"Deep Time Australia
is an ABC News Story Lab project that provides a glimpse into the ancient history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have occupied this land for more than 65,000 years. The stories contained in this project belong to the knowledge holders and keepers, and they have been generously shared with the ABC for this project. Without them the beautiful complexity of this project would not have been possible."

Tell me a story:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/deeptime/tell-me-a-story/

Explore by topic:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/deeptime/topic/

#IndigenousPeoples #FirstNationsPeoples #narrative #history #DeepTime #IndigenousKnowledge #DeepTime #everywhen #Australia #ABCStoryLab #DigitalStorytelling

'English First' policies and
the uncomfortable waning of empire

* “The English Language Bill demonstrated that New Zealand First was "trying to appeal to a racist fringe". Professor O'Sullivan >
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-05/new-zealand-first-pushes-to-make-english-an-official-language/106410158

* "The English-only movement...is a political movement that advocates for the exclusive use of the English language in official United States government communication through the establishment of English as the only official language in the United States." >
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-only_movement

* “Australia is home to over 250 distinct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, comprising around 800 dialects, which are deeply connected to specific land, culture, and identity.” >
https://www.alt.nsw.gov.au/learn/nsw-aboriginal-languages-information

* 'Scarily diverse' people from First Nations or from a culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
https://theconversation.com/a-shadow-on-your-art-how-do-first-nations-and-culturally-diverse-authors-feel-about-representation-275446

* "Monolingualism or unilingualism, is the condition of being able to speak only a single language." >
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolingualism

#EnglishLanguage #EnglishFirst #language #LanguagePolicies #monolingualism #MonolingualMindset #diverse #polyglots #MultilingualPeople #NormativeMonolingualism #ForcedAssimilation #settlersociety #Anglophones #FirstNationsPeoples #Gumbaynggirr

AI has powerful uses for First Nations oral cultural knowledge. Here’s how

" We began using a generative AI tool – Claude, made by Anthropic – to assist in making sense of data...We used it for deciphering difficult handwriting in decades-old field notebooks, cross referencing genealogies across multiple sources, and organising hundreds of extracted PDF scans into usable files. Work that normally takes months could be completed in hours.

But the real shift came when we began directing the AI to work only within a defined set of curated sources – published research, verified archival material, community-approved records – rather than drawing from the open internet.

Within that controlled environment, we could ask questions about Wororra culture in plain language and receive grounded answers drawn only from material we trusted.

It became a way of learning through dialogue rather than reading dense academic text. For those of us working to understand a culture’s depth from scattered published sources, it accelerated learning dramatically.

If a curated AI environment could help researchers engage with cultural knowledge through conversation, could a purpose-built system do the same for community members – especially younger generations living in town, away from Country?

It is alive, it adapts, and it demands to be spoken. AI is just the latest tool that could help make that happen – if communities are the ones holding it. " >>
https://theconversation.com/ai-has-powerful-uses-for-first-nations-oral-cultural-knowledge-heres-how-276043

‘I claimed our data’ – confronting the colonial archive is ‘intense Aboriginal love’ in action. "This is my data. And this is my sovereign right. No more whitewashing. Let Truth be told. — Data Sovereignty Words " >>
https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-i-claimed-our-data-confronting-the-colonial-archive-is-intense-aboriginal-love-in-action-240338

#archives #AI #IndigenousKnowledgeSystems #EurocentricKnowledgeSystems
#ColonialityOfKnowledge #ColonialArchives #Claude #Anthropic #FirstNationsPeoples #DataSovereignty #culture

Big Quarry Literature and Settlers Caught on Screen
The complex anxiety of quarry noir

"We dig holes in Australia...It’s what we do. It’s all we’ve ever done, we’re just the world’s quarry, an enormous pit, ever since we struck gold a hundred and fifty years ago." >>
https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-australias-quarry-noir-mines-our-anxiety-about-our-biggest-industry-239523

"Dr James Finlay reflects on how Australia’s convict past has been represented on screen, tracing shifts from early cinematic melodrama through to television drama and contemporary film, and considering how these visual narratives continue to shape national memory." >>
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/history-now-caught-on-screen-australias-convict-history/id1674476464?i=1000749142755

James Findlay, Caught on Screen, Australia’s Convict History in Film and Television, 2025 >>
https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/caught-on-screen-9798765100523/

#mining #extractivism #Literature #film #screen #culture #SettlerSociety #convicts #history #Australia #fiction #narratives #QuarryNoir #BigQuarry #books #NationalAnxiety #criminality #FirstNationsPeoples

"A review of Australia's human rights record by the United Nations has heard "serious concerns" about its low age of criminal responsibility and rising incarceration rates."

