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Archaeoastronomy The Journal of Astronomy in Culture

Australian Aboriginal Geomythology: Eyewitness Accounts of Cosmic Impacts?
Duane W. Hamacher1 and Ray P. Norris2 Abstract Descriptions of cosmic impacts and meteorite falls are found throughout Australian Aboriginal oral traditions. In some cases, these texts describe the impact event in detail, suggesting that the events were witnessed, sometimes citing the location. We explore whether cosmic impacts and meteorite falls may have been witnessed by Aboriginal Australians and incorporated into their oral traditions. We discuss the complications and bias in recording and analysing oral texts but suggest that these texts may be used both to locate new impact structures or meteorites and model observed impact events. We find that, while detailed Aboriginal descriptions of cosmic impacts and meteorite falls are abundant in the literature, there is currently no physical evidence connecting any of these accounts to impact events currently known to Western science. Notice to Aboriginal Readers This paper gives the names of, or references to, Aboriginal people that have passed away throughout, and to information that may be considered sacred to some groups. It also contains information published in Nomads of the Australian Desert by Charles P. Mountford (1976). This book was banned from sale in the Northern Territory in 1976 as it contained sacred/secret knowledge of the Pitjantjatjara (see Brown 2004:33-35; Neate 1982). No information about the Pitjantjatjara from Mountford's book is presented in this paper.
1

Depar tment of Indigenous Studies, Macquarie Un iversity, N SW, 2109, Austr alia duane.hamach er@mq .edu.au | Office: (+61) 2 9850 8671

Duane Hamacher is a PhD candid ate in the D epartmen t of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie Univ ersity in Sydney, Australia. After graduating in physics from th e University of Missouri and obtain ing a master's degree in astrophysics from the Univ ersity of New South Wales, he w as awarded a Resear ch Excellence Scholarsh ip to study Aboriginal A stronomy at Macquarie. Duane is also an astronomy educator at Sydney Observatory and th e Macquar ie Univ ersity Observatory and Plan etarium.
2

CSI RO Astronomy & Sp ace Science, P.O . Box 76, Epping, NSW, 1710, Austr alia ray.norris@csiro.au | Office: ( +61) 2 9372 4416

Professor Ray Norr is is an astrophysicist at the Austr alia Telescope Nation al Facility ( CSI RO) and an Adjunct Professor in the Dep artment of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University . While obtaining his MA and PhD in physics from Cambridge and Manchester , respectively, h e began r esearching th e archaeoastronomy of British ston e arr angements. Ray is the Secretary of the Intern ational Society of Archaeo astronomy and Astronomy in Cu lture (ISAA C) and heads the Aborig inal A stronomy Research Group, working with Ind igenous groups such as the W ardaman and Yo lngu communities of th e North ern Territory.

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1.0

Introduction

Australia is home to hundreds of Aboriginal groups (Walsh 1991), each with a distinct language and culture, stretching back more than 40,000 years (O'Connell and Allen 2004). Many Australian Aboriginal cultures possess strong oral traditions and complex social systems (e.g. Maddock 1982; Ross 1986:232), including narratives and oral texts that have been handed down over many generations (Ross 1986). Threaded through these texts are accounts of geological events such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis, and descriptions of the origins of mountains and islands. In some cases, the description indicates that these events were witnessed, resulting in a significant impact on that community, as suggested by Norman Tindale (1946:76) who stated that "Aboriginal myths may occasionally refer to some half-remembered cataclysm of nature, or an eclipse, or a meteoric shower" (Stanner 1975:5). The study of how geological events or geographical features and materials are incorporated into oral traditions is referred to as `Geomythology' (see Piccardi and Masse 2007). This paper focuses on oral texts relating to meteorite falls and cosmic impacts. Using the hypothesis that oral texts can serve as historical records of past geological events (Masse et al 2007a), we examine these records for information that could be used to locate new meteoritic sites, model meteoritic events, or measure the antiquity of dreaming stories. Scientific data from these events, including the age, location, and impact effects, can assist in understanding the nature and evolution of oral traditions over time. 1.1 Aboriginal Australia: Prehistory and Orality

From a scientific perspective, the arrival of humans in Australia is a matter of contentious debate. From approximately 70,000 to 15,000 years ago, the sea level was much lower than it is today (Voris 2001). During this period, Tasmania, Australia, and New Guinea were a single landmass, called Sahul. It is believed that humans migrated to Sahul in multiple waves from South East Asia, though it seems Aboriginal Australians share a common genetic thread with people from southern India as opposed to Indonesia or Malaysia (Redd and Stoneking 1999). The exact date of human arrival to Sahul is uncertain, but solid archaeological evidence suggests that Australia has been inhabited for at least the last 45,000 years (O'Connell and Allen 2004). Some archaeological sites suggest an earlier arrival date, such as 60,000 to 70,000 years at Lake Mungo in New South Wales (Adcock et al 2001; Thorne et al 1999) and 60,000 years at Nauwalabila I in the Northern Territory (Roberts et al 1999). However, further analyses of these sites have constrained the age to between 40,000 and 50,000 years (Bowler et al 2003; Gillespie and Roberts 2000; Bird et al 2002). It is generally accepted by mainstream archaeologists that the age of human habitation of Australia is at least 40,000 years. From the perspective of many Aboriginal communities, Aboriginal Australians have always been in Australia, and their cosmologies describe the origins of their ancestors and traditions in various forms. These cosmologies are recorded in the oral tradition, which itself is passed down subsequent generations, evolving as new events are incorporated

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into art, song and storyline. These oral texts preserve the knowledge, moral codes, laws, and traditions necessary for the survival, cohesion, and social structure of the community. "It is very difficult, as things stand, for anyone, scholar or layman, to gain an overall impression of the nature and extent of Aboriginal oral tradition" (Ross 1986:260). Australian Aboriginal oral traditions are typically considered components of the `Dreaming', a term coined by anthropologist Francis James Gillen in 1896 to refer to the period in the religious mythologies of northern Arunta people of the Northern Territory (Dean 1996). The Dreaming is a highly complex concept that exhibits substantial diversity in meaning and purpose between different Aboriginal communities and cannot be simply regarded or dismissed as mythology or fables. We acknowledge that the Indigenous Australian and the Western scientific methods and approach to acquiring knowledge and explaining the natural world are vastly different. We seek only to apply information from oral traditions to the discipline of geomythology. This work is in no way meant to "legitimise" or "marginalise" Aboriginal oral traditions or cultures. For a better understanding of the Dreaming, we refer the interested reader to Stanner (1958, 1965, 1975), Meggitt (1972), Charlesworth et al (1984), Ross (1986), Rumsey (1994), Beckett (1994), Dean (1996), Bates (1996), and Rose (1996, 2000). Given the substantial diversity of Aboriginal communities, customs, laws, and traditions may vary between Aboriginal communities, even those of the same language group. While some common themes exist across many Aboriginal communities, such as the concept of the Rainbow Serpent (Radcliffe-Brown 1926), each group has a different variation of these themes. For this reason, each reference to a particular Aboriginal story, ethnography, or word in this paper will include the name and location of that particular Aboriginal group. A full list of the Aboriginal groups discussed in this paper, including their location, can be found in the Appendix. In many Aboriginal communities, certain ceremonies and oral traditions are considered sacred and secret, and thus are not shared with Westerners or even non-initiated members of that community. For example, Barker (1964:109-110) tells how a group of Aboriginal people knew of a meteorite in the desert and described how it fell to the earth from the sky, leaving little doubt in his mind that his Aboriginal informants had witnessed the fall. But since the meteorite was used as a source for sacred stories, the informants would not reveal its location to Barker or the other colonists. It is possible that some of the conclusions reached in this paper, particularly regarding the lack of stories about known impact craters, may be affected by this need for secrecy. 1.2 Australian Impact Craters

Australia is home to 27 confirmed terrestrial impact structures and numerous suspected terrestrial and submarine structures (e.g. Gibbons 1977; Earth Impact Database 2009; Becker et al 2004; Abbott et al 2005a; Green 2008; Martos et al 2006). These structures range in size from the 20 meter Dalgaranga crater to the 90 km Acraman crater, and vary

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in age from billions of years to a few thousand years. Table 1a lists all confirmed Australian craters, while Table 1b lists all probable or suspected craters, shown in Figure 1. The vast majority (21 out of 27) of impact structures are found in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. There are only two confirmed in Queensland, one suspected crater in Tasmania, and no confirmed craters in New South Wales or Victoria. The recent discovery of a possible impact structure in northwest New South Wales (Green 2008) may be that state's first known crater. Of the confirmed craters in Australia, the constrained dates of only three occur within well-established human habitation of the continent (< 40,000 years). These are the Henbury crater field and Boxhole crater in the Central Desert and the Veevers crater in Western Australia.
Table 1a: Confirmed terr estr ial imp act craters in Australia based on data from Ear th Impact Database (2009), numbered (N) as in Figure 1 a. States are abbreviated as fo llows: W estern Austr alia = WA, Northern Terr itory = NT, South Australia = SA , Queensland = QLD, N ew South W ales = N SW (in cluding the Australian Cap ital Terr itory), V ictoria = VIC, and Tasmania = TAS. Th e estimated cr ater age is given in millions of years ( Ma) and the crater d iameter (D) is given in km. Craters w ith an established ag e consisten t w ith human h abitation of Austr alia are noted with an asterix (*). N Name Latitude Longitude State Age ( Ma) D (km) 1 Woodleigh 26А 03! S 114А 39! E WA 364Б8 40 2 Dalgar anga 27А 38! S 117А 17! E WA ~ 0.27 0.02 3 Yarrabubba 27А 10! S 118А 50! E WA ~ 2000 30 4 Shoemak er (Teague) 25А 52! S 120А 53! E WA 1630Б5 30 5 Glikson 23А 59! S 121А 34! E WA < 508 ~19 6 Connolly Basin 23А 32! S 124А 45! E WA < 60 9 7 Veevers* 22А 58! S 125А 22! E WA < 0.02 0.08 8 Wolfe Cr eek 19А 10! S 127А 48! E WA < 0.3 0.87 9 Goat Paddock 18А 20! S 126А 40! E WA < 50 5.1 10 Spider 16А 44! S 126А 05! E WA > 570 13 11 Piccan inny 17А 32! S 128А 25! E WA < 360 7 12 Matt W ilsonЊ 15А 27! S 130А 28! E NT unknown 7.5 13 Liverpool 12А 24! S 134А 03! E NT 150Б70 1.6 14 Goyder 13А 28! S 135А 02! E NT < 1400 3 15 Strangew ays 15А 12! S 133А 35! E NT 646Б42 25 16 Foelsche 16А 40! S 136А 47! E NT > 545 6 17 Lawn H ill 18А 40! S 138А 39! E QLD > 515 18 18 Kelly W est 19А 56! S 133А 57! E NT > 550 10 19 Amelia Creek 20А 55! S 134А 50! E NT 600 to 1640 90 20 Boxhole* 22А 37! S 135А 12! E NT 0.0054Б0.0015 0.17 21 Gosses Bluff 23А 49! S 132А 19! E NT 142.5Б0.8 22 22 Henbury* b 24А 34! S 133А 08! E NT 0.0042Б0.0019 0.15 23 Tookoonooka 27А 07! S 142А 50! E QLD 128Б5 55 24 Mount Toondina 27А 57! S 135А 22! E SA < 110 4 25 Acraman 32А 01! S 135А 27! E SA ~ 590 90 26 Flaxman 34А 37! S 139А 04! E SA > 35 10 27 Crawford 34А 43! S 139А 02! E SA > 35 8.5 Њ Kenk mann and Poelch au (2008) b The Henbury crater field comprises 13 craters, resulting f rom the break-up of a nickel- iron meteoroid in the atmosphere before impact. The diameter giv en in Table 1a is of the largest crater, which is actually a cluster of three craters super imposed .

