A Community-Based Approach to Documenting and Interpreting the Cultural Seascapes of the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia

This chapter discusses a community research program that has adopted an innovative approach to documenting and interpreting the cultural seascapes of the Recherche Archipelago off the southern coast of Western Australia (figure 9.1). Established in 2007, this program provides a holistic, community-based approach to land and heritage management centered on traditional customary practice and protocols (Mitchell et al. 2013). A key feature is the integration of on-ground conservation works with “traditional owners,” archaeologists, and environmental scientists as part of a two-way knowledge exchange and collaborative research partnership. The Recherche Archipelago collectively comprises approximately 105 islands and hundreds more unnamed rocks