Australia Dinosaur fossils

Dinosaurs Australia! Much of Queensland's Outback was once part of the 'Great Inland Sea' of Australia, resulting in the region being rich in fossils.

Queensland's Age of Dinosaurs spans three geological Periods, the Triassic, Jurassic and the Cretaceous Period, which includes some of the world's oldest evidence for dinosaurs.


During the time that Queensland dinosaurs roamed the land, swimming reptiles such as plesiosaurs, pliosaurs and ichthyosaurs dominated the seas. Their remains were preserved in rocks in central and western Queensland - site of a vast inland sea 100 million years ago.

Dinosaurs Australia! A carnivorous theropod, Banjo is the most complete meat-eating dinosaur skeleton yet found in Australia.

Australovenator has been coined as Australia's answer to Velociraptor for its speed, razor-sharp teeth and three large slashing claws on each hand. At approximately 5 metres long, 1.5 metres high at the hip and weighing 500 kg, Australovenator was many times bigger than Velociraptor.

Banjo is named after the famous Australian poet Banjo Patterson who wrote Waltzing Matilda in Winton in 1885.


Estimated to have lived 100-98 million years ago in the Mid-Cretaceous (Latest Albian) period. 

Dinosaurs Australia! Much of Queensland's Outback was once part of the 'Great Inland Sea' of Australia, resulting in the region being rich in fossils. Visit Hughenden, Richmond and Winton on Australia’s Dinosaur Trail for your introduction to life during the Cretaceous Period. Discover the prehistoric creatures that roamed the land and marine reptiles which swam in ancient inland seas around 100 million years ago. You can also visit the world’s best-preserved dinosaur stampede at Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways near Winton.

Aboriginal Dream Time


Dinosaurs Australia!

Australian Aborigines also posses a number of equally fantastic legends of gigantic reptillian beasts whose descriptions and habits told for thousands of years would fit the exact description of monsters known only to scientific textbooks of Palaeontologists. According to the folklore of the former tribes of the area around Lake Alexandrina, South Australia, there once lived back in the Dream Time a giant reptillian beast which was taller than the trees and which a great hunter named Wyungare killed by spearing the creature. The monster was said to have moved quickly upon its hind legs whose feet possessed great claws. Its two front legs were too small to be useful and its had a fearsome head with sharp teeth.

Dinosaur Eggs Recipe


Hard-boil eggs and dye them green with food coloring. Use markers to speckle the eggs. Put the eggs in a "nest" (a basket filled with artificial grass). Invite the students to taste the "dinosaur eggs".

Frill necked lizard

The amazing looking Frill necked lizard is found in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, Southern New Guinea and Northern Australia. This is also known as frilled dragon. The skin of this animal folded back like frills against its head and neck, hence the name.
When the lizard is frightened, it gapes its mouth, exposing a bright pink or yellow lining; the frill flares out as well, displaying bright orange and red scales. This reaction is often used to discourage predators or during courtship. The lizard is a member of the agamid family. It a relatively large lizard, growing up to 91.4 cm.

The frill-necked lizard is found mainly in the northern regions of Australia and southern New Guinea. The lizard inhabits humid climates such as those in the tropical savannah woodlands.
The frill-necked lizard is an arboreal lizard, meaning it spends a majority of its time in the trees. The lizard ventures to the floor only in search of food, or to engage in territorial conflicts.

Like many lizards, frill-necked lizards are insectivorous, feeding on cicadas, beetles, and termites. They especially favour butterflies and moths, their larvae even more so. Though insects are their primary source of food, they also consume spiders, other lizards, and small mammals.





GA:NI King of the Lizards Dreamtime Story


A long time ago the frilled neck lizard had a nice clean chest but this was badly burnt which is why it is black today. Back in the Dreamtime when all the animals were people, there was an enormous flood and the river spread as wide as the eye could see. The people had been stranded on a small, higher part of land but there was no food and they were frightened because the flood-waters were still rising.




The clans gathered together and had a long discussion and decided that they had to cross the water to find better land that would provide food for them. The "clever men" instructed them to tie a smouldering fire stick to the chests of all animals before they commenced to swim so their progress could be seen.



