Colonialism and the Peel Island Lazaret: Changing the World One Story at a Time

Archaeology tells interpretive stories about the past. My experiences as a migrant to Australia and my working-class background have created the archaeologist that I am and the stories of the past that I choose to tell. Here I reflect on my own childhood and early adulthood, and their impacts on my archaeological practice and my affinity with Aboriginal political ambitions. An investigation of the embedded and institutionalized racism experienced by Aboriginal inmates of the Peel Island Lazaret is used as a case study to express my desire to change the world one story at a time.