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Australia’s Extinct Megafauna - ABC Education

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Curriculum-linked learning resources for primary and secondary school teachers and students. Videos, games and interactives covering English, maths, history, science and more!

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Brilliant student friendly resources focusing on the ice age and the land bridge between Victoria and Tasmania

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Remember that place names are now capitalised, the TAC are in the midst of updating the website which hasn't got capitals - yet.

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"How evolving landscapes impacted First Peoples' migration to Australia" - University of Sydney

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"How evolving landscapes impacted First Peoples' migration to Australia" - University of Sydney

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Humans first set foot on Sahul around 75,000 years ago. The research team used an established landscape evolution model detailing climatic evolution from 75,000 to 35,000 years ago. The model offers a fresh perspective on terrains and environments inhabited by the first hunter-gatherer communities as they traversed Sahul.

Researchers ran thousands of simulations to describe possible migration routes originating from two entry points into Sahul: a northern route through Western Papua and a southern route from the Timor Sea shelf.

Their results were consistent with previous findings, predicting a high likelihood of human occupation at already iconic archaeological sites such as: Ngarrabullgan Cave (in North Queensland), the Puritjarra rock shelter (Central Australia), and the Riwi Cave and Carpenter's Gap 1 rock shelter in the Kimberley (Western Australia).

Results indicated migration speeds of between 360 metres and 1.15 kilometres a year, depending on entry points and arrival times. They also show that human settlers would have dispersed across the continental interior along river corridors on both sides of Lake Carpenteria.

"Our palaeoecological reconstructions show evidence of diverse interior habitats varying from high altitude tropical forest, subtropical savannah to semiarid woodland and grassland," Associate Professor Salles said.

Instead of finding well-defined migration routes (indicated by the grey lines on the below map), the research suggests a radiating wave of migration following rivers and coastlines. This correlates with known migration corridors: east of Lake Carpentaria following the Great Dividing Range; southern corridors connecting Lake Eyre to the eastern corridors; and the central super-highways transecting Australia's arid interior.

Used in conjunction with mechanistic simulations, the findings could help evaluate how often a specific location is likely to have been visited.

"This could help identify new areas of archaeological interest as a precursor to more costly and time-consuming archaeological surveys," Associate Professor Salles said.

Research

Salles, T. et al. 'Physiography, foraging mobility and the first peopling of Sahul'. Nature Communications (Vol 15, 2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47662-1

Co-written by: Manon Lorcery from the University of Sydney and France's Université Grenoble-Alpes; Associate Professor Renaud Joannes-Boyau, Southern Cross University; Associate Professor Ian Moffatt from Flinders University and Southern Cross University; and Laurent Husson from Université Grenoble-Alpes in France.

Declaration

The authors declare no competing interests. Research was funded by the Australian Research Council.

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How evolving landscapes impacted First Peoples' early migration patterns into Australia

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For the first time, dynamic modelling of terrain at the University of Sydney has helped us better understand how humans first travelled across the combined continent of Sahul - Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania - between 35,000 and 70,000 years ago.

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They were put on display for decades, but since 2005, the rock carvings in Hobart have been in storage, while the Tasmanian Aboriginal community fought to have them all returned home.

"Today marks a very significant event for us, and for those carvings, and for that country at Preminghana where they belong."

Both rock carvings arrived at their destination, with an Aboriginal community-only event to be held this weekend, when they're placed back to the spot they were stolen from.

Ongoing negotiations with Hobart's Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) and Launceston's Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery saw a commitment made at the end of 2019 to hand back the rock carvings, almost a year later Tasmania's Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Roger Jaensch signed permits for the petroglyphs to be returned to the Country from which they were taken.

The institutions publicly apologised for what they described as "nearly 200 years of scientific, research and museum practices that resulted in immense hurt and suffering to Tasmanian Aboriginal people."

She also worked at TMAG for 19 years, beginning as a trainee, and later the Senior Curator of First People's Art and Culture.

About 60 people gathered in Hobart on Wednesday morning to witness the petroglyphs begin their journey to Preminghana, including pakana man Cody Summers.

Thomas Riley, a pakana man whose family comes from Flinders and Cape Barron Island, said he was there to represent his family.

*The Tasmanian Aboriginal language palawa kani does not use capital letters.

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Sixty years ago these sacred rock carvings were stolen from Country and taken to a museum. Now, they're home

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An Aboriginal community event will be held this weekend when the petroglyphs are placed back to where they were cut from.

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But in an act that today would be considered cultural vandalism, museum staff used tools including a large saw to cut a number of these engravings from the rocks in which they were grounded, so they could be put on show in museums in Launceston and Hobart.

The institutions publicly apologised for what they described as "nearly 200 years of scientific, research and museum practices that resulted in immense hurt and suffering to Tasmanian Aboriginal people."

Preminghana in Tasmania's north-west is a place of significance for Tasmanian Aboriginal people. Source: Supplied: Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre

A complex project

It's been decided the slabs of rock will be placed in purpose-built crates and transported in trucks to the area.

The natural environment

"The only way to prevent this is to prevent evaporation and to do this they must be sub-surface or underground."

Righting wrongs

"TMAG is currently seeking advice from the Tasmanian Heritage Council and Aboriginal Heritage Tasmania to understand what we need to do to return the Greene's Creek Petroglyphs and other sacred material to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community."

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Sacred petroglyphs set to finally return home to palawa Country

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The process of having rock carvings returned to the site they were created thousands of years ago by palawa ancestors has been a long and complicated one, but there is hope their return will finally occur later this year.

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Tasmania's Aboriginal cultural heritage provides a spiritual connection for Tasmanian Aboriginal people today and valuable information about one of the oldest living cultures in the world.​

​Aboriginal cultural heritage is the tangible and intangible legacy of Tasmania's Aboriginal people. It refers to those places, objects and traditions that have been passed down to us from past generations. It also includes intangible places where there may be no physical evidence of past cultural activities. These include places of spiritual or ceremonial significance or trade and travel routes.​

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Aboriginal Cultural Heritage | Aboriginal Heritage Tasmania

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Aboriginal cultural heritage refers to the places, objects and traditions passed down from past generations. It is the tangible and intangible legacy of Tasmania’s Aboriginal people.

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Deep Time resources - Aboriginal Education Library

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Deep Time resources - Aboriginal Education Library

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Digital learning resource: Separation of Tasmania

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Digital learning resource: Separation of Tasmania

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware this website contains images, voices and names of people who have died.

An isolated island

About 12,000 years ago: Sea level rises, separating Tasmania from the mainland

About 12,000 years ago: Sea level rises, separating Tasmania from the mainland

Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, State Library of Tasmania

Use the following additional activities and discussion questions to encourage students (in small groups or as a whole class) to think more deeply about this defining moment.

Questions for discussion

1. The separation of Tasmania isolated both the people and animals from the Australian mainland. The thylacine, also known as the 'Tasmanian tiger', once lived throughout Australia but by the time Europeans arrived it lived only in Tasmania. Why do you think the thylacine survived only in Tasmania? Hint: you will find some clues in this other Defining Moment:
1936 Benjamin, the last thylacine - Extinction of thylacine

2. Do you agree with the National Museum of Australia that the separation of Tasmania is a defining moment in Australian history? Explain your answer.

Image activities

1. Look carefully at all the images for this defining moment. Tell this story in pictures by placing them in whatever order you think works best. Write a short caption under each image.

2. Which 3 images do you think are the most important for telling this story? Why?

3. If you could pick only one image to represent this story, which one would you choose? Why?

Finding out more

1. What else would you like to know about this defining moment? Write a list of questions and then share these with your classmates. As a group, create a final list of 3 questions and conduct some research to find the answers.

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National Museum of Australia

In a snapshot

Tasmania was connected to mainland Australia by a land bridge for thousands of years. This allowed the Aboriginal peoples who lived in these regions to travel back and forth. About 12,000 years ago, sea levels rose and separated Tasmania from the Australian mainland. Because of this, the Aboriginal peoples of Tasmania could no longer travel between Tasmania and Victoria.

Can you find out?

1. How were Aboriginal peoples able to travel between what we now call Victoria and Tasmania?

2. Why were convicts sent to Van Diemen's Land?

3. What was the impact of colonisation on Tasmania's Aboriginal people?

How did Tasmania become an island?

Tasmania was and continues to be known as lutriwita and truwana by the Aboriginal peoples who live there.

The first people arrived in Tasmania on foot around 40,000 years ago. They could travel this way because, for tens of thousands of years, Tasmania and Victoria were connected by a land bridge. Now Bass Strait separates the two.

About 30,000 years ago an ice age began. A lot of seawater froze in ice sheets and glaciers, and sea levels dropped by about 120 metres. This created a continuous land mass between Papua New Guinea and Tasmania. Aboriginal peoples lived on this land, now known as the Bassian Plain, and could travel easily between Victoria and Tasmania.

