Australian Aboriginal astronomy
Australian Aboriginal astronomy has been passed down
Many of the constellations were given names based on their shapes, just as traditional western astronomy does, such as the Pleiades, Orion and the Milky Way, with others, such as Emu in the Sky, describes the dark patches rather than the points lit by the stars. Contemporary Indigenous Australian art often references astronomical subjects and their related lore, such as the Seven Sisters.
Records of Aboriginal astronomy
One of the earliest written records of Aboriginal astronomy was made by William Edward Stanbridge, an Englishman who emigrated to Australia in 1841 and befriended the local Boorong people.[5]
Interpreting the sky
Emu in the sky
A
In
To the Wardaman, however, the Coalsack is the head of a lawman.[9]
Bruce Pascoe's book Dark Emu takes its title from one of the Aboriginal names for the constellation, known as Gugurmin to the Wiradjuri people.[10][11]
In May 2020, the
Canoe in Orion
The
Seven Sisters
The
The Yamatji people of the Wajarri language group, of the Murchison region in Western Australia, call the sisters Nyarluwarri. When the constellation is close to the horizon as the sun is setting, the people know that it is the right time to harvest emu eggs, and they also use the brightness of the stars to predict seasonal rainfall.[12]
In the
In the
In the
The people of around
The
The
In another story, told by peoples of
In 2017, a major exhibition entitled
In September 2020, the
The Milky Way
The
The Yolŋu people believe that when they die, they are taken by a mystical canoe, Larrpan, to the spirit-island Baralku in the sky, where their camp-fires can be seen burning along the edge of the great river of the Milky Way. The canoe is sent back to Earth as a shooting star, letting their family on Earth know that they have arrived safely in the spirit-land. Aboriginals also thought that god was the canoe.[14]
The
Sun and Moon
Many traditions have stories of a female Sun and a male Moon.[33]
The Yolŋu say that
.The Yolŋu tell that
A story from Southern
The Yolŋu also associated the Moon with the tides.[14]
Eclipses
The Warlpiri people explain a solar eclipse as being the Sun-woman being hidden by the Moon-man as he makes love to her.[33] This explanation is shared by other groups, such as the Wirangu.
In the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park there are a number of engravings showing a crescent shape, with sharp horns pointing down, and below it a drawing of a man in front of a woman. While the crescent shape has been assumed by most researchers to represent a boomerang, some argue that it is more easily interpreted as a solar eclipse, with the mythical man-and-woman explanation depicted below it.[33]
Venus
The rising of Venus marks an important ceremony of the Yolŋu, who call it Barnumbirr ("Morning Star and Evening Star"). They gather after sunset to await the rising of the planet. As she reappears (or in other nearby weeks appears only) in the early hours before dawn, the Yolŋu say that she draws behind her a rope of light attached to the island of Baralku on Earth, and along this rope, with the aid of a richly decorated "Morning Star Pole", the people are able to communicate with their dead loved ones, showing that they still love and remember them.[38]
Jupiter
The
Eta Carinae
In 2010, astronomers Duane Hamacher and David Frew from Macquarie University in Sydney showed that the Boorong Aboriginal people of northwestern Victoria, Australia, witnessed the outburst of Eta Carinae in the 1840s and incorporated it into their oral traditions as Collowgulloric War, the wife of War (Canopus, the Crow – wɑː).[40] This is the only definitive indigenous record of Eta Carinae's outburst identified in the literature to date.
Astronomical calendars
Aboriginal calendars tend to differ from European calendars: many groups in northern Australia use a calendar with six seasons, and some groups mark the seasons by the stars which are visible during them. For the
Stories enrich a custom-linked calendar whereby the heliacal rising or setting of stars or constellations indicates to Aboriginal Australians when it is time to move to a new place and/or look for a new food source.[41]
The
It is not known to what extent Aboriginal people were interested in the precise motion of the sun, moon, planets or stars. However, it likely that some of the
There are rock engravings by the
In contemporary culture
A great deal of contemporary Aboriginal art has an astronomical theme, reflecting the astronomical elements of the artists' cultures. Prominent examples are
Other contemporary painters include the daughters of the late
See also
- Australian Aboriginal Astronomy Project
- Archaeoastronomy
- Indigenous Australian art
- List of archaeoastronomical sites by country
- Pleiades in folklore and literature
References
- S2CID 119304459.
