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The First Astronomers

How Indigenous Elders Read the Stars

Foreword

"Between the covers of this extraordinary book is a detailed account of the science behind Indigenous star knowledge. Rarely is a book of such importance published. When profound ideas are introduced to the world for the first time, our world is fundamentally changed and the previous understandings consigned to history. There are those who continue to deny the intelligence and scientific traditions of Indigenous people. The idea that the only true science is that of Western thinking must be consigned to history. Those who read this book will understand why." (excerpt)

Professor Marcia Langton AO

ABOUT THE BOOK

Our eyes have been drawn away from the heavens to our screens. We no longer look to the sky to forecast the weather, predict the seasons or plant our gardens. Most of us cannot even see the Milky Way. But First Nations Elders of the world still maintain this knowledge, and there is much we can learn from them.

These Elders are expert observers of the stars. They teach that everything on the land is reflected in the sky, and everything in the sky is reflected on the land. How does this work, and how can we better understand our place in the universe?

Guided by six Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, Duane Hamacher takes us on a journey across space and time to reveal the wisdom of the first astronomers. These living systems of knowledge challenge conventional ideas about the nature of science and the longevity of oral tradition. Indigenous science is dynamic, adapting to changes in the skies and on earth, pointing the way for a world facing the profound disruptions of climate change.

The First Astronomers shows us how respectful collaborations can drive exciting and innovative solutions to global challenges that impact us all. Published by Allen & Unwin.

100% of author royalties go to charity for scholarships, community projects and educational programs for First Nations Peoples.

THE ELDERS & KNOWLEDGE HOLDERS

Ghillar Michael Anderson

Uncle Ghillar Michael Anderson (b. 1951) is an Aboriginal rights activist, Senior Law Man, and leader of the Euahlayi Nation in north-western New South Wales, Australia. He was taught Euahlayi customs and traditions through his people's sacred ceremonies. Uncle Ghillar was a co-founder of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 1972 and remains the only surviving member. In 1979 was appointed to the Office of the Public Prosecutions in criminal law as an instructing officer in the state of New South Wales. Uncle Ghillar has been sharing traditional star knowledge for years, publishing several academic papers on Euahlayi astronomy.

John Barsa

John Barsa (1965-2018) was a Magaram man and Knowledge Holder from Mer in the eastern Torres Strait of Australia. He was a successful artist, master craftsman, weaver, carver, dhoeri maker, and traditional astronomy expert. Projects he has collaborated on include the research papers Dancing with the Stars – Astronomy and Music in the Torres Strait, Death and Maier: Meteors and Mortuary Rites in the eastern Torres Strait, and Indigenous use of Stellar Scintillation to Predict Weather and Seasonal Change. He designed traditional Meriam costumes with Aicey Day for Bangarra Dance Theatre's Emeret Lu (Very Old things) in their production of True Stories.

David Bosun

David Bosun (b. 1973) is a Mualgal man, senior artist at Moa Arts and one of the founders of the printmaking tradition in Zenadh Kes (the Torres Strait). He has worked in printmaking, drawing and painting for over 20 years. His work aims to educate future generations in Zenadh Kes (as well as the rest of the world) about the rich cultural heritage and distinctiveness of Mualgal culture. David Brings the aesthetic and personal qualities of the artwork together with his ancestral beliefs and Mualgal cultural traditions. David has a degree in communications from James Cook University and a Diploma of Visual Art from Cairns TAFE.

Ron Day

Father Ron Day (b. 1953) is a Komet man, priest, and Elder from Mer in the eastern Torres Strait. He is a holder of highly respected traditional knowledge and culture and is fluent in Meriam Mir. Uncle Ron served as Chairman of the Mer Island Council for over 15 years. In 2007 he successfully worked to repatriate ancestral remains back to Australia from Glasgow and has been instrumental in re-claiming land and sea rights for the Meriam people. He has shared a great deal of traditional Meriam star knowledge and has co-authored several academic papers on Indigenous astronomy.

Segar Passi

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Segar Passi (b. 1942) is a Dauareb man, artist, and Senior Elder on Mer. He is fluent in Meriam Mir and is an award-winning painter, self-trained since the 1960s by meticulously observing marine and bird species, weather conditions, and painting portraits, images of daily life, and scenes from Creation narratives. His work focuses on the natural world to encourage people to be mindful and respectful of their environment, and to record important social and cultural practices and knowledge. He holds deep levels of traditional star knowledge and has co-authored several academic papers on Indigenous astronomy. His artwork graces the cover of this book.