When the ice melted - which took about 6,000 years - Bass Strait formed. By about 12,000 years ago, Bass Strait had become a wide and rough strait, isolating the people of Tasmania for thousands of years.

'They were alone for five hundred generations, knowing no other people in the world, living with the knowledge and beliefs derived from those they had known before the sea surrounded them.'

Iain Davidson and David Roberts, '14 000 BP - On being alone: The isolation of Tasmania'

When did Europeans colonise Tasmania?

In the 1640s the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to visit and map parts of Tasmania. He named the island Van Diemen's Land after Anthony van Diemen, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.

In 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip set up a British convict settlement at Sydney Cove. But the Europeans hadn't explored much of Australia yet. Between 1798 and 1799 explorers George Bass and Matthew Flinders sailed south from Sydney. They circumnavigated Van Diemen's Land, proving that it was an island.

Research task
How do Aboriginal cultural practices and languages continue in Tasmania today? Do some research to find out.

In 1803, 49 people were sent to set up a British settlement on the Derwent River in Van Diemen's Land. This settlement grew and later became Hobart.

Soon convicts were transported to Van Diemen's Land. Most came straight from Britain, but some were sent from New South Wales for committing a crime there. The penal settlement set up at Port Arthur operated between 1833 and 1853.

When the British stopped transporting convicts to Van Diemen's Land in 1853, the island's name was changed to Tasmania.

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National Library of Australia nla.obj-334686747

How did colonisation affect Aboriginal peoples in Tasmania?

Some of the worst clashes between white colonists and Aboriginal peoples happened in Tasmania. In 1830 thousands of white colonists formed a 'Black Line'; a human chain that crossed the settled districts of Tasmania. This line of people moved south over many weeks and tried to frighten, capture and relocate the remaining Aboriginal people.

The 'Black Line' did not successfully achieve its goal right away but the campaign did frighten many Aboriginal people, who later surrendered to the colonists. Around 200 Aboriginal Tasmanians were removed to Flinders Island in Bass Strait, where many died from the extremely poor living conditions.

Because of this resettlement, many white colonists believed that Aboriginal peoples in Tasmania had died out. But Aboriginal culture survived through the children of Aboriginal women and white sealers who lived on the Furneaux Group islands.

Research task
Research Truganini and write a short summary of her life and achievements. Include information about when and where she was born, her family, how colonisation affected her, the challenges she faced, and what she achieved in her lifetime.

Read a longer version of this Defining Moment on the National Museum of Australia's website.

What did you learn?

1. How were Aboriginal peoples able to travel between what we now call Victoria and Tasmania?

2. Why were convicts sent to Van Diemen's Land?

3. What was the impact of colonisation on Tasmania's Aboriginal people?

Related resources

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Separation of Tasmania | Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom | National Museum of Australia

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Tasmania was connected to mainland Australia by a land bridge for thousands of years. This allowed the Aboriginal peoples who lived in these regions to travel back and forth. About 12,000 years ago, sea levels rose and separated Tasmania from the Australian mainland.

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Biocultural diversity, nine nations over time, maps

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Video: Introduction to Tasmanian Aboriginal heritage

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Video: Introduction to Tasmanian Aboriginal heritage

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Types of Aboriginal Heritage - Introduction

Text Alternative for video -

- [Narrator] What might Rosie have found?Now we're going to look at some typesof Aboriginal heritage in Tasmania.Aboriginal culture heritage can be describedwithin two categories, tangible heritageand intangible heritage.Tangible heritage includes all the physical items,such as stone artefacts, rock markings, and shell middens.Intangible heritage includes stories, songs, rituals,and beliefs that are not necessarily a physical item.In this section, we focus on tangible heritage,including shell middens, stone artefacts,stone quarries, rock shelters,rock markings, and hut depressions.

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Types of Aboriginal Heritage - Introduction

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Types of Aboriginal Heritage - Introduction Text Alternative for video - - [Narrator] What might Rosie have found?Now we're going to look at some typesof Aboriginal heritage in Tasmania.Aboriginal culture heritage can be describedwithin two categories, tangible heritageand intangible heritage.Tangible heritage includes all the physical items,such as stone artefacts, rock markings, and shell middens.Intangible heritage includes stories, songs, rituals,and beliefs that are not necessarily a physical item.In this section, we focus on tangible heritage,including shell middens, stone artefacts,stone quarries, rock shelters,rock markings, and hut depressions.

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Stone tools, scarification, Tasmanian toolkit

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Cultural heritage, world heritage, Burra Charter

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Watch the whole video to see an interview following the animation

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Dept for Education, Children and Young People

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Series 4: The Creation of Trowenna (Tasmania) as told by Leigh Maynard

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Text Alternative for video -

(gentle music)- So, we're just in another part of the midden now.In midden sites like this,it's really common to find stone tools as well.These are some stone toolsthat would be found in a site like this.And so a really easy way to identify a stone artefactis to look for the platformwhere it's been hit with the hammer stone and flaked offand then often there'll bethis bulb of percussion on the back.And then another easy way to tell if it's a stone toolis you can see the flaking off the ridgesand the retouching around the sharp edge.So, some stone tools were made and usedand discarded straight awayand favoured ones, or favoured materials,would be retouched continuouslyand used over and over again.This is spongolite.This is only found in one area in lutruwita, Tasmania,so it was quarried thereand then traded throughout the island.So, stone tools made out of this materialcan be found in midden sites all around the island.So things like that can tell us a lot about trade routesand important resources.You can find stone tools right across Tasmania.You can find one isolated artefact on its own anywhere,out in the bush, in your yard sometimes.You could find a scatter of stone toolsor potentially a knapping floor,so an area where people have come into quarrya certain material and then sat and made stone tools there.If you think you've found a stone tool,it's really important to leave it where it is.Don't pick it up and take it away.As soon as a stone artefact is removed from its site,it loses all its cultural integrity.But these artefacts are incredibly importantto the Aboriginal communitybecause they're tangible connectionsto our past and to our ancestorsand, you know, they tell us a lot about how people livedand survived here on this little islandfor such a long time.

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Text Alternative for video - (gentle music)- So, we're just in another part of the midden now.In midden sites like this,it's really common to find stone tools as well.These are some stone toolsthat would be found in a site like this.And so a really easy way to identify a stone

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Dome huts

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Ochre and its significance

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Songlines

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Watch the whole video to see an interview following the animation

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Dept for Education, Children and Young People

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Series 2: Ballawinne (Red Ochre) as told by Jim Everett

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Digital learning resource: Evidence of first peoples

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Digital learning resource: Evidence of first peoples

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https://digital-classroom.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/evidence-first-peoples

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What does archaeology tell us about how long Aboriginal people have lived in Australia?

Aboriginal people have lived in the northern parts of Australia for at least 65,000 years, longer than human settlements in Europe and the Americas. Extremely old objects such as the ochre have been found in recent years in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Spoons, cutting tools carved from shell and beads thought to be necklaces were found in a Pilbara cave in northern Western Australia in 2017. These date back more than 50,000 years.

In 2018 about 11,000 Aboriginal objects were found in Kakadu National Park. Some researchers believe these objects could be up to 60,000 years old and possibly even older. Previous famous examples of Aboriginal occupation were found at places such as Lake Mungo in New South Wales and Devil's Lair in south-west Western Australia.

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Evidence of first peoples | Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom | National Museum of Australia

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The earliest date we know that humans lived and travelled around Australia is always changing. Archaeologists continue to make new discoveries and modern science helps them more accurately date the objects that they find. The age of the piece of ochre in the photograph (pictured) is a good example of this.

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Hut Depressions » Aboriginal Heritage Awareness

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- So we’ve moved further up the coastand now we’re at a hut depression site.This is the base of a dome-shaped hutand you can see it’s a bigcircular depression in the ground.People would of bent sticks
to make a dome over the topand then clad that with bark
and line it out with fursand feathers to ma…

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Brilliant visual learning. Please note the website on the poster does not exist. These posters are also available to borrow from the AES library

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Video: Shell middens/ cultural living sites

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Video: Shell middens/ cultural living sites

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Text Alternative for video -

- We're in south-west Tasmania at Stephens Bayand we're here to have a look at a midden.The middens are incredibly importantAboriginal cultural heritage sites.They're found all around the coast of Tasmaniaand basically they're the living places of our ancestorsso they're places where familiesand extended families have come together,collect shell fish and have a meal.Set up camp, yeah, so middens are basicallythe leftovers of those living places.Shell middens are one of the most common sitesfound in Tasmania and they're fairly easy to identifythrough the shell types that you would normally findso you're looking for large, edible shell fish,like abalone, whelks, warrener,sometimes oysters, mussels and you might also findstone tools, or charcoal left from camp firesand they built up over thousands and thousands of yearsof people coming back to the same placeand then setting up campand so they'll often end up in a big moundbut some other middens are a lot more discreetand you might just see layers of midden in the soil.So if you come across a midden,it's really important to not walk all over it.Not to trample all over,not to pick anything up or take anything away from the site.Try and stay on the outskirts and admire itand appreciate it and think aboutwhat those sites mean to the Tasmanian Aboriginal communityand what they mean to the broader community in general.Yeah it's an incredible feeling to bein places like this.You know they're usually in some of the most spectacularplaces around Tasmania,so you know, great views, great beachesbut also it's that spiritual connection I thinkto the place and knowing that our ancestorshave been here for so long and that these are the placesthat they chosen to live.

