Digging Up a Past

Known as a historian, conservationist, leading public intellectual, and, most famously, the “father of Australian archaeology,” John Mulvaney is renowned for uncovering the depth of Australian human prehistory. This insightful and illuminating memoir traces Mulvaney’s life from his childhood in rural Victoria to his revelatory excavations in central and northern Queensland and his securing of Australia’s first World Heritage listings. Digging up the layers of his past and cataloguing the artifacts with the historical rigor and humanity that have defined his remarkable professional life, Mulvaney exposes the personal details of his struggles to have his work recognized and tells the stories of the inspirational people he has met along the way.