Black Snapper International Film Festival (BSIFF)

20 November – 1 December, Wallumattagal Campus

The inaugural Black Snapper International Film Festival, in partnership with the CDRC, is Australia’s first major international student film festival celebrating the talents of young, emerging filmmakers from around the world. With over 1000 film submissions and 35 audio submissions received from 85 countries, guests will explore the future of audio-visual storytelling through free on-campus film screenings, audio events, exclusive workshops, riveting panel discussions and a grand award ceremony at the State Library of NSW. This is a unique opportunity to celebrate global storytelling, connect with cutting-edge works, media thinkers, industry leaders and esteemed practitioners from across Australia and beyond. Register here.

CDRC23: Conversations and Connections Documentary Festival

28 November – 1 December, State Library of NSW

Doco-makers, industry professionals, academics and the public are invited to explore the power of today’s creative documentary forms across a comprehensive four-day program of screenings (including select works from BSIFF), interactive workshops and captivating panel discussions. Consider challenging contemporary ideas by joining sessions focusing on Australian natural history during times of climate crisis, strategies for collecting engaging oral history, Indigenous narrative practices, documenting families and communities, the emergence of cutting-edge technologies such as deep fake and virtual reality, and the art of documentary practice. Visit the CDRC23: Conversations and Connections Documentary Festival webpage for the full program or register here.

In the heart of ancient Greece, a group of Macquarie University students, led by Dr Susan Lupack, embarked on a transformative adventure during the 2023 Perachora Peninsula Archaeological Project.

Their goal was to reveal the hidden secrets of a bygone era and breathe new life into history. This journey was made possible through the generous support they received from the Gale Fund.

Survey line at Asprokampos

Their work began with an exploration of the eighth- to second-century B.C.E. town associated with the Sanctuary of Hera, where the team uncovered and mapped additional features of the Upper Plain, including the fascinating Dunbabin’s House. What’s more, they meticulously traced the ancient road that ran through the town, providing fresh insights into the region’s rich past.

Closer to the sanctuary, they identified high-quality sherds, which they concluded must represent remnants of pottery from an excavation in the 1930s. Dr Lupack and her team recognised the significance of these finds, and their analysis is shedding new light on the sanctuary’s history. Notably, they discovered an Argive coin featuring a distinctive wolf’s head on its obverse.

Left image: The team at Mycenae on a study tour of the site on their day off

Right image: Dr Barbora Weissova of Bilkent University, Turkey piloting a drone

The team elevated their research by introducing cutting-edge technology. With the aid of a DJI Phantom 4 RTK drone, piloted by Dr Barbora Weissova of Bilkent University, Turkey, they took to the skies to visualise the Fountain House, Building A I and the sanctuary itself. These images will serve as the foundation for interactive maps and photogrammetric models, offering an immersive experience for visitors and a comprehensive understanding of the region’s past.

Beyond the sanctuary, the project extended to the Perachora Peninsula’s agricultural plain, Asprokampos. The fieldwalkers surveyed the area, investigating the remains of two structures from the Archaic–Classical period, one believed to be a substantial building and the other a watchtower. This evidence hints at a thriving settlement that spanned millennia, dating back to the Late Bronze Age.

The team’s groundbreaking work didn’t stop there. They were invited by the Ephoreia, an archaeological agency in Greece, to explore Diokastro, a fortified citadel with a commanding view of the Corinthian Gulf. This site’s historical significance, recorded by Xenophon, suggests further exciting discoveries in the future.

Dr Lupack and her team’s dedication extended to collaborating with Greek colleagues on mapping other archaeological sites on the Perachora Peninsula, integrating their collective knowledge of the region’s rich archaeological history.

Throughout the project, students were at the heart of the action. They actively participated in every facet of the work, from total pick-ups* to fieldwalking, processing and photographing the artefacts, digitising images of the sites and working with the data collected. They even assisted with drone operations. The hands-on experience gave them a tangible connection to the past while contributing to its understanding in the present.

“These immersive experiences offer a glimpse into the professional world of archaeology, providing them with the skills they need to become the archaeologists of tomorrow,” says Dr Lupack.

“It’s a voyage into the past, but also a stepping stone to their futures.”

