A note about the first illegal immigrations in Australia and the USA
“North America prior to illegal immigration” – a map I found on Mastodon
“Australia prior to illegal immigration” – Connection And Wellbeing Australia (CAWA PTY LTD) 2016
Three recent news items attracted my attention:
The first one was a map of North America with its native peoples in 1491, “prior to illegal immigration” — by the Spanish, French and British colonial powers. In the absence of a wall along the East coast, this illegal immigration went on for centuries, with disastrous effects for the natives.
The second one was a map of Australia, depicting the diversity of its Aboriginal tribes prior to January 1788 when the first ships with British prisoners arrived and the penal colony was established. “Prior to illegal immigration,” the title I added, is again an appropriate description.
The third item was the news that the Australian referendum on October 14, 2023, to alter the Constitution and allow the Aboriginal peoples to be represented in Parliament (see Box 1), was turned down in every state, by a majority of 3 to 5.
Box 1. Australian Referendum on October 14, 2023
For an outsider like me, this poses a big puzzle since I’m aware of the movements in the country that acknowledge the horrible injustice done to the natives and express contrition in several forms. This has led to the establishment of a Government-mandated greeting at all official Government functions, giving tribute to the peoples that were the country’s first inhabitants (see Box 2).
Box 2. “Welcome to Country” – Government-mandated greeting at all official Government functions at the local, regional and national level.
I therefore sent a message to Bob, my long-time friend and correspondent living in New South Wales. See below what he says. The most exciting notion is that the people are turning away from the association with the UK Monarchy, and there will be a time, hopefully soon, when “an Australian Republic [will be established] with a Charter of Australian Citizen Rights that parallels the UN Charter of Human Rights.”
Dear Bob,
Hope you are well!
When you have some time pls explain to me the mean strain in your fellow Australians that doesn’t allow the rights of Aborigines to be anchored in your Constitution, after all that has been done to them. And how does it square with the sanctimonious preface to every ceremonial public government speech, acknowledging that standing on the land of Aborigines is a privilege?
–Joachim
Hi Joachim ,
Your question to me is a fair one from an outside observer and deserves a viewpoint from me as I voted Yes but I am disappointed with my fellow Australian’s response as the count reaches its conclusion.
The Question arising as to why 3 out of 5 Australians voted NO ?
A few points I feel are worth raising:
-
- This Referendum was long overdue . Previous Governments promised to hold one . The recent action was a direct election promise fulfilled without fear by the NEW Labour Government . Their Mission accomplished.
- The Conservative Coalition Opposition Leader declared for NO and with others They then raised a Trump-like campaign of Fear , Uncertainty and Doubt , FUD . The misinformation, lies and negativity that was coordinated propaganda was proportional to the NO result achieved.
- The Referendum question was too Simple to be believed. So , politics prevailed and majority of people’s reasoning failed in my view . The truth of the extent of the GAP between the indigenous and non-indigenous community evidenced by the lower life expectancy for the indigenous members nationwide. As a minority they are 3% and voted majority YES in their localities.
- Racism is endemic in a multi cultural society like Australia where the separate Traditional aims do not necessarily follow the political aims and FUD is effectively transmitted by a heavily biased media.
–Bob
Hi Joachim,
I am clearly disappointed about the failure of Australians to grant respect to the indigenous peoples whose traditional lands were stolen over two hundred years ago.
The conversations will now continue, without looking back and the exercise of pointless reflection on the mistakes that may explain a perceived failure of understanding of arguments for the Yes case and its simple AIM , now relegated to academic tracts in history .
The fact of the indigenous peoples long history of 65,000 years of occupancy is still not acknowledged in the Australian Constitution as a token towards their persistence in this community .
What next? I propose the following ….
Devise a NEW constitution entirely which means establishing a Republic of Australia (AR) that , abolishes the UK Monarchy which invaded Australia over two centuries ago and establish within it, a Charter of Australian Citizen Rights that parallels the UN Charter of Human Rights .
However the above proposition has recently also been a topic that failed the Referendum test and now HRH King Charles III is the new Monarch of Australia .
For all the puff and push of the FUD emerging from the days past, no further mention needs to be made, as many people across Australia bury their DEAD ideas and choose to develop NEW aims that one day would be favoured by the majority for the common good .
Thanks for your continued interest in this country that now has a myth in its culture called “ A Fair Go “ debunked.
–Bob
Australia is still way ahead of the USA where a “Welcome” statement by the local, regional or national government referring to the sacred land of the indigenous population North America’s, is as yet inconceivable. Where ideas and dreams of white supremacy lurk in the heads of a frightening number of people.
.
.
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Response to Joachim Blog :
This is a worthy article from the First Nations perspective which I have located in these last days of 2023 that seems to resonate with my declared view of the future situation.
I have been much stimulated by your Blog and will make a separate couple of comments rather than mix with this opinion that is complete and with the URL also. 18 December 2023
First Nations Voice Proposal Rejected
https://antar.org.au/blog/aftermath/
Aftermath
Dr Peter Lewis
Last edited: November 19, 2023
What a small nation we have become. The little nation that couldn’t …….
A modest request from the First Nations of these lands and waters for recognition and a voice in the Constitution – the Rule Book of the Invaders – was rejected by all states and by 60% of the population.
This ameliorating factor – given the Federal Government’s constitutional power to make laws, policy and programs on the basis of race – was deemed as a bridge too far. That’s right, Section 51(xxvi) in our Constitution empowers the Federal Parliament to make laws with respect to: “The people of any race for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws”.
