July 26, 2019

Earlier this month in July, Budj Bim, an inactive volcano and cultural site in southeastern Australia, was named a World Heritage Site. Such sites are places of unique cultural or natural importance as designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Budj Bim, once known as Mount Eccles, is the first World Heritage Site listed exclusively for its value to Aboriginal culture. Aboriginal people maintained systems of aquaculture (the raising of water animals and plants) in the crater lakes of Budj Bim for thousands of years.

Lake Surprise fills one of the volcano craters at Budj Bim National Park in southeastern Australia. Credit: Peter (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

Budj Bim means High Head in the language of the Gunditjmara people (also called the Dhauwurd Wurrung) of southwestern Victoria state. Budj Bim sits about 170 miles (270 kilometers) west of Melbourne. It is part of the 20,700-acre (8,370-hectare) Budj Bim National Park (formerly Mount Eccles National Park).

Gunditjmara tradition holds that Budj Bim is part of the body of an ancient creator being, who was revealed to Aboriginal people in an eruption around 30,000 years ago. The last known eruption of Budj Bim occurred about 8,000 years ago. Starting at least 6,600 years ago, the Gunditjmara people began creating a system of channels and dams to trap eels and other fish among the rock formations of Budj Bim. The result was an aquaculture system that provided plentiful food, and permanent Aboriginal settlements were established at nearby Lake Condah and Lake Gorrie. European settlers arrived in the area in the 1830’s.

Budj Bim—named Mount Eccles by European settlers—became a protected area in 1926 and a national park in 1960. Mount Eccles National Park was renamed Budj Bim National Park in 2017. The area is popular for camping, hiking, and picnicking.

February 11, 2019

Last week, monsoon rains dumped record amounts of water in northern  Queensland, Australia, flooding roads, swelling rivers above their banks, and causing landslides. The coastal city of Townsville received more than 3.3 feet (1.0 meters) of rain, raising the level of water held by the Ross River dam to dangerous levels far above its capacity. On February 3, city officials opened the dam’s gates, intentionally flooding several neighborhoods to ease pressure on the dam and keep it from collapsing. Crocodiles, snakes, and other wildlife followed the waters into the flooded streets, appearing in places they are not typically found. Boats and other vehicles capable of navigating high waters rescued many people and pets trapped by the flooding. Two people are known to have died in the flooding.

Floodwaters inundate the Townsville, Australia, suburb of Idalia on Feb. 4, 2019. Credit: © Ian Hitchcock, Getty Images

Some Queensland farmers welcomed the rainfall. Drought conditions have been widespread in recent months across Australia (where summer is from December to February), and the farmers hoped the rain would help their crops. The monsoon flooding came at the tail end of the hottest month ever recorded by Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology. On February 1, the agency reported that the average January temperature across the continent exceeded 86 ºF (30 ºC). The Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, the Northern Territory, and Victoria all set new high temperature records for the month of January. Some parts of western Queensland and New South Wales had weeks of temperatures above 104 ºF (40 ºC). Numerous farm and wild animals died in the extreme heat, as did many fish in overheated lakes and rivers.

Despite the monsoon rains in Queensland, much of Australia remains in a drought. Scientists believe that such extreme weather events will become more frequent in coming years as a result of global climate change.

July 3, 2018

On July 1, Australia’s space industry blasted off into uncharted territory with the establishment of the Australian Space Agency. The agency aims to coordinate and develop Australia’s space industry to make it competitive on the global stage. In the near future, the Australian Space Agency will work with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States, the European Space Agency (ESA), and other world space programs.

The Australian Space Agency will soon be funding its own continental “selfies.” Credit: © Harvepino/Shutterstock

In a May press release, Malcolm Davis of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute clarified that the Australian Space Agency will not be a “NASA Down Under.” Rather than building and launching space hardware and running space missions, the agency will aim to boost private investment in the space sector by helping drive funding, research, and policy initiatives.

Initially, the agency will be headquartered in Canberra, the capital, and will share space with the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. Australia’s states and territories are bidding to build a permanent headquarters for the agency. Geologist Megan Clark, who formerly served as chief executive of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, will serve as the agency’s first leader.

