Tom Austen Brown Bequest
Supporting research and teaching in Indigenous Australian and other archaeologies
Tom Austen Brown graduated LLB from the University of Sydney in 1946 and practised as a lawyer in Broken Hill. In his spare time he would search for Aboriginal artefacts in the sand dunes and desert flats around Broken Hill. More than two decades after completing his law degree, Brown re-enrolled at the University of Sydney, this time as an archaeology student. He graduated BA in 1974. During his lifetime, Brown gave $1.6 million to the university. On his passing in 2009, he left a $6.9 million bequest for the study of archaeology. The Tom Austen Brown bequest funds academic positions, scholarships, and grants at the University of Sydney, and an annual lecture in his name.
In addition, the Tom Austen Brown bequest supports the Tom Austen Brown Studies in Australasian Archaeology series, which publishes new research on the archaeology of Australia and the adjacent regions. The series focuses on the archaeology of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, both during the pre-colonial and contact periods, aiming to deepen our understanding of Australasia’s human past.
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