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Astronomical Symbolism in Australian Flags

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By Duane Hamacher

Australia has three official flags: the national flag, the Aboriginal flag, and the Torres Strait Islander flag.  Everyone knows about the astronomical symbolism of the national flag: it features the smallest of all 88 constellations: Crux - otherwise known as the Southern Cross.

The national flag of Australia.

The four 7-pointed stars to the right are the five brightest stars in the constellation Crux: Alpha Crucis (Acrux), Beta Crucis (Mimosa), Gamma Crucis (Gacrux), and Delta Crucis.  The small 5-pointed star represents the fainter star Epsilon Crucis.

While some have thought the large, 7-pointed star below the Union Jack represents Beta Centauri - the right of the Pointer stars (the left being Alpha Centauri) - this is not the case.  The large star is the Commonwealth Star, also called the Federation Star, representing the Federation of Australia which came into force on the first day of 1901.

But did you know the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags also contain astronomical symbolism?

The Aboriginal flag of Australia is split into a black region on top, a red region on bottom, with a yellow disk superimposed in the centre.  It was designed by Harold Thomas, a descendent of the Luritja people of Central Australia, in 1971.

The Aboriginal flag of Australia.

The colour black represents the Aboriginal people, the colour red represents the red earth and the red ochre (which has a spiritual link to the land), and the yellow disc represents the sun - the protector and giver of life.

The Torres Strait Islander flag comprises green panels at the top and bottom with a blue panel in the centre.  Between the green and blue panels are thin black lines.  Superimposed in the centre is a white dhari (headdress) and a white 5-pointed star.  It was designed by Bernard Namok, from Thursday Island, in 1992 to represent the unity and identity of Torres Strait Islander people.  It was recognised as an official Flag of Australia on 14 July 1995.

The Torres Strait Islander Flag.

The colour green represents the land, the colour blue represents the ocean, and the colour black represents the Torres Strait Islander people  - showing their close connection to the land and sea.  The white dhari is a headdress worn by dancers and the 5-points of the white star represent the five major island groups of the Torres Strait.  It also represents a star for navigation, which was very important to the sea-faring people of the Torres Strait.  The colour white represents peace.

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We respectfully acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders and extend our respects to Harold Thomas and Bernard Namok, the designers of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, respectively.


The Origin of the Moon

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This is a Dreaming story from Cape York in far northern Queensland.

Many years ago, people realised that a light was needed at nighttime because they found it difficult to walk around or to hunt. The Sun lit up their daytime - something was needed to light up the night.

They held a big meeting and one idea was to collect a huge pile of firewood during the daytime hours and setting fire to it just as the Sun set. People thought that the fire would be big enough to light up the bush so that they could hunt and walk around and have corrobores. Most of the people thought that this idea was impractical.

One member of the tribe had great idea: why not make a special boomerang that would shine, throw it high in to the sky and at night this boomerang would give enough light to allow people and animals to see at night.

They made a giant boomerang. People tried to throw it high into the sky. They tried but they just couldn't throw it high enough.

Then, a very thin, old, weak man stepped forward and politely asked if he could try. Everyone laughed at him when they saw his weak, thin arms. One of the elders was a kind and wise man and he said the old man should be allowed to throw the boomerang.

And throw the boomerang the old man did! It went higher and higher and higher and finally stayed up in the sky as the Moon, shining down onto the people.

The shape of the boomerang can still be seen in the Moon every month.

Original Source: Questacon.

Ngaut Ngaut - A Lunar Calendar?

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From Paul Curnow and Ray Norris (edited by Duane Hamacher)


On the banks of the Murray River, north of Adelaide, is a rock art site called "Ngaut Ngaut" that has astronomical connections.  However, those connections are shrouded in mystery.  The Traditional Owners know that some of the engravings represent the sun and moon, but the banning of their language and oral traditions by Christian missionaries over 100 years ago resulted in knowledge about this site being lost.


An Aboriginal guide named Cess explaining the fossils and rock art of Ngaut Ngaut
to the Supernova Group (from Adelaide Planetarium) in 2003.

Ngaut Ngaut is part of the Ngarrindjeri Nation, which encompasses the region stretching along the Coorong in South Australia to along the Murray River to Blanchetown further north.  The Traditional Custodians of Ngaut Ngaut are the Nganguraku (sometimes spelt Nganguruku), who form part of the Ngarrindjeri Nation.


Ngaut Ngaut was the site of Australia’s first archaeological excavation in 1927.  Dating evidence taken from the remains of ancient campfires suggests that humans have occupied this area as long ago as 27,000 years.  The site includes various engravings, or petroglyphs, of animals, people, deities, the sun and moon.  Close to the engravings are a series of dots and lines carved in the rock, which, according to the Traditional Owners, show the "cycles of the Moon". 

Engraving of the sun.  Image by Paul Curnow.
Lunar cycle tally marks at Ngaut Ngaut?  Image by Ray Norris.

This oral tradition has been passed through generations from father to son, but since initiation ceremonies were banned (along with the Nganguraku language) by Christian missionaries over a hundred years ago, only this fragment of knowledge survives, and it is not known exactly what the symbols mean.  Are they tally's of each full moon?  In parts of central New South Wales, Aboriginal men cut notches into sticks at each full moon so as to keep track of their age, so this idea is certainly plausible.  But what are the verticle lines above the dots?  What is the strange symbol in the middle?  Why are dots superimposed on the sun engraving?

The rich record engraved on the walls of Ngaut Ngaut has so far defied attempts at decoding it, but we are setting our sites on unlocking the astronomical secret, which will be the focus of future research.

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Take a guided tour of Ngaut Ngaut here.

Karrugang and the Origin of the Pleiades

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This is a Gundungurra story from the Blue Mountains (NSW) about 
the origin of the star cluster Westerners call the Pleiades.

In the Dreaming, a group of sisters were pursued by a magpie named Karrugang, who wanted to make one of the sisters his wife.  One day, while digging for edible roots near a river, one of the sisters slipped into the river and became tangled in the weeds, drowning.  The magpie saved the woman and made her his wife.  The other sisters stayed at the camp with the crow and his wife.  The magpie was lazy and made all the women do the work.  The women frequently tried to escape, but the magpie would find and return them to his camp.  One day during a storm, the wife pulled stringy-bark from a tree to make a shelter whilst her sisters sang a charm song.  As the lazy magpie lay around, the sisters sang making the tree grow taller and taller.  They quickly climbed the bark into the sky where they are seen today as the sisters of the Pleiades.


