#sorry this took forever to answer!

[ofpolitics]

[ he stands before her, silhouetted by the dim glow of the darksaber. it's likely that the ignition is what roused her. his eyes shine in the dark, ever piercing. "did you know that kyber crystals are sentient??" his voice is even, level as it would be if he was explaining something to a child. he does not wait for her answer. "this one," emphasised by a twirl of the weapon. "is loud. it sang for your death. practically begged me for it." though truth be told, maul need not be asked twice. "do you know how thrilled your people were to watch your reign come to such a pathetic end??" this time he does wait. ] — @mutatiio

                   as the sound which she could never forget reverberated through the small cabin, she shot up instantly awake, heart thundering in her ears, threatening to burst from behind her ribs.   terror.   it slipped down her spine in icy tentacles, threatening to seize ahold of her stomach and expel anything remaining from her supper.   slim fingers dug into her thin blanket as she stared down her almost murderer, seemingly frozen where she sat, head swimming.   how was he here?   she hadn’t heard of a single whisper of the zabrak in almost a decade and yet, he stood before her, that infernal saber clasped within his palm.

                   ❝ i shall take your word for it, maul.  ❞     there her voice rung out, more even than she hoped, so frigid she thought it could seer skin.   for what would she take?   all of it.     ❝  i was too indisposed, and too force blind, to know either.  ❞     she at least, knew the answer of the latter despite her refusal.

[roccinan]

Fun fact : Nairobi was originally going to be named Cameroon in the series.

Thanks for sharing! That's cool to know, but I think Nairobi suits her the best ;)

[reindeer-dad]

How does Rudy deal with Exes?

This wholesome dad is a Bitter Betty depending on the severity of the relationship's falling out. Rudy is the kind of guy who'd default to the 'They don't want me? Fine. I don't want 'em, either. I mean, look at me, I'm the whole package!' kind of mindset when he's dumped. He'd subject his friends to low-key disses about his ex disguised as jokes to cope. Despite the venting, his disinterest in confrontation kicks in if he runs into the ex. He'd give them the silent treatment and pretend they don't exist. 'After all, what else is left to say?' he'd think.

After that tense period (and maybe even after expressing a bit of regret to his closest buddies), Rudy would actually act normal around the ex. At worse, continuing the silent treatment but at least acknowledging their existence. At best, talking to them. 'They're missing out on a good thing. But hey, life goes on!'

[gothams-white-knight]

👫

(Send 👫 and I’ll write four headcanons I have about our muse’s relationship.)

It takes a while for them to reconnect after all the terrible things Harvey did as Two-Face, but he's eager to make amends with Jason. He tries to be an uncle/mentor figure to Jason and will hang out with him any time he wants!

I think Harvey really relates to Jason because he also had a rough childhood and had many of the same issues growing up. It's hard to look at Jason and NOT see himself when he was a kid.

Jason was Harvey's favorite Robin.

They've had action movie marathons together.

[feliville]

your mc alex is such a cutie...

Thank you!! : -D

[cherubchoirs]

Ascended Ferryman!! What does his form look like now?

something like this!!! since the terminals say many of the angels of humans take on abstract or animal-like qualities, i decided to base their form loosely off of a jellyfish with their holy cloth acting as the bell. they are obviously very nautically themed otherwise, with their coins turning into golden adornment and their halo bearing the greek for "fishers of men". their wings are similarly skeletal as they are and somewhat based on how i stylize the wings of virtues to show they too are from a mortal soul despite achieving some human qualities.

[vinelark]

I've been going through ur fic recs and after binging through "A Meditation On Railroading" and "The Long Way Home", I'm now obsessed with Jason and Tim. Something about hating each other but not really, all the bad blood and hurt and still becoming brothers bc how couldn't they

I wanted to ask if you know any other fics that are about them?