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Archaeoastronomy The Journal of Astronomy in Culture

Figure 1a: Geographic locations of known terrestrial imp act craters in Austr alia. Craters are numb ered from Tab le 1a. The Flaxman and Cr awford cr aters n ear A delaide, Sou th Australia (26 and 27) ar e ver y close in proximity and appear almost completely superimposed on th is map . Table 1b: Probable or suspected terrestrial impact structur es in Australia, numb ered (N) as in Figure 1b . Wulinggi is th e local Aborig inal name for Crater Lake near Batch elor , consid ered a sacred site of the Kungarakany and War ai people ( Murgatroyd 2001:13). N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Name Hickman Wulinggi Maningrida Gulpuliyu l Ren ehan Spear Creek Calver t H ills Wessel White Cliffs Darwin Lat 23А 13А 11А 13А 18А 17А 17А 20А 30А 42А itu 02 02 53 19 18 16 22 36 47 18 de !S !S 'S 'S 'S 'S 'S 'S !S !S Longitu 119А 40! 131А 06! 134А 12' 134А 06' 132А 39' 135А 50' 137А 28' 135А 05' 143А 08! 145А 39! de E E E E E E E E E E St a t e WA NT NT NT NT NT SA NT N SW TAS Reference Glickson et al (2008) Murgatroyd (2001) Haines (2005) Sweet et al (1999) Haines (2005) Kruse et al (2010:59) Macdonald and Mitchell (2004) Macdonald and Mitchell (2004) Green (2008) Howard and H ain es (2007)

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Figure 1b: Geographic locations of probable or suspected terrestrial imp act craters in Australia. Cr aters are numbered from Tab le 1b.

O'Connell (1965) mentions a handful of crater candidates in Australia that are not listed above, including a crater "seen on an Aboriginal reserve on Koolatong River near Blue Mud Bay" (13А 10' S, 135А 40' E, ibid:16), the Lake Hamilton craters on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula (SA 33А 55' S, 135А 16' E, ibid:70) and the Weepra Park Depressions 30 km east of Elliston, Eyre Peninsula, SA (33А 26' S, 134А 16' E, ibid:125) which are both estimated to be < 9,000 years old and are probably solution-collapsed domes. She also includes the Mount Doreen crater, NT at the general coordinates of 23А S, 133А E which is estimated to have formed ~100 years ago (ibid:88). 1.3 Geomythology

The study of geological phenomena (including astronomical events such as comets, eclipses and supernovae) inspiring aspects of oral traditions is referred to as `Geomythology', a term coined in 1968 by Dorothy Vitaliano, a geologist at Indiana University (Vitaliano 1968). The word "mythology" is derived from the Greek "mythos", meaning `story' (or in some cases `word') and "logos", meaning `word' in the form of speech. Thus, mythology can be considered "spoken stories". There is a long-standing debate regarding the nature and purpose of myth, and associated theories of myth vary significantly between academic disciplines. Here, we draw from Masse et al (2007a) that myths can serve as oral records of natural events and that these records can be elicited by modern science to understand or model historic natural events in this case, cosmic impact events3. During the twentieth century, the use of myth to explain geological events was viewed with scepticism by the scientific community, as there was little
3

For a similar study applied to Sou th America, see Masse and Masse (2007).

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Archaeoastronomy The Journal of Astronomy in Culture

physical evidence to support the hypothesis. However, in the 21st century, physical evidence is helping geomythology gain new ground as a legitimate discipline. The first major peer-reviewed work on geomythology is "Myth and Geology" (Piccardi and Masse 2007), which provides the theoretical foundation of the discipline and serves as the methodological basis of this work. Given the generally negative connotations of the word "mythology", we instead use the more accurate term "oral tradition". While Piccardi and Masse (2007) provide a plethora of examples of geomythology from around the world, they represent only the tip of the iceberg. Many stories use natural events or landforms to illustrate a moral point, sometimes including warnings to future generations. On 26 December 2004, such an example was witnessed by the world as an earthquake off the western coast of Sumatra induced a tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean, killing thousands. Some indigenous peoples of the Indian Ocean survived the tsunami because of information contained in their mythology. These groups, including the Moken people of Thailand and Indigenous Andaman Islanders, possessed stories that told of great waves that would "eat men" and that this wave would come when the sea receded rapidly. Their stories told them that to survive they must immediately run to high ground. Their adherence to these stories saved their lives (Arunotai 2006; Masse et al 2007a:18). This suggests that such events probably occurred in the past (see Jankaew et al 2008) and were significant enough to be incorporated into story lines that lasted long periods of time, and these stories contained information and warnings about natural catastrophes that were crucial to the survival of the community. One of the most well-documented examples of geomythology in Australia are the stories describing the volcanic eruptions that formed the Eacham, Barrine, and Euramo crater lakes in Queensland, which formed over 10,000 years ago (Dixon 1972:29; Rainforest Conservation Society of Queensland 1986:39). The stories describe the region as covered in Eucalypt scrub as opposed to the current rainforest. This was later confirmed by the analysis of fossil pollen found in the silt of these craters, which showed the current rainforest to be 7,600 years old (Kershaw 1970; Haberle 2005). The Australian Heritage Commission includes these stories on the Register of the National Estate and within Australia's World Heritage nomination of the wet tropical forests as an "unparalleled human record of events dating back to the Pleistocene era" (Pannell 2006:11; Rainforest Conservation Society of Queensland 1986:40). Similarly, Native American stories describe the eruption of Mount Mazama, which formed Crater Lake in Oregon. Sandals excavated under Mazama ash have been radiocarbon dated at 6,500 years old (Vitaliano 2007), showing the area was inhabited and affected at the time of eruption. Stories from South America suggest Indigenous cultures not only witnessed volcanic eruptions, but that the descriptions of these events remained in the oral tradition for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years (Masse and Masse 2007). Another example of geomythology from Australia and New Zealand is given by Bryant (2001, et al 2007), who suggests that the southeast coast of Australia was struck by a tsunami within the last 600 years. Bryant proposes that the tsunami was induced by a

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Archaeoastronomy The Journal of Astronomy in Culture

cosmic impact in the Tasman Sea and cites various Aboriginal and Maori stories describing tsunamis or cosmic impacts followed by a deluge to support his claim, including the Maori story about the "Fires of Tamatea". This view was challenged by Goff et al (2003), who argued that the Maori placenames were mistranslated and that no `smoking gun' (crater) existed. However, a submarine structure, named Mahuika after the Maori god of fire, was discovered in the Tasman Sea south of New Zealand by Abbott et al (2003) and may be an impact crater 20Б2 km in diameter with an estimated impact date of ~1443 CE (Abbott et al 2005a), supporting Bryant's hypothesis. However, the dating of this structure and its origins are still the topic of contentious debate. 2.0 2.1 Known Australian Impact Craters Gosse's Bluff

Gosse's Bluff, approximately 200 km west of Alice Springs, is an eroded impact crater with a diameter of ~22 km and a remnant circular uplift forming a mountain range ~5 km in diameter and ~150 m in height with an age of 142.5Б0.8 Ma (Milton et al 1996). Scientists first proposed impact origins of the structure in the 1960s based on the abundance of shatter cones (Dietz 1967). To the Western Arrernte4 people, Gosse's Bluff is known as Tnorala and is considered a sacred place. An Arrernte story regarding its origins closely parallels the scientific explanation: in the Dreaming, a group of skywomen were dancing as stars in the Milky Way. One of the women grew tired and placed her baby in a wooden basket, called a turna. As the women continued dancing, the turna fell and plunged into the earth. The baby fell and was covered by the turna, which forced the rocks upward, forming the circular mountain range. The baby's mother, the evening star, and father, the morning star, continue to search for their baby to this day (Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory 1997:1; Cauchi 2003; Williams 2004; Malbunka 2009). 2.2 Wolfe Creek

Wolfe Creek crater, located in northeastern Western Australia, is 850x900 m in diameter with an estimated age of ~300,000 years (Shoemaker et al 1990; 2005). The area is home to the Djaru, who call the structure Kandimalal (Tindale 2005:376). According to Cassidy (1954:198), Kandimalal has "no particular meaning in their language, and no legend exists to give a hint of its origin." However, the literature reveals multiple stories associated with the crater, some of which describe cosmic origins (see Sanday 2007). One of the earliest Djaru accounts tells how a pair of subterranean Rainbow Serpents created the nearby Wolfe and Sturt creeks. One serpent emerged from the ground, creating the circular structure (Bevan and McNamara 1993:6; Goldsmith 2000). Another story tells how one night, the moon and the evening star passed very close to each other. The evening star became very hot and fell to the earth, causing a brilliant, deafening explosion. This greatly frightened the Djaru and it was a long time before they ventured
4

Arrernte, Aranda, and Arunta ar e all differ ent sp ellings of the same Aborig inal language group of Central Australia. D ifferen t spellings are used in th is pap er according to the sp elling giv en in the source fro m which the account was taken.

