PREHISTORIC AUSTRALIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1926, Page 13

PREHISTORIC AUSTRALIA.

VICTORIAN DISCOVERIES, CAVEMEN AND GIANT KANGAROOS. If stone implements which have been recently discovered in the eaves of Strathdownie, _ the south-western district of Victoria, are aa ancient as experts believe them to be, we may consider that a race of Australian cave men existed centuries before the Pyramids were built (writes Charles Barrett, C.M.Z.S., in the "Melbourne Herald"). The caves of Strathdownie district are yielding treasure to science. The latest discovery is a flint implement fashioned rudely by hands that were stilled thousands of years ago—if indeed it be a dawn-stone that comes from Puralka. An expert has confirmed the opinion that the flake of flint stones shows secondary chipping, and is of great antiquity. Another student of stone age implements is doubtful. But always doctors differ. The facts are given for free opinion. "A startling discovery" this find of worked flint has been called. Should other such relics be disinterred there, the Kangaroo Cave yet may rank with prehistoric stations in other countries, even those that are each claimed to be the cradle of mankind. Long ago caves of Mount Gambier and neighbouring districts were explored by the Rev. Julian E. Woods, who wrote: "These silent caves, never.for ages past enlivened by the busy hum of life, scarcely echoing to tbe footsteps which explore their hidden beauties, have wi thin themselves a wondrous record ot this planet's changes." Fossil bones are medals of creation, but we smile now at Dr. Pouchland's theory, set forth in his "Reliquiae Diluvianae," that bones found in caves were relics of the Deluge! They tell another story to the palaeontologist. Strathdownie Discoveries. I went to the Strathdownie district to examine the shallow limestone caves, where Mr. J. S. Lockie, of Forrestfield, recently found fossil remains of two extinct species of kankaroos, Macropus anak and M. atlas, or close allies of those giant marsupials. These specimens are now in the National Museum, and Mr. Lockie has added the fruits of further delving in the cave. The curator (Mr. J. A. Kershaw) states that the fossils are of great interest, and arrangements may be made to have the cave district searched systematically. Remains of extinct kangaroos and other animals have been collected before in the Western District, but much more material is desired, and further important discoveries are possible. At Forrestfield homestead Mr. Loelcie displayed tbe chipped flint scraper, which he unearthed in the Kankaroo Cave. It was found with fossil marsupial bones, and its, discoverer is positive that bones and implement are "contemporary." The cave men of Strathdownie preyed upon giant kangaroos. Man and giant marsupial lived—how many years ago? The fossils, which were embedded in limestone, are of "uncertain age"—from 10,000 to 25,000 years, or more—so that, accepting the scraper as an ancient implement, we may think of a race 01 Australian cave men that flourished many centuries before the Pyramids were built. Evidence in favour of the belief that man is of considerable antiquity in Australia is accumulating. The Cohuna skull and the kangaroo cave flint, facts gleaned by geologists and students of philology and tribal customs, all point to one general conclusion. Australia shares in tbe childhood of man; has a chapter for the Book of Prehistory. Tasmania was separated from the mainland, some geologists say, from 10,000 to 30,000 years ago. Yet a black race inhabited the island, and was "cut off" when the land bridge ceased to exist, except in fragments. If the Australian aborigines migrated from Asia, it was, doubtless, in the dark ages, before the dawn of history in any land. The many dialects spoken by the blacks and their complicated customs favour this conclusion. Cemetery of Extinct Species. This cave is a cemetery of wombats, tiger-cats, and some unknown bird, all extinct species. But no other stone relic of the cave men rewarded spade work and groping in bone fragments. The cave, however, it was clear, was used as a dwelling or feasting place by man. Signs of ancient fires exist there. From Dartmoor to the Mount is a region worth exploring. Any rambler may have the luck to find relies of old time among the shallow caves that abound here. The limestone is thick with fossil shells—royster and many other kinds. In the forest live "forester" kangaroos, huge fellows, if not rivals in stature of their ancestors, a race of giants 12ft in height, it is computed. And here are treasures for the nature lover as well as the scientific man. One paddock is a place of middens. Through the trees are scattered ashmounds and other relics of tribes that were contemporary with the pioneers, but are all gone now—"lost," like their prehistoric kin.