Australian Govt Priorities

The Federal Government said it had recently allocated $500,000 over two years to improve Indigenous heritage protection and Indigenous involvement in the the decision-making process over the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

This compares to $48.7 million committed in 2018 to commemorate the 250^th anniversary of the arrival of Captain Cook, or the $500 million put aside in February to redevelop of the Australian War Memorial.

Meanwhile the oldest human remains ever found in Australia, dating back to at least 42,000 years old are being secretly hidden with no consultation from the traditional owners of the land.

But there are fears that history could soon be reburied and lost forever, with a NSW government proposal to rebury the 108 remains in secret, unmarked graves across 26 sites in the World Heritage Listed area.

https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2021/07/27/oldest-human-remains-could-be-lost-forever?fbclid=IwAR29Yn4BzKATmgnufhlFM0OSd2QNe–Z-CUEcP9vBOcB7X7bhXeMq3sxxpQ

A special ceremony returning the 42,000-year-old remains of Mungo Man, and the other ancestors, was held in Nov 2017 at Lake Mungo, after a 43-year battle.

https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2017/11/20/mungo-mans-historic-return-celebrated-song-and-dance?cid=inbody:oldest-human-remains-could-be-lost-forever

Sahul – the early Australian civilisation

We know it is more than 60,000 years since the first people entered the continent of Sahul—the giant landmass that connected New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania when sea levels were lower than today.

But where the earliest people moved across the landscape, how fast they moved, and how many were involved, have been shrouded in mystery.

Our latest research, published today shows the establishment of populations in every part of this giant continent could have occurred in as little as 5,000 years. And the entire population of Sahul could have been as high as 6.4 million people.

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