This paper outlines the exhumation of the grave of Jane Ann Owen situated on Low Island, a sandy coral cay 15 km northeast of Port Douglas in Far North Queensland. It examines the remote burial in the context of assessing social status from a nineteenth century burial. It is argued from the presence of a prosthetic dental attachment that the individual was at one time in her adult life reasonably affluent which stands in contrast to the simple nature of her grave, lacking as it does any of the accoutrements expected of a burial of someone of either status or wealth. It is concluded that the evidence of both wealth and poverty present from the grave and body of Jane Ann Owen is not necessarily related to evidence of status but most likely a product of geographic isolation, highlighting the complexities in interpreting status and wealth archaeologically from nineteenth century burials in remote Australia.
The remains of a nineteenth century stone building at Watson’s Bay, Lizard Island, Jiigurru (Lizard Island Group), are referred to today as ‘Mary Watson’s Cottage’. As such, the ruin provides a tangible link to the young woman who fled Lizard Island in 1881 with her infant son and Chinese employee, only to die of thirst on nearby Howick No. 5 Island. The association of the extant stone structure and the historic personage of Mary Watson has become a powerful, seemingly unbreakable, association. However, an historical archaeological reassessment of the evidence provides an enriched history of the stone building that counters the current narrative. The stone building was built in 1860 by members of the Paddon and Co. bêche-de-mer station (1860-1861) during their 15 month stay on the island. Nearly two decades later, in a state of disrepair, it was rebuilt by Robert Watson and Percy Fuller of the Watson and Fuller bêche-de-mer station (1879-1881). The likelihood is that it was never the home of the Watsons. Instead, it fulfilled its original purpose as a storeroom and bêche-de-mer curing house. Yet, since the twentieth century, emotive forces have enmeshed the Mary Watson story with the visible ruin on Lizard Island as the ‘home’ she fought to defend against attack. It is time to acknowledge the building’s true past, and time to acknowledge Paddon and Co.’s stone building. By doing so, the ruin’s narrative is extended and its role in the nineteenth century bêche-de-mer industry is elevated, while continuing to honour the building’s symbolic association with Mary Watson.
As Australia’s largest peninsula, Cape York Peninsula in Queensland presents abundant opportunities to understand the complex relationship between people and coastal environments. Beyond merely being food refuse, shells demonstrate considerable cultural significance as both practical tools and symbolic objects. Yet studies of shell artefacts across Cape York Peninsula have been limited. The Agayrr Bamangay Milbi (ABM) Project, a Traditional Owner-led archaeological and heritage project focused on the southeast Cape, offers an opportunity to address this issue. As a first step, a comprehensive examination of the existing literature on shell artefacts in the region illuminates their diverse functions and cultural implications, and review of anthropological and archaeological work undertaken since 1985, including new results from archaeological survey, updates the earlier work of Schall (1985). Shell artefacts fall into several categories: utility tools, spoons, fish hooks, component elements (primarily of larger wooden objects), ornaments, rattles and containers. The rich source material underscores the need for more focused and systematic analysis of manufacturing techniques, actualistic studies, and investigations of residues and use-wear on shell objects, as well as detailed studies of specific object classes. Future investigations should focus on conducting more extensive technological analyses and exploring the socio-cultural significance of shell artefacts in greater detail.
Erythrophleum spp. (Cooktown ironwood) is an endemic north Australian tree that is a key cultural resource. In Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Traditional Owners value, use, care for and manage the trees in culturally appropriate ways. Members of the Agayrr Bamangay Milbi (ABM) Project team have recorded hundreds of culturally modified Cooktown ironwood trees (CMTs) across southeast CYP, stretching from Jowalbinna in the south to Cape Melville in the north. In this paper we specifically discuss CMTs with evidence of sugarbag extraction. These trees provide a chronological sequence of technology (from stone to steel axes) and an important, if vulnerable, material record of natural resource procurement, cultural knowledge and connections to Country. We show how the significance of sugarbag trees is reflected not only in their ubiquity but also in the iconography of rock art, other cultural associations and archaeological values. A dearth of metal-cut sugarbag scars – in stark contrast to elsewhere in CYP and despite an abundance of such axes circulating amongst Aboriginal groups in the region – is posited to be related to the especially violent local contact history associated with mining. We discuss trends in distribution that invite more detailed studies of the environmental distribution of the Cooktown ironwood and of the contemporary distribution of native bees, noting that non-cultural burning and land-clearing practices represent ongoing threats to CMT survival in the region.