The clever men sent snake-man first because they thought he was the smartest. For a long time they could see the fire getting smaller until it disappeared suddenly snake-man had drowned. The blue-tongued lizard was next and once again they could see the fire getting smaller until it disappeared he to had drowned. The clever men tried all the animals but all without success. All that was left was old Ga:ni, the frilled neck lizard. Ga:ni was very slow and slept most of the time. The clever men had to wake Ga:ni and tell him it was his turn to try and reach land. The clever-men instructed old Ga:ni to light a fire when he reached land to let them know it is safe to swim across.

Ga:ni told the clever-men to tie a long firestick to his chest a firestick made of gidgee because gidgee wood smoulders very slowly while the wind movement keeps it alight. The clever-men laughed at old Ga:ni this sleepy old fella but did as he requested. Ga:ni began his slow swim across the water and they could still see the twinkling light, although it was getting smaller.



Ga:ni's swim took all night and when the clever-men woke just before dawn, and looked out across the water, they saw to their surprise, a great fire blazing in the distance and knew that Ga:ni had found land. Their lives had been saved because old Ga:ni had been clever enough to survive the water crossing and the light the signal fire. During the long swim, the gidgee firestick had slowly burnt away until it had badly injured Ga:ni's chest. This left a charred, black scar on the chest of this brave frilled-neck lizard.



The clever-men promised that whoever found land should become the most superior person in their tribe and Ga:ni had saved their lives by showing them land with what remained of his firestick so all the animals swam over and joined him. They decided to have a corroborree in his honour and all painted up and danced around this tired, sleepy old fella. Ga:ni was now the king of the lizards and would remain so forever. Since his epic swim, he has always been treated with respect by both animals and humans.



Even today, frilled-neck lizards are often seen standing up straight on their hind legs their heads held back with pride and this displays the blackness on their chests that was the reward for great bravery in the past.


Michael J Connolly
Munda-gutta Kulliwari
Dreamtime Kullilla-Art

Galah vs lizard

Situated at Kimba, half way across Australia, the Big Galah was built by Roger Venning and family. It is eight metres high, two and a half metres wide and weighs over two tonnes. It is constructed of steel, high tension bird wire, fibreglass and gel coated and was erected in July 1993.

The Galah, Eolophus roseicapilla, also known as the Rose-breasted Cockatoo, Galah Cockatoo, Roseate Cockatoo or Pink and Grey, is one of the most common and widespread cockatoos in Australia.
The Galah is pale grey on top and pink below. The male has dark brown eye and female has red eye. Its crest varies from pink in Western Australia to white throughout the rest of Australia. Juvenile Galahs have a grey breast and a grey eye-ring.
Often seen in large flocks of between 30 to 1000 birds. In rain they like to hang upside down from branches or power lines, wings spread wide to catch the rain.
Galahs will often congregate and forage on foot for food in open grassy areas.
Galahs are found throughout Australia, except in the very dry desert regions, and dense forests areas.

The Galah, And Oolah The Lizard

OOLAH the lizard was tired of lying in the sun, doing nothing. So he said, "I will go and play." He took his boomerangs out, and began to practise throwing them. While he was doing so a Galah came up, and stood near, watching the boomerangs come flying back, for the kind of boomerangs Oolah was throwing were the bubberahs. They are smaller than others, and more curved, and when they are properly thrown they return to the thrower, which other boomerangs do not.

Oolah was proud of having the gay Galah to watch his skill. In his pride he gave the bubberah an extra twist, and threw it with all his might. Whizz, whizzing through the air, back it came, hitting, as it passed her, the Galah on the top of her head, taking both feathers and skin clean off. The Galah set up a hideous, cawing, croaking shriek, and flew about, stopping every few minutes to knock her head on the ground like a mad bird. Oolah was so frightened when he saw what he had done, and noticed that the blood was flowing from the Galah's head, that he glided away to hide under a bindeah bush. But the Galah saw him. She never stopped the hideous noise she was making for a minute, but, still shrieking, followed Oolah. When she reached the bindeah bush she rushed at Oolah, seized him with her beak, rolled him on the bush until every bindeah had made a hole in his skin. Then she rubbed his skin with her own bleeding head. "Now then," she said, "you Oolah shall carry bindeahs on you always, and the stain of my blood."