Read these stories for more information:

• Why pottery is history’s best friend: new exhibition
• Greek field trip: Archaeology adventure offers insights into ancient world

*In archaeology, ‘total pick-ups’ are a method of retrieving every artefact in a certain area, in order to be able to fully understand the total number of sherds and the chronological time periods they represent.

Special thanks and photo credit go to Dr Susan Lupack.

The study will look at why participants do or don’t exercise, whether outdoors, indoors or at all.

If you DO exercise outdoors, you can participate by filling out an exercise journal for 1-2 months and completing a follow-up interview. These participants will receive a $100 voucher. Alternatively, you can attend an interview only and receive a $20 voucher.

If you DON’T exercise outdoors, or at all, you can participate by attending an interview. These participants will also receive a $20 voucher.

Participants should:

– be aged 18 and over

– identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community

– live in Sydney.

Email elise.frost@hdr.mq.edu.au for more information.

The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by the Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Committee (Project ID 12404).

By the late 1960s, a new political movement – the Women’s Liberation Movement – had emerged from the West and began to have significant implications for Australian politics. The movement paved the way for a great flourishing of feminist activism in the 1970s, but it was the lead-up to the 1972 election that ensured women’s voices and votes could not be ignored.  

The formation of the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) in 1972 forced women’s political issues onto the national agenda like never before. WEL interviewed every candidate running in the 1972 election and ranked them based on their policy positions on women’s issues. The survey had a huge impact on the election campaign and exposed that neither of the major parties had explicit platforms or policies relating to women. 

Gough Whitlam was elected in 1972, and initially no women were appointed to his government. The following year, in a world first, activist and academic Elizabeth Reid was appointed Women’s Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister. The Whitlam era was a period of significant reform in many aspects of life, but the scale and scope of reforms for women were remarkable, achieving a staggering amount in just three years. It reopened the equal pay case, extended the minimum wage for women, introduced the single mother’s benefit and paid maternity leave in the public service, ensured cheap and accessible contraception, funded women’s refuges and women’s health centres, introduced no-fault divorce, expanded access to childcare, and introduced free university education. 

“This book pays tribute to the feminist activists of the 1970s, and I hope that it might introduce some of these women to a new generation,” says Professor Arrow. “By placing their essays alongside writing by younger feminists, I hope it can create productive, intergenerational conversations. 

“I also hope that the book shows us that there are many different ways to achieve reform and that we need to use all the levers at our disposal if we’re going to make life better for all women – from radical protest to working with government. And most importantly, if you want a better world, you need to turn up and help make that change!” 

Women and Whitlam: Revisiting the Revolution was published by UNSW Press.

She started at Macquarie in 2017 following 30 years of teaching experience in the United Kingdom and Australia in early childhood, primary and secondary education, and special education (deafness, blindness, neurodiversity) using a range of communication modes.

Her current research focuses on the use of reflective practice to motivate professionals to continuously improve the ways they support children and people of all abilities and backgrounds to achieve in their personal and academic life.

1. Something you’d like staff to know about

In 2005 I led a team of amazing teachers and allied health professionals in the delivery of the first national videoconferencing service for children who are Deaf, hard of hearing, blind or have low vision, as well as their families and teachers. This group included children from remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory who had to fly in by plane.

2. Something you feel proud of

I saved someone’s life. I was at dinner in a restaurant when I witnessed a man needing care, so I applied my lifesaving and first aid skills to resuscitate him. You never know when those years of training might be needed.

3. A person you admire at Macquarie, and why

Associate Professor Michael Cavanagh. His book was the first I had on reflective practice and within days of starting at Macquarie I found myself sitting next to him in a meeting. I immediately knew this was a place of great opportunity. He has continued to be generous with his time, sharing his insights and always asking thought-provoking questions that challenge my assumptions.

4. Something people usually ask you when they find out what you do for a living

Can you communicate using sign language?

Whilst I have qualifications in British Sign Language (BSL) and Australian Sign Language (Auslan), I am very grateful to Deaf people and Auslan interpreters for their patience when I communicate with them and mix up some of my BSL and Auslan signs.

As with any language you need to keep practicing, but the convenience of online Auslan classes has made it easier than ever to learn. With the introduction of the Auslan syllabus in New South Wales schools in 2023/24, I am optimistic that in the future, more people will learn the Auslan language and understand about Deaf culture regardless of their job.

