Was told by an indigenous friend that the Arts for the Cairns Naidoc celebrations received $2 Mill Govt funding.
are those sort of amounts really warranted for Art ? I mean if your Art is good & interesting enough, shouldn't the artists make their money from sales & that includes all non-indigenous artists !

mhaze,

There is nothing in the research you have posted that substantially debunks the isolation theory of Aboriginal occupation of the continent for at least 60,000 years. Its been long known that Aboriginals in Northern Australia had some limited contact with people (mostly traders) from further north. Jose' tries to claim that a replacement population of 'Sentinelese' in some way substantially influenced Aboriginal culture through inter-breeding 4230 years ago. There is no evidence for that spurious claim, what so ever. More likely a limited number of northern people became interspersed within the Aboriginal population at various times. But there is no mass migration evidence to support the rubbish claims of Jose'. We'll just have to wait for that mysterious book to get the "real" facts will we not?

"There is nothing in the research you have posted that substantially debunks the isolation theory of Aboriginal occupation of the continent for at least 60,000 years"

Oh so did you miss, or not understand, the research I posted about the mtDNA findings for Carpentarian peoples? I would completely agree that the evidence isn't conclusive. But to claim it doesn't exist is like closing your eyes and then saying you can't see anything.

To summarise, it finds " a signal of substantial gene flow between Indian and Australia populations before European contact". It's unlikely to be just the result of casual trading contact because the gene flow isn't found in other populations that also partook in that trade. So it wasn't some trader getting the odd shiela knocked up during his visits. It was substantial migration around 2000BC. Whatismore, a significant change in technology and food processing methodology occurs around the same time suggesting significant influence over the native population.

I get that you'd prefer this wasn't true, but thems the facts.

It's funny how the always-follow-the-science crowd suddenly don't want to know about the science when it doesn't suit.

mhaze,

Note, my use of the word "substantially" meaning; "to a great or significant extent" so I did't make the claim; "it doesn't exist" you made that up. With the close proximity of other peoples there must have been contact between Carpentarian Aboriginals and those others. What Aboriginal people learned and absorbed from that contact is not well known, you say so yourself; "I (mhaze) would completely agree that the evidence isn't conclusive". Settlement is far more influential on development than simple contact. A good example today is the Indian influence on Indigenous Fijians, their arrival and settlement only began about 140 years ago. But with increasing numbers, now about 35% of the total population, the Indian influence with the natives is growing, although both groups still retain significant cultural differences.