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Re: origin of australian aborigines
John Wilkins (wilkins@wehi.edu.au)
Fri, 02 Dec 1994 09:34:51 +1000
In article <3bin3r$od1@status>, danr@iconz.co.nz (Daniel Rosenblatt) wrote:
[much more cutting]
: The scenario Wade described involving deliberate voyages of settlement &
: exploration probably refers to the Polynesian settlement, *not
: Australia*. As far as I know,we don't know exactly how Australians got
: there, but it is thought to be by crossing reletively shallow seas/land
: bridges during a glacioal period.
However, there were recent news reports of family reunions between
Northern Territory aboriginals and indigenes in southern Indonesian
islands, who have apparently been intermarrying for centuries as fishing
boats "docked" in Australia for months at a time. This was apparently (I'm
going from memory here) halted by the colonial powers in both countries
and only recently was contact re-established. This was using traditional
sailing methods, so perhaps it is not so hard to understand how Australia
was colonised. Bear in mind that some pretty primitive vessels have
carried refugees to Darwin and the north recently.
--
John Wilkins, Head of Communication Services, Walter and Eliza Hall
Institute of Medical Research, Victoria 3050 Australia
Tel: (+61 3) 345 2421, internet: wilkins@wehi.edu.au
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