"Last year, Australia recorded the highest number of Indigenous deaths in custody in four decades, surpassing 600 deaths since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-27/un-states-critical-of-australia-age-of-criminal-responsibility/106274598
#FirstNationsPeoples #incarceration #torture #HumanRights #UN

The fig leaves have been dropped

"The US Department of Homeland Security used the image with the heading "A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending" in a post on social media in August 2025."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Progress

Origins of Neo-Nazi and White Supremacist Terms and Symbols
https://www.ushmm.org/antisemitism/what-is-antisemitism/origins-of-neo-nazi-and-white-supremacist-terms-and-symbols

Image: John Gast, American Progress, The "Spirit of the Frontier" 1872
#ManifestDestiny #SettlerSociety #expansion #empire #progress #BloodAndSoil #WhiteSupremacists #EthnoNationalism #monoculture #FirstNationsPeoples #biodiversity

Truth-telling and justice

* “I can understand how Corowa is now known as the place where we have 40 neo-Nazis march up and down our main street on a Saturday morning. Now we’re starting to remove flags. I can understand how someone can see it cascading.”
A regional NSW council voted to remove the Aboriginal flag to promote ‘unity’ – it did the opposite >>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jan/26/a-regional-nsw-council-voted-to-remove-the-aboriginal-flag-to-promote-unity-it-did-the-opposite

* "The rise in voting support for One Nation, which mirrors the success of populist politicians in the United States and United Kingdom, provides further evidence of the rise of a more hardline, right-wing populism, which often celebrates rather than questions the history of European imperialism.”
>>
Opposition to moving Australia Day from January 26 is hardening: new research
https://theconversation.com/opposition-to-moving-australia-day-from-january-26-is-hardening-new-research-273795

* "People don't understand that the current policies are still embedded in their colonial roots.” >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-25/truth-telling-closing-the-gap-indigenous-affairs-agenda-2026/106260862

#PostReferendum #zeitgeist #SettlerSociety #FirstNationsPeoples #WhitePrivilege #WhiteSupremacy #EuropeanColonialism #FarRight #EthnoNationalism #dehumanisation #Empire #Australia #equality #governance #NSW #TruthTelling

Image: NSW North Coast tribal boundaries, Tindale's map 1974

One of Australia’s foundational narratives: Burke and Wills died as heroes
Settlers with a poor sense of direction.

“But Burke … had been born and bred a member of the ruling race in a conquered country [Ireland] and could not bring himself to associate with the natives. When they arrived in his camp bearing gifts of fish, he behaved like an officer of the Irish constabulary plagued by the peasantry, and fired at them.... Burke and Wills died of starvation."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/07/burke-wills-australian-heroes-expedition-farce-melbourne-statue
#SettlerSociety #FirstNationsPeoples #bushfood #MythScape

The Bellinger Valley Indigenous Protected Area

"Yurruungga Aboriginal Corporation (YAC) is dedicated to preserving and promoting the rich cultural heritage of the Gumbaynggirr people. We strive to blend the oldest continuous Culture with contemporary technology and digital methods, ensuring the longevity and dynamic presence of the Gumbaynggirr culture. Our organization works closely with the community, elders, and experts to safeguard our traditions, language, art, and sacred sites. Through education, research, and community engagement, we aim to create a sustainable future for our cultural heritage."
>>
https://www.yac.org.au/
#GumbaynggirrPeople #FirstNationsPeoples #biodiversity #LandAndSea #Country #BELLIingenShire #Urunga #BellingerValley #Yurruungga #YAC #culture