Firearms were critical to the activities of the Queensland Native Mounted Police, a frontier force tasked with suppressing Aboriginal resistance in the colony of Queensland, Australia, between 1848 and 1929. Wider colonial processes meant that arming the Native Mounted Police was never straightforward, despite a dedicated program to standardise and update police weaponry from 1864 onwards. In this paper we use historical, archaeological and museum collections data to produce, for the first time, a definitive list of nine weapons and the ammunition known to have been issued to, and used by, the Native Mounted Police. In general, these weapons transitioned to ever more sophisticated and lethal breech-loading technology, and arms were quickly superseded, although older models were retained in use, resulting in detachments often being armed with an assortment of weaponry. This heterogeneity may have contributed to the use of different tactics by detachments in varying environmental zones. Although the identification of the weapons and ammunition outlined here has value for other contexts, the chief contribution of this research lies in its potential to provide an archaeological dataset to identify putative events of frontier conflict involving the Queensland Native Mounted Police.
There is considerable discourse around the timing of Australia’s interior colonisation and whether environmental or technological impacts pushed people into occupying more arid environments. However, the general scarcity of rockshelter sites and the limited amount of research undertaken to date in central western Queensland has meant this region has only been peripherally considered in such debates. It is well recognised that, by the time Europeans began documenting lifeways in the region in the late 1870s, central western Queensland had given rise to complex and thriving Aboriginal societies, despite the boom-or-bust nature of its seasonal cycles. One of these is the Pitta Pitta people, who had a pivotal role in a vast trade network that traversed the Lake Eyre Basin, extending north to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Pitta Pitta are also seemingly unique in that, as far as available data suggest, they are the only group in western Queensland to have used stone in their construction of gunyahs (huts), despite similar environmental and geographic conditions in adjacent areas to the east (Diamantina National Park) and south (Mithaka Country). Here we describe 70 stone-based huts spread across four site complexes on Marion Downs Station and use these to underpin discussions about Pitta Pitta lifeways in the late Holocene.
The Spanish Influenza of 1919 had a devastating effect on Aboriginal Australian communities, particularly Cherbourg (formerly known as Barambah Aboriginal Reserve), which resulted in a loss of ~15% of their population. Deaths happened so quickly that coffins were not built and, in some cases, trenches or mass graves were used to inter the dead in addition to individual graves. Although the trench locations were formally unknown by the Cherbourg community today, a major concern of the Cherbourg Elders is that they wanted to memorialise those affected by the 1919 pandemic, especially 100 years later. One attempt to locate the mass graves was to apply geophysical methods in the New and Old Cherbourg cemeteries to detect these unmarked burials. Our paper demonstrates how ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetic gradiometry were used along with oral histories and Indigenous knowledge to detect three mass graves associated with the Spanish Influenza. Outcomes such as this play an important role is supporting ‘Truth Telling’ for the Cherbourg Aboriginal community.
