OzDigger
Colonel
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2006
- Messages
- 8,352
I'm so pleased I'm not a cricket fan (am I making any friends yet :wink2: ) otherwise I would have missed the pleasure of viewing Episode 1 of "First Footprints" on ABC TV, it is a Four part documentary series covering the early occupation of Australia by Aboriginals, yes they were the first boatpeople ^&grin
Almost every night I watch Baldrick digging up some part of Britain on Time Team and think what lucky buggers they are to have so much tangible history so easy to hand. Btw is it just me or does their cameraman spend a lot of the show zooming in on the bent over bottoms of the female diggers, someone should lodge a complaint......NOT. But back to Australia, this country is so vast, inhospitable and sparsely populated that we have barely scratched the surface of its history. I think this is partly why most Australians, including myself, think more about the future rather than our history. For example I recall one of my friends from England boast that their family home is over 300 years old, I replied that now he lives in Australia he will be able to buy a new one :wink2:
Back to the program, it was by far the best doco I have seen about early Australian Aboriginals providing an excellent incite into the incredible resilience and often overlooked ingenuity of these people in what was once a much harsher environment than it is today.
World Firsts of the First Australians
The first modern humans to leave Africa
Recent DNA evidence dates this back to over 70,000 years ago.
First open sea crossing in human history
People made the journey to Australia from South East Asia over 50,000 years ago.
Oldest modern person found outside Africa
Mungo man is 42,000 years old.
First depiction of the human face
Over 70 faces are found across the Murujua Peninsula dating between 25,000 and 35,000 years ago.
Largest Gallery in the world
Murujuga has approximately one million engravings over 300 square kilometers.
Oldest maps in the world
Detailed engravings show water sources throughout the Western Desert.
Oldest paintings of ceremony
The exquisite Gwion figures of the Kimberley are about 12,000 years old.
Oldest depiction of sound
The dashes coming out of the “Dynamic Figures” in Arnhem land are about 12,000 years old.
The earliest battle scenes in the world
About 6,000 years old, found in Arnhem Land.
Invention of the returning boomerang
This extraordinary feat of complex physics is unique to Australia.
City with most indigenous art in the world
Sydney has at least 3,000 rock art sites.
Oldest oral histories
Such as the Wadi Nyi Nyi which describes the rising seas that occurred between 18,000 and 6,700 years ago.
Longest continuing cultures
And going strong.
Episode 1: Super Nomads
Over 50,000 years ago people made
the first open sea voyage in human
history to discover Australia: an island
continent full of deadly megafauna
and strange plants that had been
evolving in isolation for 65 million
years.
Episode 2: The Great Drought
When the last ice age hit Australia
30,000 years ago, sea levels
dropped 130 meters below today’s
level. Deserts devoured 90% of the
continent. The greatest drought in
human history lasted 10,000 years,
yet people thrived.
Episode 3: The Great Flood
From 18,000 years ago melting
polar ice caps began drowning 25%
of Greater Australia. New Guinea
and Tasmania became islands.
This was a time of war, ingenious
inventions, spectacular art and new
nations.
Episode 4: The Biggest Estate
When much of the world embraced
agriculture the First Australians
rejected it. They chose instead
ingenious land management
systems like fire stick farming to
transform the harshest habitable
continent into a land of bounty.
Link to pdf Press Kit for the series: http://www.kimberleyfoundation.org.au/uploads/41632/ufiles/First_Footprints_Press_Kit_-_S.pdf
Almost every night I watch Baldrick digging up some part of Britain on Time Team and think what lucky buggers they are to have so much tangible history so easy to hand. Btw is it just me or does their cameraman spend a lot of the show zooming in on the bent over bottoms of the female diggers, someone should lodge a complaint......NOT. But back to Australia, this country is so vast, inhospitable and sparsely populated that we have barely scratched the surface of its history. I think this is partly why most Australians, including myself, think more about the future rather than our history. For example I recall one of my friends from England boast that their family home is over 300 years old, I replied that now he lives in Australia he will be able to buy a new one :wink2:
Back to the program, it was by far the best doco I have seen about early Australian Aboriginals providing an excellent incite into the incredible resilience and often overlooked ingenuity of these people in what was once a much harsher environment than it is today.
World Firsts of the First Australians
The first modern humans to leave Africa
Recent DNA evidence dates this back to over 70,000 years ago.
First open sea crossing in human history
People made the journey to Australia from South East Asia over 50,000 years ago.
Oldest modern person found outside Africa
Mungo man is 42,000 years old.
First depiction of the human face
Over 70 faces are found across the Murujua Peninsula dating between 25,000 and 35,000 years ago.
Largest Gallery in the world
Murujuga has approximately one million engravings over 300 square kilometers.
Oldest maps in the world
Detailed engravings show water sources throughout the Western Desert.
Oldest paintings of ceremony
The exquisite Gwion figures of the Kimberley are about 12,000 years old.
Oldest depiction of sound
The dashes coming out of the “Dynamic Figures” in Arnhem land are about 12,000 years old.
The earliest battle scenes in the world
About 6,000 years old, found in Arnhem Land.
Invention of the returning boomerang
This extraordinary feat of complex physics is unique to Australia.
City with most indigenous art in the world
Sydney has at least 3,000 rock art sites.
Oldest oral histories
Such as the Wadi Nyi Nyi which describes the rising seas that occurred between 18,000 and 6,700 years ago.
Longest continuing cultures
And going strong.
Episode 1: Super Nomads
Over 50,000 years ago people made
the first open sea voyage in human
history to discover Australia: an island
continent full of deadly megafauna
and strange plants that had been
evolving in isolation for 65 million
years.
Episode 2: The Great Drought
When the last ice age hit Australia
30,000 years ago, sea levels
dropped 130 meters below today’s
level. Deserts devoured 90% of the
continent. The greatest drought in
human history lasted 10,000 years,
yet people thrived.
Episode 3: The Great Flood
From 18,000 years ago melting
polar ice caps began drowning 25%
of Greater Australia. New Guinea
and Tasmania became islands.
This was a time of war, ingenious
inventions, spectacular art and new
nations.
Episode 4: The Biggest Estate
When much of the world embraced
agriculture the First Australians
rejected it. They chose instead
ingenious land management
systems like fire stick farming to
transform the harshest habitable
continent into a land of bounty.
Link to pdf Press Kit for the series: http://www.kimberleyfoundation.org.au/uploads/41632/ufiles/First_Footprints_Press_Kit_-_S.pdf