Thanks! :)

i had to make a real effort to keep this (relatively) short or it would just be hundreds of fics long. here is a very incomplete list of old favs and recent reads! i've definitely rec'd some of them already, but i think others are new to my fic rec tag.   you already mentioned a meditation on railroading and the long way home; i’m linking them again here for anyone else who wants them, because they are two of my favs and would kick off this list if you hadn’t already read them.   robin!jason era   Brother Wanted by Vamillepudding one of the most impressive things a story can do, imo, is pull off a really believable kid/teen pov—this does it twice, for both tim and jason, and it’s one of my fav rereads.

Like a Hinge, Like a Wing by @bonesbuckleup i’ll always be reccing this one; it’s one of my favorite slow-burn hurt/comfort fics, and the tim & jason relationship in this context is very sweet + compelling as they deal with some rough edges unique to this story.

1-800-ROBIN by spqr jason volunteers for a mental health hotline, and this leads to bonding with tim. this has some incredibly tender moments and a great robin!jason pov.   red hood!jason era

cake is a four letter word by @sonosvegliato jason just wants to make a loaf of bread. then tim shows up. i love when a writer nails tim in peak Annoying Mode (❤️).

geolocation by @envysparkler i love a good forced-to-work-together oneshot, and this one gets bonus points for the sheer amount of “actions speak louder than words” going on with every single thing jason does.

Tim in a Bottle by @coyote-nebula (wip) angst and humor galore; tim and jason and their giant pile of unresolved issues all get locked in a walk-in freezer together. need i go on?

the trolley problem by @silk-scarlet-ribbons this is—i say with full appreciation—an absolute pangfest. jason is taken by an enemy, and that enemy has kidnapped a "random civilian" (you guessed it: tim) for leverage to get jason to do what they want. (also check out requiem for the forsaken by the same author, which is the fic that finally got my best friend to start caring about robins with me.)

Short-Term Memory Loss (Leads to Long-Term Sibling) by Vamillepudding a bittersweet + hopeful story in which red hood!jason gets temporarily whammed back to robin!jason, and bonds with tim.

Say Uncle by @megaerakles an incredibly fun twist on tim’s fake uncle with layers upon layers of identity shenanigans.

of crime lords and literature by @adelfie a wonderfully angsty, plotty fic in which tim ends up in danger as himself, and—after a very rocky start—jason is somehow the one who rescues him.

unequipped by Valkirin there’s a lot of jason saving tim on this list, and this story is a delightful reversal of that trope. red hood’s in trouble, and tim shows up to bail him out.

For All The Just Alike Birds by @sunflowersandink tim breaks his arm, and jason makes it his problem. featuring some excellent begrudgingly worried jason pov!

alternate universe

clean it like you mean it by @wynterstars (wip) i adore this jason-joins-the-family late AU; the central robin!tim & sort-of-civilian!jason dynamic is so compelling. marked as a wip, but currently leaves off in a very satisfying place!

[wisteriagoesvroom]

Would you ever consider writing Carcar where Lando accidentally finds out about them and decides to wait for them to come clean…only it’s been nearly 6 months and Lando is fit to burst, but they both seem happy and he doesn’t want to meddle?!?

that would be a funny epilogue to at a constant speed wouldn’t it??

mainly it’s because oscar and carlos aren’t subtle like, at all. little hints here and there.

carlos starting to smile at oscar at the driver’s parade even if the fans only ever catch oscar staring for a beat too long, and never smiling back. the fans suspect oscar has food poisoning. the carcar believers think something is up.

oscar spends texting too long to carlos, talking about the history of like, lorries that cross the australian desert or something. lando asks if oscar is “writing an essay or something”. oscar blushes and says, “no, i’m making a point”. lando says “ah so you’re writing an essay then.”

carlos walks into the mclaren motor home, chats to lando, and tosses a pack of double-layered tim tams at oscar who catches it stoically. lando stares at them both and once carlos leaves, goes: “you’re on talking terms now?” and oscar says “if you noticed, we actually weren’t talking.” then goes back to staring at his chess game on his phone.