Alo Tapim OAM​

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Alo Tapim OAM (b. 1946) is a Dauareb man, Elder, and linguist on Mer. He is fluent in Meriam Mir. He grew up on Mer (Murray) Island when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were under the control of the Director of Native Affairs. After finishing school Townsville, Uncle Alo worked as a government clerk on Thursday Island before moving back to the Townsville area to work on the railways. He studied linguistics at the Batchelor Institute and returned to Mer in to work with the Torres Strait Regional Authority and Queensland Health.

THE AUTHOR

Duane Hamacher

Duane Hamacher is Associate Professor of Cultural Astronomy in the ASTRO-3D Centre of Excellence and the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne. A former ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow, he has worked for Meriam elders since 2014 to document the astronomical knowledge and traditions of the eastern Torres Strait Islanders, and with other First Nations communities internationally.

​

Born and raised in the United States, Duane earned a Bachelors degree in physics from the University of Missouri, a Masters degree in observational astronomy from the University of New South Wales with a thesis on extrasolar

planets, and a PhD in Indigenous Studies from Macquarie University with a dissertation on Australian Aboriginal astronomy. He is an experienced public communicator, having given hundreds of public and keynote talks. Duane spoke at TEDx @ Northern Sydney Institute (2014), appeared on the National Geographic documentary series The Story of God with Morgan Freeman (2016) and the Warwick Thornton film We Don't Need a Map (2017), and consulted on the Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer film Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds (2020).

"Just look at what our ancestors did to navigate here — you don't do that on 'myths and legends', you do that on science."

Professor Rangi Matamua, Maori Astronomer

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

A magnificent accomplishment, marking a profound paradigm shift. Rarely is a book of such importance published.

MARCIA LANGTON AO

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Yiman scholar, Distinguished Professor and Associate Provost at the University of Melbourne

"A work of enormous scope, there is something new for everyone to learn in this ground-breaking book."

"A wonderful combination of poetry and scholarship. A must-read for anyone interested in Indigenous astronomy."

BRIAN SCHMIDT AC

2011 Nobel Prize in Physics and Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University

ANNETTE S. LEE

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Lakota artist and Professor of Astrophysics at St Cloud State University, Minnesota

"Passionate and skilfully crafted,  Indigenous Elders teach us about the science of the cosmos."

RANGI MĀTĀMUA

Māori scholar, Tatai Arorangi expert and author of Matairiki: the Star of the Year

"We are forgetting how to read the stars and see the meaning in the spaces in between. This helps us remember."

"An important piece of work on Indigenous astronomy that will elevate our understanding of the Universe”

MARTIN NAKATA OAM

Naghir scholar, Deputy-Vice Chancellor at JCU and author of Disciplining the Savages

"This book takes us on a journey to see that science is integrated into the very fabric of who Indigenous People are."

"An inspirational blueprint of the multiple layers of relationships that people have with the night sky."

"Beautiful, engaging, and startlingly profound, this book should be required reading!"

STACY MADER​

Gidja man, CSIRO scientist, and Australia's first PhD-qualified Aboriginal astrophysicist

JARITA HOLBROOK

Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and director of Black Suns

ALAN DUFFY

Professor of Astrophysics at Swinburne University and Lead Scientist, Royal Institution of Australia

"A glimpse into Indigenous ways of reading the stars through ancient processes of inquiry"

TYSON YUNKAPORTA​

Apalech man, Indigenous Knowledge scholar at Deakin University and author of Sand Talk

'A timely and impactful compilation that provides insight into the complex knowledges held by First Peoples."

BRONWYN CARLSON

Aboriginal scholar and Director of the Macquarie University Centre for Global Indigenous Futures

"Helping us better appreciate the quality and diversity of people’s perceptions of sky phenomena."

CLIVE RUGGLES

Emeritus Professor of Archaeoastronomy at the University of Leicester

"A lively narrative and comprehensive exposition connecting the cycles of nature with human history."

ROWENA BALL

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Aboriginal scholar, applied mathematician and chemist at the Australian National University

"A lucid and highly accessible account of First Nations sky lore. A brilliant and inspiring read."

"Highly readable and beautifully written, offering insight into the depths of Indigenous Star Knowledges."

FRED WATSON AM​

Australia's Astronomer-at-Large and best-selling author of popular science

LYNNE KELLY

Australian Senior Memory Champion and author of The Memory Code and Memory Craft

"Respectful and engaging, offering a profound glimpse into Indigenous Star Knowledges of the world."

LEAH LUI-CHIVIZHE

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Meriam scholar, historian, and Senior Lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney

"A profound, sensitive and superbly researched book that educated me in ways I never expected."

"A rich resource highlighting tens-of-thousands of years of star knowledge that is dependent on dark skies."

PATRICK NUNN​

Professor of Geography and author of On the Edge of Memory and Worlds in Shadow

MARNIE OGG

Director of the Australasian Dark Sky Alliance and Dark Sky Travellor

"An intimate and respectful story about the sophistication and depth of knowledge of the first astronomers."

