- Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists Inc.
- Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Theses
- Wallis, L.A. 2001 Phytoliths, Late Quaternary Environment and Archaeology in Tropical Semi-arid Northwest Australia. Unpublished PhD thesis, Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra.
- Wallis, L.A. 1994 A Residue Analysis of Artefacts from Widgingarri Shelter 2, Western Kimberley, Western Australia. Unpublished BSc(Hons) thesis, Centre for Archaeology, The University of Western Australia, Crawley.
Select Publications
- Lowe, K.M., S.M. Mentzer, L.A. Wallis and J. Shulmeister 2016 A multi-proxy study of anthropogenic sedimentation and human occupation of Gledswood Shelter 1: exploring an interior sandstone rockshelter in northern Australia. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.
- Wallis, L.A. and J. Matthews 2016 Built structures in rockshelters of the Pilbara, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum.
- Lowe, K.M., J. Shulmeister, J.M. Feinberg, T. Manne, L.A. Wallis and K. Welsh 2016 Using soil magnetic properties to determine the onset of Pleistocene human settlement at Gledswood Shelter 1, northern Australia. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 31(3):211–228.
- Gorman, A.C. and L.A. Wallis 2015 Disposable: The Stories Behind Everyday Objects. Brighton: Wallis Heritage Consulting.
- Matthews, J. and L.A. Wallis 2015 Broadcasting, listening and the mysteries of public engagement: an investigation of the AAA online audience. Australian Archaeology 81:1–11.
- Moss, P., L. Mackenzie, S. Ulm, C. Sloss, D. Rosendahl, L. Petherick, L. Steinberger, L.A. Wallis, H. Heijnis, F. Petchey and G. Jacobsen 2015 Environmental context for late Holocene human occupation of the south Wellesley Archipelago, Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Australia. Quaternary International 385:136–144.
- Clarkson, C., M. Smith, B. Marwick, R. Fullagar, L.A. Wallis, P. Faulkner, T. Manne, Z. Jacobs, E. Hayes, X. Carah, K. Lowe, R.G. Roberts, J. Matthews and S.A. Florin 2015 The archaeology, chronology and stratigraphy of Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II): a site in northern Australia with early occupation. Journal of Human Evolution 83:46–64.
- Rosendahl, D., K.M. Lowe, L.A. Wallis and S. Ulm 2014 Integrating geoarchaeology and magnetic susceptibility at three shell mounds: a pilot study from Mornington Island, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science 49:21–32.
- Rosendahl, D., S. Ulm, H. Tomkins and L.A. Wallis 2014 Late Holocene changes in shellfishing behaviours from the Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 9(2):253–267.
- Lowe, K.M., L.A Wallis, C. Pardoe, B. Marwick, C. Clarkson, T. Manne, M. Smith and R. Fullagar 2014 Ground-penetrating radar and burial practices in western Arnhem Land, Australia. Archaeology in Oceania 48(3):148–157
- Fullagar, R.L.K. and L.A. Wallis 2014 Use-wear and phytoliths on bedrock grinding patches in north-western Australia. The Artefact 35:75–87.
- Wallis, L.A. and S.J. Collins 2013 Just passing through: archaeological investigations of a late Holocene open site in the Mitchell Grass Downs, inland northwest Queensland. Queensland Archaeological Research 16:45–54.
- St George, C., L.A. Wallis, B. Keys C. Wilson, S. Fallon, M. Sumner, S. Hemming and the Ngarrindjeri Heritage Committee 2013 Radiocarbon dates for shell midden sites at Long Point in the Coorong, South Australia. Australian Archaeology 77:141–147.
- Wallis, L.A. 2013 A comparative study of phytolith assemblages in modern sediments from the Kimberley, Western Australia. Quaternary Australasia 30(2):6–20.
- Connelly, P. and L.A. Wallis 2013 Kar-kar: Mitakoodi Traditional Medicinal Plant Uses of the Cloncurry Region. Mount Isa: Southern Gulf Catchments Ltd.
- Wallis, L.A., A. Gorman and H. Burke 2013 The opportunities and challenges of graduate level teaching in cultural heritage management. Australian Archaeology 76:52–61.
- Pitman, H.T. and L.A. Wallis 2012 The point of spinifex: a review of Aboriginal uses of spinifex grasses in Australia. Ethnobotanical Research and Applications 10:109–131.
- Litster, M. and L.A. Wallis 2011 Looking for the proverbial needle? The archaeology of Australian colonial frontier massacres. Archaeology in Oceania 46:105–117.
- Wade, V., L.A. Wallis and Woolgar Valley Aboriginal Corporation 2011 Style, space and social interaction: an archaeological investigation of rock art sites in inland northwest Queensland. Australian Archaeology 72:23–34.
Select Unpublished Reports
- Wallis, L.A., J. Huntley, A. Watchman and J. Ralph 2015 Painting the Pilbara: An Overview of the Painted Rock Art of the Hamersley Plateau. Unpublished report prepared for the Banjima Native Title Holders in relation to Project A693_01 for BHP Billiton Iron Ore.
- Wallis, L.A. and J. Matthews 2015 Archaeological Excavations of Two Rockshelters (PIL_5968 and PIL_6001), Packsaddle Range, Pilbara. Unpublished report prepared for BHP Billiton Iron Ore.
- Wallis, L.A. 2015 Findings from the Archaeological Investigation of Two Walled Rockshelters, Packsaddle Range, Pilbara. Unpublished report prepared for BHP Billiton Iron Ore.
- Wallis, L.A. 2014 Wilpinjong Coal Mine Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management Plan. Unpublished management plan prepared for Wilpinjong Coal Pty Ltd.
- Wallis, L.A. 2013 Provision of Expert Advice for the Rewan 1 Work Area, Arcadia Valley, Central Queensland. Unpublished report prepared for the Karingbal Endorsed Parties and Santos Ltd
- Lowe, K.M. and L.A. Wallis 2013 Ground Penetrating Radar Survey of Possible Aboriginal Burial Sites in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Unpublished report prepared for Nipapanha Community Inc.