Many thanks to @lesleyhead.bsky.social for a thoughtful and generous review of The First Inventors in the latest @austbookreview.bsky.social www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/c...

Lesley Head reviews ‘The First Inventors: How people shaped a continent’ by Billy Griffiths, Larissa Behrendt, and Sean Ulm

Deep time Australia could be a noisy place. The sounds of desert grinding grounds, where groups of women processed seed for flour, drifted on the wind and called to the Ngintaka Man. According to this...

australianbookreview.com.au

A great piece in @theconvo-bot.bsky.social from my very talented colleague Liz Tynan @jcuofficial.bsky.social ahead of the release of her new book Nuclear Archipelago: Secrets, power and the biggest atomic blast in Australia. theconversation.com/the-biggest-...

The biggest atomic blast in Australia happened 70 years ago – mysteries about its impact linger

The bomb tested on WA’s Montebello Islands was at least four times as big as the Hiroshima blast. Yet key facts about this test remain shrouded in secrecy.

theconversation.com

Thanks to Ian McShane and @insidestory.bsky.social for a lovely review of our new book The First Inventors: How People Shaped a Continent! inside.org.au/shaping-a-co... @ciehf.bsky.social @jcuofficial.bsky.social

Shaping a continent • Inside Story

A 65,000-year account of Indigenous knowledge brings science and history into dialogue

inside.org.au

Warning: The content of this study is confronting and may be distressing. British ‘First Fleet’ brought smallpox to Australia—and may have killed millions Two papers pin the deadly disease’s introduction on British colonists and suggest the continent held far more people than previously believed

British ‘First Fleet’ brought smallpox to Australia—and may have killed millions

Two papers pin the deadly disease’s introduction on British colonists and suggest the continent held far more people than previously believed

science.org

Groundbreaking new modelling has revealed that up to 220,000 Indigenous Australians may have died in a devastating smallpox epidemic that began in Sydney in 1789, shortly after the arrival of the First Fleet. Read the full story here 📰👉https://bit.ly/4fspFOH

Warning: The content of this study is confronting and may be distressing. Sydney’s 1789 smallpox epidemic came from the First Fleet and killed up to 220,000 Indigenous Australians theconversation.com/sydneys-1789... @theconvo-bot.bsky.social @ciehf.bsky.social

Sydney’s 1789 smallpox epidemic came from the First Fleet and killed up to 220,000 Indigenous Australians: new research

New mathematical modelling shows the first smallpox epidemic among Aboriginal people in the Sydney region may have spread thousands of kilometres and lasted decades.

theconversation.com

Warning: the content of this study is confronting and possibly distressing Stochastic models indicate rapid smallpox spread and mass mortality of Indigenous Australians after colonial exposure www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Stochastic models indicate rapid smallpox spread and mass mortality of Indigenous Australians after colonial exposure - Nature Human Behaviour

Nitschke and colleagues use historical data and epidemiological modelling to examine evidence for the 1789 smallpox epidemic in Australia. Their results indicate a likely southeastern origin, high mor...

nature.com

Bronwyn Carlson reflects on half a century of NAIDOC Week. "NAIDOC is an invitation to engage with the history that gave rise to the week, to listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices, and to reflect on the work that still needs to be done." theconversation.com/half-a-centu...

Half a century on, NAIDOC Week is still both a party and a protest

The annual event is an opportunity to honour one of the world’s oldest continuing cultures, but its origins are in Australia’s first civil rights movements.

theconversation.com

Dear Melbourne- and Victorian-based friends and colleagues, We invite you to join us for a special evening discussing our new book The First Inventors: How People Shaped a Continent. Register here: www.rmit.edu.au/events/2026/...

So proud of all we have achieved together over the past 2 years! Looking forward to our community continuing to grow and supporting strong futures for Country!

ARC COE for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures@ciehf.bsky.social · last mo.

Celebrating two whole years of CIEHF today! That's 2 years of travelling... 2 years of listening... 2 year of discovery... 2 years of journeying together... and a whole lot more still to come. Thank you to everyone who has shared this journey with us so far.

Last night marked the formal launch of our new book The First Inventors: How People Shaped a Continent, published by Allen & Unwin. The book is dedicated to Country and family. Find a copy in all good bookstores now!

129,000 years of crocodiles: What we know about Australasia’s ancient apex predators theconversation.com/129-000-year... @ciehf.bsky.social @austarchaeology.bsky.social

129,000 years of crocodiles: what we know about Australasia’s ancient apex predators

A host of unique crocodylian species ruled the roost in Australia and surrounds for millions of years – until humans came along.

theconversation.com

Wonderful to work on this study of crocodylian diversity and extinction in the Australasian region! Congratulations @jorgoristevski.bsky.social for leading this work!

