Libby Riches
Heritage Consultant
Libby Riches specialises in Indigenous community consultation, native title, and intangible heritage values. Libby has particular expertise in complex, multi-disciplinary research projects, analysing and interpreting archaeological, anthropological and historical evidence within an overall cultural heritage management framework.
Libby is a qualified archaeologist. During her undergraduate degree she studied Australian Holocene and Pleistocene archaeology with an emphasis on archaeological theory and history. She has completed a PhD through La Trobe University’s Department of Archaeology.
In 1999 Libby was granted an Australian Postgraduate Award to pursue her interest in the relationship between archaeology and native title. This research involved a detailed analysis of native title legislation and case law with a comparative focus on Canadian approaches to Aboriginal land rights. Libby spent time at the Arctic Institute of North America researching participatory methods for mapping Indigenous cultural knowledge within the land claims context.
Since joining Context in 2003, Libby has worked on a variety of consultation and heritage projects, including the Australian Heritage Commission’s Inspirational Landscape project and Aboriginal community consultation for the VicTrack Optic Fibre Cable Project. Her recent projects include interpretation work for the City of Port Phillip at Point Ormond (2007).
Libby sits on the Panel of Experts of the Native Title Unit, Department of Justice, Victoria, and in 2002 commenced ethnohistoric research for the Unit. She is known in the archaeological community for her work in native title and has delivered numerous papers on the Yorta Yorta decision.
Libby believes that heritage is vital to people’s understanding of who they are. She loves working on projects that involve the community and provide them with the opportunity to voice what is important to them. She is keenly interested in native title and Indigenous land rights and hopes that our society can work together to deliver social justice to Indigenous Australians. Libby’s other great passions are cooking and the films of Akira Kurosawa.
Qualifications and Professional Membership
- PhD – Archaeology (La Trobe University, 2002)
- Bachelor of Arts – Archaeology (Honours) (La Trobe University)
- Member – Panel of Experts, Native Title Unit, Department of Justice, Victoria