Aborigines may have been first astronomers

A Sydney scientist says Aboriginal Australians knew more about the night skies than they have been given credit for. Photo / Supplied

Aboriginal Australians may have been the world's earliest astronomers, says a Sydney scientist who has used ancient "Dreaming" stories and Google Earth maps to locate a previously unknown meteorite crater in the Northern Territory.

While researching the role of the night sky in traditional Aboriginal culture, Duane Hamacher, a PhD student at Macquarie University, came across a story related by the Arrernte people of Central Australia. It told of "a star that fell from the sky, making a noise like thunder, and crashed into a waterhole" in Palm Valley, west of Alice Springs.

Hamacher scrutinised Google Earth maps and "there happened to be a giant, bowl-shaped structure right smack in the middle of Palm Valley that looked just like a meteorite crater", he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

He then visited the area with a team of geophysicists and astrophysicists.

"We found evidence of shocked quartz, which is only produced when there is a substantial impact," he said. The scientists also ascertained that the crater was bowl-shaped, and therefore unlikely to have been formed by erosion.

For the past 18 months, Hamacher has been searching historical records for indigenous stories with references to astronomical phenomena, including meteors, comets and cosmic impacts. He believes traditional Aborigines had a vast store of knowledge about the night skies.

"It is impossible to survive on a continent like this for 50,000 years and not have an intimate knowledge of the natural world around you, including the night sky," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

While it could be a fluke that the reality in Palm Valley matched the ancient story, it would be "an incredible coincidence", he said.

The crater is believed to have been formed millions of years ago, so the passage of the meteor to earth could not have been witnessed by Aborigines.

"But perhaps the Arrernte knew rocks fell out of the sky and maybe they deduced that a large rock caused the big, bowl-shaped crater," he said.

Hamacher, who is writing a scientific paper with his colleagues about the discovery, plans to name the crater Puka, after the waterhole in the story.

Based on Aboriginal tales he has unearthed about cosmic impacts and meteorite falls, particularly in the Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory, he believes there are more craters that have yet to be identified by scientists.