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Text Alternative for video - - We're in south-west Tasmania at Stephens Bayand we're here to have a look at a midden.The middens are incredibly importantAboriginal cultural heritage sites.They're found all around the coast of Tasmaniaand basically they're the living places of our ancestorsso they're places where familiesand extended families

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Text Alternative for video -

(mellow music)- So, we're in a cave at the momentand up above me and right through to the backis a rock engraving site.Rock marking is any rock site that has markings in itthat's been deliberately put there by Aboriginal peoplein the past, so a site like this would have beencreated by pecking into the stone and then grindingto make the marks.This is a full gallery of markings, so people havecome back over time and put more markings over top of theothers, so there's quite a lot in this little special spot.We can see human shapes, foot shapes, lines,geometric shapes.They're some of the common types of shapes found inrock markings around the state.People would have come back on a seasonal basisand been coming back for thousands of years and, you know,contributing to the rock markings that have builtup over time along this cave wall.Unfortunately the specific meanings behind the symbolshas been lost over time, but sites like this would havebeen used for ceremony, for recording stories.Other sites with less gallery like markings,they would be used for marking boundaries, or markingimportant resources.So Aboriginal people have been coming here forthousands of generations and so the community nowcoming back and visiting these places again,it's really important to reconnect and maintain thatconnection to the country and looking afterour sites as well.This is pretty overaweing really, it's an incredible siteand to think the amount of time and effort that hasgone into creating, you know, these rock markings,is pretty special.

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Rock Markings » Aboriginal Heritage Awareness

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(mellow music)- So, we’re in a cave at the momentand up above me and
right through to the backis a rock engraving site.Rock marking is any rock
site that has markings in itthat’s been deliberately put
there by Aboriginal peoplein the past, so a site
like this would have beencreated by pecking into
t…

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AHT TWWHA Aboriginal Cultural Values Projects - PoW Summary

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Watch the whole video to see an interview following the animation

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Dept for Education, Children and Young People

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Series 5: Kannenner the Brave (The Tasmanian Tiger) as told by Leigh Maynard

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Tasmanian Aboriginal oral traditions among the oldest recorded narratives in the world

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Tasmanian Aboriginal oral traditions among the oldest recorded narratives in the world

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Tasmanian Aboriginal oral traditions among the oldest recorded narratives in the world

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New research published in the Journal of Archaeological Science indicates Palawa (Tasmanian Aboriginal) stories recall geological and astronomical events that occurred 12,000 years ago, placing them among the oldest recorded oral traditions in the world.

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Introduction to 'ningina tunapri' exhibition for teachers

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Introduction to 'ningina tunapri' exhibition for teachers

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Teachers can also book the "Black Box" which includes stone tools for learners to be able to touch and feel in your classroom.

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Introduction to the ningina tunapri exhibition for teachers

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First Nations Live: Traditional Cultural Practices

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First Nations Live: Traditional Cultural Practices

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbMd9mblRUM&t=919s

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First Nations Live: Traditional Cultural Practices

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Digital learning module: Ancient Australia defining moments

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Digital learning module: Ancient Australia defining moments

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https://digital-classroom.nma.gov.au/learning-modules/ancient-australia-defining-moments

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Language use

The term 'deep time' is increasingly recognised as a preferred alternative to 'ancient' and reflects the language of the Australian Curriculum.

The Museum recognises that terms such as 'Dreaming' and 'Dreamtime' are related but distinctly different. The Museum has used 'Dreaming' here to reflect usage in the Australian Curriculum.

We encourage teachers to discuss how language use changes over time and to think about the cultural implications of exclusively using historical terms that represent a Western linear perspective of time and human activity.

About our learning modules

This learning module is self-contained, and can be:

* a whole class activity
* distributed between small groups, with students reporting back on their findings to the whole class
* select enrichment activities for individual students.

The investigations provide a rich digital resource for classroom use. They include contextual information, documents, images, scaffolded comprehension, analytical and extension questions. Students can explore aspects of 20th century Australian history through text, images and objects.

What constitutes a defining moment in Australian history, and why some issues and situations can be considered more significant than others, is an underlying theme that can be raised with students throughout the module.

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Discover how archaeologists investigate the ancient world and learn about Australia's ancient past at Lake Mungo. Year 7 | History | Australian Curriculum aligned

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First Nations Live: Female Cultural Practices

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First Nations Live: Female Cultural Practices

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkk18ym_USk&t=4s

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First Nations Live: Female Cultural Practices

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A Timeline of Tasmanian Aboriginal History

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A Timeline of Tasmanian Aboriginal History

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A Timeline of Tasmanian Aboriginal History | Tasmanian Geographic

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A Timeline of Tasmanian Aboriginal History

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Migration, land settlement & hunting practices, 40-12,000 years ago (Breen)

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Migration, land settlement & hunting practices, 40-12,000 years ago (Breen)

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1.1 Migration, land settlement, and hunting practices, 40,000-12,000 years ago (2)

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Interactive: Aboriginal Tasmania Story Map

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Interactive: Aboriginal Tasmania Story Map

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YouTube |
Vimeo |
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Wait

Facebook Twitter

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This story map was created with the Story Map Tour application in ArcGIS Online.

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ABC Article: Kutikina Cave and Ice Age evidence

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ABC Article: Kutikina Cave and Ice Age evidence

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2006-03-11/cave-reveals-indigenous-ice-age-lifestyle-secrets/815972

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A broader picture of Tasmanian Aboriginal life around the time of the last ice age is emerging through research on bone fragments from a south-west cave.

Researcher Dr Jillian Garvey says the animal bones from the floor of the Kutikina cave show people mostly hunted bennetts wallabies, then took the meaty hindquarters back to the cave, where the flesh was eaten and bones cracked to extract the nutritious marrow.

Also on the menu were wombat, grey kangaroo and the tasmanian emu, which became extinct after European settlement.

The cave, near the Franklin River in Tasmania's south-west, was used as a winter base by Aborigines.

Dr Garvey says the environment during the last glacial maximum was harsh and her research is illuminating how Tasmanian Aboriginals survived.

"We can now start to look at the overall landscape picture of the cave usage in that area because Kutikina is only one of several caves in the area and we already have an idea of the fauna in the other caves," he said.

"So what we want to do now is put together a perspective of how people were utilising these different caves over time, so we're going to start looking at teeth analysis to try and understand the season of hunting."

Dr Garvey spent months at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery sifting through bone samples taken from the cave several years ago.

"Nearly all of these bones are then cracked and they've been cracked longitudinally so they extract the bone marrow from these lower limbs," she said.

"Not only were they going for the meat but they were also going for the bone marrow, which is what you'd expect because this cave in particular was used during the last glacial maximum when the environment would've been at its most harsh.

"So even though meat was a good resource, bone marrow was much more nutritious than the meat itself."

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Cave reveals Indigenous ice age lifestyle secrets

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A broader picture of Tasmanian Aboriginal life around the time of the last ice age is emerging through research on bone fragments from a south-west cave.

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Searching for something in the Orb is as easy as a google search subject;theorb.tas.gov.au eg ochre;the orb.tas.gov.au

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ABC Article: Controversial William Crowther statue to be removed

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ABC Article: Controversial William Crowther statue to be removed

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Crowther desecrated the remains of Tasmanian Aboriginal man, William Lanne. This topical example (debate around removal of statue) could be explored when learning about remains returns.

See also this on the Hobart City Council website about the next stages of the removal process: Crowther Reinterpreted - City of Hobart, Tasmania Australia (hobartcity.com.au)

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Hobart City Council has voted to remove the statue of former Tasmanian premier William Crowther from a park in the centre of the city - but a historian says in the very same public space there are monuments to other men who did far worse deeds.

Hobart City Council has voted 7-4 in favour of removing a statue of former premier and doctor William Crowther

Crowther broke into a morgue in 1869 and cut off and stole the skull of Aboriginal man William Lanne

The council has agreed that Crowther should not be commemorated with a statue due to the offensive acts he committed

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that this story contains references and images of deceased persons and content which may cause distress.
In the 1860s, Crowther, who was also a surgeon, broke into a morgue in Hobart which was storing the body of Aboriginal man William Lanne, removed his skull and sent it to a museum.

He then replaced the skull with that of another corpse.

The statue of Crowther was erected in Franklin Square in 1889 for his "political and professional service to the colony", but last night Hobart councillors voted 7-4 in favour of taking it down.

"With our decision, we're saying we're ready to have truth-telling take prime position in our premier civic square," Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said during the debate.

"We're also saying that we don't want to celebrate a time in our history when scientists and doctors wanted to prove theories of European superiority.

