Module 14

OHT 6

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.