TORRES WEBB​

Erub man, environmental scientist, and science educator

"Presented with honour, love, humility and respect, this work invites us to learn and listen with open minds."

JOHN PAUL EAGLEHEART

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Secwépemc man, sacred New Moon pipe carrier, and teacher of the Medicine Wheel

CONTACT

EMAIL
indigenousastronomy@gmail.com

WEBSITE
www.aboriginalastronomy.com.au

Image: Peter Lieverdink

Moon eclipse photo by Peter Lieverdink

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The First Astronomers explores the complex layers of science behind Indigenous Star Knowledges of the world. In this book, First Nations Elders teach us how to read the stars to help us better understand our place in the universe and address the pressing issues we face today that affect us all.

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Indigenous Australians first to discover variable stars

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Indigenous Australians first to discover variable stars

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Some of the earliest astronomy on the planet happened right here in Australia and the science of Indigenous astronomy is still relevant today.

Indigenous astronomy is believed to have preceded that of ancient Greece and Egypt by millennia

Variable stars have only been known about in Western astronomy for about 200 years, but Indigenous history charts them going back thousands of years

The Magellanic Clouds, a satellite galaxy orbiting the Milky Way, are known as the Ancestors Camp

Kamilaroi woman and Monash University student astrophysicist Krystal De Napoli said that many early discoveries in Australian Indigenous astronomy preceded modern science by thousands of years.

"Places like Egypt and Greece are often quoted as being where scientific thought began, but amazing things were discovered here too," she said.

"One of my favourites is variable stars - we've known about them in Western astronomy for maybe 200 years, and yet when we look into Indigenous oral traditions there are descriptions of variable stars going back thousands of years.

"With variable stars there are subtle changes in their brightness over days and years, so it's something that takes a considerable amount of observation to determine their existence.

"Indigenous astronomers were able to see this change, and not only see this change, but describe it in a way that has the relative dimming of the different stars described over time.

"I feel like it is something Australia should be really proud of, to be able to tell to the world we are the birthplace of one of these bits of knowledge and there's many examples like this."

Lake Tyers a perfect observatory

Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust in eastern Victoria is the perfect observatory - a hill with a view of the universe.

Gunai man Wayne Thorpe lives and studies the stars here, where he is a traditional custodian of the land.

He shared some of the traditional stories of the skies.

"We're standing under the Ancestors Camp in the Magellanic Clouds, see them there, sitting around their campfires," Mr Thorpe said.

The Magellanic Clouds are a satellite galaxy orbiting the Milky Way.

There are conflicting reports about when the Magellanic Clouds were first recorded in history.

Mr Thorpe pointed to the Fishing Line, also known as Scorpius, on the other side of the Southern Cross, it is a hook flicking into a dark part of our galaxy.

"That's where the good fishing must be!" he joked.

"When I look at the stars, it makes me want to tell a story, up there, it's a reflection of our dreaming."

Our stories in the stars

"It's like the ancestors have painted the images in the stars," Mr Thorpe said.

Indigenous discoveries in astronomy

The Earth is round: Indigenous astronomers were able to track the way that the night sky shifts as their relative latitude would change. This indicated the spherical, curved nature of the planet and its sky, understanding the connection between latitude on the ground and declination in the sky

Supernova: Indigenous astronomical traditions have recorded and described supernova (exploding star) occurrences dating back over 2,000 years

Moon haloes: Indigenous Australians realised the connection of moon halo appearances in the sky with incoming rainfall, and were then able to use them to predict inclement weather

Planets: Known as the wandering stars, Indigenous astronomers were able to differentiate the planets from the stars not only due to their 'wandering' nature, but also by the way they twinkled differently from stars and by the way they followed the Sun's path across the sky

By Monash University astrophysicist Krystal De Napoli.

"Our markings are like our writing, like if you understand the alphabet.

"When I look up at the stars I read them and read our stories.

"In our paintings and nature and the stars, if you can read them, you can read the deeper meaning of them."

Wayne Thorpe talked about the role of the night sky in preserving his culture.

Unlike on the land, where ancient land can be cleared and cultural trees chopped down, "it's a little bit harder to chop the stars down", he said.

"As long as we can see the sky we can see our stories."

Ms De Napoli said some of the oldest observatories in the world were in Australia.

"We have ... [a] stone arrangement, a traditional Aboriginal observatory," she said.

"The ... stone arrangement is similar to Stonehenge, we can use it to track certain astronomical features throughout the time of the year.

"And what's really incredible is it seems it's older than Stonehenge."

Reconnecting with his Indigenous culture through astronomy is an ongoing journey of discovery for Wayne Thorpe.

