> Alasdair - I was not aware that you were in Australia. Where are
> you and what are you doing. Perhaps the Gods sent you there because
> Bill Adams has returned to North America or perhaps you got
> "transported" by Her Majesty's Government for stealing a loaf of bread.

No - I'd probably have to be in New South Wales or Tasmania for that.  In
Victoria I'm far more likely to be a cruel lackey of the British Imperial
State ordering the brutal blood-stained repression of freedom-loving gold
miners only interested in a fair go.  Either that or a misleading recruiter
for the Imperial Armies sending brave Australian lads to their blood-soaked
doom on a Turkish beach in the name of King, God, and Empire.  No wonder
they keep beating us at cricket (though usually without the blood).

I'm ostensibly engaged in some comparative analysis of 19th century domestic
Australian ceramics assemblages with their counterparts elsewhere in the
world (but, where possible, with a focus on the UK), but am currently
re-evaluating what's possible with the available data.

Returning to the main topic... when I wrote:
>I can give a perspective of sorts from a university point of view for the UK
>and the USA,

I concentrated on tertiary education because Australian publications were
always more accessible - whichever side of the Atlantic I was on - in a
university academic context.  It was always much harder to come across the
relevant publications professionally (CRM and house museum lab supervisor in
the USA [east coast only]; post-medieval artefact person for fieldwork in
Wales in the UK).  Though once again I stress that this is personal
experience rather than a representative opinion.

I'll throw out the possibility that to a certain extent insularity and
simple lack of awareness may be feeding off a general lack of
accessibility/availability, and vice versa, therefore forming a highly
unfortunate vicious circle.

Alasdair



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Alasdair Brooks
Department of Archaeology
La Trobe University
Plenty Road
Bundoora VIC 3083
Australia
Phone - 03 9479 3269
E-mail - [log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The buffalo tastes the same
on both sides of the border"
Sitting Bull