Stories from traditional knowledge combined with archaeological work trace 2,300km of Songlines |
All over Australia, Songlines, or Dreaming tracks, connected First Nations people in one place with those in another through ritual, song and storytelling, which told of their shared beliefs.
In our newly published research, we have used material evidence to establish such links where they were disrupted by the violent past.
Isabel’s mother, Mrs Hansen, told stories from the traditional knowledge of her tribe, the Wangkamadla people, that Isabel passed on to her daughter Avelina.
We have combined these with the archaeological work of Iain in different parts of Australia, to extend the connectivity of those songs and tracks from one region to another.
Rock art images in one region show Songlines reached from Murujuga beside the Indian Ocean to the eastern Simpson Desert 2,300 kilometers away.
Mrs Hansen (first name, Annie) and her husband Jack (also known as Snapshot) were born about 125 years ago and brought up on their own First Nations Country on the edge of the Simpson Desert of far western Queensland.
The Hansens were employed at Glenormiston Station in the Channel Country, and from time to time would visit sacred sites in the region to maintain them and retell their songs........