"We're still learning, still restoring our culture, restoring our connection to these things," he said.

"Learning the essence of them, the dreaming of it all ... and it gives us hope for ourselves, our lives, our families and our future."

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Aboriginal astronomers built an observatory older than Stonehenge, and discovered variable stars

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Traditional custodian at the Aboriginal Trust in Lake Tyers Victoria, Wayne Thorpe, is learning as much about the traditional science and stories of the stars as he can.

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Aboriginal astronomy the star of Dreamtime stories

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Aboriginal astronomy the star of Dreamtime stories

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For the next couple of months, get away from the city lights, look up to the stars, and you might just be able to spot an emu in the sky.

According to Aboriginal legend, emus were creator spirits that used to fly and look over the land.

To spot the emu, look south to the Southern Cross; the dark cloud between the stars is the head, while the neck, body and legs are formed from dust lanes stretching across the Milky Way.

Physics student and Sydney Observatory guide Kirsten Banks said most Aboriginal tribes told the story of the emu in the sky.

"The position in the sky tells us when to collect emu eggs; it's very well known all across Australia."

Ms Banks is in her third year at the University of NSW and has aspirations to study the formation of stars once she graduates.

She is descended from the Wiradjuri people but only delved into her ancestry after seeing an Indigenous map of Australia hanging in the entrance of the Observatory.

"By learning more Dreamtime stories and more about the culture, I really connected more with my ancestry - and linking it to astronomy today is really exciting.

"I feel like it has encouraged my cultural aspect of astrophysics; not so much how things work, but more so about how people perceive the sky and stars with constellations.

"I see more pictures in the sky in the constellations.

"For example, when I look up at the Western constellation of Orion, I also see a canoe in the sky with three brothers being represented by the belt of Orion."

The three brothers

CSIRO Indigenous astronomer Ray Norris told the Yolngu Dreamtime story of the three brothers to ABC Radio Sydney:

"They say three young boys were out fishing and all they could catch were kingfish.

"One got so hungry he ate one of the kingfish.

"The Sun was so angry that she created a waterspout that blew them up into the sky as a warning to kids that you've got to obey the tribal laws.

"The three stars we see, they're the three brothers. On either side of that, which we would call the hand and feet of the Orion, that's the front and end of the canoe.

"The Orion nebula where new stars are being born; they're the fish."

The Sun and Moon

In most Aboriginal cultures, the Sun is female while the Moon is male.

"The Sun is a lovely old lady called Walu Yolngu," Mr Norris said.

"She gets up every morning and puts on her red ochre, which is why we get the red sunrise, lights a stringy bark tree and carries it across the sky and giving us all light and heat, travels to the west and puts out the stringy bark tree, then travels around back to camp in the east for the morning."

In all Aboriginal cultures the Moon is considered a bad person, Mr Norris explained.

"In the Yolngu story, he's called Ngalindi and he was big and round and fat like the full moon, and he was lazy.

"His wives and children got so angry because he did nothing to help, so they chopped off bits of him and he went from being a round fat moon and got thinner and thinner which is why you get phases on the Moon.

"Eventually he died and stayed dead for three nights before he came back to life, as a new moon.

"He cursed everyone and said that when he died he would come back to life, but when others died, they would stay dead."

To help you on your stargazing way, check out our handy sky tour guided by Professor Fred Watson and learn more about what's in the night sky.

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For the next couple of months, get away from the city lights, look up to the stars, and you might just be able to spot what Indigenous Australians call the creator of spirits.

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My name is Karlie Alinta Noon. I am a Gamilaraay yinnar, a woman.

I come from a place called Tamworth in North West New South Wales, where I was born and raised and I'm an astronomer, astrophysicist, science communicator, which involves lots of different things.

Specifically, looking at astronomy, what's up in the sky, but also, the astronomical knowledge within our Indigenous cultures.

I've just started a PhD at Australian National University. I'm going to be looking at the centre of the galaxy, The Milky Way Galaxy.

The Milky Way Galaxy is something that I've studied previously and is something I'm really interested in.

I was always really, really in love with maths. I think I got that love from an Aunty of mine, who would come and help me.

She would teach me maths when I was quite young and just from having her sit with me and spend time with me, I learnt that maths can be really fun.

She also taught me that I could teach myself and my schooling didn't go very well.

It wasn't the most straight forward path for me, so learning that I can be an independent learner and I can teach myself whatever I want to learn about was probably the most important skill that I've been taught.

Historically, we all know, academia in general, hasn't always been particularly open to Indigenous people.

Today we know that science and STEM spaces haven't always been accessible to women, as well.

There's this overlap of I guess barriers, systemic barriers that, you know we have to face, when we're trying to get into this field.

