Dear Shadow Minister,

This is a piece from Stephen Webb's study titled INTENSIFICATION, POPULATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN SOUTHEASTERN AUSTRALIA: THE SKELETAL EVIDENCE. It was written in 1995.

Webb looked at the skeletal stress markers. Over 1,000 individuals were X-rayed for Harris lines and about 2,000 surveyed for dental hypoplasia and cribra orbitalia to give insight into pre-colonisation lifestyles.

“Comparing the frequency of cribra orbitalia in the Murray people with that for other populations from around the world we can see the group is subjected to larger amounts of this type of stress than is usual for hunter-gatherer communities. The frequencies rank with some of the highest amounts anywhere. In fact, frequencies of cribra orbitalia comparable to those of the Murray are rarely, if ever, found in huntergatherer groups and resemble those in people who have taken up a more sedentary lifestyle. This is illustrated clearly in Figure 7. In three groups of Indian remains representing hunter-gatherers (Late Woodland), transitional hunter-gatherer/agriculturalists (Mississippian Acculturated Late Woodland) and agriculturalists (Middle Mississippian) there is a steady increase in the frequency of anaemia both in juveniles and adults. Increases in anaemia have, therefore, been seen to coincide with increasing sedentism. The clustering of people into large groups and extended family situations; a general increase in population, and the lowering of sanitary standards are all features of increasing sedentism. From the above data it seems that the human ecology of the Murray shows similar characteristics, providing a catalyst for the growth and maintenance of large helminth populations. Moreover, even in an area providing a rich biomass the existence of large numbers of people could produce such intense exploitation that nutritional inadequacy might arise with comparatively small fluctuations in seasonal abundances and river levels. This would compound any pathological circumstances similar to those outlined above.”

Does this help?

There appears to be so many questions being asked
which is such a good thing . It shows people are
interested. Perhaps now people will take the time
and make the effort to actually get the answers and
learn something new. Learn what we were not taught
about our Indigenous people, and their culture, and fill
in the gaps for ourselves.

With that in mind -

Prof. Marcia Langton's book, "Welcome to Country,"
will help towards this end.
I gave copies of this to some of my family members
last Christmas.

It's
a fantastic book for those who want to know more
about our rich Indigenous history, people, culture,
and places of interest to visit. It's a
travel guide, but much more than that.

Anyone interested in learning more about where to go
and what to see - its worth getting hold of this
informative work.

Belly,
I haven't actually heard of white people of 6000 years ago. They reckon they found 4000 year old remains of pole houses in Lake Hallstatt but they were Slavic or Celt I believe.
I think Australian human habitation goes back way beyond the Aborigines.

Just wait for the new Aboriginal legends to get dreamed up on the SBS. The ones about fish traps.

It is rather sad that we were taught so much about
the ancient civilisations that came before us but
little was taught about the breadth of history
on our own doorstep. In fact not only were our own
ancient sites unknown but were actively destroyed.

And we know wonder why there's so few remaining?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-21/brooke-boney-road-back-home-cultural-preservation-in-australia/9269956

Individual,

Artifacts in Kakadu national park have been dated
between 65,000 and 80,000 years old extending the
likely occupation of the area by thousands of
years.

There's more at the following link:

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/19/dig-finds-evidence-of-aboriginal-habitation-up-to-80000-years-ago

I hope this helps.