Bringing the Aboriginal history of South Australia’s Riverland region to the fore has been a long-term collaborative project for Professor Amy Roberts, of Flinders University, and the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation.
Together they have explored the period of European invasion and frontier conflict, examined the ongoing effects of European settlement and pastoralism, discovered rare extended the known Aboriginal occupation of the region.
Their work has had significant support from the Australian Research Council and others.
One archaeological site that the research team recorded was a secluded rockshelter, a place which preserved traditional Aboriginal engravings overlaid with the historical inscriptions of European members of frontier conflict expeditions and later settlers.
The expedition inscriptions were part of a larger historical trajectory that culminated in the devastating Rufus River Massacre in 1841. However, much of the South Australian story of frontier conflict and violence on the Murray River had received less attention. A swastika, engraved in 1932, also attests to later settlement and racism.
“We need to tell these stories to protect our history and heritage so that our culture is respected and not lost,” says Fiona Giles, of the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation.
“For us, as traditional owners, this rockshelter is a highly significant and special place. It tells the stories of our ancestors and shows our deep connection to the river and reminds us of how our people lived before Europeans invaded our world.”
The team also surveyed vast swathes of the floodplain.
In conjunction with Traditional Owners, they recorded hundreds of archaeological sites including shell middens, stone tool scatters, hearths and oven mounds, canoe trees, rock art and more.
Along the way, they uncovered a number of extremely rare finds such as a 600-year-old serrated shell artefact and a sharp tool made from a tektite (a natural glass created during meteorite strikes).
The breadth of this research has revealed important findings about Aboriginal technological innovations.