"It was an appalling tradition and, as long as the statue stands there, Crowther does represent that part of the scientific and medical tradition.

"[So this is] an important step towards reconciliation, and an important step towards telling a much more honest and truthful history of what happened in Hobart's colonial past."

It is believed to be the first time an Australian council has decided to remove a statue.

There was a loud cheer from the packed gallery inside the council chambers when the result was read out.

"Relying on non-Aboriginal elected leaders to make the right decision on Aboriginal issues is not something we've been able to do before," Nala Mansell from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre said after the meeting.

"We just really would like to acknowledge the seven elected members that were able to stand up, show true leadership and lead the way in this country.

"It's a great day for Tasmania and for Tasmanian Aboriginal people."

As outlined in the motion, the bronze part of the statue will be removed once it receives planning approval, with the plinth remaining in place.

The statue itself will be preserved - initially taken to the city's valuables collection but possibly re-interpreted in a different location later.

On the site, temporary signage explaining the decision will be put in place, with a long-term installation to be decided on in the future.

"We will commission a new public artwork which tells a much broader, deeper, and more honest version of what was going on in that era in Hobart's history," Ms Reynolds said.

However, some of those who voted against the motion said it still constituted an attempt to erase the state's history.

"I think we need to preserve our history as a society, as a nation, as a state and as a city, warts and all," Alderman Simon Behrakis said.

"That statue didn't go up celebrating the horrors and appalling acts that were committed, it celebrated a man's contribution to the state.

"Those appalling acts should not be minimised, should not be sanitised away, but I think removing the statue does just that, I think it does sanitise history to an effect."

Other figures 'worse than Crowther'

Cassandra Pybus, a prominent Tasmanian historian, said Crowther's crimes paled in comparison to other historical figures, including former governor Sir John Franklin - whose statue sits in the very same public park.

"[Crowther's actions are] egregious, it's appalling, it's shocking ... but down the road from him in the same park is Sir John Franklin," she said.

"He wasn't a surgeon, so he got somebody else to do it [cut the skulls out] for him.

"When he was visiting Flinders Island, his wife Lady Jane Franklin requested skulls be sent to them at government house, and they were."

Ms Pybus said many former governors across Australia had been involved in mutilating Aboriginal remains - whether performing the act themselves or ordering others to carry out the task.

"You could start with Arthur Phillip in New South Wales on the First Fleet who gives instructions to the soldiers to go out to Botany Bay and capture Pemulwuy the great warrior ... and bring back 20 heads," she said.

"Why? Because he had a letter from Joseph Banks saying 'will you send me some native skulls?'"

Ms Pybus said despite "many examples" throughout history, "there's only one person who's ever talked about as mutilating Aboriginal bodies".

"As long as that remains the case, you're not going to have the truth-telling about what a shocking and complete process was going on," she said.

"From the moment the settlers arrived and started killing Aboriginal people, they started taking trophies, usually the head."

Crowther descendant supports decision

Tasmanian Aboriginal people have been campaigning for the statue to be removed from its prominent position for decades, but the movement gained momentum in recent years through the "Crowther Reinterpreted" project, a series of artworks in Franklin Square.

It was during this time that Crowther's great-great-great-grandson first learned about his ancestor's past and the story of what he did to Lanne.

"I think that some of those things were kept from us, not only through a lack of knowledge but also through some form of embarrassment or shame," Matt Drysdale said. "As you could understand, this is a highly sensitive thing to discuss in a family context."

Mr Drysdale and his sister made a submission to Hobart City Council ahead of the vote asking them to remove the statue.

"[Learning about Crowther's history] has been quite challenging and confronting ... but for us the only thing that we felt that we could do is to support the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community in what they wish to do here.

"Rather than being ashamed, we have to own that history, so that we as a broader community can move forward."

Want more Tasmanian news?

Set the ABC News website or the app to " Tasmania Top Stories" from either the homepage or the settings menu in the app to continue getting the same national news but with a sprinkle of more relevant state stories.

Here's a taste of the latest stories from Tasmania:

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Statue set for removal - now, historian says take a look at others in the same park for 'men who did far worse'

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There is a palpable sense of relief for many in Tasmania's Aboriginal community over the decision to remove a 133-year-old statue of a man accused of mutilating a deceased Aboriginal man, but one historian says there are other monuments to men who did far worse - just metres away.

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Video: Aboriginal remains return to Tasmania

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Video: Aboriginal remains return to Tasmania

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JmKeVDeDOo

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Lake Mungo for kids - National Museum of Australia

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Lake Mungo for kids - National Museum of Australia

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Lake Mungo is a dry lake in the far west of New South Wales, about 760 kilometres west of Sydney. About 50,000 years ago, Lake Mungo held a huge volume of water. The water disappeared with the end of the ice age and the lake has been dry for more than 10,000 years.

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Documentary: First Footprints - Episode 1

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Documentary: First Footprints - Episode 1

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Documentary: First Footprints - Episode 2

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Documentary: First Footprints - Episode 2

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Documentary: First Footprints - Episode 3

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Documentary: First Footprints - Episode 3

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Documentary: First Australians - Episode 4

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Documentary: First Australians - Episode 4

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First Australians - Scientific research and evidence 

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First Australians - Scientific research and evidence 

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When did modern humans get to Australia?

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Archaeological evidence shows that modern humans had reached South-east Asia by 70,000 years ago and that they had spread to Australia by at least 50,000 years ago.

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We have analysed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 111 hair samples (samples that were originally collected from Aboriginal Australians during Board of Anthropological Research expeditions to Cherbourg, QLD (23 samples), Point Pearce, SA (41 samples) and Koonibba, SA (47 samples). DNA was extracted from a portion of the hair (about 1/3 of what was in the envelope kept at the South Australian Museum) and used this to determine the mitochondrial "haplotype" (sequence) for each sampled individual. Several community visits are planned for 2017 to obtain consent for additional hair samples to continue the research.

Building an Aboriginal Australian Family tree

The DNA sequences tell us how closely people are related, with identical sequences showing members of the same family. In the case of mitochondrial DNA, we inherit our lineage from our female ancestors. When two people have a recent common female ancestor (e.g. the same mother or grandmother) then they will have identical mtDNA. Alternatively, if there is a longer time back to a common female ancestor (say, >5 generations) for two people, then they will tend to have differences in the mtDNA - the longer the time that has passed since that common ancestor, the more changes there will be.

We use the differences in the mtDNA to build a tree that relates all people together, with those with more similar mtDNA sequences being closer together on the tree. We can do this for all people to tell us how we are related to one another, but in this project we concentrate on the relationships between Aboriginal Australians.

Typing the mtDNA to the landscape

Once we have determined the mtDNA sequence for each individual, we look at where these are located on the Australian landscape. This tells us if people that are closely related tend to live in the same areas, or are more broadly dispersed around Australia.

If closely related people are found to come from the same areas, then this tells us that families have stayed in one area for long periods of time, and in the past women have tended not to move into other areas of Australia and have children with members of the local populations.

Alternatively, if closely related people are more broadly dispersed across Australia, this tells us that in the past Aboriginal Australian women have moved around the landscape and that relationships between people from different populations were more common.

To determine the geographical location of the mtDNA, we use the genealogical records (i.e. family trees showing relationships over multiple generations) collected by Tindale and colleagues during the expeditions where the hair was collected.

This genealogical information allows us to trace the mitochondrial sequence back on the landscape to the oldest known female ancestor of whoever donated the hair sample. This is important because we can see back to a time prior to the disruption of Aboriginal communities following European colonisation, providing a good idea of the original distribution of families and groups across Australia.

Australia-wide patterns

Overall, the genetic patterns show that there are five major groups of mtDNA sequences in Australia - which are termed M, O, P, R and S, following the one letter ordering system used globally. These major groups are called 'haplogroups' to signify that they contain a large number of related mitochondrial haplotypes.

The M, O, P, R and S haplogroups were formed shortly before or just after Aboriginal people originally colonised Australia, and record information about how and when people initially spread across Australia.

While we have a good picture of M, O, P and S, we only have 3 samples of the R haplogroup so far so can't say much about that group yet. As we obtain more individual haplotypes we can generate an increasingly detailed reconstruction of Aboriginal Australian population history.

We see some striking geographic patterns when looking at the distribution of the haplogroups around Australia. The most obvious pattern is the absence of haplogroups O and R from eastern Australia, whereas the other haplotypes (M, P and S) are almost entirely located around eastern Australia. This suggests that the original population entering the very north of Australia then moved around each coast separately, with one group travelling around the West Coast (O and maybe R), while the other group (M, P and S haplogroups) moved around the East Coast. Members of these groups appear to have continued their migrations around the coasts until meeting up again in South Australia.

Within each of the haplogroups, the most closely related individuals tend to be found further south than more distantly related individuals. This suggests the earliest splits within each group occurred in the north, and is another sign that these groups colonised Australia from the north and gradually made their way south.