The prospect that First Nations Australians were in contact with cultures beyond Australia prior to European arrival has fascinated theorists for over a century. Early views tended to see Aboriginal culture as too primitive to have independently developed ‘higher level’ cultural traits. Once this view was abandoned, further enquiry into external contact largely ceased. However, it has been gradually recognised that transformations occurred within Australia not only independently but also through external elements arriving from the north (Macassans and Papuans). This paper offers perhaps the first comprehensive overview of a less studied potential conduit: the eastern seaboard of Australia. Given the vast scale of the eastern seaboard (and its geographic position directly opposite the seafaring cultures of the Pacific Basin it is surprising that the notion of contact between these two realms has received such limited attention. The east coast is a potentially very large target for contact. Queensland and New South Wales mainland and island coastlines comprise in excess of 15,000 km. The Pacific Basin is similarly a huge potential source for contact, covering over one-third of the world’s surface, and containing over 20,000 islands. Our paper first considers the contrast between studies of the eastern and western edges of the Pacific Basin, and then the means (and evidence) by which ‘contact’ is normally discerned. We next consider the potential for contact based on ocean currents and similar factors. The bulk of the paper assesses specific source regions and purported evidence of contact from these regions: Papua New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia and two islands between these areas (Norfolk and Lord Howe). Our study concludes that evidence for Pacific-Australian contact ought to be relatively abundant, given the size of the source area (the Pacific Basin) and the target area (the eastern seaboard). Instead, contact must have been very limited and sporadic, as most evidence has been either inconclusive or requires further substantiation. Equally, the impact of these cultures on the development of Australian First Nations seems to have been negligible. On the other hand, this review accumulated enough evidence to suggest there was considerable potential for such contacts. We conclude that archaeological frameworks should be developed to investigate purported and possible Pacific-Eastern seaboard contacts.
For over 200 years, Western scholarship has presented Torres Strait variously as a bridge and barrier to cultural influences between mainland New Guinea and Australia. An alternative approach is to see Torres Strait as neither a bridge (permeable boundary) nor a barrier (impervious boundary) but as a socially and culturally co-constructed border zone. Central to this new approach is conceptualisation of the Coral Sea Cultural Interaction Sphere (CSCIS) that centres on a series of ethnographically-known, canoe-based, long-distance maritime exchange networks that linked communities and information on objects over a distance of 2000 km along the south coast of Papua New Guinea and the northeast coast of Australia. The CSCIS emphasises Indigenous agency and the shared/selective uptake of objects and ideas by potential recipient communities across Torres Strait and their New Guinea neighbours to the north and mainland Australian neighbours to the south. Object distribution maps created using data derived from anthropological texts and museum online catalogues reveal continuities and discontinuities in the distribution of selected objects across the study area. These maps illustrate three forms of object uptake: (1) shared uptake of double-outrigger canoes and bamboo smoking pipes between New Guinea, Torres Strait and Australia; (2) selective uptake of dog-tooth necklaces and cone shell armbands between New Guinea and Torres Strait and not Australia; and (3) selective uptake of nautilus bead headbands and shell-handled spearthrowers between Australia and Torres Strait and not New Guinea. Archaeological evidence for temporal changes in the geographical spread of pottery indicates that the CSCIS was historically dynamic, with numerous reconfigurations over the past 3000 years. Enhanced understanding of the CSCIS requires the addition of contemporary Indigenous perspectives.
Archaeologists and anthropologists have long been interested in the study of past human interaction. In the Indo-Pacific, research has focused on the age and processes by which islands were settled and the role that intermediary communities played in these histories. Torres Strait, on Australia’s northern border, represents one such frontier zone. For millennia this 48,000 km2 area (containing at least 274 islands) separated predominately horticultural and pottery-using Melanesians and hunter-gatherer Australians, a contrast considered by some to be ‘starker and more perplexingly than anywhere else in the world’ (Walker 1972:405). Mirroring archaeological explanations and theoretical interests elsewhere, Coral Sea chronicles have transitioned between those prioritising large-scale migration to narratives of entanglement on the periphery of ancient globalisations. This paper develops the theme of entanglement, exploring distinctive regionally diverging histories of innovation and interaction occurring in Western, Central and Eastern Torres Strait. We suggest that traditional histories, involving the wandering trackways of Culture Heroes, provide useful insights into the deep history of human interactions, thereby helping us to understand patterns observed in the archaeological and linguistic record.
