Image © Jon Lewis

Alethea is an archaeologist, teacher and author of archaeology non-fiction and young adult fiction. She worked in publishing and teaching before moving into archaeology. She designed and delivered the Young Archaeologists’ Program at La Trobe University, and now runs archaeology programs and writing workshops for kids and adults across Melbourne. She also teaches in the School of Education at La Trobe University.

Since her work began with the Young Archaeologists’ Program in late 2012, she has had many teachers ask for information – websites, books or anything else useful – that will help them teach the new Australian Curriculum history topic ‘Ancient Australia’. This unit is all about the Indigenous past, and while there are a handful of amazing online activities for kids, no comprehensive books devoted to this topic for a high school audience had been written…until now.

Powerful and well-funded bodies such as the Department of Veterans’ Affairs provide a wealth of information and activities for topics like Gallipoli and the Vietnam War, but Ancient Australia – an equally important part of our history – has been sorely neglected.

She intends to change that.