carlos and oscar go dolphin watching in the off season for some inexplicable reason. carlos thinks it will be funny. oscar is not sure why he goes along with this. it turns out to be kind of romantic. carlos never lies to lando and says “i am going dolphin watching.” oscar just says “i’m on a boat.” lando is getting very suspicious now.

and at one point:

carlos eats a specific type of spanish mackerel as part of his meal plan and lando is over at oscar’s monaco place and carlos has to quickly leave the house and hide somewhere (“this is undignified,” he tells oscar before he makes himself scarce). lando goes to open a cupboard to get some water and then sees the specific tin of fish and is like. OMG! I KNEW IT, BOTH OF YOU

there is also a polaroid that carlos took of oscar when they both cycled to a hilltop once. oscar eventually sticks that one near his sim rig. “spite motivation”, or so he tells himself.

[fictionalsupermarket]

If you could draw Loop annoying Odile that would make me so giddy c:

the sillies....

[lansplaining]

Reading the novel I think that jc is really a good sect leader! Even at the cloud recess he is trying to be a good sect heir and diplomat! Even with his mother he tries diplomatic strategies to save wwx's ass. I know everyone brought up how he lost against jgs for the wen but that's because he didn't have the upper hand, he was one against everyone else. Also he rebuilt his sect! Alone! With only an infant baby as family! I know that everyone for feminist reasons wants jyl to be sect leader (or wwx lol) but no one else would have achieved that imo. He is so good and so underpriced!

(bangs pots and pans) JIANG CHENG IS REALLY GOOD AT HIS JOB

[romantichopelessly]

invitation to speak more about the secret good td3 in your head, if you so desire!

Ok so I sat on this ask for DAYS because I wanted to have some cohesive, great answer, but the thing about The Dreamer Trilogy that haunts me is that I can never come up with good concrete thoughts about how to fix the issues I have with it, which is why I reference the “secret good td3 in my head” because it can never fully leave my head in any real way. That being said here’s a list of some elements I would change to make my secret good td3, in no particular order.

The visionaries don’t exist. Liliana, Persifal, etc. are just psychics that keep getting visions of the end, and die for reasons other than their power. Explaining what Visionaries are and subsequently over explaining the magic system of td3 is part of what made the trilogy so confusing and ruined a lot of the magic that the TRC universe already had for me. We don’t need concrete explanations, and psychics can still fill this role. The changing age and exploding added nothing?? to the narrative?? that I can think of?? We can even keep the age gap for Carliana if we want to, just make Liliana an older psychic like Maura/Persephone/Calla. It will even add to the excellent Carmen-Mr. Gray parallels.

Lean more into the themes of the age group. TRC is a coming of age story. It’s about being 17/18. It’s about learning your inner self and getting others to see the true you. TD3 should be more about being 19/20/21. To me, TD3 at its peak is like Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6. Which is uniquely about the horror of being in your early 20s, losing support systems, having to learn to be a full self-reliant person, grappling with what your parents did to you, and the crushing loneliness of not being around Your People anymore. TD3 has all of these themes, but I really think they need to be fleshed out more, and given proper conclusion that isn’t just “yippee everything is fine now!”

Greywaren is longer. I think almost everyone agrees that Greywaren, as a book was just too short to wrap up all the plot lines set up, and does almost none of them justice. That book needed a whole rewrite. In theory, I’m completely fine with how it opens—Ronan being in a dream coma was foreshadowed from CDTH, and is an idea that I’d actually thought of as interesting before even reading the book. Other elements of this book like Declan’s rampage, Matthew going rogue, etc are great directions for the characters, I’d just want to rework them. I could make solo posts about any of these.