So we remain at the status quo – the Commonwealth retains control of First Nations Peoples’ lives through a 19th Century racist mechanism.
We are truly – structurally and constitutionally – a racist nation.
While the NO folk constantly spruiked scary terms such as ‘division’, ‘apartheid’ and ‘separatism’, the reality is that they were in fact describing the current[2023] and pre-referendum reality of Australia.
Since the successful 1967 referendum, which enabled First Nations Peoples to be ‘races’ for whom the Commonwealth can make such laws, First Nations Peoples are the only peoples who have been subject to that constitutional power.
And we have confirmed that they have no recognised say in the development of laws made specifically for them; no say, no consent, no voice.
So, as we were when we were colonies, we do not recognise the First Nations Peoples, there is no consent, no treaties; a nation built on theft. A nation stuck in the 19th century.
It is a national SNAFU.[Situation Normal All Fucked Up]
This is the real division.
As I walked towards the polling booth I saw the NO sign with that word prominently displayed.
As if First Nations Peoples had their rights to their heritage, lands and waters protected.
As if they weren’t subject to overt and covert racism.
As if their children weren’t being removed at alarming rates or their men and women over-represented in our jails.
As if health and well-being outcomes for them were the same as for non-Indigenous people.
The real division is that over two-hundred years of invasion and occupation has created a huge gulf between the First and subsequent peoples on this land.
A gulf First Nations peoples have to cross every day to survive with resistance and resilience.
A gulf that the Statement from the Heart sought to bridge.
But after 14 October the division not only remains but seems vaster.
When are we, non-Indigenous people, going to start bridge-building from our end?
So the rebuilding must begin – again. In the face of attacks on state and territory truth-telling and treaty-making processes by some conservative political leaders – even in states and territories where it had bipartisan support (and I use the past tense purposefully) – we must address the matters that really separate us as First Nations and non-Indigenous peoples.
What’s your vision for the future of our developmentally challenged nation?
Surely, to be a grown up nation we must have proper national foundations that means we have treaties nationally, regionally and locally and a new constitution to enshrine recognition, voice and protection of treaties which has no race powers.
Surely, as distinct peoples on these lands and waters, First Nations must have real Agency, Rights and Self-determination in line with the UN Convention established after the Second World War and particularly in line with the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Rights which enable the gap to be closed.
And surely, as peoples together we must have truth-telling, healing and reparations for the impact of invasion.
Otherwise we remain a nation built on the shifting sands of theft and the lies we tell ourselves.
That would truly be living united in YES.
Last edited: November 19, 2023
Dr Peter Lewis
ANTAR National Director and President; Research Development Manager – Koorreen
Peter has worked in First Nations affairs as a researcher and advocate for over 25 years. He is currently ANTAR’s interim National Director, ANTAR President, and Research Development Manager for Koorreen Enterprises. Peter has worked in senior positions at SNAICC, Oxfam Australia and VACCA since 2004
2023 12 18
Reply to Joachim’s Blog article on Illegal Immigration from Bob
The thoughts that this Blog brings to mind an Ockam’s Razor that agrees with the importance of the emerging proof that awards Australia with the longest continuous indigenous culture that has NOT vanished but exists still today.
Proud to exist not as survivors but as a living and evolving group that is distinct and with a potential future that may help the emergence of a state of peace on Earth.
A Christmas 🎄 Tale 2023 begins…..
The “Vanished Indigenous Nations” of North America and Australia , as the traditional land holders respectively, over the time spans of many thousands of years, by far the greater, than the durations of the present Sovereign holders . Those latter parties , in principal are the Federal US Government and the Commonwealth of Australia Government as today are legally constituted in 2023/24 .
The Blog simplified , raised for me first, a new concept of “ Illegal Immigration “ , which in my mind , creates a leap of the imagination that is I believe the antithesis of the concept of Terra Nullius . The latter ploy was the only strategy that the invading Nations respectively could establish their unique legal ownership of lands the centre piece of successful conquest .
The Imperialist/Colonialist post 1491 centuries were Companies of Business Interests of Private and Pirate Nature in league with Divine Right Monarch leaders as a systematic takeover of Traditional Sovereign States has continued up to the end of the major World Wars at 1946 when the United Nations has emerged .
A second following simple proposition is that it is now an assumption that ALL Traditional Owners are then regarded as the original owners and they are still in possession, and as a third simple proposition by the UN Charter of Human Rights are recognised.
Further since the Traditional Owners Lands have been only recently invaded , the new invading people are recognised since 1491 ( Americas) and 1787 ( Australia) as respectively their new illegal immigrants, and who promoted an effective genocide by adopting the principle of Terra Nullius.
The Simplified Concept .
The current land holders are now actually the illegal immigrants to the Traditional lands and thus subject to the customs and laws existing before the invasion.
Advances in Science after 1945 now provides DNA evidence unique description of the human population and within the DNA must be physical cultural evidence also .[Proof that family traits in Arts Science politics, economic demography skills and career Lamarkian tendency are gene linked coded]
I propose that it is a matter of only time before the direct evidential links are elucidated by macro molecular archaeologist/paeleontologist/geneticist researchers to provide physical proof for the equal entitlement of ALL Humans to equal Human Rights across the Planet.
The Australian Indigenous Aborigines are in my view qualifying for the most Peace ☮️ demonstrated culture. Despite their minority population they possess DNA that has the least war producing genetic outcomes on the Planet . Their huge number of Tribal entities proposed up to 1787 is map driven.
