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Register a new userThe Planets in Indigenous Australian Traditions
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Studies in Australian Indigenous astronomical knowledge reveal few accounts of the visible planets in the sky. However, what information we do have tells us that Aboriginal people were close observers of planets and their motions, noting the relative brightness of the planets, their motions along the ecliptic, retrograde motion, the relationship between Venus and its proximity to the Sun, Venus connection to the Sun through zodiacal light, and the synodic cycle of Venus, particularly as it transitions from the Evening Star to the Morning Star. The dearth of descriptions of planets in Aboriginal traditions may be due to the gross incompleteness of recorded astronomical traditions, and of ethnographic bias and misidentification in the anthropological record. Ethnographic fieldwork with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities is revealing new, previously unrecorded knowledge about the planets and their related phenomena.
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The oral traditions of Aboriginal cultures across Australia contain references to the presence of multiple Suns in the sky at the same time. Explanations of this have been largely regarded as symbolic or mythological, rather than observations of natural phenomena. In this paper, we examine oral traditions describing multiple Suns and analyse interpretations that could explain them. Our analysis of the oral traditions concludes that descriptions of multiple Suns fall into two main categories: one describing the changes in the path of the Sun throughout the year, and the other describing observations of parhelia, an atmospheric phenomenon known as Sun dogs that creates an optical illusion of multiple Suns in the sky at once. This analysis shows how Aboriginal people pay close attention to natural phenomena, assign them social meaning, and incorporate them into oral tradition.
A major focus of the archaeoastronomical research conducted around the world focuses on understanding how ancient cultures observed sunrise and sunset points along the horizon, particularly at the solstices and equinoxes. Scholars argue that observations of these solar points are useful for developing calendars, informing ritual/ceremonial practices, and predicting seasonal change. This is the foundation of the Eurocentric four-season Julian (and later Gregorian) calendar. Famous examples include Stonehenge, Newgrange, Chichen Itza, and Chankillo. Studies at these and other sites tend to focus on solar point observations through alignments in stone arrangements, and the orientations of monuments. Despite the ongoing study of Indigenous Knowledge in Australia revealing a wealth of information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander observations and interpretations of solar, lunar, and stellar properties and motions, very little has been published about the importance and use of solar point observations. The authors examine this topic through four case studies, based on methodological frameworks and approaches in ethnography, ethnohistory, archaeology, and statistics. Our findings show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people observe the solstices and other significant sunrise/sunset points along the horizon for timekeeping and indicating seasonal change - but in ways that are rather different to the four-season model developed in Western Europe.
Australian Indigenous astronomical traditions hint at a relationship between animals in the skyworld and the behaviour patterns of their terrestrial counterparts. In our continued study of Aboriginal astronomical traditions from the Great Victoria Desert, South Australia, we investigate the relationship between animal behaviour and stellar positions. We develop a methodology to test the hypothesis that the behaviour of these animals is predicted by the positions of their celestial counterparts at particular times of the day. Of the twelve animals identified in the Ooldean sky, the nine stellar (i.e. non-planet or non-galactic) associations were analysed and each demonstrated a close connection between animal behaviour and stellar positions. We suggest that this may be a recurring theme in Aboriginal astronomical traditions, requiring further development of the methodology.
Educational achievement distributions for Australian indigenous and nonindigenous populations in the years 2001, 2006, 2014 and 2017 are considered. Bayesian inference is used to analyse how these ordinal categorical distributions have changed over time and to compare indigenous and nonindigenous distributions. Both the level of educational achievement and inequality in educational achievement are considered. To compare changes in levels over time, as well as inequality between the two populations, first order stochastic dominance and an index of educational poverty are used. To examine changes in inequality over time, two inequality indices and generalised Lorenz dominance are considered. Results are presented in terms of posterior densities for the indices and posterior probabilities for dominance for the dominance comparisons. We find some evidence of improvement over time, especially in the lower parts of the indigenous distribution and that inequality has significantly increased from 2001 to 2017.
Indigenous peoples across the world observe the motions and positions of stars to develop seasonal calendars. Additionally, changing properties of stars, such as their brightness and colour, are also used for predicting weather. Combining archival studies with ethnographic fieldwork in Australias Torres Strait, we explore the various ways Indigenous peoples utilise stellar scintillation (twinkling) as an indicator for predicting weather and seasonal change, discussing the scientific underpinnings of this knowledge. By observing subtle changes in the ways the stars twinkle, Meriam people gauge changing trade winds, approaching wet weather, and temperature changes. We then explore how the Northern Dene of Arctic North America utilise stellar scintillation to forecast weather.
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