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near the site, only to discover it was the spot where the evening star had fallen (Goldsmith 2000). Goldsmith reports that the Aboriginal Elder told him this story came from his grandfather's grandfather, indicating it was handed down in its present form before the scientific discovery of the crater. A Djaru Elder named Jack Jugarie (1927-1999) gave his account of the Wolfe Creek crater: "A star bin fall down. It was a small star, not so big. It fell straight down and hit the ground. It fell straight down and made that hole round, a very deep hole. The earth shook when that star fell down" (Sanday 2007:26). Speiler Sturt, a Djaru Elder from Billiluna, Western Australia, also illustrates the cosmic origins of Wolfe Creek crater (ibid, see Figure 2): That star is a Rainbow Serpent This is the Aboriginal Way We call that snake Warnayarra That snake travels like stars travel in the sky It came down at Kandimalal (Wolfe Creek) I been there, I still look for that crater I gottem Ngurriny that one, Walmajarri/Djaru wild man.

Figure 2: Wolfe Cr eek Cr ater and the Rainbow Serpent. Painting (2000) by Boxer Milner , a Djaru Elder from Billiluna, W estern Australia. I mage reproduced with permission, courtesy of Peggy Reeves Sand ay (2007), http://www.sas.up enn.edu/~psand ay/Aborig inal/serpent4.h tml.

2.3

Henbury Crater

With an age of 4200Б1900 years, the Henbury impact event was probably witnessed firsthand since people have inhabited the Central Desert for more than 20,000 years (see Smith 1987; Smith et al 2001). However, Alderman (1931:28) concludes that the local Aboriginal people seemed to have "no interest" in the Henbury craters or ideas as to their origins. An addendum by L.J. Spencer in Alderman (1931:31), however, suggests that Aboriginal people viewed the Henbury impacts with apprehension. A local prospector named J.M. Mitchell noted to Spencer that older Aboriginal people would not camp within a couple of miles of the Henbury craters and referred to them as "chindu china waru chingi yabu", roughly translating to "sun walk fire devil rock" (ibid:31). Fitzgerald (1979) claims that Aboriginal people would not drink the water from the craters in fear that the "fire devil" would fill them with iron. These views and the name suggest recognition of the site as different from the surrounding landscape, highlighting the iron 9

Archaeoastronomy The Journal of Astronomy in Culture

fragments that litter the area and the site's unusual nature. However, not all Aboriginal people of the area shared this apprehension. Brown (1975:190-191) notes that the Henbury craters were an important water source to the local Aboriginal people, as the craters collected and retained rainwater for long periods of time. Although a story was recorded by Mountford (1976:259-260) describing the crater's origins, it did not attribute the structure's formation to a cosmic impact. According to the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territor y (2002:15), the Arrernte name for the crater field is Ta t ye ye Ke pmwere (Tatjakapara) and that " some of the my thologies [sic] for the area are known bu t will only be used for inter pretation purp o ses after agreement b y the Aboriginal custodians of the site". 2.4 Veevers Crater

In the center of Western Australia lies the small, 70 meter-wide Veevers crater, considered one of the best preserved small impact craters in the world and one of a minority that is associated with meteorite fragments (Shoemaker et al 2005). Using cosmogenic nuclide exposure of the crater walls, the estimated age of Veevers crater is less than 20,000 years old. However, the well-preserved ejecta suggest it may be less than 4,000 years old (ibid). In either case, the Veevers impact may have been witnessed by humans, but no Aboriginal stories about it are recorded in the literature. 2.5 Boxhole Crater

Boxhole crater is a 170-m wide impact structure located ~170 km northeast of Alice Springs (see map in Figure 1). The age of this structure is contentious, as Kohman and Goel (1963) report an age of 5,400Б1,500 years using 14C exposure, while Shoemaker et al (1990; 2005) report an age of ~30,000 years using 10Be/26Al exposure (see Haines 2005:484-485). In either case, the impact may have been witnessed, depending on the precise date of human arrival to the Boxhole region. Madigan (1937:190) claimed that the local Aboriginal people seemed to have "no interest" in the crater and nothing else is reported in the literature. 2.6 Other craters

A search for stories associated with other confirmed impact craters revealed a story about Liverpool crater in Arnhem Land (Haines 2005), which is described as the nest of a giant catfish. This story is supported by pictographs of giant catfish on the walls of a rock shelter located within the crater (Shoemaker and MacDonald 2005). The crater is ~1.6 km wide and dates to ~150 Ma. Except for Gosse's Bluff, Wolfe Creek, Liverpool and Henbury, we were unable to locate associated stories relating to other confirmed impact craters. 2.7 Summary of the evidence from known impact craters

2.7.1 Why are there stories of Wolfe Creek and Gosse's Bluff?

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Two Australian impact craters, Gosse's Bluff and Wolfe Creek, have associated stories that attribute extraterrestrial origins to the structures' formation, even though the craters were formed long before human habitation of Australia. It is unclear if (a) the stories describing Gosse's Bluff and Wolfe Creek as cosmic impacts incorporated the modern scientific explanation, (b) the Aboriginal people had deduced, without the influence of Western science, that these structures were formed by cosmic impacts, (c) parallels between scientific and Aboriginal views are simply coincidence, or d) the information the Aboriginal elders provided to the researchers was misleading. Misleading information can be caused by a poorly worded question (e.g. Researcher: "Do you have any stories about that meteorite crater we call [...]?"), in which case the Aboriginal informant may tell the researcher what they "want to hear" out of courtesy or respect (e.g. Clarkson 1999). The first argument (a) could be falsified by showing, conclusively, that the cosmic impact stories predate the scientific discovery of the craters. Addressing (b), (c), and (d) requires a more detailed understanding of Aboriginal knowledge systems, Dreamings, and Aboriginal customs. 2.7.2 Why are there no stories of the known impact craters that occurred in human history? Three craters, Henbury, Boxhole and Veevers, were formed during human habitation of Australia and would undoubtedly have caused widespread destruction extending from several kilometers from the impact site. Although there are some stories related to the Henbury craters (although some of them are not in the public domain) it is curious that no story exists regarding Veevers or Boxhole. Possible explanations are that (a) humans did not inhabit that area at that time, (b) that stories do exist, but are too secret to be revealed to an uninitiated researcher, or (c) that stories did once exist, but have been lost in time, perhaps through cultural discontinuity. We do not currently have the information necessary to discriminate between these explanations. 3.0 Other Impact Sites

A survey of the available literature revealed a plethora of stories and accounts that describe stars falling from the sky and crashing to the earth. These stories, which do not correspond to impact structures or meteorite finds known to Western science, could be used to model possible impact catastrophes (e.g. Masse and Masse 2007) or assist in locating new impact sites. Some stories are somewhat vague and do not cite a specific location, such as that from the Wolmeri of the Kimberleys who tell how Venus came to earth and left a stone in one of the "horde countries" (Kaberry 1939:12), a Wawilak (Yolngu) place in Arnhem Land called "Katatanga", meaning "the falling meteor place" (Warner 1937:251), or the Indjabinda story about Mangela, who came to the earth with a fleeting appearance at a place denoted by a sacred mound called Kumana Kira (Cowan 1992:28). Other stories, however, cite the specific location of the event. Here, we sort the stories by state, citing locations where available. The coordinates of all locations with a superscript `' are given in Table 2 and shown in Figure 3. To facilitate later

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discussion, those events that may correspond to a historical event are assigned an "Event Number". 3.1 New South Wales

Several oral traditions from New South Wales (NSW) describe cosmic impacts, especially in the northwest region of the state. A story from the Muruwari of north-central NSW describes a catastrophic event that Mathews (1994:60) interprets to be a meteorite impact, citing a large circular area near the village of Bodenaf, where Mathews indicates the event took place (Event #1). The story, recorded between 1968 and 1972, involves fire falling from the sky to the earth, causing death and destruction. Gien, the man responsible for the catastrophe, fled to the sky and became the moon. Mathews recounts a nearly identical story from the nearby Ngemba peoples, who tell of a fireball that landed on the camp, killing everyone. A similar story from the nearby Kula peoples (recorded in 1804, ibid) describes a giant piece of burning wood that fell upon the camp, with the responsible party, Giwa, becoming the moon. The similar stories probably represent variations of a single account that has been incorporated into the storylines of adjacent Aboriginal communities, with each group reciting their own interpretation of the story. While Mathews suggests the event took place near Bodena, the Kula story cites the location as Multaguna Run near the Warrego River, approximately 90 km west of Bodena. It is uncertain where the story originated, but the earliest record in the literature is the Kula account. No geophysical survey of the site confirming or rejecting this hypothesis is reported in the available literature. A Weilan story (McKay 2001:112-114) tells of a female shape-shifter who would lure men away from their camps and carry them away. A man cunningly led her to a water hole, where he tied a cord around her (made of human hair) while she slept. She awoke and fought to get him off her back, jumping into the water turning it a dull colour. He speared her in the back, but she would not die. She flew up to the sky with him still clinging on until they were in the path of falling stars. A falling star knocked the man off and he fell with some stars to the ground (Event #2) at a site known today as the town of Girilambone. The Weilan (ibid) also tell of a large star that fell to earth, lighting up all of the surrounding land - so bright, in fact, that several different Aboriginal groups saw it (e.g. Murrawarri, Barkinji, Weilan, Ngemba, Narran, Kamilaroi, and Wongaibon). A nearly identical story from the Ooungyee people of the Kimberleys in Western Australia is given in Sawtell (1955:21-22). The Sawtell account was published 46 years prior to the NSW account, though the story's origins are unclear. The Weilan story was published in a magazine "for the Aboriginal people of New South Wales", suggesting the story may have been adopted later by the Weilan. Given the nearly identical wording and theme of the text, we do not consider these to be independently contrived stories. There are no known impact craters in New South Wales, except for the newly discovered, albeit unconfirmed, structure near the town of White Cliffs, which is estimated to be more than two million years old (Macey 2008, see Figure 1b, Table 1b). According to Threlkeld (1834:51), recounted in Turbet (1989:126), the scattered rocks at a place called Kurra Kurranf, on Fennell Bay at the north-western extremity of Lake