I became immediately curious about the sources of the two Maps and the existence , if any, of the physical evidence that support their truth .
Such Map presentation in a Court of Law has evidential proof to validate the ownership of Traditional Lands. A best example of that required testing process is the Mabo Decision of the High Court of Australia in 1992 which compensates the Traditional Owners before the invasion creates an exclusive right to everything it prevails upon within its defined boundaries.
Since 1992 the ongoing processes are slow but the wheel of progress turns nonetheless.
The Voice Referendum as a codicil should have been a sure and safe bet , but it is just a hole in the road now.
Is lack of Science a problem ?
Mythology is extensive and imaginative as it manifests as a dream or a vision which needs no physical evidence to corroborate and dominate its story line as having a legal basis in law that the Sovereign state upholds as a Totalitarian or Democratic State .
Belief is not denied it’s existence by lack of physical evidence of truth. [A legal strategy adopted by the Family Court of Australia Act 1973 invokes the Truth that a Belief is a higher evidence than a Fact in its evidence submission and also the law that no admissions in Court can be used outside the Court, a closed system, ]
Rule by law or by edict establishes an entity or a standard that defines the Sovereign State this is the ploy of invasion and illegal immigrants .
A further concept arises I propose where the processes of supporting a dominant culture is proposed as an “ Ether” that permeates everything and is invisible to Science and is all powerful over the minority component genes somewhere in the human DNA code for sure. This ether is equivalent to a mythology .
Evolution of humans has a model with an original Indigenous Code , millions of years ago, may be lodged in simple places like ribosomes which may have left traces yet to be decoded by Scientists.
My further speculation relates to the importance of illegal immigration’s patterns in separate continents that acknowledge the Third Continent, the Invading Eurasia , in the absence of Continental Drift time scales for physical migration processes . Africa still retains the title for Origin of Homosapiens.
The apparent contradiction between the 1992 Australian Mabo Decision and the reversing position of NO vote majority 2023 Referendum on the Aboriginal Voice appears to be a return manifestation of Terra Nullius strategy of the conqueror/invader , the illegal immigrants .
Why is this so ? How did this happen ?
Adoption of new facts dispels mythology and its symbiotic companion , Fear Uncertainty and Doubt ( FUD) .
A possible solution lies only in the advancement of Education and knowledge of facts and the distribution and dissemination enable new views to be formed and then new law is created to suit Society.
Unfortunately the children who receive the best new knowledge are a generation away from implementation of change engineered by their enlightenment for society .
The impact of present children’s contribution to Democratic Systems has a time gap .
In other non-democratic systems war, conflict and revolution are a possible solution and in disruption illegal migration has become a major concern for substantial influence in economically imbalanced societies.
The Christmas 🎄 Tale 2023 will also not see Peace ☮️ in the coming year 2024 and will still have to face the ongoing Climate Change that will further complicate Illegal immigration everywhere on this Planet 🌏
Further Items of interest that have helped me in understanding illegal immigration in the context of this blog researched in past day to 18 December 2023 , Bob
American Indigenous Traditional Land Owners
BEFORE 1491 – The mystery of American Life discovered
Explaining Indigenous life before the invasion of European civilisation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1491%3A_The_Untold_Story_of_the_Americas_Before_Columbus
Go to the video
JUST WANT TO SEE THE DOCUMENTARY:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbhudH1xhyY
3.05 hour History Documentary
Further on America Indigenous
FURTHER RESEARCH :
https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Anthropology/Cultural_Anthropology/Native_Peoples_of_North_America_(Stebbins)/01%3A_In_1491/1.01%3A_In_1491_how_many_people_were_living_in_the_Americas_how_did_they_get_here_how_long_had_they_been_here_and_what_had_they_accomplished
arising within the above website
1. 1.4: The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Creation Story
2. Long, long ago, the earth was deep beneath the water. There was a great darkness because no sun or moon or stars shone. The only creatures living in this dark world were water animals such as the beaver, muskrat, duck, and loon.
3. Far above the water-covered earth was the Land of the Happy Spirits, where the Great Spirit dwelled. In the center of this upper realm was a giant apple tree with roots that sank deep into the ground.
4. One day the Great Spirit pulled the tree up from its roots, creating a great pit in the ground. The Great Spirit called to his daughter, who lived in the Upper World. He commanded her to look into the pit. The young woman did as she was told and peered through the hole. In the distance, she saw the Lower World covered by water and clouds.
5. The Great Spirit spoke to his daughter, telling her to go down into the world of darkness. He then tenderly picked her up and dropped her into the hole. The woman, who would be called Sky Woman, by those creatures watching her fall, began to slowly float downward.
6. As Sky Woman continued her descent, the water animals looked up. Far upon them they saw a great light that was Sky Woman. The animals were initially afraid of the light emanating from her. In their fear they dove deep beneath the water.
7. The animals eventually conquered their fear and came back up to the surface. Now they were concerned about the woman, and what would happen to her when she reached the water.
8. The beaver told the others that they must find a dry place for her to rest upon. The beaver plunged deep beneath the water in search of earth. He was unsuccessful. After a time, his dead body surfaced to the top of the water.
9. The loon was the next creature to try to find some earth. He too was unsuccessful. Many others tried, but each animal failed. At last, the muskrat said he would try. When his dead body floated to the top, his little claws were clenched tight. The others opened his claws and found a little bit of earth.
10. The water animals summoned a great turtle and patted the earth upon its back. At once the turtle grew and grew, as did the amount of earth. This earth became North America, a great island.