This paper reports on an Aboriginal site complex, incorporating hut structures, ceremonial stone arrangements, an extensive surface artefact assemblage of lithics and mussel shell, and a silcrete quarry, located along Hilary Creek, a tributary of the Georgina River in western Queensland, Australia. At least two phases of occupation are indicated. The most recent huts have their collapsed organic superstructure still present, while those of a presumably earlier phase are distinguished as bare, circular patches of earth which are conspicuous amongst the ubiquitous gibber, with or without stone bases, and lacking any collapsed superstructure. Immediately adjacent to the huts and also a few hundred metres away are clusters of small stone arrangements, and about 2 km to the southwest, along the same creekline, is another series of larger, more substantial stone arrangements; these features speak to the importance of the general Hilary Creek area for ceremonial purposes. Radiocarbon dating reveals use of the Hilary Creek complex dates to at least 300 years ago; the absence of any European materials suggests it was likely not used, or only used very sporadically, after the 1870s when pastoralists arrived in the area, and when traditional lifeways were devastated by colonial violence.
This paper describes a previously unknown mikiri well in the Simpson dune field. This site was abandoned about 500-600 years ago and does not feature in ethnographic records for this region. We argue that its abandonment was most likely due to failure of the well caused by a fall in the local watertable. The Simpson Desert is one of the major sand-ridge deserts of the world, but current views of the chronology of human use of this vast dune field rest on only a handful of radiocarbon ages (n=12). The radiocarbon ages for this mikiri, and its surroundings, add to this limited dataset. We plot all available radiocarbon ages from archaeological sites in the dune field showing that occupation of this mikiri coincided with a widespread increase in use of the dune field during the last millennium, at about the time the Wangkanguru people in the dune field were becoming linguistically distinct from the Arabana to the west.
Although the historical record relating to nineteenth century frontier conflict between Aboriginal groups and Europeans in Queensland has been clearly documented, there have been limited associated archaeological studies. As part of the Archaeology of the Queensland Native Mounted Police (NMP) project, this paper canvasses the physical imprint of frontier conflict across Queensland between 1849 and the early 1900s, focusing specifically on the activities and camp sites of the NMP, the paramilitary government-sanctioned force tasked with policing Aboriginal people to protect settler livelihoods. At least 148 NMP camps of varying duration once existed, and historical and archaeological investigations of these demonstrate some consistent patterning amongst them, as well as idiosyncrasies depending on individual locations and circumstances. All camps were positioned with primary regard to the availability of water and forage. Owing to their intended temporary nature and the frugality of the government, the surviving structural footprints of camps are generally limited. Buildings were typically timber slab and bark constructions with few permanent foundations and surviving architectural features are therefore rare, limited to elements such as ant bed flooring, remnant house or yard posts, stone lines demarcating pathways, and stone fireplaces. Architectural forms of spatial confinement, such as lockups or palisades, were absent from the camps themselves. The most distinctive features of NMP camps, and what allows them to be distinguished from the myriad pastoral sites of similar ages, are their artefact assemblages, especially the combined presence of gilt uniform buttons with the Victoria Regina insignia, knapped bottle glass, and certain ammunition-related objects.
Archaeological records documenting the timing and use of northern Great Barrier Reef offshore islands by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout the Holocene are limited when compared to the central and southern extents of the region. Excavations on Lizard Island, located 33 km from Cape Flattery on the mainland, provide high resolution evidence for periodic, yet sustained offshore island use over the past 4000 years, with focused exploitation of diverse marine resources and manufacture of quartz artefacts. An increase in island use occurs from around 2250 years ago, at a time when a hiatus or reduction in offshore island occupation has been documented for other Great Barrier Reef islands, but concurrent with demographic expansion across Torres Strait to the north. Archaeological evidence from Lizard Island provides a previously undocumented occupation pattern associated with Great Barrier Reef late Holocene island use. We suggest this trajectory of Lizard Island occupation was underwritten by its place within the Coral Sea Cultural Interaction Sphere, which may highlight its significance both locally and regionally across this vast seascape.
Shell mounds are a prominent part of the Cape York Peninsula archaeological record. A short period of fieldwork allowed initial assessment of their presence, size, and shape in the Kwokkunum region, Albatross Bay. Shell mounds found in this area vary in size with some examples amongst the largest found in the Cape York Peninsula. Comparison of terrestrial and airborne LiDAR data suggests that shell mounds in areas like Kwokkunum may be identified remotely where mound slopes exceed 5–10°. However, vegetation provides significant challenges for shell mound recording and vegetation on the mounds impacts on their form and preservation. Some of the challenges the largest mounds pose for investigation are reviewed.