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Macquarie, between Sydney and Newcastle, lies an area of petrified wood. According to the local Awabakal people, the fragments are remnants of a large rock that was cast from the sky by a giant goanna, killing many people (Event #3). Jones (1989) recounts a story of a large fiery star that rumbled and smoked as it fell from the sky, crashing into the ground near Wilcannia (Event #4). The impact was followed by a deluge, which Jones suggests is represented in rock paintings on Mount Grenfell, northwest of Cobar. The paintings show people climbing the mountain, supposedly to escape the rising water levels. Jones noted the presence of unusual black stones in the riverbed, indirectly suggesting they were meteorites. The story gives the impact location as the Darling riverbed northeast of Wilcannia at a place called Purli Ngaangkalitji. A survey of the area by Scottish-Australian astronomer Robert McNaught found no evidence of an impact crater or meteoritic material (Steel and Snow 1992:572). Bevan and Bindon (1996:95) suggest that the story was recounted at this spot on the Darling River, but was not where the event actually took place. If the story describes a real event, the location of the original site is currently unknown to Westerners. Stories from the Shoalhaven region near Nowra describe an impacting meteor shower and airburst (Peck 1933:192-193, Event #5): "The sky moved, heaved and billowed. The stars tumbled and clattered and fell against one another. The Milky Way split and great star groups were scattered. Many stars fell to the earth, flashing in the sky. A large red glowing mass burst in the air, giving a deafening roar, as it scattered millions of molten pieces on the ground. This occurred all night. The ground was covered in burned holes and great mounds, formed from the falling pieces". A similar story is recounted in Peck (1925:152-160); during a battle between two groups, a bright, burning blue light came hissing toward the earth from the sky. Surprised by this sight, the people thought it must have been an unknown great sorcerer. The earth trembled as the star crashed into the ground, sending rock and debris into the air. The noise of the explosion was deafening and reverberated around the surrounding hills. The men were filled with terror and they all fell flat to the ground (Event #6). Peck vaguely says this area is in "the belt of basalt country where the waratah does not grow" (ibid:152). 3.2 Northern Territory

Two stories of falling stars in Arnhem Land describe fire resulting from the impact. A Gurudara story describes a bright star5, named Nyimibili, falling from the sky onto the Marabibi camp near the Wildman River, which burned all of the grass and trees, causing death and destruction (Berndt and Berndt 1989:25-27, Event #7). The Yolngu tell of Goorda, a fire-spirit from the Southern Cross, who came to the earth as a falling star to bring fire to people of the Gainmaui River, near Caledon Bay. Once he touched the
5

The fiery star, Nyimib ili, was descr ibed as h aving a large eye as bright as the moon, burning alight during the day and night. This d escr iption closely relates to oth er malevolen t, one-ey ed meteor beings found in the oral trad itions of Aborig inal peop le of th e upper Nor thern Territory, su ch as N amorrodor and Papin juwari.

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ground (Event #8), he set the grass ablaze, which spread causing death and chaos (Allen 1975:109)6. Many Aboriginal communities believe natural disasters are punishment for breaking laws and traditions. The Wardaman people warn of a fiery star named Utdjungon that will fall from the sky to destroy the earth if laws and traditions are not followed. The falling star will cause the earth to shudder, the hills and trees to topple and turn, and everything going black with night descending (Harney and Elkin 1949:29-31). A nearly identical story from the nearby Ngarinman tells of "a large black stone, thrown from the sky by Utdjungon a killer who lives in the Milky Way and flings a fiery ball to slay" (Harney and Elkin 1949:72-74, Event #9). No specific locations are cited in these stories, but presumably take place within Wardaman or Ngarinman country. Some stories of falling stars have Western religious overtones. In the town of Hermannsburg (Ntaria), ~110 km west of Alice Springs, an Arrernte woman told of a star that fell to earth (Event #10) creating two holes on the site of the old Hermannsburg church prior to settlement of the area by Lutheran missionaries (Austin-Broos 1994:142; 2009:39). The story was heavily laced with Christian influence and symbolism, resulting from the close association between the Aboriginal community and the missionaries. Austin-Broos (1994:149; 2009:37-38) believes this account may relate to the story of a star that fell to earth in a waterhole in nearby Palm Valley called Puka. Rбheim (1945:183) provides an earlier record of this story, citing Western and Eastern Aranda folklore about a star that fell into a waterhole where the serpent, Kulaia, lived, making a great noise like thunder. In the story, a thirsty boy who had only recently been circumcised (initiated) peered into Puka and saw the serpent, which rose and swallowed him whole. The boy's death caused much grief and mourning among his community, who promptly burnt the food they had collected for the boy's initiation and left the camp. In some cases, the progenitors of knowledge or humankind were brought to earth via falling stars. The Western Arunta say the first human couple originated from a pair of stones that were thrown from the sky by the spirit Arbmaburinga (Rбheim 1971:370). Yarrungkanyi and Warlpiri of the Northern Territory tell how celestial Dreaming men fell to the earth as falling stars, bringing the Dreaming to the people. The Dreaming men, armed with weapons, travelled through the sky and landed at a place called Purrparlarla (Warlukurlangu Artists 1987:127), southwest of Yuendumu (aka Yurntumu, ibid:4). Another description of a "sky man" falling to the earth is from Bickerton Islandf, between Groote Eylandt and the mainland. Connie Bush (Pascoe 1990:31-32) recounts a story (Event #11) about a circular spot in the sand that was formed when a "terrific explosion in the sky" towards the west dropped a smoking white object to the earth early in the morning. At the supposed impact site, two Aboriginal men saw a white man "standing in the sand up to his knees" about an hour after the impact. The man lived with the
6

There is so me d and Kring 2004). that wer e caused required to ign ite (1 9 7 7 ).

ebate as to whether meteorite Masse and Masse (2007:196) by fiery objects falling from grass and trees, among o ther

impacts cite sev th e sky materia

can eral .C ls, b

trigger fir es (e.g . Jones and Lim 2000; examp les from South America descr ibin ollins et al (2005) cite the h eat-en ergy ased on nuclear tests by G lasstone and

Du rd a g fir es lev els Do lan

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community for many years, marrying one of the women and having a child until he finally died. The story notes that the white man's son died as a young man from a measles epidemic that spread to the island from Groote Eylandt before the arrival of missionaries in 1921. It may be related to a measles epidemic on Bathurst Island in 1913, but it is not clear. This implies that the event occurred during the end of the 19th century, ruling out a plane crash as the cause. According to Bush, the circle is still void of vegetation and shells are placed around the perimeter to remind people where the sky man fell. However, the discovery of the man and the bolide event may be purely coincidental, or perhaps the two events were incorporated into a single storyline. 3.3 Western and South Australia

In Western Australia, Wirrimanu artists tell a story of a star (Event #12) that fell from the sky to Lake Mackay, explaining that the "Rainbow snake came to this place and ate up a lot of people" (Bevan and Bindon 1996:96). No meteorite finds or impact sites are currently known in or near Lake Mackay. Another Dreaming tells of a hunter named Mangowa and how his actions led to a group of stars falling to the earth (Event #13), forming the circular lagoons that line the coast of the Nullarbor (e.g. Roberts and Mountford 1965:52; Smith 1970:24; Reed 1993:237-239). A Wirangu story describes a meteorite impact (Event #14) near the coastal town of Eucla, close to the border of South and Western Australia (Education Department of South Australia 1992:32-33, retold by M. Miller and W. J. Miller): "A long, long time ago, a huge meteorite hurtled towards the earth from the northward sky, and smashed into the ground near Eucla. Because it was so big, a dent appeared in the crust of the earth and the meteorite bounced high into the air and out into the Great Australian Bight where it landed with an enormous sizzling splash. It was hot from its trip through space so it gave off a great deal of steam and gas as it sank through the waves. But this was no ordinary meteorite. It fact, it was the spirit Tjugud. In the deep water near by, the spirit woman Tjuguda lay asleep. All the noise around her woke her up and she was very angry. She bellowed and the elements roared with her. The wind blew, the rain pelted from the sky and the dust swirled." Because of the generous use of Western scientific terms in the story ("meteorite", "crust of the earth", etc), it is uncertain how close the story is to its original form, assuming it is pre-colonisation. There are no known impact craters on the Nullarbor, but Gibbons (1977:265) and Bevan and Binns (1989) reveal numerous meteorites that have been found in area, including those found near the town of Forrest, ~100 km northwest of Eucla. A story (Event #15) associating a fiery catastrophe with a large circular depression on the McGrath Flat (aka Magrath Flat) homestead in South Australia prompted Tindale (1938:18) to conclude that the story described a meteorite impact (Stanner 1975:14). To date, no meteoritic material has been found in or near the structure, but it is uncertain if the structure has been properly surveyed for evidence of an impact.

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When Ngalia men shared sacred information about the Walanari - celestial deities who were seen as protectors of good men and punishers of bad men that lived in the Magellanic Clouds - with the anthropologist Charles P. Mountford (1976:457), the Walanari became very angry and threw glowing stones onto the Ngalia camp later that night. Ngalia informants claim that men have been killed by falling stars thrown by the Walanari (Event #16). They said that when totemic ceremonies were being performed at Mount Doreen, the Walanari threw meteorites to the earth to express their pleasure (see ibid, Plate 584). O'Connell (1965:88) mentions a crater candidate near Mount Doreen with general coordinates of 23 S, 133 E that may have impacted ~100 years ago and states that a "local legend of fiery snake may refer to meteorite fall", but gives no references to the legend. Meteors are often associated with serpents (see Hamacher and Norris 2010b). The Kimberleys are rich in stories of objects falling from the sky, as well as floods that indicate tsunamis. Bryant (2001, et al 2007) proposes a link between these stories, hypothesizing that cosmic debris impacted the Indian Ocean creating tsunamis that devastated the coastline. For example, Bryant (ibid) cites published evidence of megatsunami on the northwest coast of Western Australia, which he speculates was induced by a bolide impact. As evidence, he cites a rock painting on a rock, called Comet Rock, near Kalumburu, which depicts a comet-like motif and lies 5 km from the ocean on a plain covered in a layer of beach sand. Aboriginal oral traditions provide descriptions of a deluge around Walcott Inlet (e.g. Mowaljarlai and Malnic 1993:180-181), covering mesas up to 500 m high (Bryant et al 2007). One such account (Lucich 1969:52-57) describes a Jauidjabaija woman leaving Montgomery Island (Yawajaba Island) and canoeing to an island near the "fountain of the sea" (presumably near the mouth of Walcott Inletf, as it lies ~25 km south of Yawajaba Island). The story tells that the woman was on the coast of the island when the ocean rapidly receded, leaving many sea animals beached. A rushing noise followed some time later and the ocean tide came rushing back, covering the land, including mountains. The flood lasted a day before returning to the sea. Bryant et al (2007) argues that such mega-tsunamis are probably caused by a cosmic impact in the Indian Ocean. Tides in the Kimberleys can vary by as much as 10 meters, but such a substantial flood, preceded by a rapid recession of the ocean, indicates a genuine tsunami and not merely a higher-than-normal tide. An Aboriginal elder from the Kimberleys tells a how when a man dies, his spirit is carried to Meteor Island where he sits upon a long, chimney-like rock, regarded as a meteorite (Mowaljarlai and Malnic 1993:159-161). He turns away from his former life, placing his foot on the rock, causing it to overturn and crash into the sea shaking the earth, while his family chants "Kaaaa-o". He then shoots like a rocket into the spirit world. Mowaljarlai and Malnic claim that Meteor Island and Entrance Island are so prone to meteorite falls, that you can simply go out and collect meteorites on the ground and in the sea with minimal effort. No coordinates were given for Meteor Island, but text states that it "lies near Augustus Island (~90 km northeast of Yawajaba Island) further out from Port George" (ibid:159). A Dreaming story of the Karajaree in the Kimberleys tells how the culture hero Miriny,