"And you," said Oolah, as he hissed with pain from the tingling of the prickles, "shall be a bald-headed bird as long as I am a red prickly lizard."

So to this day, underneath the Galah's crest you can always find the bald patch which the bubberah of Oolah first made. And in the country of the Galahs are lizards coloured reddish brown, and covered with spikes like bindeah prickles.

Australia's most venomous snakes

Some five million people are bitten by snakes each year. Most serious cases take place in poor rural communities and the victims are generally women, children and farmers.

Now that's a snake... king brown in Branxton, NSW Australia. 

Bites from venomous snakes kill at least 100,000 people a year, with many countries lacking the drugs and capacity to deal with the threat.

The Inland Taipan,also known as the Small Scaled Snake and Fierce Snake, is native to Australia and is the most venomous land snake in the world based on LD50 value.
The inland taipan is native to the arid regions of central Australia. Its range extends from the southeast part of the Northern Territory into west Queensland. The snake can also be found north of Lake Eyre and to the west of the split of the Murray River, Darling River, and Murrumbidgee River.

The Inland Taipan is dark tan, ranging from a rich, dark hue to a brownish olive-green, depending on season.Inland taipans adapt to their environment by changing the colour of the skin during seasonal changes. They tend to become lighter during summer and darker during the winter.
Its back, sides and tail may be different shades of brown and grey, with many scales having a wide blackish edge. These dark-marked scales occur in diagonal rows so that the marks align to form broken chevrons of variable length that are inclined backward and downward. The lowermost lateral scales often have an anterior yellow edge. The dorsal scales are smooth and without keels. The round-snouted head and neck are usually noticeably darker than the body (glossy black in winter, dark brown in summer), the darker colour allowing the snake to heat itself while only exposing a smaller portion of the body at the burrow entrance. The eye is of average size with a blackish brown iris and without a noticeable coloured rim around the pupil. It has twenty-three rows of mid-body scales, between fifty-five and seventy divided subcaudal scales, and one anal scale. The Inland Taipan averages approximately 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) in length, although larger specimens can reach lengths of 2.5 metres (8.2 ft).

The Eastern Brown Snake, often referred to as the Common Brown Snake, is an elapid snake native to Australia. This species is considered to be the second most venomous land snake in the world based on LD50 value.
In Australia 60% of all deaths caused by snake bites are from this fella.
The Eastern Brown Snake is found all the way along the East coast of Australia, from the tip of Cape York, along the coasts and inland ranges of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. They are also found in arid areas of the Northern Territory, the far east of the Kimberley in Western Australia and discontinuously in parts of New Guinea, specifically northern Milne Bay Province and Central Province in Papua New Guinea, and the Merauke region of Papua Province, in the Indonesian part of New Guinea. Due to their mainly rodent diet, they can often be found near houses and farms.

Adult Eastern Brown Snakes are highly variable in color. Whilst usually a uniform shade of brown, they can have various patterns including speckles and bands, and range from a very pale fawn colour through to black, including orange, silver, yellow and grey. Juveniles can be banded and have a black head, with a lighter band behind, a black nape, and numerous red-brown spots on the belly.

This species has an average length of 1.5–1.8 m and it is rarely larger than 2 m. Large Eastern Brown Snakes are often confused with "King Brown" snakes (Pseudechis australis), whose habitat they share in many areas.

Black Snakes  These snakes are found in every Australian state with the exception of Tasmania and some species are found in Papua New Guinea. They inhabit a variety of habitat types, from arid areas to swampland. All species are dangerous and can inflict a potentially lethal bite. Most snakes in this genus reach about 2m and vary in colour.

Some species are brown, where others may be black. The most recognisable and widespread species in the genus are the Red-bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) and the Mulga Snake (King Brown) (Pseudechis australis). These snakes will feed on lizards, frogs, birds, small mammals and even other snakes. All species, except the Red-bellied Black Snake are egg laying.

