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Barnaby Norris

Were Aboriginal Australians he world's first t astronomers?
By Ray Norris

into the On a warm autumn evening, go and bush where the sky is really dark, Milky admire the awesome band of the Way stretching across the sky from people horizon to horizon. Aboriginal us from the Top End of Australia tell that it is a mighty river, and either side of it can be seen the campfires . -- nebulae -- of their ancestors

(a possum Now look at the Southern Cross people in a tree, according to the Boorong to the of Victoria) and find the dark cloud Coalsack left of it. That cloud is called the birthplace of new by astronomers, and is the , it's part stars, but to many Aboriginal groups is the of the `Emu in the Sky'. The Coalsack ay to its left head of the emu. Stretching aw its long dark neck, you should be able to see , all made round body, and finally the legs stars. It's a of the dark spaces between the 've seen it, the spectacular sight and once you again. Milky Way will never look the same

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Archaeoastronomy: how past people have understood the sky
The ancient cultures of Aboriginal Australians have a strong astronomical component, linking their stories and ceremonies intimately with the sky, often i n b e a u t i f u l a n d fa s c i n a t i n g w a y s . `Constellations' such as the Emu in the Sky are formed from the dark places between the visible stars. S o n g s a n d sto r i e s a b o u t t h e S u n , M o o n , p l a n e t s a n d s t a r s co n n e c t ceremony and law to celestial cycles, providing essential tools for navigation, calendars, and life. We know that Aboriginal cultures stretch back continuously some fifty thousand years, long before S to n e h e n g e a n d t h e p y ra m i d s were built. So were Aboriginal Australians the world's first astronomers? Close to Sydney is Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, where the Guringai people lived until the British occupation of Australia. The Guringai people were known for their beautiful rock engravings, showing people, animals, creator s p i r i t s , a n d st ra n g e s y m b o l s s u c h as crescents, whose meaning is unknown but may be astronomical. A finely engraved emu in Ku-ringg a i C h a s e N a t i o n a l Pa r k t ra i l s i t s legs in a position never seen in a real-life emu, but which is exactly that of the Emu in the Sky. The A b o r i g i n a l a r t i st s a l s o o r i e n t e d t h e e n g ra v i n g t o l i n e u p w i t h t h e E m u i n t h e S k y a t j u st t h e t i m e o f ye a r w h e n real-life emus are laying their eggs.

The cycle of the Moon-man
Aboriginal stories [Who is `They'] also tell how Ngalindi, the Moonman, was originally a fat and lazy man (the full Moon) who demanded that his wives and sons feed him. His wives attacked him with their axes, cutting chunks out of him (the waning Moon). Finally he died, and remained dead for three days (the new Moon). But then he came back to life, grew fat and round (the waxing Moon), and continues the cycle for ever. Other stories explain how the Moon causes the tides, and even how eclipses are caused. For thousands of years, while some other cultures superstitiously feared that the Sun had died, Aboriginal people knew that eclipses were caused by a conjunction of the Sun and Moon! In Victoria, there's even a stone circle (Wurdi Youang) which seems to h a ve b e e n b u i l t to s h o w t h e position of the setting Sun at the equinox and solstices. And at Ngaut Ngaut, near Adelaide, is a set of engravings said to record lunar cycles. Unfortunately, the people who built these are long since gone, so we can only speculate on how t h e y u s e d t h i s i n fo r m a t i o n .

For over 50 000 years Aboriginal people have built up their knowledge of the movements of the Sun, Moon and stars to complement their relationship with the natural world. This picture is part of the Shared Sky exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Unknown active in Australia (1940s) Mankokkarrng (The Southern Cross) 1948 earth pigments on paper on cardboard 45.5 x 58.5 cm (Image and sheet) National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Presented by the Commonwealth Government, 1956

Stories in the sky
So were the Aboriginal Australians the world's first astronomers? We ca n ' t ye t a n s w e r t h a t , b u t t h e q u e st to do so is becoming a vigorous research field. And it's fun. We can't help being intrigued by the beauty a n d m y ste r y o f t h e s k y , w h a teve r our ancestry, and we all love to s w a p sto r i e s a b o u t i t .

Want more? Visit:

www.atnf.csiro.au/research/ AboriginalAstronomy

In most Aboriginal cultures, the Moon is male and the Sun is female. The Yolngu people from the Top End of Australia tell how Walu, the Sunwoman, carries her blazing torch across the sky from east to west, creating daylight. After descending to the western horizon, she travels back under the Earth to her morning camp in the east.

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National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne