Aboriginal

by Michael Westaway, Alison Crowther, Nathan Wright, Robert Henry and Rodney Carter, The Conversation Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain For almost 10 years, debate has raged over the book Dark Emu by Aboriginal historian Bruce Pascoe. In it, Pascoe argues many pre-colonial Aboriginal groups were farmers, pointing to examples like eel aquaculture in Victoria, and grain…

Remains of a gunyah on Country. Credit: Michael Westaway A University of Queensland-led research team says the key to a more sustainable food future may be a better understanding of ancient Indigenous food production systems. Their ARC Discovery project "Testing the Dark Emu hypothesis" combines bioarchaeology, archaeobotany,…

A3396 Knife, southern cassowary casque / resin / abrus seed, maker not recorded, location not recorded, Queensland, Australia, made circa 1877–1930, acquired 1941. Credit: The Powerhouse Museum A number of sophisticated non-invasive nuclear and accelerator techniques were used to provide information about the origin and age of an Australian Aboriginal knife held in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum.…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A Monash University study has found systematic racism within Australia's justice system is linked to 151 Indigenous women's deaths, prompting calls for greater accountability of authorities in responding to domestic and family violence. The article, Indigenous women and intimate partner homicide in…

Credit: Shutterstock Justice reinvestment emerged in the United States more than 20 years ago as a way to reduce mass incarceration and its vast costs by addressing the social drivers of imprisonment. Through justice reinvestment, communities identify and develop responses to issues that feed high rates of re-incarceration locally,…

Gkuthaarn and Kukatj rangers reburied the remains in the Normanton Aboriginal Cemetery in 2015. Credit: Shaun Adams et al In 2015, Gkuthaarn and Kukatj community members of Queensland's Gulf Country invited us to excavate, analyze, and rebury the skeletal remains of eight young Indigenous people who died near the town of Normanton in the late 1800s. …

COVID-19 Chinese team posts key DNA from market After intense pressure and criticism from many scientists, Chinese researchers last week released a trove of new genetic data that may offer fresh clues about the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some scientists say the new evidence gives more credibility to the thesis that SARS-CoV-2 could have jumped into humans from raccoon dogs or other mammals illegally sold at a Wuhan market. Researchers mainly affiliated with…

The Wilcannia weir stone fish traps are still used by young Barkandji people. Credit: Sarah Martin Apart from managing the land, Indigenous people have also managed waterways, including the Murray River and the Darling/Baaka River, for thousands of years. Like many Indigenous peoples of Australia, the Barkandji people of the Baaka…

Credit: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Aboriginal people are 15 times more likely than other Australians to experience homelessness due to racism, dispossession of land, profound economic disadvantage and cultural oppression, according to a new report released in Canberra today. …

Map of the Dampier Archipelago (Murujuga) showing locations of areas mentioned in the text. (Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data processed by Sentinel Hub). Credit: Geoarchaeology (2022). DOI: 10.1002/gea.21917 A new study from The University of Western Australia has challenged earlier claims that Aboriginal stone artifacts discovered off the Pilbara coast in Western Australia represent Australia's first undisturbed…