A Magpie.  From true-wildlife.blogspot.com

Reference
Mathews, R.H. (2003).  Some mythology and folklore of the Gundungurra tribe.  Den Fenella Press, Wentworth Falls, NSW.

Sydney City Skywatchers - Lecture on Aboriginal Astronomy

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Join the oldest operating astronomical group in Sydney. The group provides an opportunity for those interested in astronomy to share and broaden their interest in the sky. People at all levels are catered for from beginners to serious amateur astronomers. Whether you want to just listen to a monthly lecture or to discuss serious observing through a telescope, this is the club for you.


These meetings usually consist of brief reports of observations made during the month by club members and a presentation from a guest speaker followed by a light supper. There is a $2 fee for each meeting.


by Duane Hamacher

Monday, March 5th at 6:30 pm - Sydney Observatory


Aboriginal Australians had a complex astronomical knowledge system that may stretch back for over 50,000 years. This knowledge extended beyond having names and stories for celestial objects. It included a deep intellectual component that was used for navigation, time keeping, food economics, and social structure.


Recent research from the Aboriginal Astronomy Project at Macquarie University has revealed a wealth of astronomical knowledge and practices by Aboriginal people, including the construction of stone arrangements and ceremonial sites to cardinal directions and astronomical objects, such as the setting position of the sun or the orientation of the Milky Way. Aboriginal people paid careful attention to, and had explanations for, eclipses, comets, meteors, and variable stars. Research also suggests that oral traditions describing meteorite impact events remain strong after thousands of years.


In this talk, Duane Hamacher from the Aboriginal Astronomy Project will discuss the latest results from the Project and explore how Aboriginal Australians may very well be the world’s oldest astronomers.

Duane Hamacher giving a tour of Aboriginal rock art sites, including the famous Emu in the Sky engraving, 
in Kuring-gai Chase National Park north of Sydney.

About the Speaker


Duane Hamacher is a trained astronomer and science educator at Macquarie University and Sydney Observatory. After graduating in physics from the University of Missouri and completing a Master's degree in astrophysics at the University of New South Wales, he submitted a PhD thesis at Macquarie University where he researched the astronomical knowledge and traditions of Aboriginal Australians. He is currently the Jenni Chandler Fellow in Aboriginal Astronomy in the Department of Indigenous Studies and manages the Association for Astronomy at Macquarie.


Talks are followed by supper ($2 donation)


Open to Members and everyone who is passionate about astronomy.  It is possible to join Sydney City Skywatchers on the evening or take home a membership form.


Bookings are not required.

The Magellanic Clouds

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by Duane Hamacher

Unlike their Northern hemisphere counterparts, Southern hemisphere observers have a rich tapestry of celestial objects above their heads.  of the thousands of visible stars, clusters, planets, and nebulae are three galaxies: the obvious plane of the Milky Way, and two small satellite galaxies.  Although visible for tens of thousands of years before European voyages, these clouds were eventually named after the famous Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521).  The first written account of the Magellanic Clouds was by the Persian astronomer Al Sufi and were observed by two Italian explorers at the end of the 15th century.


The clouds of Magellan.  Photo by the European Southern Observatory.

The dwarf galaxies, about 20 degrees apart in the night sky, are known as the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, or LMC and SMC.  The LMC is about 14,000 light years across and contains the mass of 10 billion suns - 100 times less massive than the Milky Way.  The SMC is about 7,000 light years across and contains the mass of about 7 billion suns.  At a distance of 200,000 light years, it is one of the farthest objects that can be seen with the naked eye.

The LMC and SMC have a rich tradition in the cultures of Aboriginal Australians. It is featured in the oral traditions of most all Aboriginal groups.  Below are a handful of Aboriginal accounts of the LMC and SMC:

  • In the Northern Territory, Ngalia spirits (called the Walanari) live in the Magellanic Clouds and throw hot stones to the earth in anger if someone reveals secret knowledge.
  • In Western Australia, the Magellanic Clouds represent the camp of an old couple who can no longer obtain their own food. The Large Magellanic Cloud is the camp of the old man while the Small Magellanic Cloud is the camp of the old woman and a nearby star represents their fire. This story represents a celestial model of respect for elders and the need to share food with those who need it.
  • In Arnhem Land, the Magellanic Clouds represent an old man and woman by a campfire.  You can find a story from South Australia here.
  • The Adelaide people called the Magellanic clouds 'Ngakallamurro', said to literally mean "paroquet-ashes". Being white, they represent the ashes of the Blue Mountain lorikeet. These birds were assembled there by one of the constellations and were later treacherously roasted.
  • The Magellanic Clouds were known in the Lower Murray as Prolggi, which was translated as "cranes". The Yaraldi considered that there were two Prolggi in the sky, having got there after fighting with the emu spirit, Pindjali, who also became a heavenly body.
  • The Yaraldi people tell a story about two cranes who, knowing that the emus would hunt them and kill them, flew up into the air, circling around, higher and higher, until they reached the sky. They found it to be a good country to live in, so they stopped there. You can see them in the heavens at night, "in the form of two patches of clouds, like wisps of smoke, at the end of the Milky Way." The Aboriginal people's belief is that when anyone of them is knocked down and left bruised and unconscious on the ground by a person from another tribe, the brolgas comedown, lift him up and guide him home.
  • The Gundidjmara people held that the larger cloud was a 'gigantic crane', the smaller cloud being the female equivalent. A similar version has also been recorded in the Kamilaroi language of northern central New South Wales. As with their terrestrial counterparts, these celestial spirit beings migrated according to the season. In the winter sky, the cranes are seen lying to the southeast and then south of the Milky Way. In summer they shift towards the western side.

Monuments Tied to the Sky: Ancient Astronomy and its Global Heritage

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Sydney Observatory welcomes you to a special night about Archaeoastronomy.  Professor Clive Ruggles from the University of Leicester, will give a special talk about ancient stone monuments and their relationship to astronomy.  This is a must see event!

The evening also includes a telescope viewing (weather permitting), a glass of wine or cup of tea, and is presented in Sydney Observatory’s marquee overlooking the beautiful Sydney Harbour.  A short ‘how to view the Transit of Venus’ presentation will be offered after the key-note presentation.