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while wandering with his wives, Wade and Gololo, heard the noise of a bullroarer (bolewana) in the sky and saw tjuringas (gaellgoro - sacred stones) falling down from heaven (Worms 1943/44:297)7, which may describe a meteorite fall (Event #17). The Worora, just north of Derby, have a children's story about the moon falling to earth onto two children as punishment for staring at the moon (it was taboo for children to stare at the moon). At the site are two stone pillars representing the children (Lucich 1969:3334). 3.4 Tasmania

A story from Bruny Island in southeast Tasmania tells how two star-spirits fought each other and fell to earth in Louisa Bay, where one turned into a large stone that can still be seen today (Coon 1972:288, Event #18). A similar account from the nearby Needwonee is given in Haynes (2000:57). A story from Oyster Bay tells how fire was brought to the earth by two men who stood on a mountaintop and "threw fire, like a star" that "fell among the blackmen" (Robinson 1966:95). The two men live in the clouds and can be seen in the night sky as the stars Castor and Pollux (the Gemini twins). The concept of fire being brought to earth by sky spirits in the form of a falling star is also found among the Yolngu of Arnhem Land, as described previously. Although a direct comparison is made between fire and stars, the story states that fire was thrown like a star, not as a star. 3.5 Queensland and Victoria

While Queensland and Victoria are both rich in stories and descriptions of comets and meteors (see Hamacher and Norris 2010a, 2010b), there were no Aboriginal stories or descriptions of meteorite falls or cosmic impacts in the reviewed literature for either state, except for brief colonist accounts of the Tenham meteorite in Queensland and the Cranbourne meteorites in Victoria, as described below. To date, only two impact craters are known in Queensland and both are considerably large and old (see Table 1a). Victoria has no confirmed impact craters. However, there is an account from the Torres Strait Islands, which are administered by Queensland, of a stone that fell from the heavens (Event #19). The story tells of people camping on the tiny islet of Pulu8 (near Mabuiag Islandf). A "great stone" called Menguzi kula fell from the sky, crushing everyone except two lovers, who then became the progenitors of the current population (see Haddon 1904:22; Rбheim 1971:370-371; McNiven et al 2009:311-313). Torres Strait Islanders are distinctly different from Aboriginal Australians, as they are of Melanesian extraction, having a close cultural and genetic link with Papuans. 4.0 Meteorites Falls and Finds

A meteorite fall may be a source of fear or fascination for the peoples who witness the
7 8

We wer e unab le to ob tain th e orig inal tex t from Worms (19 40). Pulu is a tiny islet, with an area of < 0 .5 km2 and is consider ed a sacred p lace (see McNiv en et al 2009).

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event. Poirier (2005:237-238) cites an example of a meteorite fall near Jupiter Well, Western Australia that was incorporated into a new storyline, while Madigan and Alderman (1939:355-356) tell how Aboriginal people would steer clear of the Huckitta meteorite9 and suggested that the they were in awe of the stone, perhaps considering it sacred. In 1879, a shower of meteorites fell near Tenham station in South Gregory, western Queensland (Hellyer 1971). It was reported10 in 1900 that Aboriginal people were "deadly afraid" of the Warbreccan masses of the Tenham meteorite: "They cover them in the bush with kangaroo grass, a twisted gidga bark and mud, and then by boughs over the top. Their idea is if the sun sees them, more stones will be shaken down to kill them", suggesting that they had witnessed the fall (Event #20). According to Spencer (1937) the Warbreccan stones were taken by an opal dealer named T.C. Wollaston and sold to the British Museum, using an invented story to explain their origins and how he acquired them. The Aboriginal account is taken from files in the British Museum, so this account is considered dubious (although we do not know if the account is fictitious). However, a news article (Anon 1880) describes an eyewitness account of the Tenham fall on Monday, 25 April 1880 that involved an Aboriginal policemen and their reaction to the event: "A few minutes after six o'clock [...] a very large and brilliant meteor shot from overhead and descended in a southerly direction. The meteor appeared to be the size of a six-quart billycan, and was one splendid ball of fire; it left no streak of light after it, and was the largest one I have ever seen. When the meteor had descended about three parts the distance from where I first saw it to the earth, I lost sight of it, as it was passing behind a large dark cloud. I stood looking in the direction the meteor was traveling, when a loud explosion took place in the same direction which slightly shook the ground for miles around; then a loud rushing noise could be heard as though a great blast of air was rushing through a large tube suspended in mid-air. This sound must have lasted for nearly two minutes when it died away. Next morning, when I rode up to Jundah, everyone there wanted to know what the explosion was, and the only conclusion we could arrive at was that when the meteor struck the ground it must have exploded, but we have not been able to account for the rushing sound afterwards. Inspector Sharp of the black troopers [an Aboriginal police force] said that when the explosion took place, the house he was in shook very much, and that when he ran out to see what was taking place he saw all the troopers running into the barracks with fright depicted on each countenance. From what I could learn I was the only white man at Jundah who saw the transit of the meteor. It is my opinion that it struck the earth a few miles above Galway Downs, and close to the Barcoo River, or we could not have felt the earth shake when it exploded." There were conflicting accounts and dates of the fall recorded in the media (see Spencer
9 10

The Huckitta meteor ite w as d iscov ered by an Aborig inal wo rker named Mick Laughton. Br itish Museum of Natural H istory in the meteor ite f iles und er "Jhung" and "Tenham".

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1937). Although the account states that the Aboriginal policemen were struck with fright, this is an expected reaction for anyone who witnesses such an event. The Yintjingga people of Stewart River in the Kimberleys perceive a meteor as a spirit (mipi) and a portent that someone has died. Sometimes the mipi "brings his light" and crashes to the earth, creating noise. At the same moment, a "big devil" (Wo'odi MнkkФn) that sits in a tree drops a "great stone" to the ground (Thompson 1933:499). This provides direct links between the meteor, the noise made upon impact, and the presence of a stone at that spot, presumably a meteorite. Thompson notes that the Aboriginal ideas of the stone being dropped from the sky "can be easily understood, for meteorites must at times have been seen actually to fall and bury themselves in the earth" (ibid:499). The Mycoolon of northwest Queensland believe that death resulting from a stone falling from the clouds is a penalty for children eating forbidden food (Palmer 1884:294). However, not all meteorites were viewed negatively. The Mycoolon believe that falling stars strike and penetrate certain Acacia trees, transforming into gum (sap) that is a wellliked food source (ibid). Bevan and de Laeter (2002:18) mention how a group of Aboriginal people would dance around a larger fragment of the Cranbourne meteorite fall (southeast of Melbourne) while hitting it with stone axes, apparently "pleased by the metallic sound it made". The meteorite may have been part of a ritual or ceremony of some kind, which was either unknown or unacknowledged by the colonists. It may also be that the Aboriginal people interacting with the Cranbourne meteorite did not see it fall and had no reason to fear it, as opposed to the Jupiter Well and Tenham meteorites. Meteorites have been found in deserted Aboriginal camps (e.g. Johnson and McColl 1967; Alderman 1936:542), but there is little hard evidence to determine whether the stones had any special significance or practical use. 4.1 Aboriginal Discovery of Meteorites and Impact Craters

Over the last century, Aboriginal people made significant contributions to the discovery of meteorites and impact craters in Australia. A lunar meteorite was found by an Aboriginal meteorite hunter in the Millbillillie strewnfield in the Nullarbor near Calcalong Creek in Western Australia (Wlotzka 1991; Hill et al 1991). According to Hill et al (1991:614), the creek derives its name from an Aboriginal word meaning "seven sisters (Pleiades) went up into the sky, chased by the Moon", although this is not sufficient evidence that the meteorite has anything to do with the name of the creek. Dalgaranga Crater, located 75 km west of Mount Magnet in Western Australia, was discovered in 1923 by an Aboriginal man named G.E.P. Wellard11 (McCall and de Laeter 1965:28,60) but was not identified as an impact crater until 1938 (Simpson 1938). An Aboriginal man named Billy Austin witnessed a bright meteor around 05 February 1924 and later discovered a crater in the central South Australian desert near Lake Labyrinth approximately four meters in diameter, with the impacting meteorite 33 meters to the west (Spencer 1937:353-354). Numerous additional meteorite discoveries have been made by
11

Wellard was also instrumental in the id entification o f other meteorites, in cluding th e 33.6 kg Gnowangerup meteor ite (de Later 1982), a Mellenbye/Yalg oo meteorite fragmen t ( McCall and de Laeter 1965:38).

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Aboriginal people and are well recorded in the literature (see Hodge-Smith 1939; Madigan and Alderman 1939:353; Barker 1964:109-110; McCall and de Laeter 1965:28,33,38,39,41,52). 4.2 Aboriginal Use of Meteoritic Material

Bevan and Bindon (1996) published a comprehensive work on the Aboriginal use of meteoritic material, showing that there was no evidence that Aboriginal people worked meteoritic iron, despite some accounts of Aboriginal people using meteoritic iron for weapons (e.g. Peck 1925:152). There is evidence to support the transport of meteoritic material by Aboriginal peoples (ibid), but little physical evidence to explain the use of meteorites or their significance to Aboriginal cultures. However, the use and role of tektites (glass-like terrestrial rocks formed by meteor impacts) among Aboriginal peoples was studied extensively by Baker (1957) and Edwards (1966), who showed many Aboriginal groups had a number of uses for tektites, including surgical tools and implements used in ritual and ceremony. Some Aboriginal groups in Western Australia and the Nullarbor Plains believed tektites to be magic "sky stones" and associated them with meteors and cosmic impacts (Bates 1924:11d). Gibbons (1977) presents a comprehensive (albeit dated) list of meteorites, impact structures, and meteorite fall/find locations (as of the late 1970s) which can be used, in conjunction with current databases, to correlate associated Dreamings with known meteorite finds or cosmic impacts.
Table 2: Coordinates of the sites of cosmic impact stories or meteorite f alls/f inds describ ed in this p aper, listed alphabetically , shown in Figure 3 . Name Latitude Longitude St a t e Augustus Island 15А 20! S 124А 34! E WA Bicker ton Island 13А 46! S 136А 12! E NT Bodena 29А 25! S 146А 40! E N SW Caledon Bay 12К 46! S 136К 28! E NT Cranbourne 38А 06! S 145А 16! E VIC Entran ce I sland 16А 16! S 124А 37! E WA Eucla 31А 42! S 128А 50! E WA Forrest 30А 51! S 128А 06! E WA Girilambone 31А 14! S 146А 53! E N SW Hermannsburg 23А 56! S 132А 46! E NT Huckitta 22К 22! S 135К 46! E NT Jupiter W ell 22К 52! S 126К 35! E WA Kurra Kurran 33А 02! S 151А 38! E N SW Lake Labyrinth 30А 20! S 134А 45! E SA Lake Mackay 22А 35! S 128А 41! E WA Louisa Bay 43А 29! S 146А 14! E TAS Mabuiag Island 09А 56! S 142А 10! E QLD Marabib i 12К 37' S 131К 40! E NT McGrath Flat 35А 52! S 139А 24! E SA Meteor Island Њ 15К 19! S 124К 37! E WA Millbillillie 26К 27! S 120К 22! E WA Mount Doreen 22К 06! S 131К 26! E NT Oyster Bay 42А 09! S 148А 06! E TAS

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Port George Puka (Palm Valley) Tenham Wilcann ia Walcott In let Yurntumu Њ Coordinates ar e of the ar

1 2 2 3 1 2 ea

5А 22! S 4А 03! S 5А 44! S 1А 33! S 6А 25! S 2А 15! S betw een Entr an

124А 42! E 132А 43! E 142А 57! E 143А 30! E 124А 34! E 131А 47! E ce and Augustus

WA NT QLD N SW WA NT Islands.

