Johanna Parker
Johanna Parker

Position: Current PhD Student
School and/or Centres: Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies

I am a PhD scholar at the Australian National University College of Arts and Social Sciences, Canberra. My thesis examines the motivations and methodologies of private collectors of Ancestral Remains. I hold a Master of Arts in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester, England, and a Master of Arts in Public History from the University of Technology Sydney. I have held the position of a curator at the National Museum of Australia, the Museum of Australian Democracy and the National Archives of Australia. Since 2009 I have worked across the Public Service including at AIATSIS on the development of a National Resting Place. 

History of collecting and museums, History of science, History of Sussex, England

Publishing record

  • J. Parker, J., 2024, ‘Natural history, ethnography and private collecting: the legacy of Frederic William Lucas (1842-1932)’, Archives of Natural History 51.2, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 317-333.
  • J. Parker, J., 2022, ‘The Appeal of Urgency: Extinction Discourses, Myths and the Private Collectors of Australian Aboriginal Human Remains’, Museum & Society, Vol 20. No.1, Special Issue, University of Leicester, pp118-130.
  • Parker, J., 2020, ‘Navigating the Nineteenth Century Network: The Case of Joseph Barnard Davis’, in Fforde, C., McKeown, T. and Keeler, H. (eds) The Routledge Companion to Indigenous Repatriation: Return, Reconcile, Renew, 497-520, Abingdon: Routledge.
  • Max Dupain on Assignment, photography exhibition catalogue, NAA press, 2008.
  • Max Dupain On Assignment, The World of Antiques and Art, Issue 73, Aug 2007 – Feb 2008.
  • 6 exhibition tour guides for the National Archives of Australia including highlights, family, military, political, NAA press, 2007.
  • Memory of a Nation, NAA Press, 2007 - awarded a Highly commended in the 2007 Mander Jones Awards – Best publication that uses, features, or interprets archives.
  • The Quiet Mariner, Cook’s Log, Captain Cook Society Journal, Vol. 28, no. 4, Oct 2006.
  • Harvest of Endurance Scroll online interactive, National Museum of Australia, 2006, nominated for a 13th annual Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) award.
  • Celebrating the National Museum’s collection, Artbeat, Autumn/Winter 2006.
  • Oscar’s sketchbook online interactive, National Museum of Australia, 2006. Highly commended, Museum Australia Design Awards, 2006.
  • Captivating and Curious exhibition catalogue, 6 essays NMA Press, 2006.
  • Captivating and Curious, Collectables Trader, Australia, Dec 05-Feb 2006.
  • Millicent Mouse’s house, Capital Magazine, Canberra, Issue 21, Mar-April 2006.
  • In search of the Birdsville Track – an artist in the outback, Noelle Sandwith Editors – Johanna Parker and Sophie Jensen, NMA Press, published 23 June 2005.
  • Down the Birdsville Track, Capital Magazine, Canberra, Issue 17, Jul-Aug 2005.
  • A Guide to the Archive, South East Film and Video Archive, Brighton, England, 2002.

Awards

  • 2023 - Oxford and Cambridge University Doctoral Training Program participant, Oxford University.
  • 2019 - Australia Day Award for the delivery of the Department’s Reconciliation Action Plan, Department of Communications and the Arts.
  • 2015 - Secretary’s Award for Academic Achievement Award, Attorney-General’s Department – ‘For dedication to the creation of world leading policy advice in the areas of museum collections and repatriation of Indigenous human remains’.
  • 2002 - National Museum of Australia Overseas Travelling Scholar – Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York