Indigenous Astronomy and What It Can Teach us
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been studying the stars for many, many thousands of years and have formed understandings of the skies in different ways to Western astronomical systems of thinking. With cultures that stretch back for over 65,000 years, this makes the First Australians the oldest astronomers in the world, with a rich depth of astronomical knowledge and understanding. Through practical ways engaged to observe the Sun, Moon and stars to inform navigation, calendars, and predict weather, the study of the skies is also significnat to lore and social structure, with information passed down through the generations via song, dance, and oral traditions.
One of the most central elements to Aboriginal astronomy is what is known as the Emu in the Sky, which is formed by the dark patches of sky between the stars in the Milky Way.
First Nations people across the country have differing stories attached to the stars and skies, which explain different natural phenomena like the tides, the sun rising and setting, and the changing positions of the planets throughout the year. Today, there is a great deal of contemporary research being undertaken on Indigenous astronomy and what it can teach us.
“Aboriginal astronomy is a different way of looking at the sky, because you're not just looking up at what's up above, you actually take in your whole environment.” Krystal De Napoli
In Aboriginal culture, the stars relate to the ‘skyworld’, an important part of the Dreaming. The most practical reason for Aboriginal people’s interest in the skies would have been in relation to the changing of the seasons and corresponding knowledge about when certain foods and resources were available.
‘There’s so much science and observations and analysis embedded within our stories, within our cultures. Everything is connected and this is something that all Indigenous peoples know, live and see every day. What happens down here to us is so connected to what’s happening up there and vice versa.’ — Karlie Alinta Noon, Gamilaraay
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