11. During all this time, Sky Woman continued her gentle fall. The leader of the swans grew concerned as Sky Woman’s approach grew imminent. He gathered a flock of swans that flew upward and allowed Sky Woman to rest upon their back. With great care they placed her upon the newly formed earth.
12. Soon after her arrival Sky Woman gave birth to twins. The first born became known as the Good Spirit. The other twin caused his mother so much pain that she died during his birth. He was to be known as the Evil Spirit.
13. The Good Spirit took his mother’s head and hung it in the sky and it became the sun. The Good Spirit also fashioned the stars and moon from his mother’s body. He buried the remaining parts of Sky Woman under the earth. Thus, living things may always find nourishment from the soil for it springs from Mother Earth.
14. While the Good Spirit provided light, the Evil Spirit created the darkness. The Good Spirit created many things, but each time his brother would attempt to undo his good work.
15. The Good Spirit made the tall and beautiful trees, including the pines and hemlock. The Evil Spirit, to be contrary, stunted some tress or put gnarls and knots in their trunks. Other trees he covered in thorns or poisoned their fruit.
16. The Good Spirit made bear and deer. The Evil Spirit made poisonous animals such as lizards and serpents to destroy the animals created by his brother.
17. When the Good Spirit made springs and streams of pure crystal water, the Evil Spirit poisoned some and placed snakes in others. The Good Spirit made beautiful rivers. The Evil Spirit pushed rocks and dirt into the rivers creating swift and dangerous currents.
18. Everything the Good Spirit made his wicked brother attempted to destroy.
19. After the Good Spirit completed the earth, he created man out of red clay. Placing man upon the earth, the Good Spirit instructed the man about how he should live. The Evil Spirit made a monkey out of sea foam.
20. Upon completion of his work, the Good Spirit bestowed a protecting spirit upon all of his creations. This done, he called his brother and told him he must cease making trouble. The Evil Spirit emphatically refused. The Good Spirit became enraged at his brother’s wickedness. He challenged his evil twin to combat. The winner would be the ruler of the world.
21. For their weapons they used the thorns of the giant apple tree. The battle raged for many days. The Good Spirit triumphed, overcoming his evil brother. The Good Spirit took his place as ruler of the earth and banished his brother to a dark cave under the ground. In this cave the Evil Spirit was to remain.
22. Keller George, Oneida Wolf Clan, from the storytelling
of his maternal great-grandmother
Importance of Mythology and FUD and Evidence in Memory and Oral Traditions cannot be denied . Bob 18 December 2023
BEFORE 1787 AUSTRALIA – Indigenous Australian Aborigines
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-07-20/aboriginal-shelter-pushes-human-history-back-to-65,000-years/8719314
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madjedbebe
Madjedbebe (formerly known as Malakunanja II) is a sandstone rock shelter in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia, possibly the oldest site of human habitation in Australia. It is located about 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the coast. It is part of the lands traditionally inhabited by the Mirarr, an Aboriginal Australian clan of the Gaagudju people, of the Gunwinyguan language group.[1] Although it is surrounded by the World Heritage Listed Kakadu National Park, Madjedbebe itself is located within the Jabiluka Mineral Leasehold.
Archaeological findings
Madjedbebe is the oldest known site showing the presence of humans in Australia. Archaeological excavations conducted by Clarkson et al. (2017) yielded evidence to suggest that Madjedbebe was first occupied by humans possibly by 65,000 +/- 6,000 years ago and at least by 50,000 years ago.[2][3] While the age of 50,000 years ago has been widely accepted since the 1990s, this latter estimate (of ca. 65,000 years ago) has, as of 2017, been questioned by some experts.[4][5]
More than 100,000 artefacts have been excavated (including >10,000 artefacts from the lowest dense occupation layer termed ‘Phase 2’), including flaked stone artefacts,[6] ground stone axe heads, grinding stones,[7] animal bones, shellfish remains, ground ochre,[8] charcoal,[9] seeds and human burials.[10] Some of these were buried more than 2.5 metres below the surface. Archaeobotanical investigations have demonstrated the exploitation of plant foods, including seeds, tubers and pandanus nuts.[11][12] Fuel wood was also sourced from local eucalyptus and monsoon vine thicket forests.
https://antar.org.au/issues/cultural-heritage/the-destruction-of-juukan-gorge/
The destruction of Juukan Gorge
Last edited: December 11, 2023
On 24 May 2020, a sacred rock shelter in the Pilbara region of Western Australia was legally blasted and destroyed by mining company Rio Tinto – here’s what happened…
On 24 May 2020, a sacred rock shelter in the Pilbara region of Western Australia was legally blasted by mining company Rio Tinto. An archaeology report had stated that it was of the highest archaeological significance in Australia containing a cultural sequence spanning over 40,000 years, with a high frequency of flaked stone artefacts, rare abundance of faunal remains, unique stone tools, preserved human hair and with sediment containing a pollen record charting thousands of years of environmental changes.
The grief, shock and outrage reverberated globally.
As Wuthathi-Meriam woman and prominent legal authority Terri Janke notes in Our Culture: Our Future, Australia and the world lost access to:
…intangible and tangible aspects of the whole body of cultural practices, resources and knowledge systems’ of human life going back 46,000 years.
In a brutally honest and thorough analysis of the long history of relationships between First Nations ownership and mining rights across Australia, Clare Wright, a Professor of history says that:
Juukan represents the pinnacle of the colonial mining project.