5. Something you’ve read recently that has had an impact on you

I was surprised by a fact I read at the Clemenger BBDO exhibition on the theme of Creative Potential at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). Louis Braille lost his sight at three years old while playing with a tool from his father’s shed, then went on to use the same tool at age 15 to create an embossed system of dots and dashes now known as Unified English Braille (UEB). Based on the coding system used by the military to help soldiers read at night, his innovation has given thousands of people with blindness and severe vision impairment equitable access to information and inclusion in education, employment and society on the same basis as their sighted peers.

In recognition of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it is fantastic that UEB Literacy and UEB Mathematics are now available free and online for anyone who wants to learn braille. This is another amazing example of how an event not only changed the life of young Louis, but also the lives of many of the 2.2 billion people with vision loss.

6. A favourite photo from your camera roll

Having fun with my family on the beach at North Bondi. Life is about balancing the time to do what you love and giving back by volunteering. It’s a great way to meet people from a diverse range of backgrounds.

Only last week at Hearing Australia’s 75^th anniversary conference, I reconnected with a former North Bondi lifesaver Dr Naomi Malone whose lived experience of deafness lead to an exploration of deaf history for her PhD – ‘A constant struggle: A history of deaf education in New South Wales since World War II’. It is a very interesting read.

7. Something you’re trying to do differently in 2022

Be courageous and try new activities. As a result, I have returned to playing hockey after a 30-year break. Although my joints protested, I realised how much I loved it.

8. The International Day of People with Disability was Saturday 3 December. Why is it important to promote awareness of this day?

The International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) is an opportunity to celebrate the diversity, contributions and achievements of people with disability, as well as promote inclusion and find ways to break down barriers.

9. The theme for IDPwD 2022 was ‘Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world’. Can you explain what the theme meant to you?

There have been and continue to be many technological advances that have transformed the options available to meet people’s different access needs. For example, the cochlear implant, which provides access to spoken language for newborns to people over 90 years old; closed captions for TV, movies and online meetings for people who are Deaf/hard of hearing; tactile 3D maps to help people who are blind navigate; and a range of accessibility features on smart phones, tablets and computers. However, the solution for inclusion that has the most potential for creating an equitable world is people and their attitudes to disability.

10. What else do you want staff at Macquarie to know?

Each and every one of us can make a difference. It might start with ways to make iLearn content and course materials accessible in the early stages of development, rather than added on at the end. Reviewing Guidelines for Producing Clear Print or applying Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principals is a good place to begin.

Perhaps challenge yourself to review the learning environment you provide to see if it enables students to access and participate meaningfully in the learning opportunities made available. Or take some time to think about your beliefs or assumptions about people with a visible or invisible disability. There may be those who challenge your perception as they do not identify as having a disability, such as individuals who are part of the Deaf community and use Auslan and take pride in their culture. By considering our attitudes and behaviours we can all become changemakers for inclusion and seek to uphold the rights of all people.

An advocate for media freedom after spending 400 days detained in Egypt on terrorism charges while reporting as a foreign correspondent, he is passionate about media freedom and journalist safety.

He has written extensively about media freedom, including a book, journal articles and newspaper op-eds and has won multiple awards for his advocacy, including the Australian Human Rights Commission Medal, the International Association of Press Clubs’ Freedom of Speech Award, the RSL’s ANZAC Peace Prize and more.

When he is not teaching future journalists or campaigning for journalists’ rights, he can be found taking advantage of a strong nor’-easter, kitesurfing on the Sunshine Coast.

1. Something you’d like staff to know about

One of my other hats is as chair of the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom – an advocacy group that does what it says on the tin. Although we are a small organisation that runs on a shoestring, we’ve had a significant impact on the debates around media freedom and firmly embedded the idea of a Media Freedom Act. We are not there yet, but I’m confident we will get there.

2. Something you feel proud of

A few weeks ago, I delivered a public lecture on media freedom and national security titled ‘The Pen and The Sword’ that ABC Radio National broadcast on its program Big Ideas.

3. A person you admire at Macquarie, and why

The wonderful Professor Bridget Griffen-Foley, Director of Research and Innovation for MCCALL. I am much more of a journalist than an academic, and whenever I need advice or support about research, Bridget is my go-to person. I can’t think of too many others who are as sharp, organised, collegial and generous as she is!