- ^ Steffens, Maryke (27 July 2009). "Australia's first astronomers". www.abc.net. Archived from the original on 18 March 2024. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- ^ "Aboriginal astronomy: The science of mapping the sky and the seasons". NITV. Archived from the original on 17 October 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- ^ "Australia's first astronomers". BBC Earth. Archived from the original on 17 October 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- ^ Aboriginal Astronomers: World's Oldest? Archived 1 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Australian Geographic, 28 May 2010
- ^ ISBN 978-0-64618-202-5.
- ^ "Emu in the Sky". Australian Aboriginal Astronomy. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "Elvina Bay Aboriginal Engraving Walk". Wild Walks. Archived from the original on 17 October 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
- ^ Yidumduma Harney (2005)[full citation needed]
- ^ Kendall, Ross (15 October 2020). "65,000 years of star gazing for Indigenous Australians". Echonetdaily. Archived from the original on 29 November 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-922142-43-6
- ^ a b c d "The Royal Australian Mint looks to the stars to honour Australian Indigenous stories". Royal Australian Mint. 3 September 2020. Archived from the original on 12 April 2024. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- ^ "The Canoe in Orion". Australian Aboriginal Astronomy. Archived from the original on 17 October 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Australian Aboriginal Astronomy". What is Aboriginal astronomy?. Archived from the original on 17 October 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ a b Glynn-McDonald, Rona (25 October 2022). "Songlines". Common Ground.
- ^ a b Nicholls, Christine Judith (20 December 2017). "Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters is a must-visit exhibition for all Australians". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- ^ a b c d "The Story of the "Seven Sisters"". Honey Ant Gallery. 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ a b c "Seven Sisters Dreaming". Aboriginal Art & Culture: An American eye. 24 March 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ Art Gallery of NSW. 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "Kungkarangkalpa – Seven sisters". Art Gallery of South Australia. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "2019 Winners - Telstra NATSIAA". MAGNT. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "Kaylene Whiskey". ABC News. 9 August 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- NITV. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- MCA Australia. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "About". Kungkarangkalpa: Seven Sisters Songline. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "Kungkarangkalpa : Seven Sisters Songline" (Video (1 hr 8 mins)). Kungkarangkalpa: Seven Sisters Songline. 2 March 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- ^ "The Seven Sisters (Pleiades) Star Dreaming Story". Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ Hamilton, Jodie (7 October 2020). "Seven Sisters stars creation story reconnecting people to their country after clifftop massacre taboo lifted". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-85538-306-7.
- ISBN 978-0-64618-202-5.
- ^ Goerling, Samantha (18 June 2022). "Acclaimed Martumili artists' work lights up the Opera House for Vivid festival". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
- ^ "Reconciliation". Adelaide City Council. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "Sun, Moon, and eclipses". Australian Aboriginal Astronomy. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ a b Wells (1964)[full citation needed]
- ISBN 978-0-64618-202-5.
- ^ Hulley (1996)[full citation needed]
- ^ ISBN 978-0-64618-202-5.
- ^ "Banumbirr, and the Morning Star ceremony". Australian Aboriginal Astronomy. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "Dja Dja Wurrung Settlement Agreement" (PDF). 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 March 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
- ^
Hamacher, D. W.; Frew, D. J. (2010). "An Aboriginal Australian Record of the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae". Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. 13 (3): 220–234. S2CID 118454721.
- ^ a b c d "Calendars". Australian Aboriginal Astronomy. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ Clarke (2003)[full citation needed]
- ^ Andrew Carswell and Robert Cockburn (5 February 2011). "Wurdi Youang rocks could prove Aborigines were first astronomers". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
- ^ "Wurdi Youang". Australian Aboriginal Astronomy. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "Ngaut Ngaut: a tally of lunar cycles?". Australian Aboriginal Astronomy. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ 'Things belonging to the sky': a symposium on Indigenous Astronomy Archived 12 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine
Further reading
- "AIATSIS Subject guide". Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. 28 January 2015.}
- ABC Message Stick program on Aboriginal Astronomy
- The Emu in the Sky story at Questacon
- ABC Radio National Artworks piece on "The First Astronomers"
- Cairns, H. & Yidumduma Harney, B. (2003). Dark Sparklers: Yidumduma's Aboriginal Astronomy. Hugh Cairns, Sydney.
- Fredrick, S. (2008). The Sky of Knowledge: A Study of the Ethnoastronomy of the Aboriginal People of Australia. Master of Philosophy Thesis. Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK.
- Fuller, R.S.; Hamacher, D.W. & Norris, R.P. (2013). Astronomical Orientations of Bora Ceremonial Grounds in Southeast Australia. Australian Archaeology, No. 77, pp. 30–37.
