Unlike the dominant Australian savanna-sclerophyll vegetation, tropical rainforests do not burn easily. Any evidence of fire in Australian rainforests therefore invites explanations of its source. Analysis of 187 radiocarbon dates that include selected charcoal fragments from 23 soil pits and 7 archaeological sites from the Wet Tropics Bioregion (WTB) in far North Queensland, suggests a strong relationship between natural and cultural firing regimes over many millennia. The magnitude and frequency of fire represented in the charcoal chronology challenge previous arguments that rainforest experienced a reduction in firing through the Holocene. The results throw new light on the origin and continuation of isolated eucalypt forest pockets within Australia's tropical rainforest. Contrairement & agrave; la v & eacute;g & eacute;tation scl & eacute;rophylle dominante de la savane australienne, les for & ecirc;ts tropicales humides ne br & ucirc;lent pas facilement. Toute trace d'incendie dans les for & ecirc;ts tropicales australiennes appelle donc une explication de son origine. L'analyse de cent quatre-vingt-sept datations au radiocarbone, incluant des fragments de charbon de bois s & eacute;lectionn & eacute;s provenant de 23 fosses p & eacute;dologiques et de sept sites arch & eacute;ologiques de la bior & eacute;gion des tropiques humides (WTB), dans l'extr & ecirc;me nord du Queensland, sugg & egrave;re une forte relation entre les r & eacute;gimes de feu naturels et culturels sur plusieurs mill & eacute;naires. L'ampleur et la fr & eacute;quence des incendies repr & eacute;sent & eacute;s dans la chronologie du charbon de bois remettent en cause les arguments ant & eacute;rieurs selon lesquels la for & ecirc;t tropicale a connu une r & eacute;duction des incendies au cours de l'Holoc & egrave;ne. Ces r & eacute;sultats apportent un nouvel & eacute;clairage sur l'origine et la persistance de poches isol & eacute;es de for & ecirc;ts d'eucalyptus au sein de la for & ecirc;t tropicale humide australienne.

In 2019, the Ewamian Aboriginal Corporation, together with archaeologists and community rangers, set out to challenge the idea that the Undara lava tubes of Far North Queensland, Australia were places Aboriginal people avoided in the past. Our initial motivation was for Ewamian cultural values to be included in park planning, alongside the natural values. Over 12 months, a team of archaeologists and community rangers conducted surveys in Undara Volcanic National Park and carried out a small test pit excavation at Darcy Cave. So far, we have surveyed 15 tubes, 12 containing cultural material, and found evidence of at least 1000 years of human occupation. Our research demonstrates the value and challenges of Indigenous archaeologies in an under-investigated part of northern Australia.

The "Wet Tropics" of Australia host a unique variety of plant lineages that trace their origins to the super-continent of Gondwanaland. While these "ancient" evolutionary records are rightly emphasized in current management of the region, multidisciplinary research and lobbying by Rainforest Aboriginal Peoples have also demonstrated the significance of the cultural heritage of the "Wet Tropics." Here, we evaluate the existing archeological, paleoenvironmental, and historical evidence to demonstrate the diverse ways in which these forests are globally significant, not only for their ecological heritage but also for their preservation of traces of millennia of anthropogenic activities, including active burning and food tree manipulation. We argue that detailed paleoecological, ethnobotanical, and archeological studies, working within the framework of growing national and world heritage initiatives and active application of traditional knowledge, offer the best opportunities for sustainable management of these unique environments in the face of increasingly catastrophic climate change and bushfires.

Context Transdisciplinary research is important where information from multiple fields is required to develop ecologically and culturally appropriate environmental planning that protects local conservation and socio-cultural values. Objectives Here, we describe research to inform ecosystem restoration and conservation of Chumbrumba Swamp within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, Australia. Many such open wetlands in the region have been degraded through agriculture and pastoral production, but there has been little research into their status, history and conservation needs. Methods The recent to pre-European settlement history of the site was explored, along with spatial variation of vegetation communities at the site, and these data integrated with historical and ethnographical information on the site and its cultural values. Results The botanical and palaeoecological analyses showed that Chumbrumba Swamp comprises a unique and highly sensitive ecosystem mosaic with high biodiversity. An endangered ecosystem complex, 82 vascular plant species, several disjunct or endemic taxa, and species at new northern range limits were recorded within its 20 ha area. The site comprises a stable swamp site with fringing woodland and rainforest that has persisted for around 5000 years. European settlement overlaid changes in the vegetation from disturbance (e.g. fire, clearing, grazing). However, fire also affected the swamp site during pre-European times. Conclusions Historical and ethnographic information contextualised the biophysical data and confirmed the cultural importance of the site and the dynamic interactions between 'people and nature'. These results have been used to inform environmental restoration and validate the importance of a transdisciplinary and precautionary approach to planning wetland restoration and conservation.