4. Something you’ve read recently that has had an impact on you

‘You have not yet been defeated’, a collection of works by Alaa Abdel Fattah, who is easily the best-known political prisoner in Egypt today. His writing was collected and translated by a group of dedicated supporters trying to get him released after years in prison on utterly bogus terrorism charges. He is a rare original thinker with an extraordinary political brain, and his writing is at once profound, thoughtful, intensely personal and revolutionary. The book stands on its own, but it means so much more to me because I was imprisoned in a cell next to Alaa for a few months in 2014, and we got to know each other well. I credit him for helping me understand what we were going through and he gave me the psychological tools to survive it.

5. A favourite photo from your camera roll

Cockatoos are the juvenile delinquents of the avian world. A posse regularly visits the deck of our house overlooking a nature reserve and bullies us into giving them seed. What to do…

6. Your definition of success

Creating genuine meaningful reform of Australia’s media industry.

7. The first person you go to for advice

My partner, Christine Jackman. She’s also a former journalist and correspondent, but she is also an incredibly astute observer of people and politics. She’s one of the most insightful, honest people I know.

8. A website or app you can’t live without

The Windy app. To stay sane, I go kitesurfing whenever the wind is right and work allows it. I compulsively check the app for the latest conditions several times a day.

9. Where you live and what you like about living there

I live in a truly wonderful home in Brisbane, on a steep slope overlooking an extraordinarily beautiful nature reserve. Our place sits at tree-top level, so we have both a fantastic view of the city and the forest – and a great relationship with the local birdlife.

10. A personal quality you value in others

Courage. And by that, I don’t just mean bravery in a dangerous physical environment. I also mean the courage to speak up when you feel as though you’re on your own, to be honest when that means being vulnerable. It’s easy to be brave when the threat is external, but so much harder when it is inside your own head.

• Dairying currently faces major economic, social and environmental challenges worldwide.
• Corporate dairy farming is placing undue strain on small-scale farmers, rural communities and the environment.
• The dairy sector faces greater competition from plant-based and artificial milk alternatives.
• Governments can help the ‘just transition’ of smaller-scale farmers and communities into opportunities provided by these challenges.

Contented cows quietly grazing lush green pastures to produce wholesome fresh milk could become a relic of the past if global trends highlighted by Macquarie researchers continue into the 21^st century.

This bucolic ideal is already being replaced by huge, industrialised farms where herds are fed in mechanised sheds and milked by robotic machines as worldwide, large corporations replace traditional family-run farms.

Writing for the leading international journal Agriculture and Human Values, PhD candidate Milena Bojovic and Associate Professor Andrew McGregor from the Department of Geography and Planning in the Faculty of Arts believe the global dairy industry faces increasingly complex social, environmental and economic challenges from global, national and local sources. These include:

• growth of milk markets and consumer demand in the Global South, particularly Asia, while milk consumption in the Global North has flattened or even decreased as more consumers demand plant-based alternatives such as soy and almond
• intensified use of capital, land and animals to meet increasing production demands, whereby smaller scale farms are purchased by larger corporations
• growing awareness of the ecological impacts of dairying, particularly on local soils, water quality and the global climate
• rapid development of plant-based and ‘artificial’ milk in laboratories to replace products from dairy cows.

The authors contend that these challenges have important socio-ecological implications for farmers, communities and local environments, and highlight the complex interactions between these challenges. Larger corporations are better able to address the ‘cost-price squeeze’ faced by small-scale farms, forcing small farms to sell to corporations. In turn, farming populations diminish and services in local, dependent rural communities enter a downward spiral in populations and services.

Increased corporatisation also degrades the local environment and increases methane production from cows, contributing to anthropogenic climate change. Capital-intensive technologies, such as automated milking and feeding systems, reduce human-animal interactions to become rationalised, mechanistic and transactional, rather than the traditionally caring relations between farmers and their herds. Finally, the rapid development of dairy alternatives such as plant-based milk and synthetic milk, coupled with consumer awareness of the negative environmental impacts from industrialised dairy production, are decreasing demand for dairy milk in the global north and placing further social and economic pressures on local communities.

In response to these complex challenges, the authors highlight the important roles governments can play in moderating and providing leadership to support the transition of dairy-farming families and their impacted communities. This should be directed towards the opportunities offered by:

• de-intensification to protect smaller, pasture-based milk producers from corporate takeover to encourage dairy milk production for niche milk markets
• diversification to assist family farmers into alternative industries
• upscaling the production of dairy alternatives and supporting farmers and their communities to transition into new food production systems.