It demonstrated the almost total disregard of traditional owners as stakeholders when it comes to negotiating mining backed by government interests across Australia.
Wright goes on to say:
In a matter of minutes, eight million tonnes of ore were ripped from the earth, and with them, 46,000 years of cultural heritage destroyed… For this hefty price we all paid, Rio Tinto lawfully gained access to $135 million dollars of high-grade iron ore.
The 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters in WA’s Pilbara prior to their destruction by mining giant Rio Tinto in May 2020. AAP Image supplied by traditional owners, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) Aboriginal Corporation.
In November 2020, distinguished academics in the department of Law Reform and Social Justice at the Australian National University conducted a webinar panel discussion titled ‘Destruction of Juukan Gorge, Law, Mining and the Protection of Aborginal Heritage’.
They discussed how all levels of government legislation failed to protect such an invaluable site, how Traditional Owners are locked out of the process and principles and strategies needed to inform updated legislation.
Dr Virginia Marshall stated:
We are burning our libraries.
Archeology Professor Peter Veth warned:
We have seen the end of a long and conflicted era…. in this tragedy… We are at a critical point in recognition of Indigenous primacy in heritage in this country.
Why and how did it happen?
Chair of the Parliament’s Northern Australia Committee, Warren Entsch, in tabling an interim report of the inquiry into the destruction of First Nations heritage sites at Juukan Gorge said:
They [the Puutu Kunti Kurrama Pinikura (PKKP) people] were let down by Rio Tinto, the Western Australian Government, the Australian Government, their own lawyers, and Native Title Law.
Rio Tinto had acted within the law. Widespread backlash has turned the spotlight onto Australia’s outdated, severely inadequate and poorly coordinated cultural heritage legislation across Federal and State governments.
Over time, amendments have been made to the processes for application to preserve a site. However, Traditional Owners continue to be marginalised in the process and the significant power of ministerial discretion to override the limited protections is used far too often.
In the Juukan case, the Commonwealth, with its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Act of 1984, and Western Australia with its Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 were responsible for this failure.
Pledge to demand better cultural heritage protection
Where are we up to?
If there was a silver lining to the Australian and international travesty that was the destruction of the Juukan Gorge, it is that this event became a catalyst for action. Three significant initiatives have since begun:
• In June 2020, the Federal Government Senate Inquiry initiated the Juukan Gorge disaster delivered its final report, A Way Forward in October 2021;
• Also in June 2020, a unified alliance of First Nations leadership from around the country formed the First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance (FNHPA); and
• In December 2021, a contentious bill to replace the 1972 Cultural Heritage Bill (WA) was passed by the WA government
In light of Juukan Gorge, the 2021 NAIDOC Committee chose a fitting theme – Heal Country, stating:
We cannot afford to let pass the very real opportunity that now presents itself for reform based on a fundamental change in the relationship Australia has with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Donate to protect Cultural Heritage
The Review
The Federal government’s Senate Inquiry into the Juukan Gorge tragedy, A Way Forward stated:
It is inconceivable that Australia has not developed proper protections for such sites, and action must be a matter of national priority.
The Report recommendations promise ‘fundamental reforms’. These include:
• The foundational need to have Traditional Owners as authorities at the table at the beginning of any application for development on lands owned by First Nations communities;
• The need for an overarching Commonwealth legislative framework;
• The articulation of heritage standards; and
• The need to find a balance in the battle between economic development and preservation of cultural heritage.
The FNHPA has been working on a 4-pronged approach:
• Achieving legislative reform;
• Engaging with the Federal government to consult First Nations communities;
• Reforming how miners and big business operate; and
• developing partnerships in the investment sector.
The co-chairs of the FNHPA have said:
the ‘immense burden’ of pursuing social, cultural and environmental rights had fallen to Aboriginal land councils and native title bodies under complex and varied legislative regimes. They therefore welcome a new national approach- one that seeks a new perspective of ‘celebrating… not subjugating’ Aboriginal cultural heritage to the juggernaut of the extractive industries.
On 29 November 2021, after many months of negotiations the FNHPA signed an historic First Nations partnership Alliance with the Federal government. The National Native Title Council (NNTC) Chair and co-Chair of the FNHPA, Kado Muir has said, the partnership is:
An historic and exciting day…
They [the leadership of the Federal government] have partnered with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, First Nations People, to [co-]design legislative reform that protects cultural heritage…
This is unique because we’ve essentially signed a partnership agreement which means at the highest level, we’re able to engage and be part of law reform…
This encourages full protection as a national standard, at a federal level.
FNHPA is also working proactively on the ground with mining companies facilitating a path forward to enhance the influence and voice of Traditional Owners. For example, BHP has been developing a set of principles that reaffirm free, prior and informed consent in agreement making. Kado Muir has said:
Together we are determined to drive industry reform and legislative change that improves both agreement making and the protection of Aboriginal cultural heritage which is of immense value to all Australians.
The third promising development, instigated by investor backlash towards Rio Tinto and the Juukan Gorge destruction, is a partnership initiative between FNHPA members and investment organisations such as Global Compact Network Australia and the Responsible Investment Association Australasia. In this work, FNHPA are promoting Dhawura Ngilan to educate investment stakeholders. This document provides a roadmap for improving approaches to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage management in Australia and sets out Best Practice Standards in Indigenous cultural heritage management and legislation.
The task of this partnership is complicated by the opaque nature of Australia’s standard of governance for mining, gas and oil sectors. Despite being a major producer in these sectors, Australia lags ‘way behind’ other OECD nations in addressing corruption and financial transparency.