Location: Sydney Observatory
Date: Wednesday, 30 May 2012

Time: 6:00-8:00 pm

Cost: 

$18 adult, $14 concession - $16 adults members, $11 concession members
Bookings: Book online or call 

(02) 9921 3485


Monuments Tied to the Sky
Ancient Astronomy and its Global Heritage

Naked-eye observations of the sky stretch back countless millennia into prehistory. In today’s brightly lit world it is all too easy to forget just how overwhelming the dark night sky would have been to human societies in the past—a prominent part of the observed world that was impossible to ignore. The objects and cycles seen there were vital to people striving to make sense of the world within which they dwelt and to keep their actions in harmony with the cosmos as they perceived it. For the archaeoastronomer, certain ancient monuments provide tantalising glimpses of long lost beliefs and practices relating to the sky, although they have to be interpreted with considerable caution. In this lecture Clive Ruggles, Emeritus Professor of Archaeoastronomy at the University of Leicester, will describe some major new discoveries made in recent years, focusing on his own work in Peru, Polynesia, and prehistoric Europe, and describe the efforts of UNESCO and the International Astronomical Union to preserve and protect the often-fragile heritage of ancient astronomy around the planet.


The Thirteen Towers of Chankillo, in Peru, a 2300-year-old solar observation site that hit the headlines
in March 2007 with the first publication of Ruggles’ work together with Peruvian archaeologist Ivan Ghezzi.

About the Speaker:
CLIVE RUGGLES is Emeritus Professor of Archaeoastronomy in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester, UK. He has worked in many parts of the world and published numerous books, papers and articles on subjects ranging from prehistoric Europe and pre-Columbian America to indigenous astronomies in Africa and elsewhere. He has ongoing fieldwork projects in Peru and Polynesia and is a leading figure in the joint initiative by UNESCO and the International Astronomical Union to promote, preserve, and protect the world's most important astronomical heritage sites. See more at www.cliveruggles.net.

Ngadjuri Astronomy, South Australia

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By Paul Curnow

Australian night skies by world standards are still quite good. Regrettably today, in heavily populated countries the light pollution combined with industrial pollution has lead towards a good deal of our galaxy being obscured from our eyes. However, although Australia still has many regions that offer naked eye astronomers great views of the heavens, these views would on many occasions likely pale in comparison to what Aboriginal Australians would have seen in the past.


One such group is the Ngadjuri People from the mid-north region of South Australia. The Ngadjuri territory stretches up through Freeling, Kapunda, Tarlee, Riverton, and Clare then all the way up towards Quorn, then inland in an easterly direction towards Bimbowrie, back down south through Ketchowla, Burra, Eudunda and Truro. The Ngadjuri had lived in this region for thousands of years before Europeans first started arriving on South Australian shores in the mid 1800’s. However, through brutal government policies and the invasion of the region by European settlers in the mid 1800’s most Ngadjuri People were eventually forced off their traditional homelands, or became victims of the deadly pathogens that the Anglo-Saxons had brought with them.


Figure 1: Turtle petroglyph located at Ketchowla.

Furthermore, evidence suggests that in the past the Ngadjuri Peoples once lived in larger populations around the mid-north when it was much wetter. For example, 18,000 years ago South Australia was still in the grips of an ice age and evidence suggests that the region would have been far less arid than today with a more plentiful supply of fresh drinking water. In addition, the region is home to many ancient petroglyphs that suggest human occupation has existed in the region for aeons.


Little has been recorded or passed down about the stellar beliefs of the Ngadjuri People; however, a number of snippets of how they viewed the nightly ballet of stars above have survived. Additionally, there is some crossover in the ways the skies were seen between bordering groups such as the Kaurna on the Adelaide Plains to the south and the Adnyamathanha in the Flinders Ranges to the north.


Figure 2: The beautiful Flinders Ranges of South Australia.

For example, the Ngadjuri People see the Southern Cross as the footprint of majestic Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila Audax. Eagles and other Australian Birds feature strongly in many stories told by Indigenous Australians and the Ngadjuri called the Southern Cross Wildu. This belief corresponds with the Adnyamathanha view of this area of sky, which they also called Wildu. The Lutheran missionaries Clamor Schürmann and Christian Teichelmann who arrived in the Adelaide colony in 1838 had recorded that the Kaurna People also have an eagle in the sky, which Schürmann and Teichelmann spelt as Wilto.


Figure 3: Lutheran missionary Christian Teichelmann.  Source: Lutheran Archives.

In the Dreaming of the Ngadjuri People there was once a camp in the Orroroo district when it was believed that animals were human beings. According to Ngadjuri Elder Barney Warrior (1873-1948), Wildu had been out hunting with the crow one day. When they returned from their hunt Wildu had not given the crow a fair share of the food they had collected, so the crow became angry and set a trap so that the eagle would injure his foot by stepping on a sharpened kangaroo bone. The eagle had tried to pursue the crow but never caught up with him. The word for crow is Wakala and it is conceivable based on other Aboriginal names around Australia that this may have been the star Canopus in the constellation of Carina. For example, the Boorong name War, andthe Boandik Wa or Wah.

"Why do Aboriginals argue so much over the correct way of spelling of their ancient words and language? It's not the way that you spell it that counts, it's the way ya correctly pronounce it that matters...." - Marvyn McKenzie (1964 - ) - Adnyamathanha Man


Our galaxy contains approximately 300,000 million stars and we still call it the Milky Way, after the Ancient Greek belief that the goddess Hera had squirted breast milk across the heavens to create the galaxy. To the Ngadjuri People the band of the Milky Way was known as Wali’bari and like the Kaurna and Ramindjeri Peoples to the south, it was seen as a river stretching across the sky (Wali or Wadli = hut, Bari = river or creek). Strewn along the banks of this celestial river are a number of bark huts or as they are commonly referred to throughout Australia 'wurlies'.


Additionally, the stars of the constellation of the Southern Triangle are known as Winda’gudna. When translated Winda’gudna literally means ‘large owl droppings’ (Winda = owl, Gudna = excreta). The term for ‘star’ in the Ngadjuri language is Budli. Furthermore,prominent in southern skies during summer is the Pleiades Cluster. The Pleiades are an open cluster of stars, which are believed to have formed approximately 50-60 million years ago, and are located some 378 light years away from our sun. The Ngadjuri called these stars Bulali.


Figure 4: The open star cluster the Pleiades, located within the constellation of Taurus.

In addition, the nightly motion of the stars and the moon were used as a calendar to monitor the seasons. This was paramount to survival in Aboriginal society to assure that they would know which bush foods were available throughout the year based on the seasonal changes of constellations in the sky. It was also of spiritual importance to ensure that ceremonies and other cultural practices were performed at the correct time. The Ngadjuri People knew the moon as Bera and the sun was known as Jandu or Djendu.

