Why did the first people of this land happily remain as they were for thousands of years?

September 27, 2016

People often ask why is it that food production, pottery, metallurgy, architecture or towns did not develop in prehistoric Australia?

One reason was its isolation, but another more telling factor was that there was no need to change; Australia experienced far less drastic environmental change than the northern hemisphere, where vast ice sheets made much of northern America and Eurasia almost uninhabitable and only those who adapted by developing new items such as clothing could survive. Unlike humans trapped in ice age France and Spain, nomadic Australians could adapt to climate change by moving elsewhere in their vast island continent. Whereas most other populations became food-producers of necessity, Australians were able to continue opportunistic hunter-gathering to the present day. Their fundamental adaptation to this driest continent had been made over 50,000 years ago by ancestors who developed a way of life ideally suited to Australia’s harsh, unpredictable climate.

 

Taken from the book “The original Australians” by Josephine Flood

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