This paper describes the attributes, preservation and management of Aboriginal dendroglyphs in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area of northeast Australia, the only known dendroglyphs recorded in a tropical rainforest environment worldwide. Our research identifies that dendroglyphs are usually single trees with abstract linear or figurative designs carved into their outer bark and are often associated with Aboriginal walking tracks and other cultural sites. Using existing historical field notes and records, including a fibreglass model of one carving made in 1991, we conclude that the dendroglyphs have changed little over 20 years. They appear to be more resilient to extreme climatic events than previously predicted, and the main threat to their preservation appears to be vulnerability from the effects of ageing, such as insect and fungal attack. Difficulties for traditional owners in accessing dendroglyphs within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area highlight tensions between natural and cultural site management practices.

In ethnohistorical records, tree nuts are frequently referred to as important food sources for Aboriginal people in the tropical rainforest region of northeast Queensland. Experimental processing and chemical analyses were undertaken of nuts from yellow walnut (Beilschmiedia bancroftii), black walnut (Endiandra palmerstonii), black pine nut (Sundacarpus amara) and black bean (Castanospermum australe). Their energy values and potential dietary benefits were analysed through replication experiments that followed traditional Aboriginal processing techniques. Results indicate these species were all high energy-high return food sources. We propose that, despite the relatively intense preparation required, they would have provided an important and reliable source of starchy food within a varied rainforest diet. Findings support the proposal that processed toxic and noxious rainforest nuts may have played a significant role in the late Holocene permanent settlement of the rainforest region and in the development of a unique Aboriginal rainforest culture.

Review(s) of: Material Culture of the North Wellesley Islands, by Paul Memmott, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 2010, vi+136pp, ISBN 9781864999624. Includes references.

Archaeological research in the Australia's northeast Queensland rainforest and margins has revealed a human antiquity of at least 8000 cal year BP within the rainforest and at least 30,000 years on the western edge. Rainforest occupation before 2000 cal year BP was at generally very low levels, after which time settlement of this environment became intensive and probably permanent. Exploitation of toxic varieties of nuts began about 2500 cal year BP, peaking after 1500 cal year BP. This economic development appears crucial to successful human adaptation to rainforests in the area and was pivotal in facilitating the long-term permanent human settlement of the wet tropics. The role of fire, El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) activity and shifting vegetation regimes were important catalysts in providing opportunities for permanent Australian rainforest Aboriginal occupation. The results have implications for global understandings of rainforest occupation by modem people. It demonstrates the wide temporal and spatial variability of human rainforest colonization processes worldwide. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The miscellaneous artifacts from Casselden Place derive from an urban working-class community in nineteenth-century Melbourne, Australia. They include a broad range of items associated with work, recreation, education, fashion, food consumption, health, and other facets of everyday life. In this paper the miscellaneous assemblage is examined in light of research questions relating to health and hygiene, leisure and work, and access to luxury items amongst the working-class of the mid to late nineteenth century.

This paper is an account of Dr Eric Mjoberg's travels in the northeast Queensland rainforest region, where he went, what observations he made, and what types of Aboriginal material culture items he collected and returned with to Sweden in 1914. Mjoberg, a Swedish entomologist commissioned by the Swedish government to document rainforest fauna and flora, spent seven months in the tropical rainforest region of far north Queensland in 1913, mainly exploring areas around the Atherton Tablelands. This area was at contact occupied by the Dyirbal language group and specifically the Jirrbal, Mamu and Ngajan dialectic groups. He also spent time exploring areas in and adjacent to the Mulgrave Valley, in Yidiny language territories. Although Mjoberg refers to the ethnographic collections from the rainforest region in various publications, the detailed documentation he made of these artefacts was never published in English. This previously unanalysed ethnographic collection is now primarily located in the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm, Sweden. The author's Swedish background and knowledge of the German language has enabled the analysis and translations of some of Mjoberg's field notes, short travel accounts, scientific papers, letters and collections. The aims of the analysis of the Mjoberg collection presented in this paper are to: document a little known Aboriginal rainforest material culture collection; and, where possible, pinpoint the geographic locations of the items to establish 'collecting-areas'. The paper briefly reflects upon the evidence for Aboriginal responses to European contact and research presently conducted in the region. Detailed descriptions and discussions of the artefacts in the collection are presented in a series of tables at the end of the paper and provide reference material against which other collections from the north Queensland rainforest region may be compared. Studies of museum collections of this kind are considered useful in constructing notions of regional variation in Aboriginal material culture and society across Australia.