Weston Store Report

During the devastating bushfires that swept through Canberra on the 18th of January 2003, the archaeological and natural history collections held at the Australian National University stores in Weston, a suburb of Canberra, were completely burnt down. In the aftermath of the fire, the need for a large scale salvage effort became apparent and thus a proposal for a project entitled

Rescuing the Remains: A project examining the aftermath of fire at the ANU archaeological stores

was developed.

The project contained three stages:

Stage One- Recovery and Removal
Phase 1: Removal of Material from the Site
Phase 2: Sorting and Sub-Sampling of Materials

Stage Two: Analysis
Phase 1: Provenancing Remains
Phase 2: Impact of Fire on Materials
Phase 3: Taphonomic Reconstruction

Stage Three: Project Exhibition

These stages were designed to achieve several aims:

To recover archaeological remains buried in the rubble of the ANU stores.
To sort the material based on site reports, accession numbers and reconstruction of the fire damaged areas.
To examine the taphonomic effects of the fire by examining the preservation and alteration of the artefacts.

Funding was sought in the first instance for the removal of materials (Stage 1, Phase 1) and subsequently for sorting and re-provenancing of remains (Stage 1, Phase 2 and Stage 2, Phase 1). This funding was granted by the Vice-Chancellor of the ANU.

A proposal to the Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG) led to the development of an exhibition which highlights the salvage process and some of the original collections that were affected by the fire. This exhibition will open on the 27th of October 2006.

Due to financial and time constraints the last aim (which incorporated Stage 2, Phase 2 & 3) was substantially scaled back, although some discussion and basic information about the materials and their pre- and post-fire location within the store can be found in the two reports that were subsequently written.

This project has now been completed and the reports documenting the salvage effort can be accessed through the links below:

Weston Store Report 1: Report on the salvage of materials from the Weston Store Facility

by Mary Clare Swete Kelly and Sarah Phear

Download Complete Weston Store Report 1 (137.8mb) here

...or in sections:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Weston Store Report 2: The determination and allocation of original provenance to materials salvaged from the Weston Store

by Mary Clare Swete Kelly and Geoff Hunt

Download Complete Weston Store Report 2 (8.5mb) here

...or in sections:

Part 1

Part 2

New Initiatives Fund

In 2000, the Centre for Archaeological Research set up its New Initiatives Fund to celebrate the first full year of its operations. In 2003 the Fund will be in operation again to disburse up to $3000 per successful applicant for new archaeological initiatives. All full members of CAR, postgraduate students as well as staff, are eligible to apply, though the maximum amount available is lower for students (see below). Student members must be members in good standing for three months before the deadline of 9 October 2003 - that is, they must have joined CAR by 9 July.

The successful applicants will be advised by mid-November. Application forms such as the one attached are available from the CAR Administrator, Coombs Building, email:

The definition of 'new initiatives' is flexible. For non-student members, however, the aim of the scheme is to help initiate projects requiring 'seed' funding or 'pump-priming' in order to develop a subsequent, more substantial application to an external funding body. When scrutinising applications and final reports, the committee will look for evidence that an applicant's current and previous applications under the CAR New Initiatives scheme have been designed with this intention in view.

For students, the major criteria will be that the proposed project is a relevant, value-adding and discrete component of their research degree, with potential to result in publication in its own right separate from their thesis. In general the grant will not supply the core expenses of research degree work - these remain the responsibility of the Faculty or School. A maximum limit, currently $3000, will apply to the total amount granted to each student over the duration of their degree course: The maximum available to a student application in any one year will be $2000. The student's supervisor will be asked to sign off on student applications and provide brief but not perfunctory comments.

All applications should include full justification for the project and a detailed budget. Expected outcomes, such as publications or external grant applications, should be included. The Committee reserves the right to seek assessors for individual applications.