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.

Read More…

Oldest Story in the World ?

Long ago, four giant beings arrived in southeast Australia. Three strode out to other parts of the continent, but one crouched in place. His body transformed into a volcano called Budj Bim, and his teeth became the lava the volcano spat out.

Now, scientists say this tale—told by the Aboriginal Gunditjmara people of the area—may have some basis in fact. About 37,000 years ago, Budj Bim and another nearby volcano formed through a rapid series of eruptions, new evidence reveals, suggesting the legend may be the oldest story still being told today.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/aboriginal-tale-ancient-volcano-oldest-story-ever-told?fbclid=IwAR33O-mhmWsy7zE5mei9P7My3ljLfXgY5zyUdrDkH5iNpShdtsbGu_gWcLk

Sophisticated traditional Tasmanian Indigenous culture

 

A groundbreaking study has found evidence of extensive land management and fire-stick farming by Aboriginals in the North-West prior to the arrival of Europeans.

And it could also rewrite the history of one of Tasmania’s most famous European explorers: VDL surveyor Henry Hellyer.

The study involved drilling deep into the ground at Surrey Hills to see how the landscape had changed over time.

 

After dating and analysing the core, the researchers found grass, eucalyptus and charcoal were abundant in older soils but disappeared after the arrival of Europeans and were replaced by rainforest.

This new evidence corroborates much of what Bruce Pascoe has discovered in his researches, published in his book Dark Emu.

 

“In light of this new evidence we should re-evaluate the legacy of early white surveyors like Henry Hellyer whose glowing reports of the Surrey and Hampshire Hill being like an English park were later condemned as inaccurate and romantic,” he said.

“Some historians believe this criticism was partly responsible for Hellyer suiciding in 1832, but according to the new research Hellyer was spot on and accurately described what he found.”

https://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/6754779/study-has-profound-implications-for-tasmanian-history/?cs=12&fbclid=IwAR1qV9F7uIeDbC8eMcxCgZCWdMYGDDOL-c1Sgl50uSat02becHm07u7i6Co

 

Australia visible from Timor 60,000 years ago

Indonesia’s National Centre for Archaeology, have now begun the search on Rote and West Timor for the earliest evidence of the region’s first human maritime explorers, the likely ancestors of the First Australians.

https://theconversation.com/island-hopping-study-shows-the-most-likely-route-the-first-people-took-to-australia-93120

 

65,000 year old Master Chef !

Plant foods eaten at Madjedbebe included fruits and nuts, underground storage organs, pandanus kernels and palm. Top left: man-dudjmi or green plum; top right: man-mobban or billygoat plum; middle: May Nango and Djaykuk Djandjomerr removing the palm heart from a man-marrabbi or sand palm; bottom left: drupes of the man-belk or pandanus tree; bottom right: karrbarda or long yam. Photos reproduced with permission of Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation. Elspeth Hayes/S. Anna Florin, Author provided

“the man-kindjek or cheeky yam, needed to be cooked, leached and/or pounded before being eaten. Some of these preparation techniques can take up to several days.”

https://theconversation.com/65-000-year-old-plant-remains-show-the-earliest-australians-spent-plenty-of-time-cooking-131761?fbclid=IwAR04Wlb_3Ns5iftc2VXK_Zu0HDKTPlmlVnS8ZNCbK5I7DQTbkhOzWEEsE8Q

 

Australia’s Stonehenge near Mullimbiby

What made Mullumbimby special was the rumour that it was built upon what was long ago a worldwide headquarters of stone circles. Today, the large number of remaining, disturbed standing stones possibly point to the existence of a world-wide centre of learning in the distant past.

The great number of stones point to the existence of a now destroyed, mega-structure. The Stone Age equivalent of Egypt’s the Library of Alexandria. It conceivably operated for well over a hundred thousand years and functioned as a centralised theroracratic academia from the beginning of the Pleistocene glaciation until the European invasion when it was scattered and its people driven away or killed. Reference : http://www.patestos.com/the-facts.html?fbclid=IwAR0qiQDc84dpfwYauBGtahs182kJZmnWuxrtfOqu1AmxCzea00C7onOGa9s

Bulwai Tours

Great to see Bulwai Tours finally gaining ground after all the setbacks. Well done Willie and the boys ! http://bulwaicollective.org/kuranda-davies-creek-cultural-tours/

 

5 Superhuman abilities of Indigenous people

You’ve probably heard that Indigenous people have some of the oldest living cultures on earth… This didn’t happen by accident. Superhuman traits have seen them live successfully through ice ages, adapt to tropical, polar, coastal, arid, desert & even alpine regions.

Here are 5 superhuman abilities that many indigenous folk are still blessed with today.

 

Egyptian Pyramid near Cairns

Interesting report providing further support of the local traditional stories of long term interaction with the Egyptians.