Professor Alistair Paterson

Professor Alistair Paterson is an archaeologist, Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow (2016-2022) and professor at the UWA School of Social Sciences. His research examines the historical archaeology of colonial coastal contact and settlement in Australia’s North West and the Indian Ocean. 

Professor Paterson’s key interests lie in Western Australian and Indian Ocean history, Aboriginal Australia, historical archaeology, the Dutch East India Company and its shipwrecks, colonialism and exploration, rock art, and the history of collecting. 

Originally from Tasmania, Professor Paterson completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne before starting work in eastern Turkey. He later travelled to Sydney, NSW, to complete a PhD on Central Australia before landing in Perth and UWA in 1999, where he set up a historical archaeology program. Since his arrival, Professor Paterson has been consumed by research prospects in Western Australia, heavily focused on situating the State in bigger stories of encounter, discovery, European colonisation and indigenous history. He led the ARC research project ‘Collecting the West’ which looks at the history of WA’s collections, in partnership with the WA Museum, the WA Art Gallery, the State Library and British Museum. Currently he leads the ARC Project ‘Mobilising Dutch East India Company collections for new global stories’ (LP210300960) and is a Chief Investigator on two other projects: ‘Entangled Knowledges in the Robert Neill Collection’ and ‘Collecting at the Crossroads: Anthropology, Art & Cultural Change (1939–85)’. 

Professor Paterson collaborates with various heritage stakeholders including communities, government, and industry. Recent collaborations have been with Ngarluma Aboriginal people, Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation, Mineng Noongar community, the WA Museum, the State Library, Art Gallery WA, and the British Museum. He is also part of the Oceans Institute and Centre for Rock Art Research and Management at UWA. 

Qualifications:

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Sydney (2000)
• Bachelor of Arts Honours (BAHons), University of Melbourne (1992)

External positions

• Chair of the Maritime Archaeology Advisory Committee, Western Australian Museum 
• Co-Chair of the Berndt Research Foundation