On the eastern edge of the Simpson dune field, an unusual find of 40–60 mourning caps in a single cluster, prompts us to raise issues about its interpretation. This region is known for violence along the colonial frontier, and this kopi site is only one to two days walk from the site of a known massacre of a ceremonial gathering of people at Kaliduwarry waterhole in about 1878. There is no direct evidence showing that this site coincides with colonial expansion in this region in the late 1870s, but the condition of these caps and their geomorphic context indicate that this site cannot be older than a few hundred years. If it dates to the pre-contact period in the 1800s, this kopi site must reflect a higher degree of social ranking and complexity than is usually assumed in the ethnography. Whether or not this remarkable site relates to the death of a single, high-ranked individual or multiple deaths on the colonial frontier in a single event, this cluster of mourning caps indicates that 40–60 people were in mourning simultaneously.
This paper presents preliminary results of archaeological investigation of the northern Cape York Peninsula highlands, the homelands of the Kuuku I’yu (northern Kaanju) people. Despite intensive and long-term research programs elsewhere in Cape York Peninsula, no previous archaeological work has been undertaken in this particular region. The aim of this research was to identify the location of archaeological places and artefacts throughout the Kaanju Ngaachi Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) and the broader Wenlock region. The preliminary research results outlined here include the recording of rock art, culturally modified trees, lithic material, pastoral sites and the remains of a Native Mounted Police camp. This study clearly indicates that the highlands of Cape York Peninsula have substantial research potential; however, further work is required to achieve a greater understanding of both physical and cultural landscapes.
Although the sea arrived in southeast Queensland around 8000 years ago, most estuarine middens date to the past 1000 years. An example is midden deposits dating to the past 400 years forming the upper levels of Sites 62 and 75b from Tin Can Inlet located immediately south of the Fraser Island (K’gari) World Heritage Area. Both sites were excavated and analysed in the 1980s. This paper revisits these results following a detailed re-analysis of midden materials and new insights on regional sea level changes. Taking an historical ecology approach, species-specific habitat requirements and associated substrate sediment dynamics help explain similarities and differences between the two midden shell assemblages. Environmental factors and the location of both sites on landforms that formed following sea level fall over the past 2000 years help explain why the basal levels of both sites are probably <1000–1500 years old. Documenting pre-2000-year-old Aboriginal use of Tin Can Inlet will need to target more elevated inland dune deposits (>5m ASL) fronting the mid-Holocene sea level highstand palaeoshoreline.
Shell mounds located on the coastal and estuarine fringes are the best-known archaeological feature in the Weipa region, northwestern Cape York Peninsula, Australia. Other archaeological deposits have received less attention, with stone artefacts thought to be all but absent reflecting the lack of raw material suitable for flaking in the region. Cultural heritage surveys on the bauxite plateau in the Weipa region undertaken since 2003 have changed this view. Here we report on stone artefacts manufactured from quartz, quartzite, silcrete, and mudstone. Surprisingly, flakes and cores in assemblages from across the surveyed region retain a relatively large proportion of cortex, indicating limited lithic reduction despite the lack of local raw material. Comparisons made with assemblage characteristics from other regions in Australia indicate that this lack of core reduction may reflect use of the Albatross Bay landscape by people who were confident of being able to access the lithic sources outside the region to replenish their tool kits.
This paper uses statistical analyses to examine the hypothesis that the creators of the Gummingurru Stone Arrangement Site Complex, southeast Queensland, deliberately selected rocks, based on size and shape, for the production of motifs at the site. As Gummingurru is an Aboriginal site, the literature that frames the research concerns Aboriginal cultural Law and worldviews. However, because the data are archaeological measurements, quantitative statistical methods are also employed. These quantitative results demonstrate deliberate selection of rocks occurred in the construction of four of the motifs at Gummingurru. We conclude that there are archaeological signatures of human behaviour in response to the requirements of cultural Laws with respect to the choice of raw materials, at least in stone arrangement sites.
