Learn about Aboriginal people and the Alps
Australian Alps Education Kit
Chapter 8 – Aboriginal people and the Australian Alps
Australian Alps Liaison Committee, November 2005
Spiritually connected to the mountains
An aboriginal artefact scatter
Photo: Australian Alps Liaison
Committee
Aboriginal people have cultural and spiritual associations with the Australian Alps that go back many thousands of years.
Evidence of the presence of Aboriginal people in the Australian Alps is recognised through the many archaeological and historic sites that remain and through the stories passed on through generations of Aboriginal people.
Although some evidence of Aboriginal occupation of the Alps was lost in the 2003 fires that affected much of the Australian Alps, further evidence of Aboriginal people's association with the Australian Alps has been uncovered.
In the ACT the fires have revealed what could be the region's most significant Aboriginal heritage area. An area known as Jedbinbilla, near the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, west of Canberra, was a pine plantation until the fires stripped away the impenetrable vegetation to expose thousands of individual stone artefacts and rock shelters.
More Information
For more information about Aboriginal people and the Australian Alps
- Download this chapter
- Check out the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies website
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