The Ngadjuri People, like other Aboriginal Groups of Australia shared an intimate relationship with their environment and the natural world for 45,000+ years. Today we are left with just a taste of the incredibly complex knowledge and understandings that groups like the Ngadjuri People and other Indigenous Peoples of Australia have developed over these thousands of years. This early drive to identify with the night sky still fires the enthusiasm of many contemporary astronomers. Optimistically, efforts will continue to safeguard these remaining snippets of stellar knowledge for future generations of Indigenous descendants and night sky enthusiasts. 


References

Amery, R. (2000). Warrabarna Kaurna: Reclaiming an Australian Language, Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers, Netherlands.


Clarke, P. (1990).  Adelaide Aboriginal Cosmology, Journal of the Anthropological Society of South Australia, Adelaide.


Knight, F. (personal communication).


Pring, A., Warrior, F., Knight, F. & Anderson, S. (2005).  Ngadjuri: Aboriginal People of the Mid North Region of South Australia, SASOSE Council Inc.


Pring, A. (2002).  Astronomy and Australian Indigenous People (draft), DETE, Adelaide.


Ridpath, I. & Tirion, W.  (2000). Collins Guide to the Stars and Planets 3rd Edition, Collins, London.


Willis, R. (1995). The Hutchinson: Dictionary of World Myth, Helicon & Duncan Baird Publishers, Oxford.


Meamei - The Seven Sisters

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A Dreaming story recorded by K.L.Parker (1897)


WURRUNNAH had had a long day's hunting, and he came back to the camp tired and hungry. He asked his old mother for durrie, but she said there was none left. Then he asked some of the other blacks to give him some doonburr seeds that he might make durrie for himself, But no one would give him anything. He flew into a rage and he said, "I will go to a far country and live with strangers; my own people would starve me." And while he was yet hot and angry, he went. Gathering up his weapons, he strode forth to find a new people in a new country. After he had gone some distance, he saw, a long way off, an old man chopping out bees' nests. The old man turned his face towards Wurrunnah, and watched him coming, but when Wurrunnah came close to him he saw that the old man had no eyes, though he had seemed to be watching him long before he could have heard him. It frightened Wurrunnah to see a stranger having no eyes, yet turning his face towards him as if seeing him all the time. But he determined not to show his fear, but go straight on towards him, which he did. When he came up to him, the stranger told him that his name was Mooroonumildah, and that his tribe were so-called because they had no eyes, but saw through their noses. Wurrunnah thought it very strange and still felt rather frightened, though Mooroonumildah seemed hospitable and kind, for, he gave Wurrunnah, whom he said looked hungry, a bark wirree filled with honey, told him where his camp was, and gave him leave to go there and stay with him. Wurrunnah took the honey and turned as if to go to the camp, but when he got out of sight he thought it wiser to turn in another direction. He journeyed on for some time, until he came to a large lagoon, where he decided to camp. He took a long drink of water, and then lay down to sleep. When he woke in the morning, he looked towards the lagoon, but saw only a big plain. He thought he must be dreaming; he rubbed his eyes and looked again.

"This is a strange country," he said. "First I meet a man who has no eyes and yet can see. Then at night I see a large lagoon full of water, I wake in the morning and see none. The water was surely there, for I drank some, and yet now there is no water." As he was wondering how the water could have disappeared so quickly, he saw a big storm coming up; he hurried to get into the thick bush for shelter. When he had gone a little way into the bush, he saw a quantity of cut bark lying on the ground.

"Now I am right," he said. "I shall get some poles and with them and this bark make a dardurr in which to shelter myself from the storm I see coming."

He quickly cut the poles he wanted, stuck them up as a framework for his dardurr. Then he went to lift up the bark. As he lifted up a sheet of it he saw a strange-looking object of no tribe that he had ever seen before.

This strange object cried out: "I am Bulgahnunnoo," in such a terrifying tone that Wurrunnah dropped the bark, picked up his weapons and ran away as hard as he could, quite forgetting the storm. His one idea was to get as far as he could from Bulgahnunnoo.

On he ran until he came to a big river, which hemmed him in on three sides. The river was too big to cross, so he had to turn back, yet he did not retrace his steps but turned in another direction. As he turned to leave the river he saw a flock of emus coming to water. The first half of the flock were covered with feathers, but the last half had the form of emus, but no feathers.

Wurrunnah decided to spear one for food. For that purpose he climbed up a tree, so that they should not see him; he got his spear ready to kill one of the featherless birds. As they passed by, he picked out the one he meant to have, threw his spear and killed it, then climbed down to go and get it.

As he was running up to the dead emu, he saw that they were not emus at all but black fellows of a strange tribe. They were all standing round their dead friend making savage signs, as to what they would do by way of vengeance. Wurrunnah saw that little would avail him the excuse that he had killed the black fellow in mistake for an emu; his only hope lay in flight. Once more he took to his heels, hardly daring to look round for fear he would see an enemy behind him. On he sped, until at last he reached a camp, which be was almost into before he saw it; he had only been thinking of danger behind him, unheeding what was before him.

However, he had nothing to fear in the camp he reached so suddenly, for in it were only seven young girls. They did not look very terrifying, in fact, seemed more startled than he was. They were quite friendly towards him when they found that he was alone and hungry. They gave him food and allowed him to camp there that night. He asked them where the rest of their tribe were, and what their name was. They answered that their name was Meamei, and that their tribe were in a far country. They had only come to this country to see what it was like; they would stay for a while and thence return whence they had come.

The next day Wurrunnah made a fresh start, and left the camp of the Meamei, as if he were leaving for good. But he determined to hide near and watch what they did, and if he could get a chance he would steal a wife from amongst them. He was tired of travelling alone. He saw the seven sisters all start out with their yam sticks in hand. He followed at a distance, taking care not to be seen. He saw them stop by the nests of some flying ants. With their yam sticks they dug all round these ant holes. When they had successfully unearthed the ants they sat down, throwing their yam sticks on one side, to enjoy a feast, for these ants were esteemed by them a great delicacy.