Figure 3: Sites of cosmic impact stor ies or meteorite falls/finds descr ibed in this pap er. The coordin ates of these sites are given in Tab le 2.

5.0

Statistics of Meteorite Falls and Cosmic Impacts

We now attempt to quantify the meteorite influx rate in Australia, the probability of a person seeing a meteorite-producing meteor from any location in Australia, and the probability of a person being hit or killed by a meteorite or airburst (exploding meteor). 5.1 Meteorite Influx Rate

It is difficult to quantify the rate of meteorite falls on earth's surface given the number of variables and uncertain statistics. However, general estimates can be made using 21

Archaeoastronomy The Journal of Astronomy in Culture

different techniques. One technique is to observe the number of bright meteors over a given area combined with the meteorite recovery rate (see Halliday et al 1984). The Halliday et al technique derives an annual fall rate, per million km2, of 39 for a minimum mass m > 0.1 kg, 7.9 for m > 1 kg, and 1.6 for m > 10 kg. Another technique is to derive a fall rate based on recovered meteorites within a surveyed area (see Zolensky et al 1990). Using a sample of recovered meteorites within an 11 km2 area in New Mexico, Zolensky et al provides a fall rate of ~940 meteorites per million km2 per year with a mass exceeding 10 g. Table 3 lists the expected meteorite fall rates over Australia and each of its states and territories, given these estimates.
Table 3: The expected meteorite f all rate based on estimates given by H alliday et al (1984) and Zolensky et al (1990). Land areas are given in 106 km2, sorted by minimum mass (kg). Nyr is the fall rate per year. State abbrev iations are th e same as in Table 1, while Au stralia is abbrev iated as AU. Fall values ar e rounded to th e nearest whole number. St a t e AU WA QLD NT SA N SW VIC TAS Area 106 7.617 2.529 1.730 1.349 0.983 0.800 0.227 0.068 Nyr per 0.01 940 7144 2378 1626 1268 921 752 213 64 m 0 3 2 9 6 5 3 3 9 3 inimum mass (kg) .1 1.0 10.0 9 7.9 1.6 96 60 12 9 20 4 7 14 3 3 11 2 8 8 2 1 6 1 2 0 1 0

During known human habitation of Australia (a lower limit of 40,000 years), an estimated 286 million meteorites with mass > 10 g have fallen. During periods of lower sea levels, this number is higher because of the larger continent size. While Aboriginal language groups are not spread evenly in size and population density across the continent, a rough approximation of 300 distinct Aboriginal language groups (Walsh 1991) of equal size gives a land area of ~25,300 km2 per group, showing that each group would expect approximately 23 meteorite falls per year within their land area, each assumed to be accompanied by a visible meteor12. 5.2 Probability of Casualty due to Meteorite Falls and Cosmic Impacts

5.2.1 Probability of Being Struck by a Meteorite Historic accounts of meteorites striking or killing people are recorded in the literature (e.g. Yau et al 1994; Gritzner 1997; Lewis 1999:14-25). Accounts from Aboriginal sources include Mountford (1976:457) who noted that men in Western Australia had been killed by fiery stones thrown to the earth by the Walanari. However, meteorite falls are a relatively rare occurrence at any given location, so what is the probability that a person has been struck by a meteorite since humans first arrived in Australia?
12

However not all v isib le meteors produce recov erable meteor ites, as many burn up in the atmospher e.

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Given the number over the land area evenly distributed history in Australi been struck by a m

of meteorites that fall per annum as described in the previous section of Australia (Nm = 7144 for m > 10g, from Table 3) and assuming an constant population of 250,000 people (Np) over the course of human a (TA = 40,000 years), we estimate the number of people who have eteorite in Australia (Ns) as:

(1) Where AH is the surface area of a person (from a "bird's eye view", estimated at 0.3 m2) and AA is the area of Australia (7.6x1012 m2). For the values given, the number of human beings struck during the course of Australian human history is about three. Because this happens so infrequently, it is extremely unlikely that the literature would have records of such an event in Australian human history, yet there are several Aboriginal accounts of people being killed by meteorites. Of course, populations are not spread evenly across the continent and populations fluctuate in number, so this and all subsequent estimates in this paper serve only as first-order approximations. 5.2.2 Probability of Death or Injury from Cosmic Impacts To estimate the probability of being within the destruction area of an airburst or impact in Australia, we first determine the area AD (km2) of devastation caused by an impactor of energy E (Mt) using the relationship given by Steel (1995): (2) Thus an impact energy equivalent to the Hiroshima bomb (13 kt) of ~22 km2. Impactors with energies of 1 Mt will devastate equivalent to the area of a large city. To estimate the frequency energy, we estimate the time interval between impacts t (years) of E (Mt), using Collins et al (2005: their Equation 3): would destroy an area an area of 400 km2, of impacts by impact a given impact energy

(3) The 1908 Tunguska airburst in Siberia was estimated to have an energy of 10 Mt from a height of 8.5 km and destroyed ~2000 km2 of Siberian forest, in agreement with Equation 2 (Napier and Asher 2009). Using Equation 3, Tunguska-like events are expected about every 650 years. However, other large bolide explosions have occurred within the last century, including the burst over the CuruУР River, Brazil in 1930 (Bailey et al 1995; Huyghe 1996) with an estimated energy of 1 Mt (Chown 1995) and a Tunguska-like blast over Guyana in 1935 (Steel 1996). None of these airbursts left a known impact crater or meteorite debris, which is consistent with a cometary origin (since comets are composed of low-density ice and dust). Additionally, all three airbursts occurred when the earth passed through major meteor streams (Napier and Asher 2009), caused by the earth passing through the dust tail of a comet.

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However, the atmospheric dynamics of meteors are still poorly understood and recent research indicates that the Tunguska blast had much lower impact energy than previously estimated (3-5 Mt, see Boslough and Crawford 2008). Estimates of the time interval of Tunguska-like impacts range from once every 1,000 years (Brown et al 2002) to once every 250 years (Equation 3). Networks scanning the global atmosphere for explosions were not incorporated until the latter 20th century, so other airbursts could have occurred over the ocean unnoticed. Rocky meteoroids, corresponding to impact energies of up to 1 Mt, often explode high in the atmosphere, having little effect on the earth (Collins et al 2005). Figure 4 shows the estimates of the impact frequency and impact energy of impactors based on several Near Earth Object (NEO) surveys. The assumptions and equations used in this paper provide a reasonable first-order approximation for estimating impact probabilities.

Figure 4: The impact frequen cy and energy of Near Earth Objects from sever al surveys (taken from Morrison et al 2003, with corrected publication dates) . The horizontal ax is shows th e imp act energy, and also the meteoroid d iameter and abso lute magnitude (lumin osity) of the NEO . The v ertical ax is shows the time interval betw een su ch impacts and also the expected number of NEOs that ar e brigh ter than a g iven magnitude (H) . A rev iew of th is subject can be found in Ivanov (2008).

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The time between impacts within Australia, using a modified version of Equation 3, is given as:

(4) Where AE is the area of earth (5.1x108 km2) and AA is the area of Australia (7.6x106 km2). Equation 4 tells us that a 1 Mt event occurs about every 7,300 years. This means that approximately 5.5 such events have occurred in Australia over the last 40,000 years. The total number of people killed by any single 1 Mt event in Australia is:

(5) Where AD(E) = 400 km2 (from Equation 2), AA is the area of Australia and NP is the total average population of Australia (250,000). Equation 5 shows that ~13 people are killed by any single 1 Mt event. Since ~5.5 such events have occurred during the human habitation of Australia, each killing 13 people, the total number of people killed by all combined impact events is about ~72. Of course, such events would have had an influence (perhaps distress or surprise) on the people in the region that witnessed the event but were not killed. For a 1 Mt event, the radius of destruction (Equation 2), is ~11.3 km. If we assume that people within a 25 km radius heard or saw the event, then the "area of influence" would be ~2,000 km2. This would mean only about 360 people have been "influenced" by such an event during the course of human history in Australia. However, this number should be taken as no more than a rough estimate, since it will depend on how the population is distributed. Another approach is to estimate the number of language groups that would have witnessed an impact. If we assume 300 evenly spread language groups and estimate that five impact events (with E = 1 Mt, using Equation 4) have occurred during the human history of Australia, then only five language groups would have witnessed an impact over the last 40,000 years. Over the last 10,000 years, that number drops to only one. If oral traditions can survive for 10,000 years, we would statistically expect to find only one story. Since many Aboriginal cultures, including their oral traditions, were damaged or lost because of colonisation, it would be surprising if any group now had an oral tradition based on a witnessed cosmic impact. 6.0 Discussion

We now compare the impact rates predicted by the meteor literature with those indicated by Australian Aboriginal tradition. The results are summarized in Table 4. We emphasise

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that extreme caution is needed when evaluating such subjective material quantitatively, and that the following discussion should be treated as a guide to further research rather than as a definitive statement. Table 4 shows that the numbers of events expected from meteoritic knowledge is comparable to that recorded in oral tradition, with the exception of witnessed destructive events, where the number of stories is about three times higher than that expected. However, the oral traditions sampled here are only a small fraction of those that have originated over the 40,000 years of Australian human history. While the longevity of oral traditions is not known (and remains the topic of debate), we have examples that suggest these records can last thousands of years, including those of the erupting crater lakes in Queensland (Dixon 1972:29), the eruption of Mount Gambier in South Australia (Anon 1870), and the traditions associated with the Henbury impacts (P&WCNT 2002:15), (see Blong (1982) for examples from Papua New Guinea, and Masse and Masse (2007) for examples from South America). If we liberally estimate that Dreaming stories have a typical longevity of 10,000 years and that perhaps a quarter of pre-contact Aboriginal cultures have had their oral traditions recorded and published (many stories are considered sacred and secret and are not shared with outsiders), then the number of stories describing cosmic impacts exceeds the number expected by a factor of about 17, or, in the case of witnessed major impacts, by a factor of about 50. The explanation of this discrepancy may include a combination of the following factors: ( ( ( ( ( 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) These stories were not based on witnessed events; These stories have been influenced by Western science; A single story was shared with many other Aboriginal groups; Impact events were more frequent than estimated; Some unacknowledged factor plays a role.

