The Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus QC has launched an exciting initiative of the ‘Deepening Histories of Place’ ARC funded Linkage Project.

In introducing the Attorney General at the launch on 8 April, Professor Margaret Harding referred the audience back to Minister Dreyfus’ maiden speech  in which he told the Parliament that Aboriginal people had taught him a great deal about the importance of family and, not least, about looking at the land. He said he wished that every Australian could have the experiences that he had of a young man going bush with people who can read the land like a book as they pass through it.

The Deepening Histories project team have worked collaboratively with indigenous owners to enable Australian landscapes to be appreciated by every Australian as places with deep and living histories.  The project will allow visitors and tourists to Central Australia, Top end Arnhem Land and the Blue mountains to access upto date information of the site online.

Research from the project takes a significant step towards codifying Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property for recordings undertaken as part of research on Indigenous culture.

Industry project partners were amongst the enthusiastic audience who watched as Professor Ann McGrath and Dr Mary-Anne Jebb introduced elements of the deepening histories website. Chaired by Adjunct Professor Peter Read, the launch also included a moving Welcome to Country by Ms Matilda House, elder of the Ngunnawal people who are the traditional custodians of the Canberra Region, and an explanation by Terri Janke, 2012 recipient of the Attorney-General’s Award for Indigenous Lawyer of the Year, of the significance of the Indigenous Cultrual and Intellectual Property protocols both nationally and internationally. Terri was a contributor to the project.