A key pattern is that closely related people tend to be found in the same area, so that related mtDNA lineages tend to cluster within relatively small areas of Australia. Taken together, these features all support an extremely long association between Aboriginal people and Country. The basic patterns that we see, which reflect Aboriginal life prior to European interference, indicate that little population movement has taken place since the original colonisation of Australia around 50 thousand years ago. This is truly remarkable given the massive climatic and environmental changes seen in Australia over the past 50 thousand years, and underlines the very deep cultural connection between Aboriginal people and their Country.

IMPORTANTLY, because we have only analysed mtDNA data to date, these patterns reflect to history of female ancestors of Aboriginal Australians and remain to be tested for male ancestors. It is possible that they could be different for males, for instance if females tended to stay in Country, whereas males were more mobile and moved between populations.

Haplotype-specific patterns

Below we briefly summarise the findings for the different haplotype groups. Please note that the precise naming of haplotypes may be modified over time as we discover new genetic types. For example, S1 has become S1a, S1b etc. We will provide a list of these changes so it is possible to trace the history of each sequence through the project.

Details of the Haplogroups

The O haplogroup can be split into a two major sub-groups, O1 and O2. Both groups appear to be part of a single migration that passed along the Western side of Australia, with the most recent groups being concentrated along the western coast of South Australia. O1 contains some of the more distantly related O lineages, and is found mostly in northern and central Australia. However there are few of this group (5 samples) and they all come from previous genetic studies using modern Aboriginal people, and as a result the reported geographic locations may not accurately reflect the ancestral patterns. O2 (includes O2a, O2b, O2c etc) appears to be found almost exclusively in South Australia, with most members concentrated around the western coast and surrounding inland regions of South Australia, with all but one individual lying east of Fowler's Bay and west of Yorke Peninsula. Nearly all of the O2 individuals share a fairly recent common ancestor, suggesting that this group grew very rapidly from a single family starting about 8 thousand years ago (or about 400 great-grandmothers back!).

The S haplogroup is also split into two major subgroups (S1/S6 and S2-S5), and has the most complicated internal relationships of all the major haplogroups. S lineages are largely eastern and Riverine in their distribution, and probably arose as part of the initial eastern migration route around Australia.

The first subgroup consists of S1 and S6. Subgroup S1 is split into smaller groups (S1a and S1c) that are found around the Riverine and southern coast regions stretching between Melbourne and Ceduna, with another group (S1b) on the east coast near Brisbane. These patterns may reflect some more recent movement of people between the north-east and south coast within the last 30 thousand years.

The other subgroup comprises S2, S3, S4 and S5. Subgroups S3, S4 and S5 are all older northern lineages that come from previous genetic studies. Subgroup S2 also comprises several northern lineages from other studies (most of S2b), with a handful of lineages ranging from central Queensland down to the Yorke Peninsula on the southern coast. The latter pattern may reflect historical movements along the river corridors that run through these regions (i.e. along the Murray Darling River).

The P haplogroup can also be split into two major subgroups (P4/P6 and other P's) that appear to have arisen very early in the colonisation of the Australian and New Guinea landmass (which was joined together at the time). We know this because each of the two Aboriginal Australian P subgroups are more closely related to people now living in New Guinea, than they are to each other. This suggests a mixed population of these genetic types entered northern Australia, with some members of each group headed into New Guinea, which other members headed south into Australia. The Australian P lineages show an eastern coast-Riverine-southern coast pattern that reflects the eastern migration route.

One P subgroup comprises P4 (also known as P11) and P6, with P6 being older northern lineages from previous genetic studies. The P4 lineages show patterns similar to S2 - there is a large group based along the southern coast (between Fowler's Bay and Adelaide), with a smaller number of individuals arranged along the Riverine area between central southern Queensland and Victoria. The other P subgroup comprises a range of lineages (P-new, P2, P5, P6, P7, P8 and P12). P5 is the largest lineage, and is located primarily along the eastern Queensland coast between Brisbane and Cairns. The other lineages are older, with many lying in the north of Australia (e.g. P-new near Cooktown).

The M haplogroup contains a single major subgroup (M42) and a handful of older, more northern lineages (M14, M15, M16). Once, again we see a connection between Riverine areas and the north-eastern and southern coasts, implying this river corridor has been important for human dispersal in the distant past. The M42 subgroup is broken into three regional groups with one near Adelaide (M42d), another around the Brisbane area (M42c) and a final group being spread across the Riverine and southern Queensland (M42a).

Finally, the R haplogroup comprises only 3 samples, which are located in the Nullarbor or Simpson Desert regions.

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We have analysed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 111 hair samples (samples that were originally collected from Aboriginal Australians during Board of Anthropological Research expeditions to Cherbourg, QLD (23 samples), Point Pearce, SA (41 samples) and Koonibba, SA (47 samples).

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Modern Vegetation Map: For comparison with Sahul

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Modern Vegetation Map: For comparison with Sahul

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Researchers' theory on ancient Aboriginal migration across Australia | ABC News

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Researchers' theory on ancient Aboriginal migration across Australia | ABC News

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Researchers' theory on ancient Aboriginal migration across Australia | ABC News

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Modern Climate Map: For comparison with Sahul

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Modern Climate Map: For comparison with Sahul

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Extinction of Australia's Megafauna - Behind the News

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How Ancient Art Captured Australian Megafauna

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How Ancient Art Captured Australian Megafauna

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How Ancient Art Captured Australian Megafauna

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Songlines: Aboriginal Art and Storytelling

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Songlines: Aboriginal Art and Storytelling

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Songlines: Aboriginal Art and Storytelling

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Songlines are the Aboriginal walking routes that crossed the country, linking important sites and locations. Before colonisation they were maintained by regular use, burning off and clearing.

The term 'Songline' describes the features and directions of travel that were included in a song that had to be sung and memorised for the traveller to know the route to their destination. Certain Songlines were referred to as 'Dreaming Pathways' because of the tracks forged by Creator Spirits during the Dreaming. These special Songlines have specific ancestral stories attached to them.

Image Source: Aboriginal traditions describe the complex motions of planets, the 'wandering stars' of the sky.
Markers for the journey

Songlines contain information about the land and how the traveller should respectfully make their trip. This includes the types of food were safe to eat, places to be avoided and the boundaries of each Mob's Country that the traveller could pass through.

Songlines also describe features and landmarks that the traveller should look out for so they knew that they are going in the right direction. A well-known marker is the scar-tree near the Heide Museum of Modern Art in Bulleen. This scar-tree is called 'Yingabeal' ( Yinga meaning sing or song and beal being the Wurundjeri name for a redgum). Yingabeal marks the point where five different Songline routes meet and come together. Other examples of 'signposts' or 'markers' include rock formations, bends in rivers, or trees with naturally forming spirals, twists or arches.

The 'Yingabeal' scar-tree marks the point where five different Songline routes meet and come together. Physical markers like 'Yingabeal' allowed the traveller to know where they were in their journey.

Image Source: Sonia Hankova. Yingabeal Heidi Scar Tree (reproduced with permission)
A Cultural Passport

One example of a Songline is the 3,500km travel route that connected the central desert region with the eastern coast of the country (modern day Byron Bay). This particular travel route allowed the desert communities to visit the ocean where they could witness how dolphins were used by the people to heard fish. Similarly people from the coastal communities were able to travel and visit the culturally important sites of Uluru and Kata Tjuta.

Songlines also act as a 'Cultural Passport' when travelling through the country of another Mob. The verses that relate to a particular region, can be sung in the local language so that the people living there know that travellers are passing through in a respectful manner.

Image Source: Uluru, helicopter view. Wikipedia.
The Songlines of today

When the British invaded, the colonists used Aboriginal Songlines for their horse drawn vehicles because a path had already been cleared. Over time and continued use, these traditional routes evolved to become cart-tracks, then gravelled paths, to finally the bitumen covered roads we see today. Examples of roads in Melbourne that were once used as Aboriginal Songlines include the Napean Highway, Dandenong Road, Plenty Road, Heidelberg Road, Geelong Road and Ballarat Road, just to name a few.

One of the great tragedies of colonisation was the eradication and white-washing of the carefully curated use of Country by Aboriginal people. Songlines were diminished as mere 'animal tracks' or 'natural clearings' when in truth they were so much more.

Songlines are the singing celebration of Country, a cultural passport when walking on the lands of neighbouring Nations and a way to acknowledge the great Creator Spirits and their footprints in the land.

Sources & Further Reading

NITV Documentaries on Songlines

To view these, a free SBS OnDemand account is required. These videos will expire after a period of time.

Songlines: Wurray. Wurray is a Dreamtime character. He is one of our "makers". He's a traveller with an open mind and an open heart to the land.

Songlines: Tjawa Tjawa. The "Tjawa Tjawa" songline is about a group of women who came from around Roebourne in the Pilbara and travelled, in some cases underground, all the way through to Kiwikurra in the Great Sandy Desert.

