Owens, Kimberley Ann (2008) Farmers, fishers and whalemen: the colonisation landscapes of Lord Howe Island, Tasman Sea, Australia. PhD thesis, Australian National University.

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Abstract

A small dot of land in the middle of the Tasman Sea, Lord Howe Island presents an interesting and unique opportunity to examine several archaeological and historical questions relating to the colonization of islands, settlement landscapes, and the development of isolated communities. Through a combination of historical research and archaeological investigation, this project seeks to investigate the processes of development and change that were operating in the LHI settlement landscape and to arrive at an understanding of how these processes may or may not have significance for the understanding of other island colonization events, particularly prehistoric ones. Extensive background historic research utilizing various published and unpublished sources; community consultation and gathering of local knowledge; surveys of six historically known sites and excavation of four; and the synthesis of the historic and archaeological data in the creation of settlement landscape maps and identifications of resource use over time were employed as mechanisms of understanding the processes of colonization on a Pacific island, and allowed an assessment of its usefulness as an analogue for similar historic and prehistoric scenarios. The consequential thesis that is presented here outlines these research tasks and results and culminates in the general conclusion that Lord Howe Island is both a useful example and comparative case for other studies while paradoxically being subject to its own unique historic context, and is therefore limited to useful generalities rather than specifics.

Item ID:	18765
Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Keywords:	Australian historic archaeology; archaeology of islands; historic archaeology of islands; island biogeography; Pacific island archaeology; Lord Howe Island; whaling
Date Deposited:	19 Jun 2013 05:04
FoR Codes:	21 HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 2101 Archaeology > 210104 Archaeology of Australia (excl Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) @ 34% 21 HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 2101 Archaeology > 210108 Historical Archaeology (incl Industrial Archaeology) @ 33% 21 HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 2101 Archaeology > 210106 Archaeology of New Guinea and Pacific Islands (excl New Zealand) @ 33%
SEO Codes:	95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9505 Understanding Past Societies > 950503 Understanding Australias Past @ 50% 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9699 Other Environment > 969999 Environment not elsewhere classified @ 25% 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970121 Expanding Knowledge in History and Archaeology @ 25%
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