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Articles on Aboriginal history

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S Wright

In a first discovery of its kind, researchers have uncovered an ancient Aboriginal archaeological site preserved on the seabed

Submerged in the waters off Western Australia lies an ancient site home to Aboriginal people thousands of years ago, when sea levels were lower than they are today.
This sketch depicts the Waterloo Creek massacre (also known as the Slaughterhouse Creek massacre), part of the conflict between mounted police and Indigenous Australians in 1838. Godfrey Charles Mundy/National Library of Australia

Enforcing assimilation, dismantling Aboriginal families: a history of police violence in Australia

Police played a unique role in many settler colonies executing assimilationist policies designed to dismantle First Nations families.
Uncle Fred Deeral as little old man in the film The Message, by Zakpage, to be shown at the National Museum of Australia in April. Nik Lachajczak of Zakpage

An honest reckoning with Captain Cook’s legacy won’t heal things overnight. But it’s a start

An honest reckoning with Captain Cook’s legacy won’t heal things overnight. But it’s a start The Conversation41.4 MB (download)
The impact of 1770 has never eased for Aboriginal people. It was a collision of catastrophic proportions.
A scene from the author’s film The Message, commissioned by the National Museum of Australia. At the first encounter in Botany Bay, two Gweagal warriors threw stones and spears at Cook, saying ‘warrawarrawa’, meaning ‘they are all dead’. Nik Lachajczak of Zakpage

‘They are all dead’: for Indigenous people, Cook’s voyage of ‘discovery’ was a ghostly visitation

Incidents from Cook’s first voyage highlight themes relevant in Indigenous-settler relations today: environmental care, reconciliation and governance. This collision of beliefs, it seems, wasn’t lost on Cook.
The first people to walk along the shores of northern Australia arrived more than 50,000 years ago. Corey Bradshaw

An incredible journey: the first people to arrive in Australia came in large numbers, and on purpose

New research shows just how many first people were needed to create a viable population in what is now Australia.
Mukurtu is a Warumungu word meaning “dilly bag” or a safe keeping place for sacred materials. Nina Maile Gordon/The Conversation CC-NY-BD

Mukurtu: an online dilly bag for keeping Indigenous digital archives safe

Mukurtu: an online dilly bag for keeping Indigenous digital archives safe The Conversation71.5 MB (download)
Mukurtu - Warumungu word meaning 'dilly bag' or a safe keeping place for sacred materials - is an online system helping Indigenous people conserve photos, songs and other digital archives.
Detail of the Connecticut Inscription, with image enhancement. Centre for Rock Art Research and Management database

Rock art shows early contact with US whalers on Australia’s remote northwest coast

Etchings over much earlier Aboriginal engravings show foreign whalers made contact with Australia’s remote northwest long before colonial settlement of the area.
Indigenous Australians must be involved in research around provenance and country. Here, representatives of the Willandra Aboriginal Elders visit the Griffith University ancient DNA laboratory. Renee Chapman

DNA from ancient Aboriginal Australian remains enables their return to Country

Museums around the world hold remains of Aboriginal people that were often taken without permission and in the absence of accurate records. New DNA methods may help return these items to country.

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