I think another barrier that I've also faced is, just coming from a poor family. We grew up really poor. We grew up 100% on Centrelink. You know, single mum with severe disabilities, couldn't work.

The same situation for my sister, crippling disabilities where work just wasn't really an option.

Overcoming the cycles that poverty lands you in but then overcoming the low expectations that you get from the outside world as well because you know, you're poor, you're Aboriginal, you're a female.

One of the first experiences I had with Aboriginal astronomy, was, I was really lucky. I was maybe about 19 and I was sitting by a campfire with a bunch of other mob from all over and we were listening to an elder talk about..

Basically how things are connected. How the sky connects to the land and that was probably my first experience with understanding Indigenous astronomy and the whole cosmos scheme.

But then, that inspired me to do more learning and more research into it and I really quickly discovered that there's a whole field that is looking at Indigenous astronomical knowledge.

We talk a lot about Gawarrgay, which is the celestial emu or the dark emu. It's this beautiful, dark constellation, that takes up basically, the majority of the sky, it's huge.

It teaches us so much about the Gamilaraay story. It talks about what's happening here on the land with the Dinawan, what the Dinawan are doing, how they are travelling around country, their breeding cycle.

How they respond to the different seasons that we experience here as well. Our cultural stories can definitely help me get a better understanding of what's happening up there.

Even though we've been doing it for so long, there's not many mob in this space today and I don't agree with that. I think there should be so many more of us in there.

We're kind of at a time now, where, we can all acknowledge how clever our old people are.

But I think we're at that next step, where, you know, we should be inviting them to tell their stories.

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been observing the skies for millennia. It is where ancestral beings exist and observe. It is both a map and guide to navigation, seasons and cultural practice.

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Dr Duane Hamacher has spent much of his life looking up.

From his childhood in rural Missouri, to feeling like he was falling into the Milky Way in the Central Desert, Duane has always been captivated by stars.

It's there he found the meeting point between two vast systems of knowledge.

Western science has for a long time ignored the 65,000 years of observation, deduction, and experimentation of Indigenous astronomy.

Working over many years with several Indigenous Elders, Duane has published The First Astronomers, a complete overview of traditional First Nations star knowledge.

Further information

The First Astronomers is published by Allen and Unwin and co-authored with with Ghillar Michael Anderson, John Barsa, David Bosun, Ron Day, Segar Passi and Alo Tapim

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Dr Duane Hamacher has spent much of his life looking up. From his childhood in rural Missouri, to feeling like he was falling into the Milky Way in the Central Desert, Duane has always been captivated by stars. It's there he found the meeting point between two vast systems of knowledge.

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Star Tales: Milky Way | Stargazing Live: Australia Episode 1 Preview - BBC Two

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The First Nations cultures of Australia - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders - speak over 250 distinct languages and stretch back for over 65,000 years. This makes the First Australians the oldest astronomers and the oldest continuing cultures in the world. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people developed a number of practical ways to observe the Sun, Moon and stars to inform navigation, calendars, and predict weather. Australia's First Nations people assign meaning and agency to astronomical phenomena, which informs Law and social structure. It also serves as the foundation for narratives that are passed down the generations through song, dance, and oral tradition over tens of thousands of years.

Indigenous Astronomy now part of the National Curriculum

We are happy to announce that the new National Curriculum incorporating Indigenous Astronomical Knowledge is now available for teachers and educators via the University of Melbourne Indigenous Education web portal. The 14 Units are aimed at Years 5 & 8, and show how Indigenous Astronomy can be incorporated into the seven learning areas of Science, Mathematics, The Arts, English, Technologies, Humanities and Health. Please take some time to explore.

Indigenous Astronomy features in new Commemorative Coin

The Emu in the Sky is one of Australia's most famous dark constellations, holding special meaning for Aboriginal Australians. Now, it has been commemorated in a silver coin by the Royal Australian Mint. It features "Gugurmin: the Emu in the Sky", from the skylore of the Wiradjuri people of central New South Wales. The constellation artwork was produced by Scott 'Sauce' Towney, a Wiradjuri artist from Peak Hill in New South Wales. The uncirculated $1 coin design shows a male Emu (Dinawan) sitting on a nest and a trio of young men dancing in a Bora ceremony while Gugurmin appears in the sky above them, indicating the connection between the Earth and the sky. The back story can be read in this article from the University of Melbourne's Pursuit eMagazine.

by Duane Hamacher, Krystal De Napoli and Bon Mott. Journal of Dark Sky Studies, Vol. 1 (in press).

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Astronomy The First Nations cultures of Australia - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders - speak over 250 distinct languages and stretch back for over 65,000 years. This makes the First Australians the oldest astronomers and the oldest continuing cultures in the world.

