meet the team

“For me, the most compelling part of archaeology is its ability to let you speak with ordinary people of the past, particularly those whose voices are often missing from the historical record.”
— Sunday De Joux, Senior Heritage Consultant

Sunday De Joux

SENIOR HERITAGE CONSULTANT

A woman with blonde hair, black glasses, and earrings, wearing a rainbow-colored sweater, smiling against a plain white background.

Sunday is an archaeologist and life-long student of history from Aotearoa New Zealand, having moved to Sydney after completing her Masters at the University of Otago. Sunday has been mesmerised by people and human culture of the past and present for their whole life, beginning with a fervid Egyptology phase at age 5 (as is tradition for many archaeologists) that evolved into a love of all histories, big and small.

Sunday’s interest in history was always enthusiastically shared and encouraged by their grandmother, Margaret, whose enduring love of learning about people and science alike they were lucky enough to inherit.

Since becoming a consultant Sunday has worked on a range of projects that reflect Australia’s ancient, diverse, and unique story, which has introduced them to some incredible people and amazing archaeology.

Sunday’s specialities include historical archaeology and bioarchaeology (the study of human remains in archaeological contexts), and they have built strong skills in project management, lithics analysis, technical report writing, surveys and excavation across the last four years.

Sunday’s artefact

Two vintage sewing pattern envelopes with illustrated women's fashion designs from the mid-20th century, featuring dresses and blouses.

“My artefacts are two sewing patterns from 1941 and 1982. I got into sewing through my love of history, opening a large drawer of vintage patterns in a second-hand haberdashery one day and realising that thousands of them are still out there, often bearing the cuts, annotations, and marks from the last person who sewed them decades prior. Sewing and fashion are tightly entwined with the economics, politics, gender and society of their time, from the functional, fabric-restricted styles of the 40s to the Romantic-inspired, subversive 80s flare. Our current fast fashion trends like exploitative labour practices, destructive textiles production, and increasingly homogenous, ill-fitting styles are cultivating a distinctive, complex archaeological record of our own. When I sew vintage patterns I feel like I’m learning beside someone from the past, someone with skills, interests, styles, and experiences that continue to hold enduring and relevant value today.”