Introduction
Modern day Indigenous Australia is comprised of two distinct cultures:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. Each culture is comprised of
hundreds of distinct Nations or Tribes that in practice should be
considered as discrete entities with their own laws, lore and
relationships with non-Indigenous Australia. Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples (hereafter respectfully referred to as
Indigenous peoples) have been connected with ancestral lands, seas and
waterways since time immemorial according to oral traditions, to the
point where the term “Country” defines the place, the biota and
microbiota, as well as peoples’ culture, language, spirituality,
identity, familial and social bonds, and stories. As a western echo to
Traditional Knowledge, archaeological evidence suggests Australia has
been occupied by humans for at least fifty millennia (Clarkson et al.,
2017; Dortch & Malaspinas, 2017; O’Connor, Louys, Kealy, & Samper
Carro, 2017). The continuing transgenerational and strong cultural
relationship with Country links the ecological health of the Australian
landscape with human occupation from at least midway through the late
Pleistocene, and continues to evolve with the introduction of non-native
biota (Fletcher, Hall, & Alexandra, 2021; Trauernicht, Murphy,
Tangalin, & Bowman, 2013; Turner & McDonald, 2010, pp. 117, 176-188).
Ancient DNA studies reach into these time periods and can be used to
enlighten local and regional ecological history (Alter, Newsome, &
Palumbi, 2012; Hofman, Rick, Fleischer, & Maldonado, 2015).