Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
History
In many ways, the history of central Australia, from civilised Adelaide to
frontier Darwin, is a distillation of a broader Australian history. Far-reaching
indigenous heritage collides with European ambitions, settlements rise and
fall, resources and politics intertwine... Presiding over it all, the harsh envir-
onment has proved an indomitable force.
For a timely account of central Australian indigenous history, check out the SBS TV series
First Australians
(2008;
www.sbs.com.au/firstaustralians
), or the accompanying book,
edited by Rachel Perkins and Marcia Langton.
Aboriginal Settlement
Human contact with Australia began around 60,000 years ago, when Aboriginal people
journeyed across the straits from what is now Indonesia and Papua New Guinea - the be-
ginning of the world's longest continuous cultural history.
Within a few thousand years, Aboriginal people populated much of Australia. In South
Australia (SA), the earliest known Aboriginal relics are rock carvings near Olary, dated at
43,000 years - around the same era as the paintings in the Cave of El Castillo in northern
Spain. In Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory (NT), the oldest rock-art sites
date back 20,000 years; further east in Arnhem Land, evidence suggests that rock art was
being produced as far back as 60,000 years ago. Central Australia was occupied about
24,000 years ago.
Aboriginal peoples traded goods, items of spiritual significance, songs and dances
across central Australia and beyond, using routes that followed the paths of ancestors from
the Dreaming, the complex system of country, culture and beliefs that defines indigenous
spirituality. An intimate understanding of plant ecology and animal behaviour ensured that
food shortages were rare. Even central Australia's hostile deserts were occupied year-
round, thanks to scattered permanent wells. Firestick farming was practised in forested
areas to the south and north of the deserts, involving the burning of undergrowth and dead
grass to encourage new growth, to attract game and reduce the threat of bushfires.
Colonel William Light, celebrated planner of Adelaide, died from tuberculosis in 1839,
aged 54. Dogged by criticism and character slurs, he passed away before his vision for
the city could fully be appreciated.
