The Astronomy of the Aboriginal Peoples of the Sydney Basin (original) (raw)

On the Astronomical Knowledge and Traditions of Aboriginal Australians

Doctor of Philosophy Thesis, Department of Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University, 2012

Historian of science David Pingree defines science in a broad context as the process of systematically explaining perceived or imaginary phenomena. Although Westerners tend to think of science being restricted to Western culture, I argue in this thesis that astronomical scientific knowledge is found in Aboriginal traditions. Although research into the astronomical traditions of Aboriginal Australians stretches back for more than 150 years, it is relatively scant in the literature. We do know that the sun, moon, and night sky have been an important and inseparable component of the landscape to hundreds of Australian Aboriginal groups for thousands (perhaps tens-of-thousands) of years. The literature reveals that astronomical knowledge was used for time keeping, denoting seasonal change and the availability of food sources, navigation, and tidal prediction. It was also important for rituals and ceremonies, birth totems, marriage systems, cultural mnemonics, and folklore. Despite this, the field remains relatively unresearched considering the diversity of Aboriginal cultures and the length of time people have inhabited Australia (well over 40,000 years). Additionally, very little research investigating the nature and role of transient celestial phenomena has been conducted, leaving our understanding of Indigenous astronomical knowledge grossly incomplete. This thesis is an attempt to overcome this deficiency, with a specific focus on transient celestial phenomena. My research, situated in the field of cultural astronomy, draws from the sub-disciplines of archaeoastronomy, ethnoastronomy, historical astronomy, and geomythology. This approach incorporates the methodologies and theories of disciplines in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. This thesis, by publication, makes use of archaeological, ethnographic, and historical records, astronomical software packages, and geographic programs to better understand the ages of astronomical traditions and the role and nature of eclipses, comets, meteors, impact events, and certain variable stars. I also test the hypothesis that certain types of stone arrangements have preferred orientations that probably relate to astronomical phenomena. This research shows that Aboriginal astronomical traditions explain the motions of celestial bodies and the relationship between events in the sky and events on Earth. I explore how Aboriginal people perceived and made use of particular astronomical phenomena, such as meteors and comets, and show that Aboriginal people made careful observations of the motions of celestial bodies. I provide evidence that Aboriginal people noticed the change in brightness of particular stars, described the kinematics of eclipses, explained how lunar phases are related to ocean tides, and acknowledged the relationship between meteors, meteorites, impact events, and impact craters. I then show that linear stone arrangements in New South Wales have a preferred orientation to the cardinal points and explore astronomical reasons for this. In the Appendix, I include biographical details of William Edward Stanbridge, one of the first people to write in depth about Aboriginal astronomical traditions, which were compiled from historic records.

The Astronomy of Aboriginal Australia

"The Role of Astronomy in Society and Culture", edited by D. Valls-Gabaud & A. Boksenberg. Cambridge University Press, pp. 39-47, 2009

The traditional cultures of Aboriginal Australians include a significant astronomical component, which is usually reported in terms of songs or stories associated with stars and constellations. Here we argue that the astronomical components extend further, and include a search for meaning in the sky, beyond simply mirroring the earth-bound understanding. In particular, we have found that traditional Aboriginal cultures include a deep understanding of the motion of objects in the sky, and that this knowledge was used for practical purposes such as constructing calendars. We also present evidence that traditional Aboriginal Australians made careful records and measurements of cyclical phenomena, and paid careful attention to unexpected phenomena such as eclipses and meteorite impacts

Searching for the astronomy of aboriginal Australians

2007

Abstract. It is widely accepted that the traditional culture of Aboriginal Australians has a significant astronomical component, but it is unclear whether this component extended beyond ceremonial songs and stories. Here I summarise a growing body of evidence that there was a deep understanding of the motion of objects in the sky, that this knowledge was used for practical purposes such as constructing calendars, and there may even be evidence for careful records and measurements. Key words: Australia Aboriginal

"Bridging the Gap" through Australian Cultural Astronomy

"Archaeoastronomy & Ethnoastronomy - Building Bridges Between Cultures", edited by C.L.N. Ruggles. Cambridge University Press, pp. 282-290, 2011

For more than 50,000 years, Indigenous Australians have incorporated celestial events into their oral traditions and used the motions of celestial bodies for navigation, time-keeping, food economics, and social structure. In this paper, we explore the ways in which Aboriginal people made careful observations of the sky, measurements of celestial bodies, and incorporated astronomical events into complex oral traditions by searching for written records of time-keeping using celestial bodies, the use of rising and setting stars as indicators of special events, recorded observations of variable stars, the solar cycle, and lunar phases (including ocean tides and eclipses) in oral tradition, as well as astronomical measurements of the equinox, solstice, and cardinal points.

Australian Aboriginal Astronomy: Overview

2013

The traditional cultures of Aboriginal Australians include a significant astronomical component, perpetuated through oral tradition, ceremony, and art. This astronomical component includes a deep understanding of the motion of objects in the sky, and this knowledge was used for practical purposes such as constructing calendars. There is also evidence that traditional Aboriginal Australians made careful records and measurements of cyclical phenomena, paid careful attention to unexpected phenomena such as eclipses and meteorite impacts, and could determine the cardinal points to an accuracy of a few degrees.

The Role of Astronomy in Australian Indigenous Knowledge

The Oxford Handbook of Global Indigenous Archaeologies: Chapter 18, edited by Claire Smith, Kellie Pollard, Alok Kanungo, Sally May, Sandra Lopez Varela, and Joe Watkins. Oxford University Press., 2023

Astronomy plays a significant role in the culture of many Australian Indigenous peoples. Traditional Indigenous Australians had an extensive knowledge of the sky and the motion of the bodies within it. That astronomical knowledge was not only important culturally, but also reveals an intellectual complexity that has gone largely unrecognised, including a quest to understand phenomena such as tides and eclipses. More practically, they used that knowledge for navigation, and to regulate their calendars to maximise food resources.

Australian Aboriginal Astronomy - An Overview

"Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy", edited by Clive Ruggles, Springer, pp. 2215-2222, 2015

The traditional cultures of Aboriginal Australians include a significant astronomical component, perpetuated through oral tradition, ceremony, and art. This astronomical component includes a deep understanding of the motion of objects in the sky, and this knowledge was used for practical purposes such as constructing calendars. There is also evidence that traditional Aboriginal Australians made careful records and measurements of cyclical phenomena, paid careful attention to unexpected phenomena such as eclipses and meteorite impacts, and could determine the cardinal points to an accuracy of a few degrees.

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Indigenous Astronomy at the University of Melbourne

Dhoombak Goobgoowana: A History of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne, Volume 1: Truth, edited by Ross L. Jones, James Waghorne, and Marcia Langton. Melbourne University Publishing, 2024