A new study highlights how Indigenous leadership, science and business can unite to protect coastal ecosystems while building long-term environmental and cultural knowledge. Published in Ocean & Coastal Management, the study found the 300 hectares of mangrove forest on the Barron River estuary around Cairns Airport – on the doorstep of the Great Barrier Reef – stores more than 2,000 tonnes of carbon annually, making ongoing care and monitoring of these and other coastal wetlands important for slowing climate change.

About 170 years ago a large bundle of stone tools was deliberately buried close to a waterhole in the hard dirt of the remote outback.

Who buried them and for what purpose?  Why were they never retrieved? 

Archaeologists from Griffith University, who discovered the hoard, are searching for answers.

Dr Yinika Perston, from the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, noticed a handful of stones poking out of the soil in an area just north of the town of Boulia, far West Queensland.

She investigated further and discovered a pile of 60 large Aboriginal stone “tulas”, special flaked stone tools that were hafted onto a handle and used for woodworking. 

They were important tools, used across most of the continent to make objects such as boomerangs, wooden coolamon dishes, shields and clapsticks.

The research team moved fast to complete the excavation.

“This region’s climate is harsh.” Dr Perston said.

“Even while we were excavating, bushfires raged to the north, preventing some of the team from joining us.

Once we found the cache, we knew were in a race against time to recover the tools before they were washed away in the next flood”.  

The team used scientific methods to analyse the tools, working closely with the Pitta Pitta, who hold Native Title for the area where the collection was found.

“Innovation and connection helped the Pitta Pitta people survive the region’s harsh climates.

If they could not find resources locally, they bartered along vast trade routes. 

It’s possible this cache was a bundle of specially-made artefacts that were intended for trading.” Dr Perston proposed.

The team attempted to figure out when, how and possibly why these tulas were buried.

Quartz grains in the soil can be dated using a method called optically stimulated luminescence, or OSL.

This technique uses decay rates in quartz to calculate when the grains were last exposed to sunlight.

Using this method meant the team had to collect samples from the centre of the cache on a dark and moonless night.

Dating revealed a 95% probability the tulas were buried sometime between 1793 and 1913.

The nearby town of Boulia was established around 1879, and the Burke River police camp operated from 1878 to 1886.

“We think the Pitta Pitta ancestors were likely planning to trade the tools in these caches when the time came, but for some reason never retrieved them.” said Dr Perston.

“One possible reason for this may be due to disruption caused by European arrival – but the dates aren’t precise enough to be sure.

“What we can say, is that this cache reveals how planning, resource management and collective cooperation allowed Aboriginal people to not only survive, but thrive, in this harsh environment.”

About 170 years ago a large bundle of stone tools was deliberately buried close to a waterhole in the hard dirt of the remote outback.

Who buried them and for what purpose?  Why were they never retrieved? 

Archaeologists from Griffith University, who discovered the hoard, are searching for answers.

Dr Yinika Perston, from the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, noticed a handful of stones poking out of the soil in an area just north of the town of Boulia, far West Queensland.

She investigated further and discovered a pile of 60 large Aboriginal stone “tulas”, special flaked stone tools that were hafted onto a handle and used for woodworking. 

They were important tools, used across most of the continent to make objects such as boomerangs, wooden coolamon dishes, shields and clapsticks.

The research team moved fast to complete the excavation.

“This region’s climate is harsh.” Dr Perston said.

“Even while we were excavating, bushfires raged to the north, preventing some of the team from joining us.

Once we found the cache, we knew were in a race against time to recover the tools before they were washed away in the next flood”.  

The team used scientific methods to analyse the tools, working closely with the Pitta Pitta, who hold Native Title for the area where the collection was found.

“Innovation and connection helped the Pitta Pitta people survive the region’s harsh climates.

If they could not find resources locally, they bartered along vast trade routes. 

It’s possible this cache was a bundle of specially-made artefacts that were intended for trading.” Dr Perston proposed.

The team attempted to figure out when, how and possibly why these tulas were buried.

Quartz grains in the soil can be dated using a method called optically stimulated luminescence, or OSL.

This technique uses decay rates in quartz to calculate when the grains were last exposed to sunlight.

Using this method meant the team had to collect samples from the centre of the cache on a dark and moonless night.

Dating revealed a 95% probability the tulas were buried sometime between 1793 and 1913.

The nearby town of Boulia was established around 1879, and the Burke River police camp operated from 1878 to 1886.

“We think the Pitta Pitta ancestors were likely planning to trade the tools in these caches when the time came, but for some reason never retrieved them.” said Dr Perston.

“One possible reason for this may be due to disruption caused by European arrival – but the dates aren’t precise enough to be sure.

“What we can say, is that this cache reveals how planning, resource management and collective cooperation allowed Aboriginal people to not only survive, but thrive, in this harsh environment.”

Humans settled in the ancient landmass, Sahul, that birthed Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea around 60,000 years ago, according to a new study. The findings challenge a theory held by some researchers, who posit that Sahul’s peopling began 47,000 to 51,000 years ago. Moreover, the work suggests population movements happened via two routes, contrary to what those in the “short chronology” camp theorize. Debate swirls about when humans reached Sahul. The “long chronology” group, which argues that dispersal began 60,000 to 65,000 years ago, relies on evidence from archaeological and radiometric dating. The “short chronology” group favors a later settlement date based on recent Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA data. Now, Francesca Gandini and colleagues provide mitogenomic evidence that supports the long chronology proposal and identifies two distinct routes that humans took to reach Sahul. They analyzed 2,456 contemporary and already-published mitochondrial genomes from Indigenous populations in Australia, New Guinea, and Oceania. Using a molecular clock approach, they reconstructed an evolutionary tree. Gandini et al. compared the tree’s lineages with mitogenomic data from Southeast Asia. They also accounted for mutation rates, Y-chromosome variation, and genome-wide changes, additionally incorporating climate data and archaeological evidence. Most present-day lineages traced back to humans that took a northern route around 60,000 years ago. The other lineages came from humans who took a southern route. These results also corroborate archaeological and fossil records that indicate the main migration of humans out of Africa likely commenced around 73 to 89 million years ago. Of the study’s implications, the authors write: “We have addressed and refined a Western science narrative that supports the peopling of Sahul in deep time but acknowledges and respects the ontological perspective that many Indigenous people hold: ‘We have always been here.’”