While the sisters were busy at their feast, Wurrunnah sneaked up to their yam sticks and stole two of them; then, taking the sticks with him, sneaked back to his hiding-place. When at length the Meamei had satisfied their appetites, they picked up their sticks and turned towards their camp again. But only five could find their sticks; so those five started off, leaving the other two to find theirs, supposing they must be somewhere near, and, finding them, they would soon catch them up. The two girls hunted all round the ants' nests, but could find no sticks. At last, when their backs were turned towards him, Wurrunnah crept out and stuck the lost yam sticks near together in the ground; then he slipt back into his hiding-place. When the two girls turned round, there in front of them they saw their sticks. With a cry of joyful surprise they ran to them and caught hold of them to pull them out of the ground, in which they were firmly stuck. As they were doing so, out from his hiding-place jumped Wurrunnah. He seized both girls round their waists, holding them tightly. They struggled and screamed, but to no purpose. There were none near to hear them, and the more they struggled the tighter Wurrunnah held them. Finding their screams and struggles in vain they quietened at length, and then Wurrunnah told them not to be afraid, he would take care of them. He was lonely, he said, and wanted two wives. They must come quietly with him, and he would be good to them. But they must do as he told them. If they were not quiet, he would swiftly quieten them with his moorillah. But if they would come quietly with him he would be good to them. Seeing that resistance was useless, the two young girls complied with his wish, and travelled quietly on with him. They told him that some day their tribe would come and steal them back again; to avoid which he travelled quickly on and on still further, hoping to elude all pursuit. Some weeks passed, and, outwardly, the two Meamei seemed settled down to their new life, and quite content in it, though when they were alone together they often talked of their sisters, and wondered what they had done when they realised their loss. They wondered if the five were still hunting for them, or whether they had gone back to their tribe to get assistance. That they might be in time forgotten and left with Wurrunnali for ever, they never once for a moment thought. One day when they were camped Wurrunnah said: "This fire will not burn well. Go you two and get some bark from those two pine trees over there."

"No," they said, "we must not cut pine bark. If we did, you would never more see us."

"Go! I tell you, cut pine bark. I want it. See you not the fire burns but slowly?"

"If we go, Wurrunnah, we shall never return. You will see us no more in this country. We know it."

"Go, women, stay not to talk. Did ye ever see talk make a fire burn? Then why stand ye there talking? 

Go; do as I bid you. Talk not so foolishly; if you ran away soon should I catch you, and, catching you, would beat you hard. Go I talk no more."

The Meamei went, taking with them their combos with which to cut the bark. They went each to a different tree, and each, with a strong hit, drove her combo into the bark. As she did so, each felt the tree that her combo had struck rising higher out of the ground and bearing her upward with it. Higher and higher grew the pine trees, and still on them, higher and higher from the earth, went the two girls. Hearing no chopping after the first hits, Wurrunnah came towards the pines to see what was keeping the girls so long. As he came near them he saw that the pine trees were growing taller even as he looked at them, and clinging to the trunks of the trees high in the air he saw his two wives. He called to them to come down, but they made no answer. Time after time he called to them as higher and higher they went, but still they made no answer. Steadily taller grew the two pines, until at last their tops touched the sky. As they did so, from the sky the five Meamei looked out, called to their two sisters on the pine trees, bidding them not to be afraid but to come to them. Quickly the two girls climbed up when they heard the voices of their sisters. When they reached the tops of the pines the five sisters in the sky stretched forth their hands, and drew them in to live with them there in the sky for ever.

And there, if you look, you may see the seven sisters together. You perhaps know them as the Pleiades, but the black fellows call them the Meamei.





Eagle Dreaming

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By Paul Curnow

I remember when I was in my teens, now unfortunately a long time ago; making regular trips with my family down to a town named Elliston, a small seaside town located along the shores of Waterloo Bay on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. As we got nearer to the town, I was always amazed by the amount of Wedge-tailed Eagles (Aquila audax) that I would see along the way. They would soar high above us and then often swoop down on prey, or road kill. One could not help but be impressed with the size and incredible power of these raptors of the skies.


A Wedge Tailed Eagle.  Image by Paul Curnow.

A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to get quite close to some of these birds on Kangaroo Island. These magnificent creatures have a stare like no other, and I couldn’t help but think that I was glad I was not one of their prey animals. Their claws alone would be enough to easily puncture and rip through the flesh of most creatures. These sky raptors have a wingspan of up to 2.27 metres and a length up to 1.04 metres; therefore, they’re not the kind of bird you want to annoy.


It is for these reasons that this bird of prey likely features so prominently in The Dreaming of Aboriginal Australians. As an astronomer, I have an interest in what would probably be considered one of the more esoteric fields of astronomy, ‘ethnoastronomy’, which is generally speaking the study of non-western astronomy, focussing on the world’s indigenous perceptions and understandings of the night sky. Although, all indigenous astronomy is of interest to me, over the years I have come to specialise somewhat in how Aboriginal Australians see the night sky.


To be found within The Dreaming there are many stories throughout the diversity of Aboriginal groups which speak of eagles. For example, the Kaurna People of the Adelaide Plains have an eagle constellation known as Wilto. The Southern Cross represents the foot of this stellar raptor which can be easily seen from the southern hemisphere. Like the Kaurna, the Ngadjuri, Nukunu and Adnyamathanha Peoples, who live to the north of Adelaide, also see the cross as the foot of the eagle. In fact the Adnyamathanha, who come from the Flinders Ranges, often refer to it as Wildu mandawi, and it is viewed as the place where deceased spirits travel up into the heavens. Furthermore, Wildu the spirit eagle features prominently in The Dreaming of the Ngadjuri, Nukunu and Adnyamathanha Peoples of South Australia.


The foot of an eagle, represented by the Southern Cross.
Image by Paul Curnow.

The Boorong People, who once occupied the mallee country in small numbers around Lake Tyrrell in north-western Victoria, also saw two Wedge-tailed Eagles in the sky. The first and brightest is represented by the bright star Sirius located in the constellation of Canis Major which they called Warepil. The second is the star Rigel in Orion which the Boorong called Collowgulloric Warepil. At night these two celestial eagles soar high into our skies and Warepil is considered to be one of the spirit elders known as the Nurrumbunguttias, the first beings to inhabit the Earth. Moreover, located at a distance of 8.6 light years Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris) is the brightest star in the sky with an apparent magnitude of -1.44. Almost all early cultures have attached importance to this sparkling stellar beacon. Additionally, CollowgulloricWarepil, better known to us as the blue-white supergiant star Rigel (Beta Orionis), sits at a distance of some 773 light years.


