Ethnology appears to throw more light upon the subject than does geology. Australia has in the past been peopled by two distinct types of man. (1), the ancestors of the Tasmanians, now alas, extinct, who according to some authorities came by way of Australia from Papua through the Malay Peninsula, passing over to Tasmania from the mainland before the separation caused by the subsidence of the Bass Strait area; and who were represented by a negroid or woolly-haired type: (2), the present aboriginals of Australia, showing affinities with the Dravidians of Southern India, a primitive race from whose original stock the white Caucasian races of Europe were derived. By intermarriage with a negroid race like the Melanesian, it is supposed that the black Caucasian gave rise to the present Australian mixed aboriginal type, with negroid features, but possessing the long black hair and keener intellect of the “melanochroi,” as the dark Eurasian stock was termed by Huxley.
Aboriginal Implements.—
The stone implements fashioned by the Tasmanian aboriginals were roughly chipped and of primitive type, of such forms as used at the present day by the Bushmen of South Africa, and representing the eoliths and palaeoliths of early man in the south of England. The implements of the Australian aboriginals on the other hand include besides these both flakes and worked and polished tools, such as were produced by the Neolithic men of Europe, as contrasted with the typically rough palaeolithic tools of the Tasmanian, who never grooved his axes for hafting as did the Australian aboriginal. According to some authorities the Tasmanians represent palaeolithic or even eolithic man in the character of their implements; whilst the Australian resembles the Middle or Mousterian stage of early man in certain of their ethnological characters and in the forms of their implements, although a marked exception is seen in their manufacture of polished adzes, of the neolithic period and in the use of bone implements such as were used in Europe in Upper Palaeolithic times. So far no human remains or handiwork in the form of chipped implements have been found in other than superficial deposits, either in Tasmania or Australia. The incised bone-fragment found near Ballarat, in a bed of silt beneath a sheet of basalt which flowed from Mount Buninyong, is believed by some to be evidence of man’s handiwork in the early Pleistocene, though by others thought to have been cut by the teeth of the “marsupial lion” (Thylacoleo). A stone axe of basalt, grooved for the purpose of mounting in a handle, was found in gravel at Ballarat at a depth of 22 inches from the surface. This, however, is no proof of man’s antiquity, for superficial deposits of much greater depth are easily accumulated within a short period. Another implement was found at Maryborough in Queensland in gravels at a depth of 4 feet from the surface, but not below the basalt of the main lead. In this case it is believed that the implement may have fallen into a natural hollow or wombat-burrow. A bone pointer, such as used by native medicine men, was some years ago found buried in the Miocene marls of Waurn Ponds near Geelong. Its presence in so old a rock is easily explained from the fact that in the aboriginal ceremonies the pointer was buried after the incantations. Seeing the difficulties in the way of discovering reliable occurrences of man’s handiwork in isolated examples amongst the older superficial deposits of silt and gravels, the ancient sand-dunes of Victoria, which date back at least to Upper Pliocene, should afford favourable conditions for the preservation of any really ancient kitchen middens, did such exist. Moreover, these deposits would have been less liable to disturbance when once they were covered, than the inland deposits, for the former are now consolidated into a tolerably hard stone.
Antiquity of Man in Australia.—
A strong argument in favour of a considerable antiquity for man in Australia is the fact that the dialects are many, and marriage and tribal customs more complex and intricate than would be found in a comparatively recent primitive race. In any case, it is quite possible, if not probable, that man was in southern Australia before the termination of the last phase of volcanic activity, since the tuff beds of Koroit, for example, are quite modern and were laid down on a modern sea-beach strewn with shells identical in species and condition with those now found thrown up in the vicinity at high tide. This view is quite compatible with the occurrence of dingo remains (assuming this animal was introduced by man) in cave deposits in Australia, associated with extinct forms of marsupials.
COMMON OR CHARACTERISTIC FOSSILS OF THE FOREGOING CHAPTER.
FISHES.
Thyestes magnificus, Chapman. Silurian: Victoria.