Dr Duane Hamacher

Indigenous Astronomy Communicator

Duane Hamacher is an Associate Professor of Astronomy and Director of The Burunh Program for Cultural & Indigenous Astronomy in the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne. His passion is examining humanity’s connections to the stars, from ancient astronomies to space futures, with a focus on Australian Indigenous astronomy.

He is the author of the best-selling book The First Astronomers and regularly presents to public audiences, including TEDx, in 22 countries across six continents. He has worked with filmmakers such as Werner Herzog, Warwick Thornton, and Morgan Freeman on documentaries, curated commemorative coins, developed public planetarium programs, designed exhibitions, consulted on theatre productions, and wrote educational modules for the Australian National Curriculum. Duane was an A.R.C. DECRA Fellow, working with Elders in the Torres Strait to learn about their astronomy, and a Fellow at the Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

Duane is President of the International Society for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture and serves on the International Astronomical Union’s Working Group on Star Names, which approved over half a dozen star names from Aboriginal languages across Australia.