The Myths
The way our people innovated and developed tools and technologies was born out of both necessity and sustainability. I would argue that this is the only way true innovation can be achieved and the proof is that we as Indigenous people are alive and still practicing our cultures, some that date back over 100,000 years.

As western societies begin to understand and recognise the value Indigenous people have to science and sustaining the earth, the myths and negative stereotypes of Indigenous peoples start to fade away. Australia now needs to recognise and accept that Indigenous Australians were first to it all. They are, and always will be the first scientists, first astronomers and yes, even the first chefs.

If we as Indigenous people were to place value on our science and knowledge systems like western science, then the value of Indigenous culture would be inconceivable. There is so much you can learn from Indigenous people. And there’s no time like the present.

Despite popular beliefs, the art of cookery didn’t start in China or Greece. In fact Indigenous Australians are the oldest chef’s in the world, and their unique love for cooking dates back thousands of years. Did you know the cooking techniques like underground oven pre-dates that of the Asian and French cooking techniques by more than 14,000 years. Furthermore, the Mortar and Pestle was one of the earliest inventions Aboriginal Australians used to make bread.
Indigenous author, Bruce Pascoe, claims Aboriginal people were more than just ‘hunters’ and‘gatherers,’ as commonly portrayed after European colonisation in his book 'Dark Emu, Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident' and I would 100% agree.

Pascoe says Indigenous Australians were the first people to achieve many things and that even included baking.

Bush foods were such a vital part of Aboriginal culture, that many traditional dances were created to ensure the next generation could understand and continue to teach the importance of particular native foods. The way we as Kuku-Yalanji people cultivate food is out of respect and responsibility for the next generation. The seasons mark the ceremonies and the ceremonies mark the time for cultivating the land. We have five seasonal categories, known by the typical weather patterns of that period.

1. Kambar: proper wet season Late December to March
2. Kabakababa: winter rain season April to May
3. Buluriji: cold season June to September
4. Wungariji: hot season October to November
5. Jarramali: stormy season Late November to the middle of December

A Kuku-Yalanji ceremony called Mayi-Wunba depicts the process of how to cultivate native honey and how it is a vital part to the rich ecosystem in the area. The dance tells us how to find the right trees for honey, the process to gather honey and what animals are attracted to honey. The fact that this song has been around for thousands of years is sharing the value our people placed on Wunba, and also how they understood the important role Wunba had in sustaining the environment.

The western world has slowly come to recognise honey as something more important than a sweetener. Whether or not bees were created for human enjoyment -without them and without honey, we’d live in a world where plants could not grow and fruit could not ripen.

Did you know that 80% of the food we consume relies on pollination? Don’t you think that is something to celebrate and knowledge that should be passed on?

Imagine if Australian’s fully embraced the Indigenous culture and allowed themselves to see the world through the eyes of an Indigenous person. Imagine the positive impact this would have on the health and well-being of our people. What if we were to eat from the bush again and our ceremonies and customs were celebrated by all. I think the only way we will see a shift in the current discourse, in how western society treats our Bubu (land) is if they reconnect to their own Celtic, Sami or Occitan cultures, and see from their own eyes, how important their Bubu is to their ancestors, and how the ceremonies pass on knowledge.

Ancient Cookery
Even with modern technology, we are only just beginning to interpret different types of tools and what they were used for, where the material to make them is sourced from, or even what they can teach us about cultural and ecological landscapes of the past.

The everyday life of our people was far more complex and intricate than many people have imagined. Diverse groups of people invented tools and technologies that wouldn’t be comprehended nowadays. For instance, Indigenous knowledge of how gravitational waves impacted our environments.

My people are believed to have inhabited the rainforest for more than 9000 years. Anthropological research shows there may have been three or five groups within the tribe, with the groups inhabiting rainforest areas, rivers, coastal frontages, and mountain peaks.

The Kuku-Yalanji culture is very distinct and uniquely adapted to the Daintree Rainforest environment. The natural world around the people was understood to be linked closely to them - for example if an unseasonable weather pattern emerged this could be seen as a consequence for a human action. The rainforest was often described in ‘human terms.’ Changes to the environment were interpreted as changes occurring to themselves. The rainforest was the source of all food, shelter, resources and other social structures.

Here is a 360 video of traditional methods of making spears which would be used to cultivate mainly seafood and small animals in the region.

If you were asked who the world’s first bakers were, what would your answer be? Most would think ancient Egypt was where bread was first baked around 17,000 BCE. Yet there is evidence to show that grindstones in Australia were used to turn seeds to flour 30,000 years ago. Archaeologists found the evidence for this at Cuddie Springs in New South Wales. Here it was found in the shape of an ancient grinding stone which had been used to reduce grass seeds to flour. These were the bakers of antiquity. It took Egypt 12,000 years to repeat this baking experiment, so my question is why don’t Australians recognise this amazing discovery?