How the snake got its poison


Long ago in the Dreamtime, the animals were very much bigger than they are today and the bite of a snake was not poisonous but a bite of a goanna was.




Mungoon-gali was a large goanna and because of his poisonous bite was quite a terror of the land. His favourite food was the flesh of blackfellas whom he used to devour in numbers. He wrought such havoc that all the other tribes held a meeting as they feared that Mungoon-gali would soon exterminate the blackfellas if something were not done to stop him. Ooyu-bu-lui the black snake spoke up and said that he could but they only laughed. Ooyu-bu-lui told them that by the time Yhi the sun has gone to her rest the next day, he shall have the poison bag of Mungoon-gali and promptly glided away.



Ooyu-bu-lui knew he could only defeat Mungoon-gali by being cunning as goanna was much bigger and stronger than he and above all, Mungoon-gali had the poison bag which had made him invincible for so long. Ooyu-bu-lui decided that he would follow Mungoon-gali to his camp and wait for goanna to wake from his sleep. When Mungoon-gali awoke, he saw black snake and quickly made a rush at him. Ooyu-bu-lui quickly told Mungoon-gali that he was there to warn him of a plot the tribes had planned against him and not to kill him. Mungoon-gali told black snake that if he told him the plot then he would spare his life and the lives of his tribe forever. Ooyu-bu-lui did not believe Mungoon-gali but goanna reassured black snake that he would keep his promise and to prove it he would give him anything he pleases. Ooyu-bu-lui said that he would only feel safe if he had his poison bag to hold while he told of the plot. Mungoon-gali refused and told Ooyu-bu-lui to choose something else but without goanna's poison bag, he was not going to tell. Determined to hear of the plot at all risks, Mungoon-gali reluctantly reached into his mouth and drew out the hidden poison bag and handed it to Ooyu-bu-lui who took the bag and went with it to his old place on the edge of the camp. Ooyu-bu-lui put the poison bag into his own mouth then began to Mungoon-gali of the plot. He told goanna that by the time Yhi had gone to her rest that night, one of the tribes was to get the poison bag from him and so take away his power to harm the Daens in the future. Before Mungoon-gali had time to realise that he had been tricked, Ooyu-bu-lui was gone.

Ooyu-bu-lui went back and showed the tribes that he now had the poison bag of Mungoon-gali. When the tribes asked for the poison bag to destroy it, Ooyu-bu-lui refused to give it to them so the other tribes tried to banish him from their camps. Ooyu-bu-lui told all the tribes that he would surely kill anyone who tried to stop him.



Since then, snakes have been poisonous and not goannas and they never meet now without fighting. But the poison bag is powerless to harm the goannas as Mungoon-gali, a great Wirinun, knew of a plant which, if eaten after a snakebite, made the poison powerless to kill or injure. As soon as a goanna is bitten by a snake, he rushes to this plant and eating it, is saved from any evil consequences of the bite.



This antidote has ever since been the secret of the goanna tribe left in their possession by Mungoon-gali who lost his poison bag by the cunning of Ooyu-bu-lui, the black snake.

NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC stands for the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920s which sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Indigenous Australians.


NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

Here are some ideas on how to celebrate NAIDOC


•Hold a flag raising ceremony

•Display Indigenous posters around your class room.

•Invite local Indigenous elders to speak at your school or workplace.

•Listen to Indigenous music.

•Study a famous Indigenous Australian.

•Research the traditional Indigenous owners of your area.

•Study Aboriginal arts and crafts.

•Read a Dreamtime story.

•Start your own Indigenous hall of fame featuring any local role models and achievers.

•Create your own Aboriginal art.

•Visit Indigenous websites on the Internet.

•Make your own Indigenous trivia quiz.

•Visit local Indigenous sites of significance or interest.

•Learn the meanings of local or national Aboriginal place names.

Wherever you live, you can take part in NAIDOC Week celebrations. To find out about NAIDOC Week activities in your area, contact your nearest ICC on free call 1800 079 098, except Nhulunbuy (1800 089 148), Kalgoorlie (1800 193 357) and Kununurra (1800 193 348).

Yowies and Big foot

Weird creatures and animals are common in Australia a recent photo posted on facebook is of a small hairless creature caught in a trap.

According to locals in the town of Quilpie in Outback Queensland it was accidentally caught by a farmer in a wild dog trap (Wild dogs are big problem to livestock in Western areas of Queensland).
Locals say that these are just a species of hairless possums that are common to the area and have been sighted many times by locals during the night as like most possums they are Nocturnal.
Local aborigines are known to fear them and call them Devil Ghosts.



Local National Parks and wildlife rangers are investigating the area, and believe the photo is more than likely not fake, and is likely to be a possum with some kind of skin disorder, as certain times of year the sand flies in the area are thick, and cause skin diseases that can cause animals to lose their hair and have been known in the past to have killed thousands of Kangaroos and wildlife in the outback.

A supposedly tailless, five-foot tall ape photographed in Venezuela by François de Loys, a Swiss geologist, sometime around 1920. The picture caused an uproar in the scientific community, because only monkeys, not apes, are believed to inhabit the Americas. If genuine, the finding of such an ape would have thrown into confusion the accepted theory of primate evolution.

Yowies is the term for an unidentified hominid reputed to lurk in the Australian wilderness. It is an Australian crypt id similar to the Himalayan Yeti and the North American Bigfoot

Yowies origin (also "Yowie-Whowie" and yahoo) may lie in a mythological character in native Australian Aboriginal folklore. This creature's characteristics and legend are sometimes interchangeable with those of the bunyip. According to some writers, reports of yowie-type creatures are common in the legends and stories of Australian Aboriginal tribes, particularly those of the eastern states of Australia.

Yowies according to the Aborigines, the sounds emitted by these 'hairy people' varies from grunts to howling. They wandered the remoter forest regions of the eastern mountains ranges, often in small family groups, sometimes in pairs or singularly, sleeping in caves, rock overhangs or in open forest depending upon weather conditions.

Yowies were known to make fire, manufacture crude stone and wooden tools and killing animals for food, as well as feeding upon nuts, roots and berries. They were to be territorial by nature, regarding any place in which they were temporarily in occupation of as if their own, chasing out any rival groups of their own kind, and also any Aborigines who chanced to wander into their territory.

 Old Bungaree a Gunedah aboriginal ...said at one time there were tribes of them [yahoos] and they were the original inhabitants of the country-he said they were the old race of blacks... [The yahoos] and the blacks used to fight and the blacks always beat them but the yahoo always made away...being...faster runners.

Yowies were first sighted by a white man was released in the local Newspapers in a small country town we now know as Sydney. During the 1800's numerous reports followed through out NSW and also the rest of the country. The 1800's were a buzz with sightings of the creature around the country. Newspapers and magazines began writing about people's encounters as they were reported. In most of these reports, the creature was always described as "an ape" or "ape-like man." The same descriptions given today.
One such beast, was reported in a Sydney newspaper, to have been caught and taken back to England
and sold to a Yorkshire circus for 2000 pound

For 25 years, Rex Gilroy has trekked some of Australia's most rugged country in his search for the Yowie, or Great Hairy man.

Yowies research has shown, there are at least two known kinds of Yowie in Australia. There are the large Yowies that is normally between 6-10ft and the smaller, yet fully-grown variety that is roughly 4-5ft.

Didgeridoo culture Ididj Australia

iDIDJ Australia is Australia's unique online hub dedicated to enriching public understandings of the didgeridoo's cultural heritage roots. It seeks to engage audiences with issues vital to the preservation of the didgeridoo's cultural integrity.


They are an independent Australian non-government organisation with a global community network of iDIDJ guild members.

Its vision is a united international community that celebrates the didgeridoo and its source cultures, values Australian Indigenous peoples and traditions, respects the land and all its lifeforms, and seeks justice and equity for the traditional Aboriginal custodians of the instrument.

You can find all sorts of interesting information here about the didgeridoo and its place in Australian Aboriginal cultures.

Outback Horse Racing Queensland

 If you have never experienced Melbourne Cup fever in the Country now is the time to do it.