The Pynch breakup either doesn’t happen, or is set up further in advance and lasts longer. Personally, I lean towards the latter. Adam and Ronan’s conflict is set up from the very beginning of CDTH, or even from Opal (Adam warring between wanting to stay with Ronan and needing to follow through with his lifelong plans, and being frustrated that Ronan never asks for anything from Adam (specifically, to stay) ((side note: perhaps Adam’s insecurity here about Ronan respecting his boundaries so thoroughly stems from both having a family that never would respect his wishes, and Gansey (Adam’s model of love, Adam’s model of everything) having to learn not to ask things like that of Adam. What does it mean that Ronan never even tries?)) AND Ronan dealing with the crushing loneliness of being left and dealing with the consequences of having a long distance bf who is more successful than him). So they needed to have an argument about this. It’s also just in character that these two would not be perfect communicators. So. My idea: In CDTH we get no Adam POVs, just Ronan’s side of the story. We see, rather than Ronan just getting upset over one missed text, that Adam begins to pull away after the murder crab incident. We the audience don’t know why, other than Ronan’s unreliable narration and insecurity. So when Adam doesn’t respond to that one text at a vital fraught time, Ronan does what he does best, shuts down, pulls away and self destructs. Then MI rolls around and we start getting Adam POVs. We learn that after the murder crabs, Adam was throwing himself into trying to fix the nightwash situation for Ronan (Adam is not in contact with Declan here, unfortunately). After visiting for Ronan’s birthday and seeing the Lace, Adam starts to have dreams/premonitions about the end of the world (no visionaries in this universe, just psychics who are/were close to dreamers getting the visions!!). So he obviously sets out to fix this alone too. He calls his best approximations to contacts in this underground world that aren’t Declan. Henry and Mr. Gray. (+ maybe also Maura & Calla) ((Also don’t worry Henry doesn’t leave the Sarchengsey trip, just advises Adam on where to start)). Now that Adam has lost contact with Ronan (he was busy and missed the message and Ronan went off the grid like in canon), he goes full throttle into trying to solve everything while managing being his perfect Harvard persona (this gets him close to a breakdown, very reminiscent to Dream Thieves). Perhaps we get to see Adam and Declan working together to acquire sweet metals and understand the underworld of magic together. He and Ronan fight the one time they get to talk over the phone, Adam because he is truly scared Ronan will be the one to end the world, Ronan because he feels like this is another person perceiving him as a failure and wanting to control/baby him (+ he hates Adam hanging with Mr Gray and Declan of all people). By the time Greywaren starts, Adam is wrung out and hurting and Ronan is dead to the world, so yeah. He doesn’t think he can spend emotional energy playing safeguard to his boyfriend’s coma corpse. And then by the end of the book they have an actual argument/discussion no “they didn’t need words” cop out.

The number of Dreamers/Dreams has to be reduced. It’s cool to say that dreams were always integrated into this world, but it creates so many plot holes it isn’t even funny. There is no way Niall could have passed off the Greywaren being a box that brings dreams to life if Dreamers were such a common occurrence. No secret can be kept that well, someone in the black market would have known, and thus Greenmantle/Mr. Gray/Laumonier/ect WOULD HAVE KNOWN !!!

Declan does not have all his character erased by suddenly loving his mommy and daddy. Seriously what the fuck was that. Declan suddenly deciding to forgive his father because actually Declan was secretly the favorite child first is INSANE. Especially after seeing that that changed because Niall and Mor WANTED TO KILL HIS BROTHER!!! The two tenants of Declan Lynch in TRC were protecting his remaining family and fucking hating that Ronan idolized Niall just because Niall loved him best. So why make Declan turn around and do the same??? Suddenly Niall wasn’t so bad because actually he let Declan be shoved into a car trunk during a shootout out of love. I hate this plot line. Family doesn’t have to be forgiven. Understood, that’s one thing. Forgiven?? Not always. Sick of it. The real takeaway from seeing those memories should have been closure to Declan’s arc of learning that dreams should be viewed as people completely.