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Australian Government recognition of importance of Indigenous Astronomy

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Australian Government recognition of importance of Indigenous Astronomy

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You are here

What Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples see in the sky are not only planets, stars and other physical bodies, but something much grander: a confirmation of what we already know about how the world operates - time, life, our place in the universe.

In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, everything on the land is reflected in the sky. The sky serves as a scientific textbook - a map - that is home to a wealth of knowledge for those who are able to interpret and read the information it holds.

The positions of the sun, moon, and stars in relation to the Australian landscape provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with information to predict changes in the environment in relation to seasons, weather patterns and the behaviour of plants and animals. It is this relationship between the sky, people and country that enables Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to thrive with the Australian landscape, harvesting what they need and ensuring sustainability for future generations.

The objects and natural phenomena in the sky provide a blueprint for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to safely navigate long journeys across the lands, seas and waterways. The sky holds valuable information about food sources and livelihood, travel paths and optimum times to travel during the year.

Through story, song and dance, knowledge to read the intricate map of the sky and landscape is transferred between generations. Passing oral histories also gives context about social order and relationships.

This knowledge is a living part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and continues to evolve. Through the sharing of these practices, all Australians can better appreciate the depth, wealth and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander astronomical knowledge and its contribution to our national identity.

Country / Place

Enduring understanding

Lines of inquiry

The sky holds a wealth of scientific and geographic knowledge, which is interpreted and deciphered in different ways by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Astronomical knowledge is encoded in the positions of celestial objects - everything on the Australian landscape is reflected in the sky:

Depicting changes in the environment in relation to seasons, weather patterns and the behaviour of plants and animals.

Informing ways of navigating to guide long journeys across lands, seas and waterways.

What kind of information does the sky hold?

How do Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples interpret and decipher this information?

What can the positions of the sun, moon and stars in relation to the Australian landscape tell us about our environment?

How do Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples use celestial objects as a navigational tool?

Culture

Enduring understanding

Lines of inquiry

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' oral traditions are highly detailed and complex.

Knowledge is transferred through story, song and dance, shared across generations for tens of thousands of years.

Oral transmission of astronomical knowledge passes on valuable information about food sources, livelihood, travel paths and optimum times to travel throughout the year.

The relationship between the sky, people and country enables Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to thrive in the Australian landscape, harvesting what they need and ensuring sustainability for future generations.

How do Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' oral traditions effectively transmit knowledge across generations?

How is the holistic nature of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems reflected through oral transmission?

How can Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories be interpreted/what can be inferred?

How can Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander astronomical knowledge evolve?

Can lost knowledge be reclaimed or revived?

People

Enduring understanding

Lines of inquiry

Australia has the world's first astronomers who continue to hold and communicate valuable astronomical knowledge.

Knowledge held in the Australian sky both shapes and reflects the culture in which it lives.

The sky is a canvas depicting important information about relationships and social order.

The sky informs important times to migrate for trade and economics.

How does Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' astronomical knowledge shape our world view?

What techniques or technologies do Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples use to measure time and predict environmental changes?

Why do Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples use storytelling to teach lessons?

How does astronomical knowledge inform Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' trade and economic practices?

How do I?

More information about the Curricula Project and the resouce package is available in the how to guide.

Glossary

View our glossary for a list of terms found in our teacher guides.

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What Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples see in the sky are not only planets, stars and other physical bodies, but something much grander: a confirmation of what we already know about how the world operates – time, life, our place in the universe. In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander c…

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BBC Earth Article - Australia's First Astronomers

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BBC Earth Article - Australia's First Astronomers

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From creative spirits to celestial rivers, there's an intimate link between knowledge of the southern sky and Aboriginal culture.

Could it be that these hunter-gatherers were the first-ever astronomers?

Astronomy is deeply embedded in many of the 300-odd Aboriginal cultures across Australia, all of which share some common roots such as a belief in the Dreaming - a time beyond time when creator spirits roamed the Earth, could move easily between Earth and sky, and could change shape between animal and human. Ancient stories about the creator spirits are told in songs and dance. Often they are written in the sky, as constellations, and their sky-stories are also reflected on Earth, in rocks and lakes and cave paintings.

For example, the Milky Way is viewed by the Euahlayi people as a river. Either side of it, in Sagittarius, are two bright patches, known to astronomers as the Galactic Bulge. Euahlayi people say these are the spirits of the two sons of the creator spirit Baiame. The whole story is reflected on the Earth, where the Barwon River at Brewarrina is identified as the Milky Way, and two large rocks either side of it are identified as the bodies of the two sons.