 Charleville Cup is on Melbourne cup Day
The Central Warrego Race Club meetings, are held in outback Charleville Queensland.
They are always a great experience, and it's where the locals kick back, and enjoy themselves. You can either dress up in a suit or hat, or dress down in shorts and thongs, no one cares, it's a great day out and you get to meet the locals. One of the highlights of Charleville Race Days is the Charleville Cup Race Meeting held on Melbourne Cup day each year. The Charleville Cup Day is the Grand Finale of the Charleville Spring Festival. On this day its big hats and glamour for the locals.

The Central Warrego Race Club was formed on 6 April 1882. The first racetrack was at “Raceview” property at the edge of town. The club transferred to the existing site in 1919. In 1953 the first starting stalls were erected by Charlie Phillot. Covered horse stalls were erected 1982. In 1988 a new complex was erected with funding from the Queensland Government and Murweh Shire council.

The race club boasts some of the best facilities in the west, including an all-weather sandy loam track.
The club holds 9 race meetings a year. Its covered grandstand seats 500, providing a view of the entire 1500m track.

Getting there!

By plane

Qantas operates daily from Brisbane and Skytrans fly to Charleville twice a week from Brisbane and Birdsville. Charleville Airport is around 4km from the town centre.

By car

Charleville is at the junction of the Mitchell and Warrego Highways. It is around around 750km from Brisbane along the Warrego, and around 1200km to Sydney via the Mitchell Highway. Both routes are sealed.

By bus

Greyhound has a daily coach service to Charleville from Brisbane and Toowoomba and a daily service from Longreach.

By train

The Queensland Rail Westlander  makes two trips a week from Brisbane Roma Street Station via Toowoomba and Roma. The trip each way runs overnight and takes around 18 hours. First and second class sleepers and upright seats are available on the train. The train has a buffet car with a small bar seating area. The trip is usually quiet enough that most passengers can comfortably sit around the bar in the evening. The fares are usually a little cheaper than flying, and there are half-price fares for children.

Accomodation

Heaps of accomodation available at local pubs, caravan parks, and motels.

Got to the Murweh Council website below for address and phone numbers

Kelpie dogs

The Australian Working Kelpie, is one of Australia's truly national dogs. However its origins lie in Scotland, where a number of collie-types (collie is Scottish for sheepdog) contributed to the development of the breed we know today.

During Australia's migrant boom in the 1800s, demand grew for a dog suited to working with the vastly developing Merino sheep population. This saw the import of many herding dogs from the homelands of new migrants, particulary the United Kingdom. Many breeds were brought to Australia, but those most suited to the harsh conditions were soon recognised. It was these few strains of Scottish working dogs, in particular a strain from the Rutherford family, which were crossed together, and with a mix of good fortune and skill the Kelpie was born. These original strains have now all but disappeared.

The Kelpie was first registered as a breed in Australia in 1902, one of the earliest registered breeds in Australia. This was actually four years before the Border Collie was registered as a breed in Britain.

The working Kelpie comes in three coat types, smooth, short, and rough, with almost every colour from black through light tan or cream. Some Kelpies have a white blaze on the chest, a few have white points. Kelpies sometimes have a double coat, which sheds out in spring in temperate climates.
A working Kelpie can be a cheap and efficient worker that can save farmers and graziers the cost of several hands when mustering livestock. The good working Kelpies are heading dogs that will prevent stock from moving away from the stockman. This natural instinct is crucial when mustering stock in isolated gorge country, where a good dog will silently move ahead of the stockman and block up the stock (usually cattle) until the rider appears.
They will work sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, poultry, and other domestic livestock. The Kelpie's signature move is to jump on the backs of sheep and walk across the tops of the sheep to reach the other side and break up the jam.

A working bred Kelpie must have a job to do and plenty of exercise and mental stimulation to remain healthy and companionable. A Kelpie is not aggressive towards people and cannot be considered a guard dog, though he will certainly bark when necessary. Working Kelpies may nip when working stock and should be taught early not to do so to humans.^[

Indigenous Astronomy

Because the Australian Aboriginal culture is the oldest continuous culture in the world, it is possible that the Australian Aboriginal people may be the world's first astronomers.

