Will Hocking
This is my first post for the Cultural Heritage Practicum topic. On and off for the past few months I have been working at Australian Cultural Heritage Management (ACHM) which, if you do not know already, is one of the largest cultural heritage management firms in the country.
I have been working at the offices in Adelaide, mainly in the lab, weighing artefacts, entering data, editing reference lists and scanning copies of old papers, journal articles, reports and book chapters. While these tasks have not been the most glamorous, I have nonetheless found them to be a good way of observing how the company operates.
Furthermore, I must add that my placement at ACHM has come at a rather interesting time for the company, as it is currently in something of a transitional period. ACHM is a growing company, and to accommodate its growth, it has had to move into a larger office complex.
The old ACHM offices on Port Road (top) and the new offices on South Road (bottom).
Job prospects for archaeologists have definitely increased over the years, and will apparently continue to do so for some time, particularly in the private sector. However, it was not always like this and I think it must be appreciated that businesses that were started by people as a way of creating work for themselves now employ many people, allowing them to work in their chosen field.