1. 10 years of anthropological case work based in New South Wales Denise Donlon Department of Anatomy and Histology, & Department of Forensic Medicine University of Sydney New South Wales Australia

2. Brief history of forensic anthropology in Australia Origins in 19th Century discipline of anatomy Closely linked to military action (in USA) Slow beginnings in Australia - no collections of war dead - dependent on case work

3. Aims To present a survey of 10 years of anthropological casework from NSW - with an emphasis on the ancestry and antiquity of the cases. To draw attention to the importance of standard methods of recording and the production of a databank for this region.

4. Cases requested by: Museums +Aboriginal communities National Parks & Wildlife Service Consultant archaeologists Police Australian Defence Forces NSW Department of Forensic Medicine

5. Aboriginal communities - repatriation from museums

6. National Parks and Wildlife Service Often recorded in situ

7. Consultant archaeologists eg. historic sites

8. Prince of Wales Destitute Children’s Asylum

9. Police Excavation + recording in situ

10. Australian Defence Forces

11. Recovery of war dead

12. War dead

13. Mass disasters Indonesian Tsunami 2004

14. -crash of Royal Australian navy’s Sea King helicopter 2005 - 9 dead

15. New South Wales Department of Forensic Medicine Approximately 100 cases in 10 years

16. Information collected Total number of cases Ancestry/Race Antiquity Sex Age Stature Taphonomic

17. Number of cases 1992 - 2003

18. Ancestry

19. Ancestry of forensic cases

20. Non-European

21. Non-European cases

22. Is there a need for further study of ancestry? 1.Australia and neighbouring regions contain very diverse groups of people 2. Populations show regional variation in - sex, age, stature 3. Increasing problem of mixed ancestry 4. A mass disaster will result in diversity of ancestry

23. Problems in investigating ancestry in this region The lack of a skeletal collections representing the major group - Europeans Recent changes to the NSW Human Tissue Act 1983 make research on identified skeletons difficult without consent The repatriation of indigenous remains without documentation or standardised documentation Police and anthropologists may have a different understanding of ancestry/race

24. Antiquity

26. Estimating time elapsed since death is problematic and very dependant on local environmental conditions Each of the following scenarios come under different legislation: < 50 years for forensic cases >50 years for historic (non-Aboriginal) cases >50 but <100 years for historic Aboriginal cases >100 years for ‘prehistoric’ Aboriginal cases

27. Conclusions Increasing diversity of ancestry of cases being examined at the NSW Institute of Forensic Medicine. Great range and complexity of antiquity of cases This type of survey and subsequent research should provide support for expert witness testimony.

28. Further work Need for a workshop of anthropologists to discuss regionally appropriate methods of identification Need for a databank of Australian cases to build up population specific standards for assessment of age, sex and stature. Such a databank will provide the basis for future research and collaborative projects THANK YOU