The Wongaibon People from the Cobar region of New South Wales see the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius as an eagle. This star, the red supergiant Antares, is known as Gwarmbilla.On each side he is accompanied by his two wives the stars Alniyat and Tau Scorpii. One wife is a Mallee Hen and the other is a Whip Snake. Gwarmbilla’s wives had fallen in love with another man named Gulabirra. One day when Gwarmbilla was out hunting the wives set a trap for him. They dug a hole, placed sharpened bones in it and filled it with their blood. They covered it with sticks which gave it the appearance of a Bandicoot’s nest and when Gwarmbillaswept down to grab it his feet were impaled. However, his mother pulled him to safety and placed him into the heavens with his wives either side, so they would never be tempted to stray again.


Antares (Alpha Scorpii) is an incredibly large star. It is a red supergiant star located approximately 604 light years away. Antares is 57,500 times more luminous than the Sun. It has 12 ½ times the mass of our Sun, and has a surface temperature of around 4,290 Kelvin. Furthermore, in ancient Persia, Antares was recognized as Satevis, one of the four ‘royal stars’, and its modern day name means ‘the rival of Mars’.  


The Kulin People, who come from the region around the city of Melbourne, and the Wotjobaluk People of western Victoria have a creator being named Bunjil the eagle. Bunjil is represented in the sky by the star Altair (Alpha Aquilae) in the constellation Aquila. There are no prizes for guessing that Aquila is another eagle in the sky, but one of the classical 88-constellations as used by astronomers today. Bunjil has two wives in the form of black swans that sit either side of him represented by the stars Tarazed (Gamma Aquilae) and Alshain (Beta Aquilae).


It is interesting to note that the Wardaman People of the Northern Territory also see Altair as an eagle named Bulyan. According to Wardaman elder Bill Yidumduma Harney, Bulyan is the eagle who watches over the area of Corona Australis; a ceremonial region in the sky. Bulyanas a ‘watchman’ has to make sure that people are kept out of special ceremonial areas, and away from rituals they are not permitted to attend. Furthermore, men who have Bulyan as their totemic ancestor are traditionally seen as security men who make sure that the correct traditions are being adhered to.    


Paul Curnow and Senior Wardaman Elder Bill Yidumduma Harney.

In conclusion, eagles have been admired by many ancient and contemporary cultures. The Roman legion used an ‘aquila’ as its standard, which was carried by a legionary known as an ‘Aquilifer’ (aquila-bearer). In classical mythology the constellation Aquila was the companion of the god Jupiter (in Greek Zeus) and carried his thunderbolts. And to many Native Americans a mythical eagle was responsible for creating thunder and lightning by beating its wings.



References


Cairns, Hugh & Harney, Bill Yidumduma, 2003, Dark Sparklers, Hugh Cairns, Sydney.


Curnow, Paul, 2011, Aboriginal Skies, Australasian Science, pp 22-25


Harney, Bill Yidumduma, 2010, [Wardaman Elder] (personal communication).


Johnson, Dianne, 1998, Night Skies of Aboriginal Australia, University of Sydney, Sydney.


McKenzie, Marvyn, 2010, [Adnyamathanha man] (personal communication).


Pring, Adele, 2002, Astronomy and Australian Indigenous People (draft), DETE, Adelaide.


Stanbridge, William Edward, 1857, On the Astronomy and Mythology of the Aborigines of Victoria, Proceedings of the Philosophical Institute, Melbourne.


URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquila_(Roman)

Cultural Astronomy Lecture Tour by Clive Ruggles.

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The 13 Towers of Chankillo, Peru
Professor Clive Ruggles will be giving a lecture tour in Australia and New Zealand from late-May until mid-June.  His lectures will cover various aspects of cultural astronomy, from the astronomy of megalithic structures in Europe to archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy in Peru and Hawaii.

For information about each lecture, click on the links below.



Australia


New Zealand



About the Speaker:


Clive Ruggles is Emeritus Professor of Archaeoastronomy at the University of Leicester, UK - the first and only Chair of Archaeoastronomy in the world. Archaeoastronomy is the study of beliefs and practices related to the sky in the past, and Clive trained as an astrophysicist (DPhil, Oxford) before switching fields and becoming an archaeologist.


Clive has worked in many parts of the world and has published books, papers and articles on subjects ranging from prehistoric Europe and pre-Columbian America to ancient Greece, Egypt, Polynesia and indigenous astronomies in Africa. He has ongoing fieldwork projects in Peru and Hawaii as well as various parts of Europe, and is a leading figure in a joint initiative by UNESCO and the International Astronomical Union to promote, preserve, and protect the world's most important astronomical heritage sites.

His work in South America hit the headlines in March 2007 with the publication in the journal Science of his work with Peruvian archaeologist Ivan Ghezzi on the Thirteen Towers of Chankillo, a 2300-year old solar observation site. His books include Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland (Yale UP, 1999), Ancient Astronomy: An Encyclopedia of Cosmologies and Myth (ABC-CLIO, 2005), Skywatching in the Ancient World: New Perspectives in Cultural Astronomy, edited with anthropologist Gary Urton (Colorado, 2007), and most recently Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy, edited with technology historian Michel Cotte (ICOMOS-IAU 2010) and Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy: Building Bridges between Cultures (Cambridge UP, 2011), the Proceedings of the first IAU Symposium to be devoted to this topic.

Sky-Shaping (A Poem by Michele Bannister)

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28 May 2012

In this way come the names. The kete of knowledge, grasp them, word-woven.
The stars were not spilled from them to scatter—
they are taonga, treasured
a sorrowed son's gift to his father the Sky.
In the spaces between the great river of the goddess of the north,
cloud-shadow, counter-clear, in the south strides the Emu.
Rifted, reflected—
the same place holds the great waka, star-spanned
and the leaping maw of hammer-headed mangō-pare
earnest enemies of fishes.
Some names are found from the quickness of birds
(all the kindness of Tāne; leaf-shadow and branch-shiver, fern-frond unfolded),
even in the tired patience of the frigatebird's long arc, soaring the Pacific,
once seen from a small bark off the isles called Galapagos;
and some from the long slow vastnesses
the patience of ice, the presence of the All-Frozen, seal-teared
children of unknowing oceans.

Michele Bannister was born in the year of Halley's Comet, and retains an uncommon fondness for distant worlds both small and icy. She lives in Australia, where she is working towards her doctorate in astronomy. Her poetry has appeared in Strange HorizonsStone Telling, the Cascadia Subduction Zone and Jabberwocky, and is forthcoming in Ideomancer and Inkscrawl.

When Giant Fish Leaves the Sky

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I would like to introduce our readers to a video presentation made by John Morieson and Alex Cherney about the astronomy of the Boorong clan (of the Wergaia language in northwest Victoria).