Such government involvement would result in a more just transition for farmers and families to alternative industries that could maintain or even grow rural communities and their populations while improving environmental conditions in rural areas.

She started at Macquarie University in mid-2017. Her research interests include Indigenous identities and digital lives, colonial commemorations, Indigenous Futurisms and eliminating gender-based violence. In short, she is interested in a world where Indigenous peoples are thriving.

1. Something you’d like staff to know about

On 1–2 December, the Centre for Global Indigenous Futures is hosting the 2022 Digital Intimacies conference on campus.

2. Something you feel proud of

The featured image is of my youngest, Connor Carlson, who graduated from Macquarie in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Indigenous Studies and Gender Studies. I was the first person in my family to go to university and Connor is the next generation to go. I was super proud to wear my cap and gown alongside Connor at the Walanga Muru Indigenous graduation celebrations.

I am also really proud of all the members of the Department of Indigenous Studies who always work extra hard and have many amazing achievements. All our HDR students are publishing which is outstanding. Our department is home to the first-ever Indigenous Queer Studies unit of study. We also offer the only Dharug-centred unit for students to really understand whose Country Macquarie University is built on. Our staff are amazing scholars and researchers and were recipients of the 2020 Faculty of Arts Award for Research. Then in 2021, they received the Vice Chancellor’s Excellence in Research: Five Future-shaping Research Priorities – Resilient Societies Award. You never know, we may also be successful in 2022.

3. A person you admire at Macquarie, and why

I admire my colleague Professor Sandy O’Sullivan, an ARC Future Fellow in the Department of Indigenous Studies (left). They are an Aboriginal trans/non-binary/queer scholar. They literally know everything there is to know and their tenacity is admirable, as is their generosity. They are an amazing scholar whose work is so timely and important and they are an ARC Future Fellow working on a project entitled Saving Lives: Mapping the Power of LGBTIQ+ First Nations Creative Artists.

This photo was my first visit to see Sandy, who lives on Kubi Kubi Country. Sandy showed me all the sites including the commemoration to the Bee Gees which may reveal our age. We are the only two Indigenous professors at Macquarie.

4. Something people usually ask you when they find out what you do for a living

When people find out I am a Professor of Indigenous Studies there is firstly silence and then I am told it is ‘really good that you are helping Aboriginal people and especially those in remote communities’ – such an eye-roll moment for me. I say I am interested in digital lives, which generally results in further silence, or if there is any interest, I get questions about whether Indigenous people are engaged with digital technologies or even online at all.

5. Something you’ve read recently that has had an impact on you

I am very interested in Indigenous Futurisms and in 2019 our department held a fabulous symposium on the topic. I love this article, Everywhen: against ‘the power of now’ by Mykaela Saunders. They write: “I am comforted knowing that sooner or later, all destructive systems destroy themselves – history shows it cannot be any other way. Toxic empires either change or they collapse. I might not see it in my lifetime, but I know it will happen.”

6. Your definition of success

The ability to support others to succeed.

7. The first person you go to for advice (and why)

My colleague, lecturer Madi Day from the Department of Indigenous Studies, because we think so much alike, but Madi is sensible and reigns my scheming in.

8. A personal quality you value in others

Care. I like people who care about others and not so much about institutions.

9. The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence starts on 25 November and finishes on 10 December. The theme for this year is ‘UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls’. Can you briefly share the work that you have undertaken in this area?

Combined with my interest in digital lives I have written extensively on gender-based violence on digital platforms such as social media. My focus is Indigenous women and LGBTQAI+ peoples and technology-facilitated violence. I have also focused on the perpetrators, not just the victims.

This work led to an invitation by Senator Anne Ruston, formerly Minister for Families and Social Services and Minister for Women’s Safety, to be a member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council and inform the next National Plan to end family, domestic and sexual violence.

Along with my colleague Madi Day, I am currently a Chief Investigator (CI) on a project led by Dr Debbie Bargallie from Griffith University, funded by the Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector. ‘Make Us Count’ is a qualitative study of the experiences of Indigenous women in the Victorian Public Service. Preliminary results reveal that Indigenous women are subject to various levels of violence in the workplace.