May 31, 2018

On Sunday, May 27, 37-year-old Will Power became the first Australian race car driver to win the Indianapolis 500, the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Power, a Queensland-born IndyCar veteran, took the checkered flag at the end of a crash-filled race that saw pole-sitting United States driver Ed Carpenter finish three seconds behind in second place and New Zealander Scott Dixon finish third. (In 2008, Dixon was the first winner from New Zealand.) The Indianapolis 500 is the premier event of the Indy Racing League (IRL) and one of the world’s most famous and prestigious auto races.

Australia’s Will Power leads the pack in his number 12 Chevrolet race car during the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 27, 2018. Credit: © Patrick Smith, Getty Images

Power first raced at Indianapolis in 2008 and nearly won in 2015, when he finished just 1/10th of a second behind winner Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia. After winning on Sunday, Power pulled into Victory Lane and stood overjoyed in the cockpit of his Chevrolet race car. Looped in a wreath of flowers, Power drank and drenched himself with the traditional bottle of milk. After posing with the giant Borg-Warner Trophy that will soon bear his likeness, Power climbed down to reverently kiss the strip of bricks at the start/ finish line (a holdover from the track’s original surface). “I just can’t believe it,” he said. “I can’t describe it. I feel like collapsing. … I couldn’t stop screaming [in the race's final lap].” Power had good qualifying runs and began his 11th race at Indianapolis in the third position.

The Indianapolis 500 (often shortened to Indy 500) takes place on the 2^½-mile (4.02-kilometer) oval track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. There are 33 starting positions. Drivers with the highest average speeds in four qualifying laps earn the chance to race. The first driver to complete 200 laps around the track—a distance of 500 miles (805 kilometers)—wins the race.

Danica Patrick, racing in her eighth and final Indy 500 (her first since 2011), finished a disappointing 30th after crashing in the race’s 67th lap. Patrick’s best finish at Indianapolis was a third-place run in 2009. Crashes also forced three-time winner Hélio Castroneves, 2013 winner Tony Kanaan, and last year’s champion, Takuma Sato, from Sunday’s race. Overall, eight drivers left the race after crashes or significant contact, but there were no serious injuries. Some drivers felt that new aerodynamic car designs and the race-record heat—92°F (33°C)—combined to make cars harder to control.

February 9, 2018

Next week, on February 14, Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers and catchers report to spring training camps in Arizona and Florida to begin the professional baseball season in the United States and Canada. South of the U.S. border, however, professional baseball’s premier winter event, the Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe in Spanish), just wrapped up in Mexico. And this weekend, much further south in Australia, the Australian Baseball League (ABL) will end its season with the annual ABL Championship Series.

The Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) is an annual tournament between the professional baseball league champions of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. Credit: © Serie del Caribe

Last night, on February 8, at the Estadio de Béisbol Charros de Jalisco outside Guadalajara, Mexico, Puerto Rico’s Criollos de Caguas defeated the Águilas Cibaeñas of the Dominican Republic 9-4 for a second-straight Caribbean Series title. The annual tournament is a fierce competition between the top pro baseball teams of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. A product of the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation, the series was first played in 1949. Cuba’s Alazanes de Granma, Mexico’s Tomateros de Culiacán, and Venezuela’s Caribes de Anzoátegui—all champions of their national professional leagues—also participated in the 2018 Caribbean Series.

The location of the Caribbean Series is rotated annually among the participating nations and is played after the end of each country’s national tournament. In 2018, the series was supposed to be played in Venezuela. Political and social unrest prevented that from happening, however, and the tournament returned to Mexico for a second-straight year. For now, the 2019 Caribbean Series is scheduled to take place in the Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto, about 217 miles (350 kilometers) from Caracas, Venezuela’s capital.

Brisbane Bandits center fielder Tommy Milone slides safely into second base during game two of the 2017 Australian Baseball League Championship Series in Melbourne, Australia. Credit: © SMP Images

Tonight (February 9), tomorrow, and Sunday (if necessary) in Australia, the Brisbane Bandits and Canberra Cavalry will duke it out in the best-of-three 2018 ABL Championship Series, Australia’s version of the MLB World Series. Brisbane is looking for its third-straight Claxton Shield as ABL champions. Canberra last won an ABL title in 2013. Six professional baseball teams compete in the ABL, playing 40 games over a season that runs from November through January during the Australian summer. In addition to the Brisbane and Canberra ball clubs, the league includes the Adelaide Bite, Melbourne Aces, Perth Heat, and Sydney Blue Sox.