John Morieson is an historian in Victoria who has spent many years researching the astronomy of the Boorong and other Victorian Aboriginal groups.  He completed an MA thesis at the University of Melbourne in 1996, where he reanalysed the work of William Edward Stanbridge regarding Boorong astronomy.

Alex Cherney is an amateur astronomer and astrophotographer in Melbourne.  He has produced amazingly beautiful photography of the sky and has won several awards and honourable mentions in astrophotography competitions, including the STARMUS astrophotography contest, the David Malin awards, and several NASA "Astronomy Picture of the Day" posts.

This video was presented at the 2011 SEAC conference in Portugal.  It was developed using the Stellarium software package, which is freely available.

Merlpal Maru Pathanu - Eclipse artwork in the Torres Strait

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Artwork and story by David Bosun

Merlpal Maru Pathanu is the terminology most often used by our ancestors to describe either a solar eclipse or a lunar eclipse. Merlpal Mari Pathanu in the Maluililgal language (a western Torres Strait dialect) means "the ghost has taken the spirit of the moon." During this period, the head hunters prepared themselves for battle against their enemies, while the women in the other villages took their children and hid themselves in the bush away from their camps, safe from the attacking raiders.

This artwork is currently for sale.

David Bosun (b. 1973) is a Torres Strait Islander of the Kal-lagaw-ya language group.  He has been an active artist since 1997 through the Mualgau Minneral Art Centre in Queensland.


“Merlpal Mari Pathanu” (AAPN id DB011)

The Dhui Dhui story

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The Dhui Dhui (pronounced Doo-ee Doo-ee) Story appears courtesy of Russell Butler, of the Bandjin People.  The sea country belonging to the Bandjin (‘Saltwater’) people includes Hinchinbrook Island and Lucinda Point on the adjoining mainland of north Queensland, as well as Gould and Garden Islands and part of Dunk Island.

Long ago, two boys paddled out in a canoe south of Dunk Island (Coonangalbah) and dropped their stone anchor to fish.  The elders had warned them not to fish on that sand spit because there was a big dangerous shovelnose ray (Dhui Dhui) that lived there.  But the boys were defiant and fished there anyway.  As they fished, the ray bit their line and started to tow them around in the canoe, but the boys wouldn't let go of the line. It towed them around the ocean for a while before going down the Hinchinbrook channel. They disappeared into the horizon.  By then, it was getting dark and everyone was worried about the boys. As the people looked south after sunset, they saw the Southern Cross rising, which was Dhui Dhui (the shovelnose ray), followed by the two Pointer stars (the two boys in their canoe).
Dhui Dhui (the Southern Cross) and the two fisherman.

From far northern Queensland, you can see Dhui Dhui rising in the southeastern sky after sunset in early February.


"Dhinawan" (Emu In The Sky) with Ben Flick

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Ben Flick, an Aboriginal man from the Kamilaroi language group of north-western NSW, explains a creation story passed down to him regarding 'the emu in the sky''.  Astronomy is used to identify the correct time of the year to collect emu eggs. This documentary is one of nineteen that comprises the Through Our Eyes series features Aboriginal Elders and knowledge-holders from the Ngemba, Kamilaroi and Euahlayi language groups in north-western NSW (Brewarrina, Walgett and Lightning Ridge) describing the land management practices and social, spiritual and cultural knowledge that enabled their people to care for the country for tens of thousands of years.

Tour in the Central Desert & Other News

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I do apologise for the sparse posts over the last few months.  The Aboriginal astronomy project has expanded to the Nura Gili Centre for Indigenous Programs at the University of New South Wales, where I have been awarded a Lectureship.  The university is supportive of our research and included an article on the project in the magazine Uniken.  We are busy with new research, but I will be producing a series of short films on various aspects of Aboriginal astronomy, which I plan to put up here soon.

The film below was made by Dr. Craig O'Neill, a geologist and planetary scientist at Macquarie University.  It consists of a few short clips from a recent trip to the Central Desert with 25 members of the Meteoritics Society (nothing fancy, just a few clips of places we visited).  I am writing a new paper on Aboriginal oral traditions of impact craters, which will include some new material.  I am co-authoring the paper with John Goldsmith from Curtin University, who has spent a good deal of time with Aboriginal custodians at Wolfe Creek crater (Kandimalal) in Western Australia.  We hope to submit the paper soon and will provide the final results here once it is accepted.

In the meantime, we have many more papers coming soon and the blog will pick up shortly!

Morning Star - Dust Echoes

In Celebration of Dianne Johnson (1947-2012)

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It is with much sadness that I report on the passing of Dr Dianne Johnson (1947-2012).  Dianne was a staunch advocate for Aboriginal rights and wrote the definitive book on Aboriginal Astronomy in 1998, entitled "Nights Skies of Aboriginal Australia: a Noctuary".

I first met Dianne at the AIATSIS Symposium on Australian Indigenous Astronomy in Canberra on 27 November 2009.  She gave a phenomenal talk on the Pleiades in Aboriginal cultures and we had a nice chat.  We met again at the Oxford IX symposium on Archaeoastronomy & Astronomy in Culture in Lima, Peru in January 2011.  Over coffees, cooked llama, and the occasional deep-fried guinea pig, we chatted about cultural astronomy, her experiences writing her book, and her ideas about forming dark-sky reserves in Australia.  She was enthusiastic and engaging.  It was a shock when I heard she passed, but I feel we should celebrate her life and her efforts to improve the state of Aboriginal affairs in Australia and for her amazing contribution to the field of Aboriginal Astronomy.

RIP Dianne - you will be missed but your legacy lives on.


The following is an obituary written by Malcolm Brown for the Sydney Morning Herald:

Dianne Johnson's restless intellect could have taken her anywhere, but so did her social conscience and her inclination to draw closer to indigenous people.

A social anthropologist by training, a world traveller, an educator, artist and writer, Johnson drew close to the history and culture of the Aboriginal people, especially of the Blue Mountains where she spent the latter period of her life. It was not just about justice and land rights, though she contributed to that debate, but quite unusual aspects, such as Aboriginal astronomy, in the publication Night Skies of Aboriginal Australia: A Noctuary. She wrote critically about injustice to the indigenous people in the law, and a historical work about the French explorer Bruny d'Entrecasteaux and his encounters with the Tasmanian Aborigines.