I definitely have other points but I cannot think of them right now. And I want to post this so I will. But TD3, as you can see, makes me an insane person.

[kinkykinard]

hi! continuing a positivity chain started by @thatmexisaurusrex! what are five cute headcanons you have about BuckTommy or Tommy? <3

omg @godlightbuckley and were JUST talking about coming up with bucktommy headcanons because i saw this going around and was like 'not that anyone is going to ask me but if they do, i need to be prepared' hahaha

let's see what i can come up with!

buck is an early bird. he loves getting up at the crack of dawn to start his day. tommy, on the other hand, would sleep in every day if he could. waking up at the crack of dawn when he feels buck roll over isn't so bad, though, especially when he reaches out to wrap his arms around buck and buck melts against his chest. buck's feigned protests fall on deaf ears as tommy grunts and buries his face in the crook of buck's shoulder, brushing a feather-light kiss over buck's skin.

ever since that one call with the armed chicken, tommy's been nervous around them. not that he's particularly concerned he'll ever come across another one with a knife, his mind just made some strong, if odd, associations that night and he's never had the opportunity to challenge them. so of course buck takes it upon himself to provide exposure therapy the next time he gets to babysit jee-yun. tommy is admittedly concerned for all of their safety as they step into the petting zoo paddock and jee immediately beelines for a nearby black silkie but buck gives his hand a gentle squeeze that says come on and a look that says you're safe with me and so tommy goes. by the end of the visit, he can't say that his fear is cured, but he's more sure than ever that he would follow buck wherever he wanted to go and that as long as he has buck, things are going to be just fine.

buck has a close call at work. again. and when bobby's instincts are the only thing he has to go on in telling buck to get checked out, buck takes the lack of official regulation as an out to skip yet another trip to the ER. unfortunately for him, eddie's got tommy on speed dial and in the time it takes buck to change into his civvies and jump into his jeep, eddie's given tommy the low down on the whole situation. buck doesn't suspect a thing as he walks into tommy's living room fifteen minutes later, though he supposes he should have given eddie's uncharacteristic lack of support in bobby's favor. his first instinct on seeing the first aid kit tommy has laid out on the coffee table is to make excuses, to weasel his way out of a once-over. when tommy tilts his head just a little bit, though, gives him that look, and a soft little evan, buck knows he's done for. he allows himself to be led to the couch, settled on the middle cushion, undressed, and carefully poked, prodded, and examined until tommy is unshakeably certain that he's okay. it's not all bad, though; the i'm glad you're okay sex they have afterward is one hell of a reward and buck would be a liar if he said he wasn't prepared to be a good boy all over again the next time around.

tommy loves to eat, and while he doesn't mind cooking, either, it's definitely not his favorite pastime. which is why when buck realizes that food is definitely a love language for tommy, he takes on the mantle of head chef at chez tommy. tommy insists he doesn't have to cook all the time, but buck is more than happy to do it. with all the lessons bobby's given him, the kitchen has become a sort of sanctuary for him. the busy work of finely dicing vegetables for a mirepoix and stirring seasonings into a bubbling pot of pommarola quiets something in him, and he loves having tommy by his side to help out with the less involved tasks and taste test whatever he's working on. his absolute favorite nights in the kitchen, though, are the ones where tommy's having a hard day. a bad call, a particularly devastating fire, a grueling day spent running on little food and even less sleep. on those nights, he gets to pour all of his love, care, and concern into tommy's absolute favorite dishes. the turkey, spinach, and ricotta-stuffed cannelloni that tommy loves most of all is a particularly pain-staking endeavor but it's worth every second of effort that goes into it for the soft, nostalgic smile tommy gets when he takes his first bite. it's a kinard family recipe that was handed down from his paternal grandmother and one day, over a plate of it, with his defenses down and his conviction that buck is really it for him, he opens up to tell buck all the things that shaped him, the ones he's never told another living soul.