Along with Professor Sandy O’Sullivan and Madi Day, I am a CI on a Media Diversity Australia project that is exploring the experiences of Indigenous and/or LGBTQAI+ journalists. Preliminary results reveal prominent levels of technology-facilitated violence.

I was also invited to be a Deputy Director for a Centre of Excellence bid led by Professor Jacquie True from Monash University for the now successfully awarded and funded ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEVAW).

CEVAW has a pillar dedicated to Indigenous research, and I am the lead CI on two research streams, ‘Violence of Colonialism’ and ‘Racial Analysis and Anti-racism Praxis’. The third stream is ‘Future Lives’ which is led by Associate Professor Kyllie Cripps from UNSW.

Our research also has a focus on technology-facilitated abuse targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and LGBTQAI+ peoples. Overall, we are interested in what is needed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to live a life free of violence and what needs to change for Indigenous peoples to live and work in safe and fulfilling circumstances.

10. What else should staff know?

13-19 November was Trans Awareness Week and Trans Day of Remembrance occurred on 20 November. Gender-based violence isn’t confined to the binary of men/women – to be inclusive means to read and understand the colonial project of gender and how this continues to exclude many who do not identify within this binary. A good read is the open access article published by Professor O’Sullivan, The colonial project of gender (and everything else).

Following an international search, Professor Chris Dixon has been appointed Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts. Professor Dixon has led the faculty in an interim capacity since Professor Martina Möllering retired from the University in May this year.

The new Executive Dean, who joined the University in 2016, previously held the role of Dean of the Macquarie School of Social Sciences. Prior to that he held appointments at the University of Sydney, Massey University, the University of Newcastle and the University of Queensland.

Professor Dixon’s research focuses on American history, including African American history, US military history and American cultural history. His most recent book, African Americans and the Pacific War: Race, Nationality, and the Fight for Freedom, was published by Cambridge University Press in late 2018.

He is currently researching the part played by African Americans in the Korean War, and American servicemen on leave in Australia during the Vietnam War.

Professor Dixon has served two terms as President of the Australian and New Zealand American Studies Association, as well as President of the International Society for Cultural History. He has been the recipient of grants from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council and the Australian Research Council. In 2016 he held the Fulbright Scholarship in Australian-US Alliance Studies.

In announcing the appointment, the Vice-Chancellor Professor S Bruce Dowton said, “I very much look forward to Professor Dixon’s contribution as a permanent member of the Executive Group and I know staff will join me in congratulating him on his appointment.”

The Macquarie University History Museum’s latest exhibition showcases 40 items, including ancient objects and more recent archival material, inspired by society’s ongoing fascination with ancient cultures.

‘Mysteries Revisited – From Ancient Codes to Comic Culture’ is the latest exhibition to arrive at the Macquarie University History Museum. It explores how our constant hunger for news from the ancient world creates both breakthroughs in historical research and demand for antiquities, fakes and replicas.

Among the items on display are rarely-seen cigarette cartons containing index cards made to help decipher the mysterious Linear B script – the writing system used by the ancient Mycenaean civilisation.

On exclusive loan from the University of Texas’ Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory, these cigarette cartons date back to the 1940s.

“They were owned by classicist Alice Kober, who made index cards that fit exactly into the cigarette cartons and served as a low-fi database for decoding Linear B,” says Josephine Touma, Macquarie University History Museum Manager.

Two cigarette boxes containing Alice Kober’s cards. On loan from the Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory at the University of Texas, Austin. Image credit: Jesse Taylor

Other highlights of the exhibition include comic books introducing fictitious heroes set in the ancient world, ancient Egyptian tablets and fragments of panels with inscribed hieroglyphs, as well as fakes, replicas and urban myths.

The so-called Gosford Glyphs also form part of the exhibition. These sandstone carvings were found on a site in Kariong on the Central Coast in the 1980s and were said to be hieroglyphs carved by ancient Egyptians.

“Macquarie student Kerri-Ann Meakins completed a project with [Museum director] Professor Martin Bommas, which included visiting Gosford to trace the glyphs. Historians believe that whoever carved the glyphs had some understanding of true Egyptian hieroglyphs, but they are not quite right, and certainly a hoax,” Touma says.

The Macquarie University History Museum is located at 25C Wally’s Walk and is open to the public on weekdays between 10am and 5pm. Read more about the new exhibition on The Lighthouse.