Jorgo Ristevski@jorgoristevski.bsky.social · 3mo ago

New paper alert! Our study published at @zoojlinnsoc.bsky.social, reviews the late Quaternary crocodylian record from Australasia. This study was conducted during my postdoctoral position at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology with @nicoleboivin.bsky.social. academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

Thrilled to finally have author copies of our new book The First Inventors: How People Shaped a Continent in hand! You can secure your copy now with a great pre-order discount on Amazon: www.amazon.com.au/dp/1761471732/ Can’t wait to share this with you all! @ciehf.bsky.social

Our new paper explores the opportunities of using isoscapes for multiple isotope systems to address contemporary challenges in repatriation, provenancing, dietary reconstructions and migration studies in Australia. doi.org/10.1016/j.ja... @ciehf.bsky.social @austarchaeology.bsky.social

Citing Indigenous Knowledges (correctly & respectfully) in scientific research conservationbytes.com/2026/04/30/c...

Citing Indigenous Knowledges (correctly & respectfully) in scientific research

Have you ever done any research that relied to any degree on Indigenous Knowledges? How did you cite those Knowledges, if at all? It’s probably time we rethink how we engage with Indigenous K…

conservationbytes.com

Crediting and citing #Indigenous Knowledges within research doi.org/10.1093/bios... #IndigenousInSTEM #IndigenousSTEM #NativeInSTEM #IndigiData #SACNAS #NDiSTEM #SACNISTA

Very happy to celebrate the publication of this important paper on crediting and citing Indigenous knowledges within the research. A special thanks to @christine-barry.bsky.social, Uncle Bob Muir and @conservbytes.bsky.social for leading this initiative.

Crediting and citing Indigenous Knowledges within research

Abstract. Knowledge exchanges between Indigenous and scientific communities occur regularly, with researchers frequently seeking and benefiting from Indige

academic.oup.com

Our new book is now available for pre-order on Amazon with a nice discount! www.amazon.com.au/dp/1761471732/

@jcuofficial.bsky.social's Sana Nakata on how the Voice would have renewed Australian democracy and how its failure leaves us all worse off theconversation.com/the-voice-wo...

The Voice would have renewed Australian democracy. Its failure leaves us all worse off

Democracies thrive on adapting and changing to new injustices and problems. The failure of the Voice referendum raises questions about Australia’s democratic health.

theconversation.com

Another step closer to publication of our new book with the release of the cover on the Allen & Unwin website. The First Inventors: How people shaped a continent Billy Griffiths, Larissa Behrendt & Sean Ulm www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/...

It's so exciting to see our new book beginning to be publicised! Thanks to our publisher @allenandunwin.bsky.social nwin.bsky.social for their professionalism and support!

Check-out our new publication led by Mike Kneppers synthesising people-mollusc engagement across the Coral Sea Cultural Interaction Sphere, Southwestern Pacific Ocean doi.org/10.1016/j.qu...

HMS Pandora is Australia’s most scientifically excavated shipwreck – yet it still holds secrets theconversation.com/hms-pandora-...

HMS Pandora is Australia’s most scientifically excavated shipwreck – yet it still holds secrets

The British Navy’s HMS Pandora struck the Great Barrier Reef around 1791 and sank, taking 35 men with it.

theconversation.com

Here are 10 Australian First Nations books from the past 25 years (in no particular order) @littleredwrites.bsky.social nominates for the books of the century. So many beautiful and poignant books on this list! theconversation.com/the-abcs-top...

The ABC’s Top 100 books poll lacks diversity. Here are my 10 First Nations ‘books of the 21st century’

Just three Aboriginal writers appeared in Radio National’s poll. There was little sense of the breadth and creativity of our First Nations writing scene.

theconversation.com

Wonderful new work by @carolinedigs.bsky.social and Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country on non-returning wangim (boomerangs) theconversation.com/how-forensic... And read the full article #openaccess in @austarchj.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1080/0312...

How forensic analysis and traditional knowledge reveal the story of a unique boomerang

Grip marks, blood and fire damage hint at the fascinating history of a non-returning boomerang.

theconversation.com

ABC Deep Time Australia Launched Today Congratulations to everyone involved in working with the ABC News Story Lab to bring this project to fruition! @ciehf.bsky.social is proud to have closely collaborated on this project. www.abc.net.au/news/deeptime/

Explore an epic story 65,000 years in the making

Dive into Deep Time, an immersive story of the knowledge, art and ingenuity of Australia’s First Nations peoples — told like never before.

abc.net.au

Stone artefacts on submerged land surfaces: A response to Larcombe et al. Our team’s latest piece. Correcting the record. Again. Rigorous field validation reaffirms the preservation and integrity of Murujuga’s underwater cultural heritage. authors.elsevier.com/c/1lxes,3sl4...

Our team has a new research paper out revisiting what we really know about Mary Watson's Cottage on Jiigurru (Lizard Island Group). Hint: The stone building is not Mary Watson's Cottage! doi.org/10.25120/qar...

Check-out The Land Bridge podcast series exploring the deep cultural history of the Bassian Plain! Each episode features a minimally edited, long interview with an expert or a team, who help us explore the deep cultural landscape which is now submerged under Bass Strait. thelandbridge.au/podcasts/

The Land Bridge podcast

Listen to The Land Bridge podcast. Long-form interviews exploring the ice-age Bassian Plain beneath today’s Bass Strait with researchers and custodians.

thelandbridge.au