being a firefighter and pilot had never been tommy's dream. he'd never really landed on one, in all honesty, though he'd considered everything from mechanics to law to professional athletics in his youth. when the time to make his choice had rolled around, however, all he wanted was to escape the turmoil at home and a presentation by a recruiter at school promised him a life of valor, honor, and camaraderie if he enlisted in the army, so he took the out. he'd hated every second of it and had cut and run the second he was able there, too. with bills to pay and the physical conditioning required of a firefighter at the ready, it was an easy choice to sign up for the academy soon thereafter. the lafd promised him the one thing he did miss about the army - the brotherhood, the found family - and while getting his start under captain gerrard hadn't been ideal, he'd eventually found his footing. now, doing meaningful, rewarding work alongside people he would follow to hell and back, surrounded by friends that are closer to him than his family ever was, and with the love of his life by his side, he can't imagine ever doing anything else.

And a bonus NSFW headcanon!

does that make this a 5+1?

buck loves how intimate being penetrated is. sure, he's been pegged before, but he had no idea how different the real thing would be. having tommy inside of him makes him feel complete in a way that nothing else ever has, and the intimacy of the moments where their bodies are connected, where tommy is seated fully inside of him, makes his heart skip and his soul ache with the enormity of it. in those moments, he loves reaching down between their bodies to feel where they're joined, to appreciate the way that his body yields to tommy's cock. when it's over, when he's made a mess of himself and tommy has spilled inside of him, buck always asks tommy to stay inside just a little longer, to keep the circuit closed so that he can marvel at how close they are, at how he isn't sure where tommy ends and where he begins anymore. and tommy is always happy to oblige.

[moffiiiiaaaa]

can you draw more eyes x eyefest yuri plea se..../nf

ofc 🙏🙏 hopefully i’ll do another thing with em whenever i get the motivation to but here’s a doodle for now :3

[shaanks]

Would you want to pull that Shanks has separation anxiety hc back out from under the bed and maybe perhaps share it with the rest of us? Tbh I LIVE for the head canons you share!!

You are so sweet!!!! 😭😭😭 I'm sorry I've been sitting on this one for several days now, I wanted to be at least sort of clear-headed to answer it properly. Some of this is going under a readmore because I'm incapable of answering things concisely lmfao.

Edit: for anyone watching out there this post is riddled with spoilers so read at your own risk.

**

I think about Shanks and all of his sublimated feelings and fears and dreams so much it makes me so crazy and sad lmfao. Focusing in on the fears part though like...abandonment and loss have been really central themes in his life.

He was found in a locked treasure chest - seemingly abandoned by his biological family (which in the end, good, because if they are who we think they are they suck anyway).

He spends his childhood aboard the LITERAL ship of dreams, two of the most prolific men of that era are his father figures, he has this incredibly close relationship with Buggy, he is soaring on the wings of this burgeoning era, where the only limits he has are what his imagination and talent allow him to be capable of...and then it all just stops.

The family that he knows sails away to the end of their journey without him because he opts to stay behind with Buggy when he gets sick, and nothing is ever the same or right again. Roger sickens, Rayleigh's mind begins to fray. The crew disbands. Everyone disappears.

Roger allows himself to go to the gallows, and on the way there he lays the future of their world on the shoulders of a grieving 14 year old boy, who has to now learn what it means to be utterly alone in a world that has not only branded him enemy, but whose governing structures are fully aware of his power and the danger his talent and proximity to Roger entail.

The only person he had there with him, Buggy, runs out on him - for reasons that were understandable, but could have been avoided by words neither of them had the emotional maturity to express, especially not in the moment of such anguish and grief.

He eventually finds people, good people, new friends and comrades, people he can trust, but even then he is having separation and its cost modeled for him in the form of Yasopp and his son, and eventually in the form of a tenacious, lovable little boy named Luffy, who loves so fiercely and is very clearly terrified of the prospect of being left, of being alone. A fear Shanks resonates with deeply. A pain he knows he will eventually have to inflict on this little boy.

