Rock Art Australia Lecture - Laureate Professor Peter Veth
About
We are delighted to continue our popular public talks and Q & A series and warmly invite you to our first lecture of 2026, presented by Laureate Professor Peter Veth on 4 March at the University of Melbourne’s Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute.In this special lecture, “Rethinking the first settlement of Sahul: what Australia’s deserts reveal,” Professor Veth will examine what early desert occupation reveals about the first peopling of Sahul. Drawing on new findings from the co-designed Desert People Laureate Project, he will offer fresh insights into the extraordinary adaptability of Australia’s First Peoples and their enduring connection to Country.
The evening will begin with a welcome from Rock Art Australia CEO, Fiona Menzies. Professor Rachel Popelka-Filcoff, Rock Art Australia Minderoo Chair in Archaeological Science at the University of Melbourne, will then share an update on the complementary role of archaeological science in Indigenous Australian archaeology and highlight the growing research initiatives at the University of Melbourne, ahead of Professor Peter Veth's presentation.
The lecture will conclude with a Q&A, facilitated by RAA Director of Research, Dr Helen Green.
Laureate Professor Peter Veth was the inaugural Rock Art Australia Ian Potter Chair in Rock Art at The University of Western Australia from 2013 – 2018.
He is an ARC Laureate Professor at the University of Western Australia, having completed his PhD on the archaeology of Martu people from the Canning Stock Route area. He has carried out collaborative research throughout Australia, Torres Strait, the Aru Islands and Timor Leste.
Professor Veth was co-author of the National Heritage and Outstanding Universal Values of Murujuga, has been an Archaeology Expert Witness in the Federal Court, was recipient of the Rhys Jones Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Australian Archaeology (2014) and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities in 2005.
Professor Rachel Popelka-Filcoff (FRACI) is the inaugural Rock Art Australia Minderoo Chair in Archaeological Science at the University of Melbourne.
Professor Popelka-Filcoff leads the Archaeological Science Laboratory at the University of Melbourne, which develops novel multidisciplinary approaches to analyse cultural materials, artifacts and landscapes. Her laboratory integrates advanced spectroscopic and nuclear approaches into archaeological science in collaboration with Indigenous and university partners. She has developed several innovative, high resolution, high sensitivity and in many cases non-destructive methods for the analysis of cultural materials to understand past exchange routes and cultural changes to archaeological materials and sites, particularly those unique to Australia.
Professor Popelka-Filcoff holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Missouri as a National Science Foundation Research Fellow and works in research partnerships across Australia, Europe and North America.
She is the Past President of the Society for Archaeological Sciences, on the editorial board of Journal of Archaeological Science and is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.
This is a free event, but booking is essential.
Doors will open at 5:30 pm, for a 6:00pm start.
Date
Wednesday 4 March 2026 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM (UTC+11)Location
David Penington Building, Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute
30 Flemington Road, The University of Melbourne , Parkville VIC 3010
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Rock Art Australia Lecture - Laureate Professor Peter Veth
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