Last edited: December 11, 2023
THIS SCIENCE HAS NOT VANISHED LIKE THE JUUKAN GORGE
Indigenous Australian Traditional Land Owners – History Mungo Lady and Mungo Man 42,000 years ago
Mungo Lady and Mungo Man lived in the region now known as the Willandra Lakes, western New South Wales, around 42,000 years ago during the late Pleistocene era. Scholars have deduced from their skeletal remains all that is known to science about their biographies. Mungo Lady, also known as Mungo Woman or by the scientific identifier ‘Willandra Lakes Hominid 1’ (WLH 1), emerged, in fragments, from an eroding lunette on the downwind side of the now-dry Lake Mungo. She was found in July 1968 by Jim Bowler, a postgraduate student in geology at the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, who was engaged on a geomorphological study of the series of thirteen interconnected former lakes comprising the Willandra, on the traditional lands of the Paakantji, Ngyiampaa, and Mutthi Mutthi peoples.
In February 1974 Bowler found Mungo Man (WLH 3) nearby. His discoveries caused great excitement within the scientific community and the public sphere, as they demonstrated that Australia’s human history spans tens of thousands of years, not a few thousand as previously believed.
The remains of Mungo Lady, comprising ‘a deposit of burnt carbonate-encrusted bones’ (Bowler et al. 1970, 43), were salvaged in March 1969 by a team of archaeologists and taken to Canberra for investigation. Reconstruction by the paleoanthropologist Alan Thorne identified the remains, which included fragments from each part of the skeleton, as those of ‘a young adult woman of gracile build and small stature’ (Bowler et al. 1970, 56). The manner of her interment suggests a careful funerary process, implying ‘spiritual meaning and abstract thought’ (Mulvaney and Kamminga 1999, 357); her body had been cremated and her bones crushed into fragments before being buried in a shallow conical hole.
The almost complete skeleton of Mungo Man was found about 500 metres east of Mungo Lady’s cremation site. Laid to rest in a supine position with hands together in the lap, the corpse had been sprinkled with red ochre powder suggesting a ceremonial burial. Deposits of the mineral are not found locally, the nearest source being hundreds of kilometres away, and significant energy must have been expended to acquire and transport the material. Although the evidence of gender is inconclusive, the remains have been widely accepted as being those of a man of about fifty, of light build and 170 centimetres tall. Two lower canine teeth appear to have been removed some years before death, possibly in a ritual ceremony, while the outer (buccal) surfaces of his molars were worn in a pattern consistent with the stripping of plant fibre, perhaps in the preparation of fishing nets, baskets, or bags. His teeth did not show the kind of wear expected of a person dependent on ground-seed meal, indicating a diverse diet. The condition of his thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, and his right elbow, show that he suffered from osteoarthritis, in the latter an extreme affliction that he bore for some years before his death. This would have caused chronic pain and restricted the movement of his right arm; certainly, it would have prevented the use of weapons associated with hunting and defence.
The injury may have been related to repetitive stress, perhaps from throwing a spear, using a spear-thrower, or other activity such as canoeing, knapping, fighting, or arm wrestling. Alternatively, a chronic inflammatory condition may have been the cause.
The geomorphological history and the numerous archaeological sites of the Willandra Lakes provide context to the limited knowledge of the lives of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man. The region has been described as ‘a late Pleistocene archaeological record of grand proportions’ (Johnston and Clarke 1998, 110), providing ‘one of the best examples of ancient people-land interaction on time scales rarely matched anywhere in the world’ (Bowler 1998, 120). The ancient lakes and their associated lunettes preserve a detailed archive of the human, hydrological, and terrestrial history of the region. For long periods between 50,000 and 15,000 years BP the lakes were full, fed by a river (now known as the Lachlan) enlarged by run-off from the southern highlands, interspersed by periods when they were dry. The earliest record of human presence at Lake Mungo dates from about 50,000 years BP indicating that humans began using the site soon after the lake refilled. Bowler (1998, 150) has called it ‘Australia’s Eden’ for its capacity to illuminate the ancient human history of the region and more broadly the continent.
Mungo Lady and Mungo Man lived during a period when the lakes were full, their interment sites being adjacent to the lake margin, a habitat convenient for the harvesting of aquatic resources. Nearby is evidence of regular, perhaps at times intensive, human occupation, including hearths and ovens, silcrete stone tools, grindstones, and the detritus of cooked meals, including fish, crayfish, waterfowl, freshwater mussels, small mammals, and eggshells. The range of animal remains suggests that they were taken throughout the year rather than seasonally. Thus an image emerges of a Late Pleistocene community of modern humans, of which Mungo Lady and Mungo Man were a part. Moreover, the pattern of fireplaces and camps, and the remains and means of hunting and harvesting, together with the ritual burial of the dead, demonstrates that the ancient humans of the Willandra had a complex social and religious life.
The discovery of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man ignited a period of intensive scientific research, initially focused on the Lake Mungo lunette, later extending to the lunettes and shores of other ancient lakes in the Willandra. Many more cremated or buried skeletons were found; a total of 135 were removed to Canberra for investigation. The dates ascribed to these remains, together with those obtained from hearths and fireplaces, show that the region had been occupied almost continuously from the late Pleistocene into the modern era. Lake Mungo’s scientific value was recognised when it was gazetted a national park by the government of New South Wales in 1979; two years later the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the whole region a World Heritage Area, not only for its scientific value but also for its cultural significance.
