Before Invasion

Should First Nations culture be preserved primarily in institutions, as too many paternal white politicians insist? Or is it best lived and nurtured in traditional lifestyles in home countries across the continent? It's been less than a century since the world's leading collectors began acknowledging First Nations art as more than mere ethnographic artefact.Since then, the most enlightened, from Hong Kong to London, New York to Paris, have understood that when you purchase a piece of First Nations art you become its custodian - not its owner. [node:read-more:link]

Several years ago Tasmanian ecologist David Bowman did DNA tests on palm seeds from the outback and near Darwin.The results led him to conclude the seeds were carried to the Central Desert by humans up to 30,000 years ago.Several years ago Tasmanian ecologist David Bowman did DNA tests on palm seeds from the outback and near Darwin. The results led him to conclude the seeds were carried to the Central Desert by humans up to 30,000 years ago.Several years ago Tasmanian ecologist David Bowman did DNA tests on palm seeds from the outback and near Darwin. [node:read-more:link]

There has been evidence that the First peoples were on this continent 60,000 years ago, but the work of Dr Peter Kershaw's palynology (the study of fossil pollen) research suggests that the first peoples were on the continent as long ago as 80,000 years earlier than that.
When specks of prehistoric pollen and charcoal embedded in the ocean floor off the Great Barrier Reef were analyzed it was discovered an abrupt change in the fossil pollen was recorded around 140,000 years ago. [node:read-more:link]

A comprehensive Timeline for the history of First Nations people in Tasmania. Also incded are some copies of John Glover's landscape paintings, including the Last Muster of Tasmanian Aborigines at Risdon. This painting tells the story of the last group of innocent Tasmanian Aborigines that remains in the Risdon Area before they were deported to Flinders Island. Glover thought the Tasmanian Aborigines would be extinct by that period of time, and when he died in 1849, there were only about 40 Tasmanian Aborigines still alive. [node:read-more:link]

For thousands of years Aboriginal groups in central NSW marked important ceremonial sites by carving beautiful, ornate designs on the trunks of trees. The carvings, comprising symbolic motifs, intricate swirls, circles and zigzags, were intended to be long-lasting but, instead, only a handful of the trees on which they were carved are still alive today. This page includes many images of carved trees, a pdf booklet and Powerpoint links with more images and information to download. [node:read-more:link]

A federal government Ministers meeting passed a resolution supporting the four broad themes for change outlined in the federal government's initial response, which are reducing the overcrowding in the curriculum, promoting a parent-friendly version of the curriculum, improving accessibility for students with disabilities, and rebalancing the curriculum with the removal of the 'overarching themes' of Australian First Nations, Asia and sustainability issues embedded in curriculum subjects. [node:read-more:link]

'Australian' First Nations people are the longest living continuous culture on earth, but modern researchers have just started to look at the wisdom that comes with the many thousand years of residency, and that's especially true of astronomy. They tracked and predicted interstellar movements in highly sophisticated ways, looking up at the night with eyes intriguingly different to our own. To hear some examples of things that they could teach us, I met with Swinburne University's Dr. Alan Duffy, who specializes in Australian First Nations astronomy. [node:read-more:link]

In his new book, The Story of Australia's People, Geoffrey Blainey writes that one of the reasons aboriginal tribes didn’t effectively resist European settlement was that they were militarily weak. Indigenous tribes often fought with each other rather than launch coordinated attacks against settlers. An alternative view comes from expert in indigenous history, Dr Ray Kerkhove, who has done new research on indigenous warfare in Queensland in the 19th century. [node:read-more:link]