There's a lot of meta around that Shanks had no faith or interest in Luffy until he ate the gum-gum fruit and didn't think he had any potential to be a pirate, but I think that's a really shallow, kind of willfully ignorant take on it. Shanks himself found a home at sea as a boisterous naive child, and the RHP more than have the capability of looking after a child with a penchant for trouble...but that's how he lost his world, too.

Leaving Luffy behind hurt him, but he left him with connection, an emotionally valuable memento, and to Shanks' awareness he was leaving him with a stable support system firmly in place. There are no guarantees in this life, but he's learned through personal experience that not even the Pirate King can grant you assurance that your family at sea will survive.

ALL that to be said that I think one of Shanks' deepest, most untended hurts is loss, the loss of family, of friends, of love, and because that wound has gone unaddressed--and because he went from lost 14 year old boy to Captain to Yonko in such quick succession, and there doesn't tend to be a lot of emotional support for mythic figures of authority--it manifests as separation anxiety.

Individual members of the RHP are rarely seen off on their own, with the exception of Benn going off to rescue Luffy that one time. They all move around together.

When people leave, Shanks keeps tabs on them, when danger arises, he does his best to be two steps ahead of it. I genuinely think there's a part of him that whispers "you'll never see them again" any time someone he cares about walks out of a room, or leaves the ship a little before him. There's a reason, I think, that he's always shown to be the last person to board the ship, why he's always ushering people on ahead of him 50 times before he goes up.

With a lover, I think it would manifest tenfold, I think that's partially why he's so clingy and touchy-feely and cuddly (aside from just being literally the sweetest man alive), because to have that sort of connection means he reached out of the imposed avoidance of his own desires to really bring someone in close, and I think that kind of loss, or the perception of the possibility of that kind of loss, would devastate him in a way he wouldn't recover from.

So he holds your hand everywhere you go, shadows you through rooms, presses you close to his side when you're out at bars, and worries, just a little bit, every time you get up to go to the galley or have to take night watch without him.

Because what if it all falls apart again. What if you disappear. What if the crew disappears. Just like what happened before.

I hope this makes sense and was coherent, I just have a feeling or two about him, ya know?

[micewithknives]

Top 5 archaeological sites in Australia that you feel people should know more about? Or top 5 Australian artefacts?

I feel like I’ve talked a bit about artefacts in a few recent asks, and also I feel like a lot of Australian archaeology (and as such, sites) are very underrated, particularly on a global scale. Its often acknowledged in Australian archaeology that getting international academia to recognise the importance of our country’s archaeology is very very difficult.

While there’s a million and one sites I’d love to talk about, I’m going to TRY and give sites that relate to different aspects and locations

This is probably going to be long, so...

1. Nauwalabila, Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II), and the Deaf Adder Gorge region, Northern Territory (Aboriginal)

Rock shelters in this region, and specifically Madjedbebe, are currently the oldest location of human habitation in Australia. Dating evidence from 2017 excavations provided an estimate of earliest occupation of 50 000 years at certainty, possibly extending back as early as 65 000 (+/-6000). It also has provided a lot of evidence for research into the extensive grind stone technologies of the Pleistocene.

2. Cloggs Cave and the Buchan region of the Victorian Gippsland (Aboriginal)

So much research has been done into this region in various ways. Josephine Flood focused her research on Bogong Moth usage (and festivals) within this region, providing some of the earliest accepted academic research in support of Aboriginal peoples’ claims of large scale Bogong Moth Festivals in Australia’s highlands (although the fac that no one really believed communities until then…………..). In 2021 grind analysis found Bogong Moth residue, making this the earliest stone artefact with evidence of insect food remains. And in addition to that recent 2017 research in the area investigated Holocene occupation with Aboriginal community members, with a focus on understanding the interaction of spirituality with the resources found in the caves.

