Dear Nick,

It is possible to learn about Aboriginal civilisations,
not only from their legends, but also from the finds of
archeologists (who study the remains of past civilisations)
and of anthropologists (who study the development of the
human race. We can therefore put together the pieces of
the jigsaw puzzle by looking at:

1. Prehistoric skeletons that have been dug up.
2. Artefacts (tools, utensils, and ornaments) that have been
excavated or found in areas where Aborigines lived.
3. Cave and bark paintings.
4. The many different languages, legends and customs, that
have been passed on by word of mouth.

Many of us have grown up with a distorted and idealised version
of the past. We need to continue to search for the truth about
our past. Today we are learning a great deal about
the history of indigenous-settler relations.

But as I've stated in the past on this forum. Knowing brings
burden which can be shirked by those living in ignorance.
With knowing the question is no longer what we know but what
we are not to do, and that's a much harder matter to deal
with. It will as historians point out continue to perplex us
for many years to come.

You may wish to insert quotation marks in that last para, Fox.

General Comment

People want the truth, which can only be based on science and evidence.

They are sick of political correctness and spin.

There is so much political correctness about that people have learned not to trust politicians, the media and social science academics. Public cynicism regarding academia and universities is a relatively new thing, but sorely deserved by some.

otb,

Thank You for your concern - but no need.
The reference to historians is pretty clear
to most people.

Dear Nick,

We have to always bear in mind that there is more than one
side to every story. It is not wise to accept
any one interpretation of events as your only source
of information. For example -
in TV western the Indians are nearly always the "baddies"
who attack the "settlers," from Europe who are just trying to
"pioneer" a "new land."

You need to look at the other side of the story. If it was
re-written by an Indian the whole situation would probably be
reversed and the European settlers would have been the "baddies"
who came and "stole" the Indians' land by settling on it.

It is important to know who said what, in order to be able to
detect the bias that the author would probably have.

Therefore, to study the past properly, it's usually best to
go back to what we call "primary sources," that is the
original documents fro which historians gather together the
pieces of information which they use to compile a theory about
the past.

From these sources we can look at many different persons'
viewpoints and draw our own conclusions about what life must
have been like. If primary sources are not readily available
(and sometimes it's very difficult to find them on all
topics) we turn to history books in which historians who
have looked at primary sources have written down their
findings.

We also have to remember that history books are written
by historians and historians are human beings. Their words
are often wise but never completely "gospel." We need to
ask questions all the time and never accept any reference
book as if it could not be wrong.

Therefore, just the same as with primary sources, we need to
consult as many history books as possible to get a really
fair picture of the past.

We also need to study not only what is in history books but
also what has been at times - left out.

yes Foxy.
Here is the other part of the Gurri story of Fraser island Qld.
Gauri Parvati was the wife of Shiva and made this garden for him. The procreation of life for humans followed this, as on Fraser island.

Goddess Gauri is one of the manifestations of Goddess Parvati. She is the divine energy, Mother Goddess. Parvati means goddess of the mountains.

Kingdom of Shiva: - Google Books Result

https://books.google...isbn=8128830287
Sivkishen - 2015 - ‎Religion
As the time passed, Parvati grew up to be a stunningly beautiful,
charming, and alluring woman hoping to win His love. ... desolate cave and transformed it into a pleasure garden filled with the fragrance of flowers and the buzzing of bees.

Shakti Peethas are shrines or divine places of the Mother Goddess.
These are places that are believed to have enshrined with the presence of
Shakti due to the falling of body parts of the corpse of Sati Devi .

Parvati Gauri is a main Hindu goddess in Bali as a deity of Mount
Gunung Agung. The mother goddess presides over waters and lakes,
nurtures and grants fertility to crops and all life.
_________________________

Bundjalung legend about Dirrangun describes a clever / cranky woman of
Tooloom falls near Tenterfield. The hunter Balugan broke down the mountain she made to block the waters and she clung to figtree as
the Clarence river swept down to Grafton.
Balinese: diri_ self. angen_mind.
Indonesian : diri anggota _ government by-election.


Dirawong is the Bundjalung goanna who protects people from the
Rainbow snake.

Balinese : diri_self. wong__person.
___________________________

The Clarence river flows to Yamba where the boat arrived from Ngarenbil ( Indonesia?)

Indonesian : luar negeri _ outside land. overseas.

The headwaters of the Clarence river are near Tenterfield from where
creeks flow west to the darling river and the Toorale skull locality
near Bourke.

Dear Nick,

The facts that you draw our attention to are
indeed interesting. Thank You.

I've just been reading more about the skull of
the Toorale Man.

http://app.griffith.edu.au/news/2015/04/09/history-and-mystery-of-australias-toorale-man/

We're told that Dr Michael Westaway, an expert in Aboriginal
archaeology from Griffith University told the ABC's Catalyst
program that the wounds on the skull were indicative of an
:aggressive and hostile attack with the intent of murder."

Apparently state of the art science is being applied to
solving the mystery of the so-called Toorale Man.

Initial speculation was that the man's death was one of
thousands that occurred during frontier violence waged between
Aboriginals and Europeans after white settlement.

However, dating methods such as radio carbon dating and
optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) suggest the remains
date back to the late 13th century. Long before the
arrival of Europeans and their weapons.

Interesting - how all this will pan out.