One of the earliest records of indigenous astronomy was made by William Stanbridge, an Englishman who emigrated to Australia in 1841 and befriended the local Boorong people.

Some Aboriginal groups use the motions of celestial bodies for calendar purposes. Many attribute religious or mythological meanings to celestial bodies and phenomena. There is a diversity of astronomical traditions in Australia, each with its own particular expression of cosmology. However, there appear to be common themes and systems between the groups.

Duane Hamacher, a PhD candidate at Macquarie University in Sydney, found a bowl-shaped crater at Palm Valley, near Hermannsburg, about 130 km southwest of Alice Springs, by searching for it on Google Earth - after being tipped off by Aboriginal dreaming stories.

"Indigenous Australians tell lots of stories about stars falling out of the sky with a noise like thunder - and one of the stories gave a location in the Northern Territory," the astronomer told the Northern Territory News.

"I searched for it on Google Earth, but when I really found something looking like a crater I couldn't believe it.
"I was very hesitant with excitement as I thought I would look like an idiot if it was just something simple - but it wasn't.
It was a crater."
When visiting the site with a team of geophysicists and astrophysicists, Mr Hamacher and his team found evidence of Palm Valley being an ancient meteorite crater.

"We found shocked quartz, which is only produced by a substantial impact and its presence in the rock samples and the morphology of the structure are the major indicators that Palm Valley is a crater."
Mr Hamacher said the discovery of a connection between dreamtime stories and reality was an exciting one.

"Lots of Aboriginal dreamtime stories are associated with craters, meteorites and cosmic impacts and although some craters are millions of years old and people would not have been able to witness the impact, it seems as if traditional dreaming stories know about the crater's origin."

One of the stories - the one that local Arrernte people tell about a star that fell into a waterhole called Puka in the valley, where Kulaia, the serpent, lived - had led to the discovery of the ancient crater, which the team proposed to name Puka, but there were "many, many more", Mr Hamacher said.

"We found stories with descriptions of cosmic impacts and meteorite falls related to places in Arnhem Land - we assume there are more meteorite craters out there and science doesn't even know about their existence yet."

Artist: Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi

Milky Way Dreaming tells the mythological story of seven sisters, the stars of the constellation Taurus (Pleiades), being chased across the sky by a Jakamarra man

represented by the morning star in Orion’s Belt. He tries to catch them but the seven sisters continually elude him.

Stars and family relationships


Knowledge of the constellations or star formations also reflect the patterns for social relationships in some areas. Arrernte and Luritja 'skin groupings', which determine people's relationships to one another, are based on the constellations of the Southern Cross. The stars represent a man and a woman ideally suited in marriage, with their parents, children and other relations all marked out in the night sky.



For Warlpiri people, the ancestors broke the Milky Way (called Yiwarra) into individual stars that we see today. Some fragments fell to earth, creating sacred places. This story is re-told in paintings, song and dance as well as re-enacted in contemporary initiation ceremonies, where men wear white down on their bodies to represent the stars (Dianne Johnson, Macquarie Atlas of Indigenous Australia).



Thus, connections are made on a daily basis between ancestors, people, stars and land. The telling of the Dreaming stories reinforces knowledge about the constellations, social behaviour, land formations and sacred places.

Echidna Australian marsupial

Echidnas are small mammals that are covered with coarse hair and spines. The spines protect the animal from enemies.
Superficially they resemble the anteaters of South America and other spiny mammals like hedgehogs and porcupines. They have snouts which have the functiοns of both mouth and nose. Their snouts are elongated and slender.
Echidnas have a tiny mouth and a toothless jaw. They feed by tearing open soft logs, anthills and the like, and use their long, sticky tongue, which protrudes from their snout, to collect their prey.

Echidnas grow to be about 40 centimetres long. They weigh about 8 kilograms.
In the wild, an echidna can live for up to 16 years.

They belong to the monotreme family of egg-laying mammals.
After mating, a female echidna digs a burrow, curls up her body, and lays one egg directly into her pouch. The egg hatches in about 10 days. Inside the pouch, the baby echidna drinks milk from its mother's body. When its spines start to grow, the baby leaves the pouch. The female will feed her baby until it's about 6 months old.