Songlines: Bulunu Milkarri. This Manikay is sung traditionally by Djambarrpunu Clan. Milkarri is a sorrow Manikay (songline), is sung by women from this clan to cry about a longing for Ngurruyurrtjurr (homeland/clan).

Songlines: Njambi. Following the spiritual, legal and economic significance of Njambi (stone spear), senior custodian Roy Wuynjumbi Ashley shares an all encompassing story of identity, culture and law.

Songlines: Goorrandalng, Damari and Guyala, Naji, Wardbukarra. The Songlines on Screen initiative presents films that show Aboriginal people's ongoing connection to land and culture as told throughout time by the way of creation songs

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or printed material. To listen to our Acknowledgement of Country, click here.

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The term 'Songline' describes the features and directions of travel that were included in a song that had to be sung and memorised for the traveller to know the route to their destination. Certain Songlines were referred to a...

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The Marlaloo Songline

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First of all, I just want to confirm that [Anne introduces herself in language].

So I'm just introducing myself and my name is Dr Anne Poelina. And in my introduction, I said that I'm a woman who belongs to the Fitzroy River, the Martuwarra. But I am sharing today on Juukanin Yara country in my home brew.

I wanted to share with the listeners today, this opportunity to talk about the Balginjirr songline. And it's a very momentous time for us because we've been waiting since 1976, to map this songline. And we've been waiting, what we call in a circle of time for the right moment, and the opportunities for the elders to feel ready to share. So it's been a very, very long journey.

And what was very interesting was many years ago, in 1976, there was a very big Indian Oceania festival in Perth, where my elders from Noonkanbah went to Perth to participate in a ceremonial festival of sharing what is, you know, what is the amazing culture that indigenous people bring from the Indian Ocean perspective. And so this story was recorded in the songline was recorded many, many years ago.

But I wanted to be able to have the time to work with my senior elders from Noonkanbah to look at how we would map this songline process because it's quite complicated. It's not just Oh, now I'm going to go and map this songline project, because there's a lot of cultural protocols involved in mapping a songline.

And we wanted to be respectful and show that this was a great opportunity to be respectful to the land, but importantly, the songlines. So the Balginjirr songline project has been able to receive some very, very important resources from the AIATSIS project. And it's an amazing project that AIATSIS is leading and definitely want to give a plug for the great work that's coming out of that, because without this bit of seed investment, we would not have been able to do the project.

So it's a very, very powerful opportunity because it allows me living on my country at Balginjirr, Balginjirr is a very, very big sacred ridge. It's a huge sacred site that runs 26 kilometres along the land, cultural landscape. And then it does a deep dive under the Fitzroy River or the Martuwarra, and it comes up just outside of Broome.

And it's amazing story because it starts in Balginjirr and a beautiful living water system or a billabong called Gulminarr. And Gulminarr is an abbreviation of coolamon. And those of you that know the coolamon is a dish that you know can carry water, can carry food, can carry a baby. So it's a very, very special place.

And about 10 years ago, I had an opportunity to stand at my billabong and hear a senior elder tell the story of how two serpents commenced the journey of this songline of Balginjirr. But it turns the other way. And this songline goes from Balginjirr to Mullaloo.

And so we've been working with the senior elders, we've been working with our amazing young filmmakers. And we had an opportunity to go on country and map the songline. So as I said, the songline starts at Balginjirr, and it's a story about two serpents that travel through the cultural landscape, naming places and actually having, in a way a contest of strength between a serpent that travels from what we call Minagooda, and which is the Mount Anderson cave. And so this serpent rises up and it starts at Linagoodun Cave and then it comes back to Balginjirr.

And then from there, it travels across the cultural landscape, travelling through the countryside going from the cave, called Linagoodun Cave, which is the place is called Juma danga which in the western name is called Mount Anderson.

And this is a huge mountain that is in the middle of the Fitzroy River. And this serpent rises up from Linagoodun Cave, and travels through the cultural landscape. And as they travel, they come to significant spots along the country. And we named them and we were able to GPS and record them and capture this amazing footage using drones and working with our elders.

So it's a very, very beautiful thing. But it's also a highly emotional thing, because what we're doing is that we are evoking the song line that has been anciently embedded in the cultural landscape. And we bring it to life with the voices in the singing of the elders. And so we were able to travel and map the songlines and, and have all of that, but we came to a place very, very close to Noocumbah, and Noocumbah is my grandmother's country.

My great grandmother came in from the St. George range around about 1867, there was a huge massacre there. And most of her family were slaughtered, murdered, whatever description you want to hear. But she was brought into Noocumbah. And it's very, very interesting because I'm nearly 65 years of age. And this journey took me to a place which is half an hour from my grandmother's country. And it is just absolutely amazing.

So we went to the place called Mullaloo. Because the Balganjirr songline is actually called Mullaloo. And so we come to Mullaloo and it is I just, you know, sat there looking at the lake, and it was just teeming with every kind of bird you could think of.

And then I look back in the distance, and I could see St George Range, Thundera, we call it in our language, but it was almost like I was sitting there looking into a world that had my whole world before me, in terms of this was my grandmother's country.

And then I was looking back into my great grandmother's country. And all of this was right in front of me. And it was, in a way a preface door and had the Mullaloo, the lake in front of it. And there were every kind of bird that was sitting there. And as we walked through the Country, the elders were telling us the story of how the two serpents had had actually rose up and were in a battle against each other.

So the serpent from Linagoodun Cave came through, Nginarr Country from the lower Nginarr Country to the beginning of the Country, which was Mullaloo. And the serpent from there said, 'Hey, this is my patch, don't come here trying to bring in your law and your ways of doing business. This is my, my territory'.

And so in the songline, there was, we were able to create, you know, two serpents that the two young men, young, they're in their 40s, we're able to then have the transformation and the legitimacy and the authority of the songline to be then bestowed to them.

So we had to go to countries, so countries could see that we were legitimate, and that the transfer and his knowledge and wisdom, were going to Nginarr men who were ready to carry the songline into the future, by learning and any engaging country now. So it's very, very powerful.

And then from there it triggered other stories in terms of the serpent from Mullaloo then went to a place called Muja or Fossil Downs. And there is, you know, danced and created the river system.

And then it turned back and came to Mullaloo, and at the fight of Mullaloo with the strength of the serpent from there stood up. And basically, they had this fight where it created a huge tornado. And in the story, it really made me reflect because when the elders started to talk to me about it, it showed that not only do we have a songline that shows that Mullaloo is where the serpent is, but it brought in a contemporary context of an actual tornado being caught being created. And sucking up.

When I heard donkeys and sheep and cattle. It made me realize that this actual event that took place was a songline from the beginning of time, but had context in terms of showing that it had relevance during the pastoral period. So it was very, very interesting in terms of that exploration.

But what it did was it evoked the country, it showed the country that we were the legitimate ones to be able to stand, record the song, but transfer to our young people.

So in the film that we've produced for AIATSIS, we've captured this story in about three to five minutes, which is amazing, because as I said, I've been waiting since 1976, for this opportunity.

But it captured this songline and it allowed us to then create a new modern dance. So when you see the film, you'll see the two men stand out and the serpents are there and it was very, very interesting because the day before I had to assume that, okay, if we've got two serpents fighting, then there is a whole performance just in the act of fighting.

But no. When we did the dance the others said no, we must stand still and the two servants must eyeball each other. And in a way they engaged in an invisible dialogue of how they will giving agency to themselves, how they were giving authority to say, Okay, you've come to my place Mullaloo. I'm going to have this fight, and then I'm going to send you back because I'm more powerful.

So it was very, very interesting in terms of the stories, the song, the ceremony, the awakening of the landscape, with the right people to be in then in a position to say, Okay, we have two very younger men who have come on the journey with us, they are Nginna men, they are the ones that we should then bestow the legitimacy and the authority of the songline to.

So these two young men is Edwin Mulligan, Edwin is Warlminjarri Nginna man and Mark Cole Smith. So both of these men have been through this process.

So there's been a huge investment in terms of going on country being with the elders travelling through the landscape, doing ceremony at each particular spot that we went to, to end up with a story that can reflect the meaning and the value of songline.

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First of all, I just want to confirm that [Anne introduces herself in language]. So I'm just introducing myself and my name is Dr Anne Poelina. And in my introduction, I said that I'm a woman who belongs to the Fitzroy River, the Martuwarra.

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Water Serpent - Galaru Snake

'The serpent is resting here on Gooniyandi Country, this story we got it now, it is recorded for everybody to share this story'.

Senior Gooniyandi Elder Mervyn Street shares his grandmother's and mother's songline story that traverses Gooniyandi Country in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

I'm saying in my language: first time, [this place] is named 'Shorbet'. Not Mount Frank.

And that Snake came all the way and buried here.

And that place where another Snake went back to Killagua Spring, and laid all the eggs there.

I'm telling a story about this place. My Mum told me a story about this Snake and she showed me the track and it's buried there now. This whole Jimblany Kandaji, this is all bottle rock.