It took some years for the interests of Aboriginal traditional owners of the Willandra Lakes to be recognised alongside those of the scientific community. For Aboriginal people throughout Australia, research on Lake Mungo confirmed that their ancestors had occupied the land since time immemorial and lent powerful legitimacy to their claims for land rights.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s a vigorous campaign by members of the Paakantji, Ngyiampaa, and Mutthi Mutthi traditional owners against the removal of ancestral remains highlighted the divisions between government and scientists on the one hand, and Aboriginal people on the other. While the former asserted the universal value of Lake Mungo for science and national identity, the latter sought to protect their cultural heritage. After a period in which scientific research virtually ceased, the parties agreed at a conference held at Lake Mungo in June 1989 to respect each other’s interests and to develop a collaborative approach. As part of this understanding, new finds of the often ceremonially interred human remains have since been left in situ.
In a symbolic act of reconciliation, Mungo Lady was repatriated to the custody of traditional owners in 1992, thereby recognising her personal and familiar connection to her descendants.
They value her as a highly respected member of the community who, by reappearing on the Lake Mungo lunette, provided proof of a long-standing Aboriginal occupation of the country, and thus did much to strengthen their identity and sense of belonging and to enlighten a doubting Australian public.
The remains of Mungo Man and the other ancient Willandra Lakes people were returned by the ANU to traditional owners in 2015, when Mutthi Mutthi elder Mary Pappin observed:
‘We are so grateful he is going to be coming home. He’s done his job. It is time for him to go home and rest now’ (Burgess 2015). The remains were stored at the National Museum of Australia until 2017 when they were moved to a secret keeping place in the vicinity of Lake Mungo.
Select Bibliography
• Allbrook, Malcolm, and Ann McGrath. ‘Collaborative Histories of the Willandra Lakes: Deepening Histories and the Deep Past.’ In Long History, Deep Time: Deepening Histories of Place, edited by Anne McGrath and Mary Anne Jebb, 241–52. Canberra: ANU Press, 2015
• Bowler, J. M. ‘Willandra Lakes Revisited: Environmental Framework for Human Occupation.’ Archaeology in Oceania 33, no. 3 (October 1998): 120–55
• Bowler, J. M., and A. G. Thorne. ‘Human Remains from Lake Mungo: Discovery and Excavation of Lake Mungo III.’ In The Origin of Australians, edited by R. L. Kirk and A. G. Thorne, 127–38. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1976
• Bowler, J. M., Rhys Jones, Harry Allen, and A. G. Thorne. ‘Pleistocene Human Remains from Australia: A Living Site and Human Cremation from Lake Mungo, Western New South Wales.’ World Archaeology 2, no. 1 (June 1970): 39–60
• Bowler, J. M., Harvey Johnston, Jon M. Olley, John R. Prescott, Richard G. Roberts, Wilfred Shawcross, and Nigel A. Spooner. ‘New Ages for Human Occupation and Climatic Change at Lake Mungo, Australia.’ Nature 421 (20 February 2003): 837–40
• Burgess, Katie. ‘Mungo Man to be Moved to National Museum of Australia’s Repatriation Unit.’ Canberra Times, 6 November 2015
• Douglas, Kirsty. Pictures of Time Beneath: Science, Heritage and the Uses of the Deep Past. Canberra: CSIRO Publishing, 2010
• Flood, Josephine. Archaeology of the Dreamtime. Sydney: Collins Publishers Australia, 1983
• Johnston, Harvey, and Peter Clarke. ‘Willandra Lakes Archaeological Investigations, 1968–98.’ Archaeology in Oceania 33, no. 3 (October 1998): 105–19
• Mulvaney, D. J., and Johan Kamminga. Prehistory of Australia. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999
• Smith, Mike. The Archaeology of Australia’s Deserts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013
• Webb, S. G. The Willandra Lakes Hominids. Canberra: Department of Prehistory, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, 1989
Related Entries in NCB Sites
• Mungo Lady (related entry)
• Mulvaney, Derek John (related entry)
• Thorne, Alan Gordon (related entry)
Citation details
Malcolm Allbrook, ‘Mungo Man (?–?)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/mungo-man-27704/text35292, accessed 18 December 2023
AFTER CAPTAIN COOK in 1770 and then 1788 THE INVASION BY EURASIA OF ILLEGAL MIGRANTS
https://digital-classroom.nma.gov.au/videos/australian-journey-episode-09-encounters
Monash University 2017 Produced before the 2023 October 14 Referendum Day deals with the background issues of the Aboriginal Voice .
Stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander resistance, survival and reconciliation from the ‘Encounters’ exhibition.
20 minutes a good documentary for Education of the Terra Nullius Majority Racists in Australia today 2023
Note: This webpage was first published in 2020. More recently some scholars have questioned the provenance of the shield (The Gweagal Shield) in the exhibition.
Upate: 2021
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-25/gweagal-shield-and-captain-cook-origins-questions/12941610
Is it the shield?
Dr Shayne Williams is a Dhungutti and Dharawal man from La Perouse.
He found the red colour of the shield’s wood unusual and asked the British Museum to have it tested.
They discovered it’s made from red mangrove.
Red mangrove didn’t grow around Sydney.
Shayne says you’d need to go about 400 kilometres north to Port Macquarie to find red mangrove, but it’s much more abundant another 300km north at Ballina, and is found all the way up to far north Queensland.
So the shield’s probably not from Botany Bay.
