In 1970, Lardil man Goobalathaldin (or Dick Roughsey) completed his autobiography Moon and Rainbow in which he recounted his ancestors’ stories. Among them was a story telling of a time when the North Wellesley Islands were connected to the Australian mainland.
“Our people say that the channels were caused by Garnguur, a seagull woman who dragged a big walpa or raft, back and forth across the peninsula,” Goobalathaldin, Moon and Rainbow.
Modern estimates put the last time the North Wellesley Islands were connected to the mainland to at least 10,000 years ago.
Professor Patrick Nunn from UniSC’s Sustainability Research Centre believes this is but one example in a growing body of evidence, that suggests the oral stories of First Nations Australia stretch back further than almost anywhere else in the world.
“I think we’ve got credible examples of knowledge in Australia that has been passed down orally across almost 400 generations to reach us today,” Professor Nunn said.
