ORIGINAL AUSTRALIANS INVENTED BREAD

Bruce Pascoe, Bunurong and Yuin man, author, historian, editor and essayist, has trawled the diaries and notepads of the earliest European explorers and surveyors to walk the vast Australian hinterland. His research completely overthrows the white notion that ancient black Australians were merely nomadic hunters and gatherers. 

Bruce reports those first white wanderers discovered cultures that had Venice-like villages with canals and irrigation systems. The original 'Australians' grew crops and made flour, bread and cake at least 15,000 years before the earliest incidences of this sophistication in the northern hemisphere. 

To hear a remarkable interview with Bruce, click here. 

Thanks to the wonderful Richard Fidler and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for this brilliant and essential work. Photo courtesy of ABC radio.

This map estimates the boundaries of the original Australian nations. Each had its own language and sub-dialects. To zoom and swoop to explore it in greater detail, click here.

To read Chris Sarra's speech on his 8/7/16 acceptance of the NAIDOC Person of the Year Award, click here.