Module 14

OHT 6

Module 14 Home

Cultural history of coastal Australia

 

Source: Extracted from The Little Red, Yellow and Black (and green and blue and white) Book. Guide to Indigenous Australia. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies on behalf of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, 1994.

 

Note: BP represents Before Present.

60 000 BP

Rock shelter in Arnhem Land in NT used 60 000 years ago. Stone tools and red ochre for rock painting or body decoration.

35 500 BP

Aboriginal family left a midden of mussel shells, charcoal and ash after a dinner camp at Willandra Lakes in western NSW
12 000 BP Sea levels rise at end of glacial period.
9000 - 7000 BP Earliest visible evidence of Rainbow Serpent beliefs, longest continuing religious beliefs in the world.
1000 BP Dugout canoes used along Australia's north coast
1588 AD Beche de mer trade between the Aborigines and Macassans continues until it is stopped by SA government in 1906.
1770 AD Lt James Cook claims to take possession of the whole east coast of Australia .
1788 AD Captain Phillip raises the flag at Sydney cove and invasion begins.
1967 AD Aboriginal people recognised as Australian citizens with equal rights to vote.
1988 AD Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples celebrate their survival during the previous 200 years.