In the following sections, we address each topic separately.

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Table 4: Comp arison of numbers of meteor ev ents pr edicted by the meteor literature throughout human habitation of Australia ( last 40,000 years) , compar ed w ith those indicated by Austr alian Aboriginal tradition . Phenomenon Known impact craters in Australia formed within span of human habitation. Meteorite str ikes and kills a human Meteorite imp acts causing human fatality Meteorite imp acts causing destruction or crater, but no t necessar ily hu man fatality Notable br ight meteorite impacts but not causing destruction Meteoritic/G eological eviden ce Three crater s known (Boxhole, Henbury and Veevers). Oral trad ition No oral trad ition of being caused by a cosmic imp act, excep t perh aps Henbury where the stories are secret. 1 or 2 fatalities in oral trad ition 7 oral accounts of fatal even ts 17 events (includ ing those involving f atalities) are r ecorded in the oral trad ition. Event # Notes Two oth er cr aters (Gosse's Bluff and Wolfe Cr eek) h ave impact stories but were formed befor e human hab itation. 16?, 19 1, 3, 7 , 8, 12, 16, 19 Those above, p lus 4, 5, 6 , 9, 10, 11, 13, 15 2, 14, 17, 18, 20

~3 fatalities expected About 5 ev ents expected, Expect about 5 language groups to have w itn essed such an ev ent Many expected difficu lt to qu antify.

6.1

Stories were not based on witnessed events

In some cases, the description is vague (see Bevan and Bindon 1996:96; Lucich 1969:3334), but in other cases, the description closely parallels the scientific explanation (see Peck 1933:192-193; Harney and Elkin 1949:29-31). The account of a cosmic impact near Wilcannia described by Jones (1989) in Section 3.1 is an example of a story that claims the event was witnessed but currently lacks physical evidence to support it (see Steel and Snow 1992:572). It is possible that the event occurred elsewhere, at a location yet to be identified by Westerners (Bevan and Bindon 1996:95). While this explanation may be the case for some stories, other descriptions of impact events so closely parallel the scientific explanation (e.g. Peck 1925, 1933) that it seems unlikely that the story has been fabricated. However, because a Peck, a Westerner, recorded the stories, it is unknown how much his bias affected his writings. It is also possible that the impact stories derived from logical deductive reasoning. For example, dropping a rock into the sand may have helped people recognize that larger falling rocks may have created larger craters that are of a similar shape. A smaller impact, such as the one witnessed at Lake Labyrinth (Section 4.1), could have prompted elders to create a story about a similar event. 6.2 Stories have been influenced by Western science

Another possibility is that these accounts were influenced by Western science, with Western information about cosmic impact events being incorporated into oral tradition. 27

Archaeoastronomy The Journal of Astronomy in Culture

This is certainly possible in some cases. For example, the literature records no accounts of the Wolfe Creek crater having cosmic origins before it was known as an impact crater (see Sanday 2007 versus Bevan and McNamara 1993:6). However, many of the Aboriginal informants interviewed by Sanday (2007) and Goldsmith (2000) maintain that their accounts of the cosmic origins of Wolfe Creek (Kandimalal) were handed down over many generations, before Westerners knew of its cosmic origins. This would be difficult to substantiate unless a written record of the story existed before the crater was identified by Westerners. Unfortunately, in the case of Gosse's Bluff and Wolfe Creek, no written records have been found describing these structures prior to their identification as impact craters by Western science. 6.3 A single story was shared with other Aboriginal communities

Examples of a particular story that was shared by several distinct communities exist, of which some were described in Section 3.1, including the Mathews (1994) account and the McKay (2001:112-114) account. In this case, a single group witnessed an event and the story of that event spread to other communities. However, this suggests that some group must have witnessed the event. It is possible that many stories are based on a few much earlier stories, which have spread to other communities and placed in a local context (see also Michaels 1985). The oldest recorded story may identify the particular community from which it came. 6.4 Impact events were more frequent than estimated

If the Aboriginal accounts described in this paper are records of witnessed events, despite the results of Section 5, then the evidence suggests that we are underestimating the impact rate. This could either be because the literature on impact rates systematically underestimates rates, or because impact events are more frequent than previously thought. The distribution of known impact structures is not uniform, For example, 25 craters are found in the Baltic countries and Scandinavia, while the rest of Western Europe contains only four. The remote, dry Australian continent contains 27 confirmed craters, while the much larger and wetter South American continent contains only eight. This indicates that many more impact craters remain to be discovered. In remote, moist areas such as the rainforests of the Amazon, Congo and Southeast Asia, no confirmed craters have been found. On the ocean floor, which should account for ~70% of impact craters, the search for these structures is difficult. The hypothesis that impacts are more frequent than currently estimated was proposed by members of the Holocene Impact Working Group13, which claims that some historic catastrophes were caused by impact events (see Baillie 2007; Masse et al 2007b; Firestone et al 2006; Rappenglнck et al 200914). There are only 11 confirmed Holocene (i.e. within the last 12,000 years) impact sites out of 176 known craters to date (Earth Impact Database 2009, see Table 4). Figure 4 shows the estimated impact intervals based
13 14

http://tsun.sscc.ru/h iwg/h iwg.h tm A full list of publications by the group can be found her e: http://tsun.sscc.ru /hiwg/publ.htm

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on impact energy and impactor diameter. Using the scaling equations of Collins et al (2005), we expect large impact events (impactors exceeding 1 km diameter) to occur at intervals greater than 100,000 years. However, proposed structures from the Australian-New Zealand region suggest multiple large impacts have occurred over the last few thousand years. These include the Mahuika structure described in Section 1.3, as well as two proposed submarine structures, named Kanmare (meaning `Serpent') and Tabban (meaning `Rainbow'), that were discovered either side of Mornington Island in the southeast corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria (see Figure 5, Table 5, and Appendix B). The latter two structures are approximately 18 km and 12 km in diameter, respectively, based on satellite altimetry and have a measured date (first order approximation) of 572 CE Б 86 years (Abbott et al 2007)15. Numeric models of these impacts (using Collins et al 2005) show that Mornington Island and surrounding archipelago would have succumbed to devastating effects (including widespread fires, impact ejecta, tsunamis and earthquakes), of which we should expect to find significant archaeological, geological, and environmental evidence. Another alleged submarine structure found in the southern Indian Ocean, named Burckle, has a diameter of ~ 30 km and a proposed age of < 6,000 years (Abbott et al 2009). In addition, there are several other large, alleged impact structures from the other regions of the world that have proposed dates within the last 6,000 years (e.g. Umm al Binni structure; see Master and Woldai 2004, Chiemgau crater field; see Rappenglнck et al 2009)16. To account for this discrepancy, Baillie (2007) suggests these impacts may have originated from fragmented comets or "dark" comets, which have a very low albedo and are difficult to detect (Napier et al. 2004) and that current impact estimates represent very conservative minima.
Table 4: Confirmed Holocene imp acts ( Ear th Impact Database 2009), see also Baillie (2007). Provided ar e the names, lo cations, ages. Crater fields ar e noted as well as any impact sites w ith related myths or records of the even t. Name Sikhote Alin Wabar Haviland Sobolev Whitecourt Camp de Cielo KaalijФrv
15

Country Russia Saudi Ar abia United States Russia Can ada Argentin a Estonia

Age (years) 63 140 < 1000 < 1000 < 1100 < 4000 4000Б1000

Field No Yes No No No Yes Yes

Associat ed Myths/R eco rds Gallan t (1996) Bobrowsky and Rickman (2007:30) Bobrowsky and Rickman (2007:31) Bobrowsky and Rickman (2007:29)

Tester and Abbott (2007) describ e the craters as elliptical in shape, indicative of a low angle imp act ( < 15А). 16 Another close pair of submarine cr ater candidates consist of the 5 k m w ide K angaroo and 4 k m wid e Jo ey structures (Abbott et al 2006), located south of Portland, Victoria (see Figure 5-Bo tto m, Tab le 5) . Geophysical surveys of these structures are in progress (e.g . Martos et al 2006; Elk inton et al 2006; Abbott et al 2006), although no age estimates have been published. A news account (Anon 1870) of an Aboriginal story describ ing a massive tsunami that destroyed the reg ion betw een Portland and Mt. Eckersley, Victor ia suggests a potential link to the Kangaroo and Joey craters, b ut includes refer ences to volcanic activ ity on Mt Gambier, suggesting either a volcanic event or two separ ate events incorporated in to th e same story. Any connection b etw een the cr aters and th e Aborig inal account is specu lativ e.

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Henbury IlumetsФ Macha Morasko

Australia Estonia Russia Poland

4200Б1900 < 6600 < 7000 < 10000

Y N Y Y

es o es es

Bobrowsky and Rickman (2007:31) Bobrowsky and Rickman (2007:29) -

Table 5: Submarin e crater candidates from the Austr alia-N ew Zealand region , shown in Figure 5. Provided are the location, estimated diameter (D), and proposed age ( T) of each stru cture. Name Kanmar e Tabban Kangaroo Joey Mahuika Burckle* * Not shown in F Latitu 16А 34 17А 07 39А 02 39А 09 48А 18 30А 51 igure 5 de !S !S !S !S !S !S Longitu 139А 03! 139А 51! 141А 16! 141А 11! 166А 24! 61А 21! de E E E E E E D (km) T (yea rs) 18 572 CE Б 86 12 572 CE Б 86 5 Unknown 4 Unknown 20 ~1443 CE 30 < 6000 Location Gulf of Carpen tar ia Gulf of Carpen tar ia Off Coast of Victor ia Off Coast of Victor ia Tasman Sea, sou th of N Z Southern Indian Ocean

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Figure 5: Top - The Kanmare and Tabban submarine crater candid ates, lo cated on either sid e of Mornington Island in the southern section of th e Gulf of Carp entar ia. Bottom - Proposed Holo cen e submarin e impact cr aters near Australia and N ew Zealand, including the estimated cr ater diameter.

