The Astronomy of the Australian Aborigines

In histories of astronomy, it is customary to contrast the advances of modern, that is post-Renaissance, science with the maze of astrology which preceded it. With the benefit of hindsight we can now see a continuing tradition from the earliest records of Babylonia through the Greek and Roman legends to the alchemical pursuits of the Middle Ages. This tradition, which relied on the initiation of a few into an essentially secret knowledge, was disrupted by the rapid rise and success of scientific method. With the advent of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Newton, recognizable modem astronomy begins and the earlier beliefs are relegated to the realm of myth and fantasy, mere isolated stories divorced from the culture of which they were part. It is impossible for us to know what our hunter-gatherer European ancestors thought when they looked up at the northern stars some 15,000 years ago for we cannot any longer recapture their world view.