Advancing the study of ancient societies
The Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies (ACANS) is an internationally recognised leader in the study of coinage in the ancient societies of the Mediterranean, Egypt and the Near East.
As one of the few university-based institutions in the world to offer facilities and financial support for the study of numismatics, ACANS fosters a vibrant, interdisciplinary research network at the forefront of ancient numismatics.
The Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies aims to be a place of learning, transformative experience and deep disciplinary knowledge, maintaining its status as a preeminent research centre within Australasia for ancient world studies.
In accordance with the vision and values of Macquarie University's Our University: A Framing of Futures policy and Research Strategy 2025, ACANS is committed to engendering:
- a culture of transformative learning in a research-enriched environment
- an accelerating and impactful performance in discovery
- an innovation nexus where Macquarie and our partners contribute solutions to the world and develop lasting relationships
- the promotion of Macquarie University’s recognition and international presence.
Research, teaching and learning excellence is fostered at ACANS through the following high-level goals laid out in our Strategic Plan:
- undertake research projects that can be recognized as major contributions to the discipline
- maintain and develop formal national and international collaborations with researchers and research centres
- create new competitive grant and fellowship activities addressed to internal and external sources
- host distinguished international and domestic researchers
- present at, sponsor and host national and domestic conferences and events
- involve Higher Degree Research students and Early Career Researchers in ACANS core research business events
- contribute to outreach programs
- provide lectures and supervision on numismatics in undergraduate and postgraduate units
- undertake research into the collections of ACANS
- host and maintain databases of national and/or international importance.
The Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies was established as a result of the vision and determination of Dr. William (Bill) L. Gale and his wife, Janet. Bill led an extremely successful career until his early retirement in the 1990s, when he enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts at Macquarie University.
Bill had begun collecting coins in the 1980s, focusing on the Greek cities of Southern Italy, the coinage of the Roman Republic, and the issues of the Roman mint under the Emperor Hadrian. By the 1990s, he had formed a clear vision for the future of his collection: to establish with it a centre for the study of ancient coins in Australia. In 1999, he approached Macquarie University with the proposal that a numismatic research centre be established at this institution.
Dr. Gale single-handedly assembled one of the most important numismatics collections – and indeed Mediterranean antiquities collections – in Australia. His devotion to ancient world studies and determination to see the formation of a numismatics research centre was integral in promoting ancient numismatics as a significant field of study for Australian scholars of the ancient world. Eventually donated to ACANS on Dr. Gale’s passing, the Gale Collection forms the core of ACANS’s holdings and continues to be used in research and teaching to this day.