And I'm here telling a story. About my Mum's story about my Grandmother's story that was passed on to me. And I'm here, got all the family, they've come to listen to my story. And what I'm saying now, they will keep that story.

They've got em, what I'm saying now. They won't forget. I got family here.

Because it's for my family, it's for everybody's family. This part of my story is for... they [Nyikina] got a story, when we tell that Serpent's story, all the way from right down from somewhere [bottom of Fitzroy River catchment], came this way and it's here. It's buried here.

Water Serpent - Kalurru Snake, buried here.

This story is for all of us. Through songline, it's for all of us. That's why I'm here telling this story.

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Water Serpent - Galaru Snake 'The serpent is resting here on Gooniyandi Country, this story we got it now, it is recorded for everybody to share this story'. Senior Gooniyandi Elder Mervyn Street shares his grandmother's and mother's songline story that traverses Gooniyandi Country in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

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EIT | Engineering Institute of Technology

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Did you know that one of the oldest examples of aquaculture and hydraulic engineering is in Australia? In recognition of NAIDOC Week 2021, we are celebrating and recognizing the engineering achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Lake Condah © Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation

The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape is located in the traditional Country of the Gunditjmara Aboriginal people in south-eastern Australia. The landscape comprises three components; Budj Bim (northern) component, Kurtonitj (central) component, and Tyrendarra (southern) component.

The Gunditjmara people have called the lands of Australia home for tens of thousands of years, from the time the now-dormant volcano of Mount Eccles was erupting to the present day.

They used the land's natural topography and features to establish settlements and villages near natural bodies of water, with the community's population believed to be in the thousands.

Gunditjmara Aquaculture System

Carbon dated to be around 6,600 years old, the Gunditjmara people created a complex aquaculture network where modified channels diverted water and (short-finned eel) into holding ponds. Volcanic rock was used to construct a sophisticated stone aquaculture complex of fish traps, weirs, dams, and channels.

Here, kooyang were able to grow fat and be harvested with woven baskets built from wood lattice structures. This provided a year-round food supply for the Gunditjmara people and was also important for trade.

The extraordinary network is spread around an area of about one hundred square kilometers, in the vicinity of Lake Condah. At the center of this region is the extinct Budj Bim volcano. When the Europeans arrived, it was renamed Mount Eccles, but the mountain is commonly regarded by its original Gunditjmara name.

For the Gunditjmara people, the mountain is spiritually significant. They believe that the features of the surrounding native landscape mark out the traces of the creator, Budj Bim, who emerged in the form of the volcano. The eruptions, which occurred an estimated 30,000 years ago, disrupted the drainage system of the region. This left behind a vast landscape of abundant swamps and wetlands. The increased presence of eels and fish enabled the Aboriginal people to develop into a settled society.

The aquaculture system provided an economic and social base for Gunditjmara society. This interrelationship of Gunditjmara cultural and environmental systems is documented through present-day Gunditjmara cultural knowledge, practices, material culture, research, and historical documents.

Tyson Lovett-Murray © Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners

World Heritage Listing

In August 2019, the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List for its Outstanding Universal Value. This was a landmark decision as it is one of the few places recognized purely for its importance to the First Nations People.

The decision came following a campaign that stretched back more than a decade and was a monumental moment in recognizing the sensitive way in which the Gunditjmara people had lived in harmony with the landscape.

"This is a very special day for our community", elder Denise Lovett said in a statement. "This landscape, which we have cared for over thousands of years, is so important to Gunditjmara People,"

"The decision also recognizes Budj Bim's significance to all of humanity. We are so proud to now be able to share our achievements and story with the world."

Lessons in Sustainability

The colonization of Australia had a devastating impact on Indigenous people, who have lived on this land for thousands of years. Thousands of First Nations people were massacred, hundreds of plant and animal species went extinct, waterways were destroyed, resources were taken out of the ground, and the ecology drastically changed in a rapid amount of time.

The theme for NAIDOC Week 2021 is Heal Country! It calls for stronger measures to recognize, protect, and maintain all aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage. Heal Country! highlights the greater need for the protection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands and waters, sacred sites, and cultural heritage from exploitation, desecration, and destruction.

Whilst the adding of the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape to the World Heritage List allowed for increased protection, there are still many outstanding injustices that need resolving. Healing country is about the historical, political, and administrative landscapes adapting to further empower and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, nations, and heritage.

The eye-opening achievements of the Gunditjmara people are an incredible insight into more sustainable ways of interacting with the natural world. Whilst the system highlights an inspiring engineering accomplishment, it shows how the Gunditjmara people worked with the land without disrupting the natural landscape.

Country is our healing and we all benefit from living on land that is healthy and well-cared for. So much has been taken and it is now time to give back to Country.
For more information about NAIDOC Week or this year's theme, head to the official NAIDOC website.

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The Ancient Aboriginal Engineering of the Budj Bim Eel Traps

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Did you know that one of the oldest examples of aquaculture and hydraulic engineering is in Australia? In recognition of NAIDOC Week 2021, we are celebrating and recognizing the engineering achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape is located in the traditional Country of the Gunditjmara Aboriginal people in south-eastern Australia.

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View Enquiry Questions related to HASS and corresponding resources (below) or view resources by title further down the page. Griffith University would like to acknowledge the important role of the …

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Education Guide: Voices of Aboriginal Tasmania

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Education Guide: Voices of Aboriginal Tasmania

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https://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/66766/Voices_of_Aboriginal_Tasmania_ningenneh_tunapry_education_guide.pdf

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Report: TMAG Apology to the Tasmanian Aboriginal People

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Report: TMAG Apology to the Tasmanian Aboriginal People

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Video: TMAG Apology to the Tasmanian Aboriginal People

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Video: TMAG Apology to the Tasmanian Aboriginal People

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The creation of Trowenna - ABC Education

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DANIEL BROWNING:

According to Leigh Maynard, the story of the creation of Trowenna was related to the colonial administrator George Augustus Robinson by the ancestor Woureddy, a story-singer from Bruny Island. Leigh says it's a circular story - that it goes around and around, just like the cycles of the moon and the sun. This is The Creation of Trowenna, read by Melodie Reynolds.

MELODIE REYNOLDS:

In the beginning, when all things took their shape, Trowenna, the heart-shaped island, was just a very small sandbank in the southern seas. We now call is Tasmania. Throughout countless ages, when the ice came and went, throughout darkness and light, so Trowenna remained. As the sea rose, Punywin, the sun, flashed fire as he moved across the sky. At night, his wife, Venna, the moon, cast a silvery glow over the world as she moved across the sky. Throughout time, they travelled across the sky, creating life. They move from horizon to horizon, where they sank into the seas. However, Venna could not travel as fast as Punywin, so he would encourage her, and his light would reflect onto her, to help her move across the sky. These were the days when the sun and the moon were in the sky together. Sometimes, Venna would feel the cold on the short winter days, and Punywin would allow her to rest on one of the icebergs that surrounded Trowenna. On those days, before he slipped over the horizon, Punywin would come and get Venna, and they would slowly slide over the rim of the world together. These were the days when the moon seemed to be permanently on the horizon, as the sun moved across the sky. The day after, their son, Moinee, was born. Because he was a strong and shiny boy, Punywin and Venna placed him high in the sky above Trowenna. He was the great South Star. On the following day, their second son, the gentle Dromerdene, was born. Dromerdene shone just like his brother. Punywin and Venna placed him in the sky halfway between themselves and Moinee, the great South Star. He still watched over Trowenna today. We call him Canopus. The day after Dromerdene was born, Punywin and Venna rose from the sea, and passed across the little sandbank, dropping seeds. They dropped seeds for the great gum tree tara monadro, and the plants that grow on Trowenna today. The next day, rina dina fell to help tara monadro grow. Then, on the day after rina dina had made the seeds sprout, shellfish appeared on the waters around Trowenna. These shellfish were plentiful and of every shape. All throughout the Dreamtime, the seeds sprouted and became trees and other plants. The leaves fell down from the trees and the plants of Trowenna and mixed with the sand, and became the soil. The shellfish grew and became numerous. As the old ones died, they became the stones and the rocks of the great mountains of Trowenna. All the shells can be seen in the rocks throughout Trowenna today. Slowly, over time, Trowenna rose from the seas, no longer just a sandbank. Through the ages of Dreaming, icebergs from the great southern seas floated around Trowenna, rubbing against the island and moving it away from the great South Land. Today, you will see shellfish everywhere. You will see tara monadro - the great gum tree - you will see plants and animals. You will see all that is Trowenna.

DANIEL BROWNING:

The Creation of Trowenna is part of Sharing Our Stories - a 14-part series compiled and photographed by Liz Thompson, and published by Pearson. The first series, which we broadcast here on Awaye! in its radio form, won the Australian Awards for Excellence in Educational Publishing, and the books can be found in ABC Shops. The reader tonight was Melodie Reynolds. The soundscape and story was produced by David Bridie and David Page, with original music by David Bridie. The original recordings were by Liz Thompson.
SUBJECTS: English, Geography YEARS: 7-8

Different cultures around the world have their own creation stories, explaining how this planet and all the places on it were formed.

