H3ABioNet June Seminar

The H3ABioNet Seminar co-ordinating team on behalf of the H3ABioNet Research Working Group cordially invite you to join us for the June 2017 H3ABioNet seminar under the theme of: “Genetic Anthropology”.

Seminar Format: A seminar talk will be provided by Dr. Ray Tobler, from the core Aboriginal heritage project team in Adelaide University. The talk will be 40 to 50 minutes long followed by 10 to 15-minutes of discussion and Q/A.

Seminar Date: Thursday 15th June 2017
Seminar time: 8:30 am UTC / 9:30 am WAT / 10:30 am CAT / 11:30 am EAT

I will outline the Aboriginal Heritage Project: a collaboration between the Australian Centre of Ancient DNA (ACAD) and the South Australian Museum (SAM) that aims to reconstruct the genetic history of Aboriginal Australia. The project leverages the unparalleled collection of 5000+ hair samples curated by the SAM along with cultural, morphometric and genealogical data, which were collated by Joseph B. Birdsell and Norman B. Tindale during extensive anthropological expeditions across Australia between 1926 to 1963. I will present our outreach activities, which involve re-consenting the hair samples through in-depth consultation with Aboriginal Australian families and communities, along with results from 111 Aboriginal mitogenomes that reveal striking phylogeographic patterns dating back to the initial colonization of Australia.

Ultimately, we aim to provide a reference map that current and future generations of Aboriginal people can use to retrace their ancestry - including the displaced Stolen Generations and their descendants - whilst illuminating this remarkable but still largely unknown chapter of human history to the rest of world.

Dr. Ray Tobler
University of Adelaide
Email: raymond.tobler(at)adelaide.edu.au

Dr Ray Tobler is an ARC Indigenous Fellow currently working at the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) at the University of Adelaide. He completed his PhD at the Institute of Population Genetics in Vienna, Austria in late 2015. For his PhD research, Dr Tobler used natural and experimental populations of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to reveal how sexually reproducing species are able to adapt to changing environments. Dr Tobler returned to Australia at the start of 2016 to work with Prof Alan Cooper on the Aboriginal Heritage Project. This landmark project aims to reconstruct largely unknown genetic history of Aboriginal Australia by utilising extensive genealogical records and ancient DNA from hair, which were collected during anthropological expeditions across the Australian continent that started nearly 100 years ago. By creating a genetic map of Australia that predates European colonial history, the project also provides Dr Tobler and his family with the opportunity to learn more about their own Aboriginal Australian heritage.

H3ABioNet Seminars' series

The Aboriginal Heritage Project: using genetics to examine 50,000 years of Aboriginal Australian history