In these ancient songs and stories can be found traces of generations of Aboriginal Australians seeking to understand the sky. For example, the Yolngu people in Northern Australia explain how the tides work: as the moon rises through the ocean, it alternately fills and empties with water, making the sea level rise and fall. This explains why the tides are synchronised with the moon, and why tides are higher at full moon and new moon than at a quarter moon, because then the moon isn't filling up as much. If this idea seems a bit different from the modern scientific explanation involving the gravitational pull of the moon, bear in mind that, pragmatically, it works. It enables a Yolngu elder to predict the timing and height of the next tide. Contrast that with the explanation by Galileo, the father of modern science. His interpretation, involving the motion of the Earth around the sun, was not only totally wrong but also failed to explain the connection between the ocean tides and the moon. Unlike the Yolngu explanation, his theory had no predictive power.

Similarly, we find explanations of why eclipses work (it's the sun-woman being covered by the body of the moon-man as they make love). We are told why the moon has a halo around it in cold weather (it's a shelter to protect the moon-man from the cold winds). And we are told that the nebulae in the Milky Way galaxy are the camp fires of the spirit people camping on the banks of the great river of the Milky Way. These stories may seem quaint, but they are clear evidence that the Aboriginal people were observing the sky carefully, and sought explanations for what they saw.

Star seasons

But astronomy is not just about curiosity - it's also about using the sky for practical purposes, such as time-keeping and navigation. Throughout Australia, Aboriginal people divide up their year into seasons, which in many cases are marked by the appearance of particular stars in the sky.

For example, many groups mark the start of winter by the appearance of the cluster of stars known as the Seven Sisters. So why did the Aboriginal people, many of whom were hunter-gatherers, need a calendar? Hunter-gatherers, such as the Yolngu people in Northern Australia, move through their land in a seasonal cycle. They must move camp at the right time, down to the beach to catch the barramundi fish, or up to the Arnhem plateau to harvest berries before the birds eat them, or down to the rivers to harvest the water chestnut roots before the magpie-geese have taken them all. And how do they navigate? One technique is to use oral maps, called songlines. For example, according to Yolngu stories, the planet Venus (Barnumbirr in Yolngu) guided the first humans to Australia in the Dreaming, by flying from the east, describing it in her song. When she reached the coast of Australia, she continued across the land, describing the land below her in great detail, including clan boundaries, waterholes, impassable swamps and pleasant camping grounds. That song, memorised by generations of Aboriginal Australians, constitutes an oral map. If you want to navigate across the Top End of Australia, Barnumbirr's song will tell you the way, explaining the best route, the good waterholes, and the places to avoid.

Many other songlines crisscross Australia, providing a set of oral maps for traversing the continent. Because early British settlers often used Aboriginal guides to show the way, many of Australia's great highways follow songlines. But how did people memorise all these detailed instructions? By using the stars as a mnemonic, attaching details to each star, much like the 'method of loci' used by ancient Greeks as a memory tool, or even the 'memory palace' used by BBC sleuth Sherlock Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Modern-day Aboriginal elders can identify waypoints on their route with particular stars in the sky, and will consult the sky while travelling to remind them of the songline.

Compass points

Another navigational technique is to use the sky like a compass, to tell direction. Many Aboriginal groups use the four points of the compass just as Europeans do. How accurately did they know these directions?

A recent study of stone arrangements shows that traditional Aboriginal people knew these directions to an accuracy of a few degrees, which is no mean feat given that there is no pole star in the south. Instead, to get that sort of accuracy, you'd have to make careful measurements, such as noting the position of the sun over a year and then marking its midpoint. Do we find any evidence of this?

At a site in Victoria is Wurdi Youang, a stone ring about 50m across that's sometimes dubbed the Aboriginal Stonehenge but could be much older than the Wiltshire circle. It has been carefully built to indicate the direction of the setting sun on midwinter day and midsummer day, and is accurately aligned on the midpoint of these two sunsets - ie, due west. There is no doubt these directions are intentional, and are not just a chance alignment, so the builders found marking these directions sufficiently important to warrant moving tonnes of rock to do it. They understood the motion of the sun sufficiently well that they were confident in this task.

How far back does this knowledge go? We don't know. The Aboriginal people arrived in Australia at least 50,000 years ago, and were almost untouched by the outside world until the British arrived in 1788, so this expertise could reach very far back indeed. But, sadly, we haven't yet found any way of dating the songs or stories, or the astronomical structures like Wurdi Youang. But as we learn more about this ancient heritage, at some point we may find out how old Aboriginal astronomy really is. It's possible they really are the world's first astronomers.

Featured image © Amit Kamble

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Australia's first astronomers | BBC Earth

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Could it be that these hunter-gatherers were the first-ever astronomers?

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Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.