These stories can tell us much about what is important to each culture.

This story, from the Nuenonne people of Bruny Island, explains how Tasmania, known to them as Trowenna, was formed.

Things to think about

1. 1.Think of a place that is special to you. It might be your home or somewhere else to which you feel a connection. You might like to draw a picture of it. Why has it become so important to you?

2. 2.How would you describe the relationship that exists between the sun, the moon and the stars? How do Nuenonne people explain the different movements of the sun and the moon? According to this story how does plant life first become established on Trowenna? Why can you find remains of shellfish in the mountains?

3. 3.How does this story show that family is important to the Nuenonne people? The Nuenonne people are from Bruny Island. Why do you think there is a focus on shellfish and plants in this creation story? You may hear echoes of elements of other creation stories, or of some scientific theories related to the Earth, such as tectonic movement. If you can, note them.

4. 4.
There is some similarity between this creation story and the first of the two biblical creation stories in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 1). Find out more about that story, then make a list of similarities and differences between it and the Trowenna story. Produce an illustrated version of this story - perhaps a digital one accompanied by a soundtrack that you've created yourself.

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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topic_aboriginal and torres strait islander history and culture

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aboriginal and torres strait islander history and culture

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The creation of Trowenna - ABC Education

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Different cultures around the world have their own creation stories, explaining how this planet and all the places on it were formed.

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Watch the whole video to see an interview following the animation

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Dept for Education, Children and Young People

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Series 1: Kuti Kina as told by Jim Everett

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In short: Scientists have uncovered 82 pieces of pottery on Jiigurru (Lizard Island) that are dated to between 3,000 and 1,800 years old.

The pottery may have been made locally by First Nations people, making it the oldest - and one of the only - examples of Aboriginal pottery.

What's next? Experts agree more archaeology in the area needs to be done.

On an island off the coast off Cape York Peninsula, about half a metre below the surface, there are ancient fragments of pottery that could change our understanding of Aboriginal history.

A paper in Quaternary Science Reviews describes the discovery of almost 100 small pieces of pottery, with the oldest being dated at up to 3,000 years old.

The researchers argue the discovery shows Aboriginal people on Jiigurru (Lizard Island) were not only aware of pottery thousands of years before European colonisation, but were making it themselves.

If the pottery fragments were confirmed to be made by the Aboriginal people who inhabited the island, it would be "a whole new chapter in Australia's history," said Ian McNiven, professor of Indigenous archaeology at Monash University and one of the first authors of the new paper.

Ancient Aboriginal people are known for technologies like fish traps, fire management and the bark canoe.

"[But] nobody thought that Aboriginal people made pottery," Professor McNiven said.

"Australia seemed to be the only continent in the world that never had a pottery tradition."

Despite the discovery, however, others query why Aboriginal people would have had a need for pottery.

Search for ancient pottery in Australia

Aboriginal archaeology researchers have long searched for ancient pottery along the Queensland coast.

This is because a few thousand years before Europeans arrived, a group of people known as the Lapita sailed just north of Australia,

Their archaeological record can be tracked from Papua New Guinea, around many of the Pacific islands, all the way to Polynesia.

And their travel is easy to see in the fossil record because it introduces pigs, taro and bananas to new places, as well as large amounts ofintricately patterned pottery.

Around a decade ago, researchers discovered the Lapita not only went east to Polynesia, but also south - around the coast of Papua New Guinea and towards the Torres Strait.

"We have pottery that's maybe around 2,500 years ago in Torres Strait," Professor McNiven said.

The latest discovery suggests their influence extended further south, via their connections with Indigenous Australians.

"There's something big happening in terms of community connections, alliances and exchange networks in north-eastern Australia and southern Papua New Guinea between 2,000 and 3,000 years ago," Professor McNiven said.

The search on Jiigurru

The search for pottery of Lizard Island kicked off in 2006, when New Zealand archaeologist Matthew Felgate - co-author of the new paper - was taking a coastal walk.

"He goes on a holiday to Lizard Island, and walks around the intertidal zones, and he found pottery," Professor McNiven said.

Professor McNiven and other Australian researchers couldn't believe it.

"Everyone has been looking for pottery on the Queensland coast forever, none of us have ever found it. His first trip looking for it he finds it."

But a lone fragment of pottery washed up on a beach can't be dated, and the researchers weren't sure who made it. It could have been anything from Lapita pottery to remnants ofa European shipwreck.

So, the archaeologists began their investigation on Jiigurru, working with the traditional owners to try and find more pieces of pottery in an undisturbed location that could be dated.

"Whenever the archaeologists attend Country there's always a traditional owner - one of our people - who come with them," said Dingaal clan member and Walmbaar Aboriginal Corporation chairperson Kenneth McLean.

"Archaeologists and the traditional owners, together we survey country and work together to ensure they're digging at the right place."

What was found

The researchers dug a one metre square pit inside a midden - ancient piles of shells, charcoal and other signs of habitation - to try to uncover ceramic fragments.

Between 40 and 80 centimetres deep inside the metre-square hole, the team struck gold.

They found an impressive 82 fragments, or "sherds" of pottery, made from three different sources of clay - remains of pots that differed in both size and thickness, Professor McNiven said.

"We know it wasn't just a one-off. It was a pottery tradition that has spanned many generations and probably hundreds of years."

Charcoal found within the midden allowed the team to radiocarbon date the oldest sherds to around 3,000 years old and the youngest to around 1,900 years old.

This would make it the oldest Australian pottery ever found that has been securely dated, Professor McNiven said.

But the researchers also dug deeper than the pottery.

Dating the bottom of the midden showed people had travelled to Jiigurru for up to 6,500 years, which would also make the island - which is about 30 kilometres off the coast - the earliest offshore island occupied on the northern Great Barrier Reef.

"Aboriginal people nearly 7,000 years ago had sophisticated canoe technology and the navigational skills to cruise out over 30 kilometres off the coast, which is going over the sea horizon," Professor McNiven said.

"Most of the Pacific was only settled in the last 3,000 years. So when people are standing on Jiigurru nearly 7,000 years ago, if they look east there is nobody out in the Pacific."

Lapita or Aboriginal?

With a seafaring group of pottery makers on the doorstep, the researchers needed to confirm that the ceramics were made by the Aboriginal groups in the area, as opposed to the Lapita people.

This fits with the oral histories of the local Indigenous people, who have stories about trading across the seas.

"I believe that's why these places were sacred because the ancestors were making these ancient technologies 2,000 years ago," Mr McLean said.

Glenn Summerhayes, a Lapita pottery expert at the University of Otago, confirmed there were subtle differences between the newly discovered sherds and Lapita pottery that had been found in the past in other areas.

The researchers also analysed the pottery clay itself, and found it was similar to clay found in the Cape York Peninsula, and the sand could have been from Jiigurru.

And the team ruled out Lapita people inhabiting the island instead because they didn't find the telltale signs of pigs, banana or Lapita shell technologies - just the pottery.

"The Jiigurru pottery is, nevertheless, clearly associated with Lapita cultural influences diffusing down the Queensland coast through exchange networks, with both continuity in ceramic technology (low-fired earthenware) and characteristic manufacture from local materials," Professor McNiven and colleagues wrote in their paper.

Why make pottery?

Lynley Wallis, a professor of archaeology at Griffith University not involved with the study, said the research was "excellent" but there were questions about why Aboriginal people would use pottery in the first place.

"You need pottery to store things. You need pottery to cook [...] Aboriginal people all along that Cape York Peninsula coastline had no need to make pottery because they had big baler shells and big clam shells, which serve exactly the same purpose," Professor Wallis said.

"If you chip away the outside of the shell, you can simply reach your hand in and there's already a ready-made handle in there."

"It'd be great to hear [the paper's authors] speak about why they think Aboriginal peoples suddenly did this for this short blip of time, and then stopped."

Both Professor McNiven and Professor Wallis want to see more research done in the area.

Professor Wallis' research group is about to start excavations on the Cape York Peninsula, while Professor McNiven is hoping to do more excavations on Jiigurru, and other islands nearby.

"There's hardly any archaeological work that's been done on the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef. There's still dozens of islands there that no archaeologist with local community members have gone out onto," Professor McNiven said.

"What else are we going to find if we do the work?"

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How a piece of pottery found on a beach stroll led to a discovery that could make us rethink First Nations history

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Ancient pottery fragments have been discovered on a Great Barrier Reef island that could change our understanding of Aboriginal history.

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The Colonisation of Hobart - ABC Education

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this resource contains images of people who have died. The colonisation story of Tasmania (lutruwita) began in the mid- 1600s when Dutch explorer Abel Tasman first sighted its shores and named it Van Diemen's Land.

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What does Country mean to the palawa people? | The Point | NITV