This hypothesis has been met with criticism and controversy and continues to be heavily debated (e.g. Baillie 2007; Gusiakov et al 2008; Pinter and Ishman 2008; Firestone and West 2008; Bunch et al 2008; Bourgeois and Weiss 2009; Rappenglнck et al 2009; Abbott et al 2010). 7.0 Conclusion

None of the events described in Aboriginal oral traditions correspond to currently known impact events that occurred during the human history of Australia. Furthermore, although some impact events caused craters during Australian human history (e.g. Boxhole, Veevers, Henbury), there is no (publicly available) oral tradition of witnesses to these events. On the other hand, we find that the number of stories describing eyewitness impact events in the oral traditions greatly exceeds the number expected from current estimates of meteorite influx rates and impact intervals. We conclude that either the current meteor literature severely underestimates the impact rate (and there are hotly contested arguments supporting this) or else the stories are not based on witnessed events. We examine three possible explanations for why the stories may not be based on witnessed events: 1) the stories are post-contact and have incorporated information from

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Western science, 2) that the Aboriginal people independently deduced that impact craters were formed from a cosmic impact, or 3) that a single or small number of events were incorporated into oral traditions and spread to other communities across the continent. While we cite evidence supporting each explanation, we are unable to conclude with any certainty which explanation best explains the discrepancy. We suggest that oral traditions may be used to identify impact structures and meteorites unknown to Western science. Besides the plethora of useful scientific information that would benefit various scientific fields, the information gathered from an impact structure described in Aboriginal oral tradition, including its age and impact effects, could show how some oral traditions evolve over long periods of time. Such studies may also be useful in modeling alleged submarine Holocene impact events, such as Mahuika, Tabban, or Kanmare. For this reason, we encourage investigations and surveys of the areas where cosmic impact stories were recorded, which may shed light on this elusive problem. Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank and acknowledge the Aboriginal elders and custodians of Australia, the Darug people (the Traditional Custodians of the land on which Macquarie University is situated), and the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in Canberra. We would also like to thank Dallas Abbott, Tui Britton, Edward Bryant, Andrew Buchel, John Clegg, Paul Curnow, Kristina Everett, John Goldsmith, Steve Hutcheon, Richard Kimber, John McGovern, and Craig O'Neill. D.W. Hamacher was funded by the Macquarie University Research Excellence Scholarship within the Department of Indigenous Studies (Warawara) at Macquarie University. Maps in this paper were generated using the GMT (Generic Mapping Tools) software package developed by Paul Wessel and Walter H. F. Smith (see http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu/). Appendix
Table A: Aboriginal groups discussed in th is paper , including the group name (language, clan , dialect, or community name), the gener al area of that group, includ ing the state( s). Groups noted with an (*) ar e not identified in the text by group name, but rather by geograp hic lo cation or id entifying landmark, su ch as a river or town . In these cases, th e group given is tak en from the Austr alian Institu te for Aborig inal an d Torres Strait Islander Studies map of Aborigin al Languages. Group Alyaw arre Amangu* Anula 17 Andedja Anguthimri* Arrernte 18 Awabakal* Bad aya Bark inji Binb inga
17 18

General Reg ion Southeast Region Reg ion 200-350 km NW of Per th Carpen tar ia Gulf Region Kimber leys Near Mappon, far NW of Cape York Cen tral Australia, area of Alice Spr ings Lake Macquarie/N ew castle Region Reg ion east of D arwin Northwest Reg ion Borroloola ar ea, near Gu lf of Carp entar ia

St a t e NT WA NT WA QLD NT N SW NT N SW NT

aka Yanyuwa aka Arunndata, Ar anda, Arunta

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Bind al* Birr ia Bogan Boorong Boonwurrung* Bundjalung* Darkinung* Dhauwurd19 Dier i* Djaru (Jaru) Djirbalngan* Euahlayi Giya* Goreng* Gundidjmar a Gunwinggu Gurudara Indjabinda Jajaurung 20 Jauid jabaija Jindjiparndi 21 Jiwar li Jupagalk Kaitish Kamilaroi Karadjeri 22 Kaurna Koko Ya'o 23 Kukata Kukatja Kuku-Yalangi* Kula Kungarakany Kunwinjku Kurnai Kurulk Kwadji Lardil Luritja 24 Mal Mal Mara Marduthunira Meru Moporr Mukjaraw ain t Muruwar i Mycoo lon Nawu Narangga
19 20 21 22 23 24

Townsville, Cleveland Bay South-Western Region North-centr al reg ion North-Western Region Area South-East of Melbourne Richmond-Tweed Reg ion Cessnock-Wollombi Reg ion Portland/southw est reg ion North East Region North East Region , SE of K imber leys Tully River Region North-Cen tral Reg ion Proserpine Area Near Br emer Bay Southwest Reg ion Arnhem Land Reg ion east of D arwin Pilb ara Northeast Region Yawajab a Island, Kimberleys Chichester Region, Pilbar a Henry River, North-w estern Reg ion Northwest Reg ion Barrow Cr eek, North of A lice Springs North Centr al Region Lagrange Bay, Kimberleys Adelaide Plains Eastern Cape York South-Cen tral Reg ion Balgo, Lak e Gregory, South H alls Cr eek Bloomf ield River r egion North-Cen tral NSW, South-Centr al QLD Northwest Reg ion, sou th of D arwin Arnhem Land Gippsland Region Arnhem Land Eastern Cape York Mornington I sland, Gu lf of Carp entar ia Southeast of Alice Spr ings Cleveland Bay near Townsv ille Limmen Region, Arnhem Land Cap e Pr eston, Dampier, Pilbara Reg ion Lower Murray River District Between Leigh and G len elg Rivers North-Cen tral Reg ion North-Cen tral NSW, South-Centr al QLD Saxby River Region Port Linco ln Area Yorke Pen insula

QLD QLD N SW VIC VIC N SW N SW VIC SA WA QLD N SW QLD WA VIC NT NT WA VIC WA WA WA VIC NT N SW WA SA QLD SA WA QLD NSW/Q LD NT NT VIC/N SW NT QLD QLD NT QLD NT WA SA VIC VIC NSW/Q LD QLD SA SA

Dhauwurd Wurrung language, part of the Gundid jmara peop le aka Jaara, a subgroup of the D jadjawrung aka Yind jibarnd i aka Kar ajarri Subgroup of the Kw adji aka Jumu

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Narran Needwonee Ngalia Ngarigo Ngemba Ngarinman Ngarinyin Ngarrindjer i Noongahburrah 25 Nuenonne Nungubuyu 26 Planger mairrener Ramind jeri Ritarungo Tangani 27 Tanganek ald Tiw i Turrbal 28 Walangeri Warai Wardaman Warkaw arka Warlp iri Wath i-Wathi Wawilak 29 Weilan Wheelman Wik- Munkan Wirad juri Wirangu Wolmeri Wongaibon Wo ro ra Wotjobaluk Wunambal Yarralin Yarripilangu Yarrungkanyi Yerrunthully Yiiji* Yintjingga Yugerra*

North-centr al reg ion Southwest Reg ion Leonora, Centr al Region South-Cen tral NSW, SE of Canberra North-Cen tral NSW, South-Centr al QLD Jasper Cr eek, Gregory N ational Park Kimber leys Lower Murray River District Narran Riv er, North-Centr al NSW Bruny Island, Sou th-Central Region SE Arnhem Land, border ing Gulf of Carp. Ben Lomond D istrict Encounter Bay Arnhem Land Lower Murray River District Banks of th e lower Murray River Bathurst & Melville Islands Brisb ane Area (see Yarralin) Northwest Reg ion, sou th of D arwin Upper Daly Riv er D istr ict Lake Tyrell Reg ion Tanami Desert Murray River Region Arnhem Land North-centr al reg ion Near Br emer Bay Cap e York Peninsu la Cen tral Reg ion West coast Kimber leys North-centr al reg ion North of Derby, Kimber leys Lake Alb acu tya Region Kimber leys Victoria Riv er D istr ict Area N E of Alice Spr ings Area N E of Alice Spr ings Cen tral Reg ion Forrest River Region, Kimberleys Stew art River Area Brisb ane Region

N SW TAS WA ACT/NSW NSW/Q LD NT WA SA N SW TAS NT TAS SA NT SA SA NT QLD NT NT NT VIC NT VIC NT N SW WA QLD N SW SA WA N SW WA VIC WA NT NT NT QLD WA WA QLD

25 26 27 28 29

Subgroup of the N arran This is the languag e of the Numbulw ar of Arnhem Land Subgroup of the Ng arrindjeri aka Jag ara, of the Yug erra Language group A clan of th e Ritarungo People

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Appendix B: Evidence for a tsunami in the Gulf of Carpentaria Evidence that tsunamis that struck the coastal regions of the Gulf of Carpentaria, including Groote Eylandt, Vanderlin Island, and parts of the eastern Northern Territory coast, has been proposed in the form of "chevron dunes", which Abbott et al (2007) and Tester and Abbott (2007) argue were formed when submarine sediment and coastal debris washed inland by the tsunami. The chevrons all appear to "strike" (radiate) from the southeast, in the direction of Kanmare structure in Figure 6.)

Figure 6: Chevron dunes on the coastal regions of the Gulf of Carpentaria, in clud ing the southeast coast of Groote Ey land t, the eastern co ast of Arnhem Land, and Vanderlin Island, which strik e from the southeast, towards the Kanmare stru cture. A d ebate r egarding the origins of these chevrons is ongoing.

References [Note to editors and referees: references below noted with an asterix do not have an attached PDF file, as they were either general reference books or I was unable to obtain a scanned copy.] Abbott, Dallas H., Andrew Matzen, Edward A. Bryant, and Stephen F. Pekar 2003 Did a bolide impact cause catastrophic tsunamis in Australia and New Zealand? Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 35: 168 Abbott, Dallas H., Pierre E. Biscaye, Jihong Cole-Dai, and Dee Breger 2005a Evidence from an Ice Core of a Large Impact Circa 1443 A.D., American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2005, abstract #PP31C-05 Abbott, Dallas H.; Suzanne Martos; Hannah Elkinton; Edward Bryant; Viacheslav Gusiakov and Dee Breger 35

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