ROCK PAINTINGS
https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/australia-s-oldest-known-aboriginal-rock-paintings
New dating techniques reveal Australia’s oldest known, intact, Aboriginal rock paintings – dating back 600 generations
By Dr Damien Finch, Professor Andy Gleadow, Professor Janet Hergt and Dr Helen Green, University of Melbourne; Pauline Heaney; Cecilia Myers; Professor Peter Veth, Dr Sam Harper and Dr Sven Ouzman, University of Western Australia; and Dr Vladimir Levchenko, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
Deep in a northeast Kimberley rock shelter on Balanggarra Country is a two metre-long rock painting of a kangaroo. This kangaroo is now Australia’s oldest known, intact Aboriginal rock painting.
The painting itself we have now dated to between 17,500 and 17,100 years old.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-01041-0
Abstract
Naturalistic depictions of animals are a common subject for the world’s oldest dated rock art, including wild bovids in Indonesia and lions in France’s Chauvet Cave. The oldest known Australian Aboriginal figurative rock paintings also commonly depict naturalistic animals but, until now, quantitative dating was lacking. Here, we present 27 radiocarbon dates on mud wasp nests that constrain the ages of 16 motifs from this earliest known phase of rock painting in the Australian Kimberley region. These initial results suggest that paintings in this style proliferated between 17,000 and 13,000 years ago. Notably, one painting of a kangaroo is securely dated to between 17,500 and 17,100 years on the basis of the ages of three overlying and three underlying wasp nests. This is the oldest radiometrically dated in situ rock painting so far reported in Australia.
As a comparison to finds recent in Eurasia to 170,000– 210,000 years ago
Apidima Cave fossils provide earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Eurasia
The Research Continues and this ends the Christmas Tale 2023 for today 18 December 2023 , Bob , Happy reading and viewing the videos.
A POSTSCRIPT with thanks Joachim and Carol for the start of another journey to 2024
Exploring and discovering First Nations Heritage in Australia
Overview of Commercial Tours available I have searched a bit and find some providors who might satisfy any curiosity about Australian Aboriginal Life National Trade routes prior to 1787, with the sales 2023 of 4WD EV Vehicles booming in Australia and the eventual roll out of the sorely needed EV Recharge facilities to overcome the 400km limits of movement for most models being sold , perhaps future generations of the illegal immigrants to Australia may come to understand and appreciate the Oldest Continuous Culture still living on the Planet.
https://www.odysseytraveller.com/articles/key-aboriginal-trade-routes-of-ancient-australia/
https://www.odysseytraveller.com/articles/uncovering-the-ancient-history-of-aboriginal-habitation-in-australia/
https://www.odysseytraveller.com/articles/african-coin-reach-arnhem-land/
Local Activity in the Sydney Region where I live in Artarmon in the Willoughby Municipal Council Area on the North Shore suburbia of the extensive Sydney Harbour.
https://www.aboriginalheritage.org/
Aboriginal Heritage Newsletter:
https://www.aboriginalheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/Yarnupings-4-2023-min.pdf
OF INTEREST IN CLOSING THIS CHRISTMAS @)@# TA POSTSCRIPT with thanks Joachim and Carol for the start of another journey to 2024
Exploring and discovering First Nations Heritage in Australia
Overview of Commercial Tours available I searched that might satisfy any curiosity about Australian Aboriginal Life National Trade routes prior to 1787, with the sales of 4WD EV Vehicles booming in Australia and the eventual roll out of the sorely needed EV Recharge facilities , future generations of the illegal immigrants to Australia may come to understand and appreciate the Oldest Continuous Culture still living on the Planet.
https://www.odysseytraveller.com/articles/key-aboriginal-trade-routes-of-ancient-australia/
https://www.odysseytraveller.com/articles/uncovering-the-ancient-history-of-aboriginal-habitation-in-australia/
https://www.odysseytraveller.com/articles/african-coin-reach-arnhem-land/
Local Activity in the Sydney Region where I live in Artarmon in the Willoughby Municipal Council Area on the North Shore suburbia of the extensive Sydney Harbour.
https://www.aboriginalheritage.org/
Aboriginal Heritage Newsletter:
https://www.aboriginalheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/Yarnupings-4-2023-min.pdf
December Newsletter: [ Note there is No mention of the October 2023 Voice Referendum rejection, it was, as I have said before “ just a hole in the road “ we will pass over it and time will take care of us as there is at least about 5 billion years till the Earth is engulfed by our Star the Sun as it becomes a Red Dwarf. The lifecycle of a Star is not going to be avoidable and future generations will have to undertake the Star Trek to avoid extinction. The clear benefit of early stages of planning makes Scientists of all thinking humans a cooperative goal to aspire to. Also nearly 5,000,000,000 years is the estimated age of the Sun right now .
Bob 22 December 2023 Summer Solstice longest day ]
LEAVING THE CHRISTMAS 2023 TALE
December Newsletter: [ Note there is No mention of the October 2023 Voice Referendum rejection, it was, as I have said before “ just a hole in the road “ we will pass over it and time will take care of us as there is at least about 5 billion years till the Earth is engulfed by our Star the Sun as it becomes a Red Dwarf. The lifecycle of a Star is not going to be avoidable and future generations will have to undertake the Star Trek to avoid extinction. The clear benefit of early stages of planning makes Scientists of all thinking humans a cooperative goal to aspire to.
Also nearly 5,000,000,000 years is the estimated age of the Sun right now .
Bob. 22 December 2023 Summer Solstice longest day ]