The article is about the discovery of Aboriginal sites and cave paintings in a region of Australia, where there was thought to be none. The discoveries are being found about a 150 miles away from Sydney the most populated city in Australia. The writer of this news article approaches the topic as would the late Crocodile Hunter; Steve Irwin would in my personal opinion. The writer tries to put his enthusiasm in the voice of the paper. He writes as if he were talking and as I read the article it sounds like the Crocodile Hunter is in my head narrating. He talks in Australian common speech and not the academic tone a scholar would use for a scholarly paper. I found the difference to be a challenge reading the Australian article versus the vernacular that is used for the scholarly paper. The Scholarly paper uses field specific terms that another archaeologist would use; where as the Australian article uses terms that a common Australian would understand.
The Australian writer’s purpose in writing this article is to generate interest the field, in the local Aborigine people, and the Australian public to preserve these treasures. The field of archaeology is a interesting field that generally gets a blast of interest and then none at all until something else is found. The Aborigine people in the article seem disconnected from their past and when these treasures of their past are found they should take pride in their ancient history. Finally, the writer is writing to get the public excited in these treasured finds. The author doesn’t ask any questions he announces these great discoveries and conveys his excited ness in the article.
I found this article to not provide questions or answers. I do believe that it was intended to provoke thought and interest in the Aboriginal sites and their cave paintings. I thought that this is another example of how wide and diversified the field of archaeology is. Be able to specialize in the field of Australian Aboriginal Cave painting is an example of how one might spend their life. With this new and exciting field of archaeology, I do believe that the author would be proud of his article and the affects it had.