3. Mabuyag Island, Torres Strait Islands, Queensland (Torres Strait Islander)

Mabuyag Island (alternatively known as Mabuiag or Mabuyaagi) has archaeological evidence of human occupation since 7300 years ago. The island is both associated with recent religious practices associated with he heavy processing of dugong remains, and totemic associations with these, which played a role in early 2000s into community lead and directed archaeological research into ritual and religious traditions and practices. In addition to this, Mabuyag is the location of the first archaeological excavations in Australia to find pre-colonial pottery fragments. The fragments at the two sites on the island were associated with Melanesian and Papua New Guinean pottery trade. The excavations relating to pottery on the island played an important role in our understanding of domestic and international trade in pre-colonial Australia, and also formed an influence for the recent excavations at Lizard Island, 300km south, which identified the first datable domestically made pottery technology found in Australia.

4. Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney, NSW

Hyde Park Barracks is part of a collection of colonial heritage structures in Australia, relating to Australia’s time as a penal settlement. Hyde Park Barracks in particular were the location of the housing of convict men from 1819 to 1830, with the 1830s to 1840s also involving the site being a location of additional convict punishment, and the base for the Board of Assignment of Servants. Following on from a reduction of convicts to NSW in the 1840s, the Barracks became the Female Immigration Depot, and the Orphan Institution, later becoming the Asylum for Infirm and Destitute Women.

This time period of women’s occupation provides some of the most interesting archaeological remains, as redevelopment and management of the site has found high rates of preservation within walls, and in areas below floorboards. This includes textiles and fabrics, papers, and other non-organic materials such as pipes (with their tobacco intact) stashed in what was once floor, wall, and ceiling cavities. Archaeological investigations in the area form one of the most detailed assemblages of artefacts relating to instituted women in the British Empire during the 19th century.

5. Notch Point, Western Australia (Multicultural heritage)

Notch Point is a site of varied and mixed archaeology, ranging from pre- and post- colonial period Aboriginal heritage, to diverse 19th century occupation of the region by Chinese, European, Malay, and Aboriginal peoples in association with pearling industries off the coast. In addition to this, the point is located on Dirk Hartog Island (otherwise known as Wirruwana), the site of the earliest European arrival in Western Australia in 1616, and contains archaeological evidence of both various early Dutch interactions with the island in 1616 and 1697, as well as French arrival in 1772, 1801, and 1818. Notch Point in particular also contains evidence of conflict between the predominantly Chinese population of the pearling industry, with white-Australian and European pearling masters, and pastoral agents. Its not a site that is widely discussed, but provides a fascinating overlay of the amount of varied cultural groups that can be present within Australia’s archaeological sites.

-

-

Honourable mentions to:

Lake Mungo and the Willandra Lakes which should 100% be on this list, but also I feel like I talk about it ALL the time and I wanted to mention sites that I actually don’t see discussed a lot. Theyre super important for cultural reasons, for archaeological reasons, and also for their role the development of archaeology, Aboriginal community consultation, and the role its played in developing repatriation practices in modern Australia. I have multiple posts about them HERE

Budj Bin Eel Traps in Victoria (same reasons, I’ve definitely talked about them before).

Juukan Gorge (and its destruction, im still horrified)

Harrietville Chinese Mining Village

Strangway Strings and The Peake Afghan Cameleer sites

Recherche Bay in Tasmania, and its 1792 French settlement sites

Homebush Mill & Mission Hall in QLD and Beowa National Park sites containing South Sea Islander heritage

[rozugold]

hiiii rozu hiiiii i've been browsing your painted/distorted illusions tag (its one of my fav aus rn i am so normal abt it btw) and had a random thought so i drew it. what do you think?

RRAAAAAAHHHHGGD ITS HIM!!! ITS ARM EYES TOMMYYY!! AAHGDGD IM SO NORAML ABOUT THISSS

My poor boy, he’d feel so bad about making the flowers die noo :((