This year we celebrate a notable anniversary, 75 years of Australian diplomatic relations with Egypt. But Australia's interest in and interaction with Egypt and its ancient civilisation has a very much longer history, stretching back two centuries to the very early years of the Colony of NSW. This lecture will trace the development of Australia's engagement with the history and culture of ancient Egypt, an involvement which became ever closer and deeper as the years progressed. Australians can now be trained as Egyptologists in Australia, and Australian Egyptologists and archaeologists are actively engaged in researching Egypt's history in cooperation with their Egyptian counterparts.
Boyo Ockinga is Honorary Associate Professor in the Department of Ancient History, and member of the Australian Centre for Egyptology. He studied Ancient History at the University of Auckland (BA 1973; MA 1975) and went on to study Egyptology and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Tübingen, Germany (1976-1983), where he obtained a DPhil in Egyptology in 1983. Before coming to Macquarie in 1984 he was Assistant in the Department of Egyptology, Tübingen (1982-1984). At Macquarie he taught Egyptology with a focus on philology and religion until 2020. He now focuses on research.
