Aboriginal 'memories' of Australia's coastline go back more than 7,000 years

Map of Australia showing the location for each Aboriginal story discussed in the paper.

Credit: Image courtesy of Taylor & Francis

Aboriginal society has preserved memories of Australia's coastline dating back more than 7,000 years.

That's the conclusion that University of the Sunshine Coast Professor of Geography Patrick Nunn reached in a ground-breaking paper published today in the academic journal, Australian Geographer.

Professor Nunn and collaborator Nick Reid, a University of New England linguist, had their research paper accepted into the journal after three years of painstaking research.

The article describes the pair's study of Aboriginal stories from 21 places around Australia's coastline, each describing a time when sea levels were significantly lower than today.

Professor Nunn said present sea levels in Australia were reached 7,000 years ago and as such any stories about the coastline stretching much further out to sea had to pre-date that time.

"These stories talk about a time when the sea started to come in and cover the land, and the changes this brought about to the way people lived -- the changes in landscape, the ecosystem and the disruption this caused to their society," he said. [...] ScienceDaily

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