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default catalogue of over 600,000 stars

extra catalogues with more than 177 million stars

default catalogue of over 80,000 deep-sky objects

extra catalogue with more than 1 million deep-sky objects

asterisms and illustrations of the constellations

constellations for 40+ different cultures

calendars of 35+ different cultures

images of nebulae (full Messier catalogue)

realistic Milky Way

very realistic atmosphere, sunrise and sunset

the planets and their satellites

all-sky surveys (DSS, HiPS)

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graphical interface and extensive keyboard control

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several coordinate grids

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Zotti, G., Hoffmann, S. M., Wolf, A., Chéreau, F., & Chéreau, G. (2021). The Simulated Sky: Stellarium for Cultural Astronomy Research. Journal of Skyscape Archaeology, 6(2), 221-258. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsa.17822

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Stellarium is a planetarium software that shows exactly what you see when you look up at the stars. It's easy to use, and free.

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The Planets in Indigenous Australian Traditions by Duane Hamacher and Kirsten Banks

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The Planets in Indigenous Australian Traditions by Duane Hamacher and Kirsten Banks

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Before William (Willy) Stevens and Robert Fuller board Tribal Warrior's Mari Nawi to deliver the unique harbour cruise, Navigation by the stars, I asked them some rapid fire questions related to Indigenous astronomy.

William Stevens (left) and Robert Fuller (right). Image courtesy Australian Indigenous Astronomy

What's the difference between Western and Indigenous astronomy?

Robert: The difference is related to the difference between Western and Indigenous science (yes, Indigenous people were scientists). Both Western and Indigenous science use the method: Observation = Question = Theory. In Indigenous science this leads to either lore (culture) or law (rules), where in Western science this leads to testing and revisions.

In astronomy, Indigenous people had thousands of years (millennia) of observing the night sky, and these visual observations (not instrument-based, as in Western astronomy), led to theories based on what was seen, and what changed over long periods of time. These theories were used to explain things in the environment, and as illustrations for a rule-based society (the law).

What would you like people to know about Indigenous astronomy?

William: We use the stars to teach the stories and culture of our people. The stars are used to indicate aspects of a story, for example Orion's Belt and the Seven Sisters are used to teach our marriage system.

Robert: Australian Aboriginal peoples have the longest continuous culture on Earth, and as astronomy appears to have been important for much of that time - based on stories, rock art, language, and culture - they were undoubtedly the first astronomers.

Why do you enjoy sharing these stargazing stories?

William: I'm a teacher at heart and I love sharing my knowledge with the community. I especially love sharing it with Aboriginal people in the hope that they pass down the knowledge. I feel very humbled when Aboriginal people thank me after coming on my tour and discovering things about their culture they had never known.

Aboriginal astronomy is only one aspect of a wider Indigenous culture in Australia which goes back at least 65,000 years

How have Indigenous people perceived and made use of astronomical phenomena?

Robert: Indigenous people have perceived astronomical phenomena that only Western astronomers would have noted. An example is their observation of variable stars and star-burst events. A landholder in western Victoria in the 1850's, William Stanbridge, recorded knowledge from the local Aboriginal people about a star which had grown bright and 'angry', and this matched the records of the eruption of the Eta Carina supergiant star in 1843.

Indigenous people used their knowledge of the night sky to forecast the weather, and to determine seasonal changes to resources. Torres Strait Islanders use the scintillation of stars (twinkling) to determine when the northwest monsoon is arriving, and Aboriginal people used the ice rings around the Moon to forecast when wet weather was arriving. The arrival of the Seven Sisters in the evening sky brought the return of warm weather and resources, while their setting in the evening sky brought the winter. It also appears that Aboriginal people built solar observatories, so that they could mark the time of the year by the solstices.

Why is it important for Australians to understand Aboriginal astronomy?

Robert: Aboriginal astronomy is only one aspect of a wider Indigenous culture in Australia which goes back at least 65,000 years, and is the cultural treasure that all Australians should learn and respect for what it can teach us about having a successful society that lives in harmony with itself and the Earth.

William: It gives people a wider understanding of our culture and the tools we used to survive for so long.

If people wanted to find out more information about Indigenous astronomy, where could they go?

If you would like to learn more, be sure to book your ticket for Navigation by the stars where Robert and William will share their extensive knowledge and stories.

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What is Indigenous astronomy? We spoke to two experts to find out - Australian National Maritime Museum

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Before William (Willy) Stevens and Robert Fuller board Tribal Warrior's Mari Nawi to deliver the unique harbour cruise, Navigation by the stars , I asked them some rapid fire questions related to Indigenous astronomy. William Stevens (left) and Robert Fuller (right). Image courtesy Australian Indigenous Astronomy What's the difference between Western and Indigenous astronomy?

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There is no single ‘Australian Aboriginal Astronomy’. As with all other areas of Indigenous Australian culture, astronomical traditions vary largely across the