EARLY AUSTRALIA.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 10871, 15 April 1929, Page 2

EARLY AUSTRALIA.

ABO RIG IX AL REMAIN S

lu the early part;of the year 1900 th 0 late Mr. Thomas WhiteJegge, then senior zoologist at the Australian Museum (to quote the words, or the late curator, Mr. R. Etheridge, pm.) found “what we- have never before imagined to .exist, several workshops ot the Australian aborigines along the coast near Sydney. Considerable collections appear to have been made at the time from the workshops at Bondi. Alamuba, Cron ull a, Bcllambi, and other areas, and the results have been published in the records of the Australian Museum for the year 1907. ; If ron 1 that time to the present no Systematic and thorough investigations of the aboriginal workshops appear to have been carried out: and of the work which has been done by individuals very little has been placed on record, except for lugitiy f , references in works on the aborigines, of a more general character (states O. (,*. Towle, in flic Sydney “Morning Jlerald”). Bust year, however, an issue, of. the records of the Australian M.uScem .contained two important contributions to'the subject. A paper by Aliss 'L. I). Hall deals with tho llakcwork on the middens at Morna Point; and one bv Mr. AA . A\. Thorpe, ethnologist, deals with a massive type oi flaked “chopper!’ recently found by him at One Mile Beach, Anna Bay. also with some remarkable discoveries bv the late Mr. I). E. Cooksey in the Newcastle district. it. is surprising thai a -subject of this kind which is so interesting in itself, and which lias led to sir**! important results in some other parts of the world, should have suffered from so much 'neglect locally.. In Europe, the “stations" occupied by the men of the Stone Age had been carefully studied by experts whoso researches have revealed the exis' dice in prehistoric times of several races of different types and .cultures, 111 Australia we have no reason to believe that man has been here for so long a time as he has been in Efirope, and we have no evidence of several races of men with different cultures succeeding each other as they did in the Old TCorfu. But because of this the camping grounds of tit*. Australian aboriginal -'should: not be neglected. They still present many problems for investigation. and it is possible that some of them may eventually yield evidence of the greatest importance concerning the early history of the human race in Australia. The term “camping ground” includes workshops, kitchen middens, cave shelters, and so 011 ; and the recent discovery on the coastal workshops and middens of anew type of flakevood implement, with several varieties, indicates the casual nature of the work done until recently-even along tho well-set-tled coast of Xew South AA ales. \\hat. then, are the questions which the investigation of the camping grounds may enable us to state more precisely, if not definitely to decide 7 First, a discovery of the greatest importance would be the finding, in situ, of the skeleton remains of an. earlier/type, either akin to the Tasmanian or to the talgai race, which an authority lias stated

"does not belong to the modern type of Australian and probably dates back very many thousands of vears from the present.” Second, a result of equal importance would he the finding of camping grounds showing evidences of very great age. on which tho highest types of implements are either similar to the stoneculture of the Tasmanians »r are of different or lower cultural develop* ment than the types generally recognised as belonging to. the present race. All authority has staled that “Australia must have been peopled in the beginning by a most primitive -tone-using people", and ho further states that he behoves that the stone culture as we know it lias been developed locally. If such discoveries could be made, especially 1. both were made at the same time and place. Ft may then be possible to assert with a high degree ‘-’1 certainty how long man has been in Australia, and what lias been the nature of bis development during the intervening centuries.

If tin belief in the antiquitv of num in Australia has any basis of fact why. up to the present, have the investigations of jhe camping grounds been so unproductive of a mass of supporting evidence 7 It is scinctimcs. even frequently, asserted that Australia presents peculiar difficulties to the investigator, and that small results may be expected. But for two reasons this view is open to objection: first, if man lias been in Australia for ‘thousands of years.’ there can be little doubt that he will have left traces of his early occupation. which have not yet been xi*'utiftji il : and. second, the .work (lone on tli" camping grounds lias .so la;- been neither exhaustive nop oxtensive enough to yield results. But we are not altogether without evidence which is suggestive of the great age of" some of the camping grounds. In the records of the Australian .Museum for the year 1997 Etheridge and \\ Intel egge have stated; “There is ample evidence that many ol the sand unites Yorr the coast near Sydney) were at 01m time much higher than they are now, and a.lso that in some parts they had been covered with vegetation interspersed with native (•amp 4 *"*- grounds. upon which vast quantities of shells were deposited : in course *T Kmc the vegetation was covered by sand drifts, other shell heaps forming at the summit. and tho whole again buried. The period of time required f°r these various changes must have been very groat, and it has required a still greater lapse of tune to produce die. presenconditions." But Pilose areas have not yet produced any positive evidence of antiquity. A few years ago the late Mr i). I l '. C’ooksov discovered a workshop at Tirrikiba. rn'ar Nowcastle, which is undoubtedly of much greater age Ilian (lie middens along the present- bank of the Hunter Biter. At Tirrikiba the aborigines carried on (he making of their implements at a time when the river tlowed nearby. To-day the river is about a mile distant. At Glen Bock Lagoon, near M crew ether, there is evidence that the aborigines occupied two sites, (me being earlier loan (he other. But the availa'liic evidence does not allow us at present to give an estimate of the difference in time.

Probably the best evidence' oilier (ban the Talgai skull,’ of Hie comparative antiquity of mail in Australia wars obtained some years ago from SlieaJs Greek: lint as the' implements found were' not - from a camping-ground, tlieju do not direct-' liv coucor.n . this discussion. ' The dik-. covery, however, .should encourage; investigators to s'earieh'- ; etgiipiiig' grounds for complementary evidence Of similar ago. ; Even if ‘the catnping; ■ grounds already known have not yet. nroduepd anv definite evidence of the antiquity of man in Australia', the amount of exploration and investigation tvliieh is (dill to be done should produce expectation of future success. In Europe’, on some of the camping grounds, deposits are found, layer upon layer. If. iu Australia, We eventually meet with similar stratified deposits 011 the camping grounds we may then be able to state how long man has been in Australia, and whether lie brought his stone culture with him fully developed here in response to his needs.