Hidden in plain sight: the archaeological landscape of Mithaka Country, south-west Queensland

Westaway, Michael C.; Williams, Douglas F.; Lowe, Kelsey M.; Wright, Nathan; Kerkhove, Ray; Silcock, Jennifer; Gorringe, Joshua; Miszkiewicz, Justyna J.; Wood, Rachel; Adams, Richard E.; Manne, Tiina; Adams, Suzi; Miscamble, Tony; Stout, Justin C.; Wrobel, Gabriel D.; Kemp, Justine; Hendry, Brooke; Gorringe, Max; Gorringe, Betty; Lander, Keiron; Gorringe, Shawnee; Andrews, Ian; Collard, Mark

doi:10.15184/aqy.2021.31

Cited by 15 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Some grasses have been selected for processing across vast areas, such as Panicum spp., while others are only utilized in some areas, and possibly within restricted contexts, such as Astrebla spp. Emerging research, such as documentation of the Southern Hemisphere's largest grindstone quarry in Mithaka country, Queensland, will continue to reveal the extent and importance of native grains to precolonial economies in Australia (Westaway et al 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Do We Know About Threshing Traditional Grains in Australia?

Pattison,

McGee,

Birch

et al. 2023

Journal of Ethnobiology

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This article reviews ethnographic descriptions of Australia's First Nations people's grain threshing to inform future grain research and revival of practice in south-eastern Australia. The processing of grain requires many steps, and while harvesting, winnowing and grinding are comparatively well-documented, the threshing stage, which involves the removal of the husk and other nonedible parts of the seed head before the seed is winnowed and ground, remains poorly understood. In south-eastern Australia much of the threshing knowledge has been lost through the impacts of colonization; whereas communities in Central Australia have retained this knowledge in relation to their traditional grains. However, these species are not common in all areas. As different species require different threshing processes, only some of this knowledge can be directly applied in south-eastern Australia. Ethnographic descriptions have the potential to contribute additional First Nations knowledge to the revitalization of this practice. This article brings together ethnographic descriptions of traditional threshing to facilitate the revival of practice and further native grains research.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Do We Know About Threshing Traditional Grains in Australia?

Pattison,

McGee,

Birch

et al. 2023

Journal of Ethnobiology

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“…Recently Griffiths (2022:163) has gone so far as to suggest that ‘A precious possibility emerges that Alice's books comprise one of the richest ethnographic sources Australia possesses.’ At the same time other researchers and the local Mithaka people have paid more attention to Duncan‐Kemp's writings, in the context of historical and anthropological research for the Native Title claims resulting in the 2015 consent determination (Rangiah 2015), archaeological research between 2017 and 2020 (Franklin et al 2021; Westaway et al 2021), and revival of Mithaka language and culture (Willis 2022).…”

Section: Alice Duncan‐kempmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kurangara in Queensland?: A Critique of Duncan‐Kemp's Account

Nash

2023

Oceania

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A particular historical travelling religious complex in northern Western Australia, usually known as Kurangara, has been the subject of anthropological attention since the late 1930s. Overlooked in all the literature is a similar account assigned to 1912–1918, in the distant Channel Country of southwest Queensland. This is in Alice Duncan‐Kemp's last book, published in 1968. My examination shows that a good deal of Duncan‐Kemp's account repeated parts of a 1954 popular magazine about Kurangara in the Pilbara. In other respects Duncan‐Kemp may have drawn on her own childhood experiences, but in the absence of corroboration her account has to be considered unreliable.

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“…The indigenous populations were widely considered to be hunter gatherers and not recognized as practising agriculture, something that puzzled those aware of the connections between continental Australian populations and those practising agriculture in the north (New Guinea). 10 Recent research 11 has uncovered archaeological and historical evidence for extensive food production systems that seem to satisfy at least some definitions of agriculture but the distinction between hunter gatherers and agriculturalists may be less important than understanding the food production systems used. Many of the species that were used as food are not part of any current food production system but may be found in the wild.…”

Section: Indigenous Usementioning

confidence: 99%