Cultural Campaigner
Dianne Johnson fought for the rights of Indigenous Australians

Dianne Dorothy Johnson was born on January 11, 1947, daughter of an agronomist, Austin Johnson, and Margery (nee Ashton), the eldest of three daughters. She attended Newcastle Girls High and the Sydney Kindergarten Teachers College, and decided then, in 1968, to take up a position as the director of a preschool in Port Moresby. That began a love affair with Papua New Guinea and inspired her to enrol in anthropology at Sydney University.

She did archaeological fieldwork on the Murray and the Nullarbor, and for a time was torn between anthropology and social archaeology. Completing her honours year in anthropology in 1971, she met an up-and-coming lawyer, George Zdenkowski. Graduating with first-class honours, she and Zdenkowski went to Paris in 1973 and returned the following year to take up residence in inner Sydney. She resumed her connection with PNG, choosing as her PhD the role of powerful women in government in that country after it gained independence.

Johnson went with Zdenkowski to England, where he was doing six months' study leave at the University of Sheffield. She gave birth to a son, Sasha, in 1977, went to PNG in 1980-81 to do fieldwork for her thesis, and had a daughter, Sophie, in 1983, marrying the next year. Despite her heavy workload, which included lecturing in anthropology at Sydney University, and at the Sydney Kindergarten Teachers College, as well as home duties, she completed her thesis and in 1988 moved to the Blue Mountains.

Johnson became a director of Katoomba-Leura PreSchool. She joined the staff of the Blue Mountains TAFE and the CWA evening group. But she also resumed her interest in indigenous affairs and worked with members of the Darug and Gundungurra Nations, the traditional landowners in the mountains. She wrote a volume of poetry, The Jewel Box.

With Bob Brown in early 2012

She criss-crossed the nation to write Lighting the Way: Reconciliation Stories. Johnson also wrote an extensive report for the Gundungurra native title claim, and another that led to part of the Blue Mountains being declared "The Gully", as an Aboriginal Place, the largest such area in NSW. Her biography of Darug nation elder, the late Aunty Joan Cooper, Through the Front Door  helped in Aunty Joan being made an officer of the Order of Australia. With Zdenkowski, she wrote a book on the injustice of mandatory sentencing in the Northern Territory. She was also a book reviewer for The Sydney Morning Herald. She wrote about tenosynovitis and, for the Journal of Garden History, an article on geraniums, and became involved in the Azaria Chamberlain case.

Johnson's landmark book, Sacred Waters: The Story of the Blue Mountains Gully Traditional Owners won the NSW Premier's History Prize in 2008. But she was not prepared to rest on accolades. Zdenkowski said: ''When she was writing a book on indigenous astronomies - inspired by her encounter with Halley's Comet - she decided to immerse herself in an astrophysics course at Sydney University and casually considered doing a post-doc on the subject until wiser counsel, being myself, prevailed. For her article on geraniums - and her determination to ensure once and for all that the confusion with pelargoniums must cease - she travelled widely. I think it is the only article that links, in a footnote, the bad press that geraniums have had over the years with the scene in the woodshed in D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover.''

Dianne in Tasmania

Johnson's penultimate book, Hut in the Wild, included for research purposes a trip to Dixon's Hut in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park in Tasmania. The book spoke powerfully and lyrically about her love of huts and the wilderness. In her last years, though suffering serious health problems, Johnson completed the study of Bruny d'Entrecasteaux, the book launched in Hobart by Bob Brown and by former minister Neal Blewett earlier this year. Dianne Johnson died of a heart attack on May 3. Her funeral was at Leura on May 9. She is survived by her husband, George Zdenkowski, son Sasha, daughter Sophie, son-in-law Fotis and sister Barbara. Her youngest sister, Helen, predeceased her.



Wurdi Youang - the latest research

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Recently, our paper on the alignments of the stones at Wurdi Youang have finally been accepted for publication in the journal Rock Art Research.  A preprint of the paper can be found here (PDF).



In this paper, we present a detailed survey of the arrangement, testing the hypothesis that the stones have two sets of orientations tot he setting position of the sun at the solstices and equinoxes.  We have published a previous post describing Wurdi Youang, but this paper presents the details of the survey and statistical analysis.

Wurdi Youang has featured prominently in many media programs about Aboriginal astronomy, but some of the reported facts are in error.  I would like to clarify these errors here for our readers.

1) We do not know the age of the stone arrangement.  The family that owns the property on which the arrangement sits are the same family that settled the area upon colonisation.  They claim the stones have always been there, rejecting a European-origin.  Sites in the area have been dated to 20,000 years BP, but that does not mean Wurdi Youang is that old.  Quotes in the media about this arrangement being 10,000 years old have no basis in fact.  That was merely a hypothetical date used to give context to the oldest astronomically related sites we know about.

2) We do not know the purpose or use of this site.  It seems to be some sort of ceremonial site, but the astronomical alignments may be peripheral to its main purpose.  For this reason, we are careful not to label it an "observatory".

3) Some have suggested that the arrangement is not Aboriginal in origin, pointing out that no ethnographic data supports this claim.  They also suggest that we not speculate about the origin of this arrangement until we learn more from our "Aboriginal brothers and sisters."  We are still searching for Aboriginal elders who can tell us about the site, but the local Aboriginal land councils have informed us that almost nothing is known about it.  But since the family that owns the land say it has been there since their ancestors colonised Australia, we can say that it is not European in origin.  And we should be clear that we are testing a particular hypothesis, which does not include speculation.

4) Some people also claim that the stones could have been moved into these positions by humans and we cannot rule out that these alignments are the result of this action.  We completely support this notion - that is the whole crux of our argument!  It is obvious someone moved these stones into their current positions for this purpose (it is not a natural feature).  However, I believe the comment indicates that this was done by non-Aboriginal people after colonisation.  While some of the outlier stones are relatively small and easily moveable, most of the basalt stones forming the main arrangement are quite large and heavy (some exceed 500 kg). Without an archaeological survey, there is no way to be certain who built it.  But, again, the owners of the site have claimed the stones were there when the first colonists came to Australia.  No other European arrangement resembles Wurdi Youang and it would have made a relatively poor "goat paddock".

The only facts we have are from the archaeological record. We are working closely with the traditional owners and submitting the appropriate permission forms in hopes to date the site and help restore some of the fallen and damaged stones (in some places, large bushes are growing between the stones, dislodging them).  Dating the site will conclusively show whether the arrangement was built pre- or post-colonisation.  Hopefully, we will be able to determine how old the site is and help the local community piece back together knowledge that has been lost or damaged by colonisation.
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