Once again we are indebted to our Luminary from the near north Mr Joe Blake for this review. Another book that suggests an alternative exploration of ourselves is possible if we turn off the mobile phone, and throw away the television. We suggest a content warning as some of the themes reviewed by Joe may impinge upon the sanctity of Australia Day.

Deep Time Dreaming, Uncovering Ancient Australia, by Billy Griffiths, Black Inc, 376pp

Reviewed by Joe Blake

Almost every Aussie who goes to Europe comes back with the same refrain: “It’s all so old! And sophisticated! Bits of it go back to the time of Christ.” That’s pretty impressive, isn’t it? 2000 years is a hell of a long time, no? Hang on, though. There’s stuff here in this country that’s at least 30 times that old, is just as culturally stunning, and it’s still going on. 

It’s not so long ago that everybody believed that Australia’s past was only about as old as Roman ruins, but now, thanks to a lot of dedicated people and quite a few technical developments, the perceptions are completely different. This brilliant book tells the story. While Billy Griffiths is no archaeologist, he’s spent plenty of time in the right company, and tells the story beautifully.

One of the biggest developments in archaeology didn’t occur in a dig, but in a scientific laboratory: radio-carbon dating, invented in the 1950s, led to huge changes in the way we saw the past. Until then, it was generally believed that the Aboriginal people, a primitive group, had arrived in Australia only a few thousand years before. There was really only one archaeologist in the whole country. The first proper dating, advancing that figure to nearly 13,000 years, caused a huge surge of interest and research. Over a few years, that figure moved out to about 40,000, then stopped dead for quite a long time. Until realisation dawned: that figure wasn’t the limit of Aboriginal occupation, it was purely the limit of radio-carbon ability to measure. The discovery of thermoluminescence as a dating technique soon produced accurate estimates of 60,000 years and beyond.

Aboriginal people have always been proud of their culture. Throughout the history of white invasion there have been many of them striving to be heard, but they were usually turned away by the rulers. One group wasn’t, but for entirely cynical reasons: during the 1930s Prime Minister Lyons agreed to sit down with a delegation, but only because he was eager to meet Doug Nicholls, a champion footballer. Despite all the knockbacks, activist Aborigines persisted, and eventually they finally started to be taken seriously. Myths were laid to rest; Aboriginal Tasmanians were relieved to know that they actually existed, despite every school in Australia teaching that they’d been wiped out.

In the past 60 years, there’s been a great deal of co-operation between archaeologists and Aborigines, and the country has benefitted enormously, with many important natural sites being protected. The first of these was the Franklin River, that iconic area of Tassie that was to be flooded in the early 1980s until wonderful rock art was discovered in a couple of caves, changing the debate entirely. The importance of heritage , slowly simmering on the back burner, suddenly came to the boil, much to the dismay of developers, sawmillers and others bent on wholesale destruction.

It hasn’t been all plain sailing, however. The early archaeologists were often destructive, and collected artefacts as they went, creating bad blood between them and the original custodians of the land. Those mistakes are still being rectified; the recent return of the two Mungos, Woman and Man, is an example.

Billy Griffiths, historian by trade and writer by bent, has worked in archaeological digs as a camp manager and cook, and studied this field for many years. He’s written a gripping tale of how this country has started to come of age, and recognise the rich treasures that have been until recently been hidden by a flag-waving bravado that has helped nobody. Make sure you get hold of a copy and read it cover to cover. You’ll be well rewarded.