- Hamacher, D.W. (2013). Aurorae in Australian Aboriginal Traditions." Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage", Vol. 16(2), pp. 207–219.
- Hamacher, D.W. (2012). On the Astronomical Knowledge and Traditions of Aboriginal Australians. Doctor of Philosophy Thesis. Department of Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
- Hamacher, D.W. (2011). "Meteoritics and cosmology among the Aboriginal cultures of Central Australia". Journal of Cosmology (PDF). 13: 3743–3753. Bibcode:2011JCos...13.3743H. Archived from the originalon 11 July 2020.
- Hamacher, D.W.; Frew, D.J. (2010). "An Aboriginal Australian record of the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae". Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage. 13 (3): 220–234. S2CID 118454721.
- Hamacher, D.W.; Fuller, R.S.; Norris, R.P. (2012). "Orientations of Linear Stone Arrangements in New South Wales". Australian Archaeology. 75: 46–54. S2CID 8171354.
- Hamacher, D.W.; Goldsmith, J. (2013). "Aboriginal Oral Traditions of Australian Impact Craters". Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage. 16 (3): 295–311. S2CID 118556709.
- Hamacher, D.W. & Norris, R.P. (2011). Bridging the Gap through Australian Cultural Astronomy. In Archaeoastronomy & Ethnoastronomy: building bridges between cultures, edited by C. Ruggles. Cambridge University Press, pp. 282–290.
- Hamacher, D.W.; Norris, R.P. (2011). "Eclipses in Australian Aboriginal Astronomy". Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage. 14 (2): 103–114. S2CID 54818087.
- Hamacher, D.W.; Norris, R.P. (2011). "Comets in Australian Aboriginal Astronomy". Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage. 14 (1): 31–40. S2CID 118417832.
- Hamacher, D.W.; Norris, R.P. (2010). "Meteors in Australian Aboriginal Dreamings" (PDF). WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Organization. 38 (3): 87–98. Bibcode:2010JIMO...38...87H. Archived from the original(PDF) on 19 February 2011.
- Hamacher, D.W.; Norris, R.P. (2009). "Australian Aboriginal Geomythology: eyewitness accounts of cosmic impacts?". Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture. 22: 60–93. Bibcode:2009Arch...22...62H.
- Haynes, R.F., et al. (1996). Dreaming the Stars. In Explorers of the Southern Sky, edited by R. Haynes. Cambridge University Press, pp. 7–20.
- Johnson, D. (1998). Night skies of Aboriginal Australia: a Noctuary. University of Sydney Press.
- "Kamilaroi & Euahlayi". Australian Indigenous Astronomy. 16 May 2018.
- Morieson, J. (1996). The Night Sky of the Boorong. Master of Arts Thesis, Australian Centre, University of Melbourne.
- Morieson, J. (2003). The Astronomy of the Boorong. World Archaeological Congress, June 2003.
- Norris, R.P. & Hamacher, D.W. (2013). Australian Aboriginal Astronomy: An Overview. In Handbook of Cultural Astronomy, edited by C. Ruggles. Springer, in press.
- Norris, R.P.; Hamacher, D.W. (2011). "Astronomical symbolism in Australian Aboriginal rock art". Rock Art Research. 28 (1): 99–106. Bibcode:2011RArtR..28...99N.
- Norris, R.P. & Hamacher, D.W. (2009). The Astronomy of Aboriginal Australia. In The Role of Astronomy in Society and Culture, edited by D. Valls-Gabaud & A. Boksenberg. Cambridge University Press, pp. 39–47.
- Norris, R.P.; Norris, P.M.; Hamacher, D.W.; Abrahams, R. (2012). "Wurdi Youang: an Australian Aboriginal stone arrangement with possible solar indications". Rock Art Research. 30 (1): 55–65. Bibcode:2013RArtR..30...55N.
- Norris, R.P. & Norris, P.M. (2008). Emu Dreaming: An Introduction to Aboriginal Astronomy. Emu Dreaming, Sydney.
- Norris, R. P., (2016) Norris, Ray P. (2 August 2016). "Dawes Review 5: Australian Aboriginal Astronomy and Navigation". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 33: 39. S2CID 119304459.
External links
- Milika, Darryl Pfitzner. "Introduction". Aboriginal Art & Amateur Astronomy: A Confluence of Culture, Creativity, Art & Science. Website created by Yerrakartartaart installation in Adelaide.