February 1, 2018

Bird watchers in Australia were recently surprised as several species of predatory birds appeared to be spreading bushfires as a novel hunting technique. For many years, wildlife biologists have documented raptors that fly around the edges of wildfires, practicing what the scientists call “fire-foraging.” The birds pounce on small mammals and reptiles flushed from the bush by advancing flames. A new report in the Journal of Ethnobiology, however, details how birds also seem to be intentionally spreading wildfires to new, unburned areas of grassland to increase their hunting chances. The report suggests that birds, like humans, have learned to use fire both as a tool and as a weapon.

Bushfire smoke darkens Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. A recent scientific report has backed up Australia’s age-old stories of “firehawks” that spread bushfires to catch prey. Credit: © AP Photo

Bushfires are wildfires common throughout Australia due in part to the country’s hot and dry climate. Many wildfires start in the remote countryside known to Australians as the bush. Bushfires can be extremely destructive, especially if they reach urban areas. The fires damage forests and farmland and can kill animals and people and destroy property. In recent years, as global warming has helped make drought conditions worse in Australia, bushfires have been an increasing threat.

Bird watchers have long reported witnessing black kites (Milvus migrans), whistling kites (Haliastur sphenurus), and brown falcons (Falco berigora) hunting prey on the edges of wildfires. Recently, however, birds were seen picking up smoldering twigs with their beaks or talons. The birds then carried the twigs to other areas of dry bush up to a half mile (1 kilometer) away, where they dropped the sticks like lit matches, igniting a new blaze. The birds then began feasting on the animals trying to escape the new flames.

Australian “firehawks” could potentially spread bushfire damage (seen at left) to areas the fire might not naturally reach (at right). Credit: © Julian Smith, EPA/Landov

In the past, Aboriginal people in Australia also used fire to flush animals from the bush. They also say that so-called “firehawks” have been doing the same for thousands of years. The birds’ behavior is not new, then, but has been long known to local people of the Northern Territory, Western Australia, and Queensland. Firehawks are even mentioned in stories of the Dreamtime, an ancient time when the first beings existed.

Despite the dangers posed by bushfires, forest rangers in Australia regularly light controlled fires for the benefit of the environment. Small occasional fires can rid an area of underbrush. If an area goes unburned for a long time, the accumulated underbrush can fuel a much larger and more dangerous fire. However, rangers must now take into account the risks posed by raptors that may spread controlled burns into new areas where the fires could grow out of control.

January 12, 2018

Australia’s debate over same-sex marriage was decided in 2017 after more than half the country supported changing the law to allow gay couples to marry. The law change went into effect last December, and the first same-sex weddings took place in Australia soon after. The changed law also recognizes same-sex weddings performed in other countries.

Same-sex marriage was recently legalized in Australia. Credit: © Fotos593/Shutterstock

In 2004, the government of Prime Minister John Howard banned same-sex marriage in Australia when it changed the country’s laws to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. As countries around the world increasingly approved of same-sex marriage, the debate over the issue persisted in Australia.

Malcolm Turnbull, who took office as Australia’s prime minister in 2015, supported same-sex marriage despite many members of his ruling Liberal-National Coalition opposing the idea. When he took office, Turnbull supported holding a plebiscite (public vote) on the issue, but the idea was rejected by opposition parties. Opponents of the plebiscite preferred to decide the issue in Parliament, fearing a costly campaign that would inspire hateful rhetoric.

In August 2017, Turnbull announced a nonbinding postal referendum that asked Australians to respond yes or no to the question, “Should the marriage law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?” Ballots were sent to voters in September. More than 12.7 million Australians responded to the survey. The results, which were announced in November, showed that 61.6 percent of Australians favored changing the law to allow same-sex marriage.

After a debate in Parliament, Australia’s political parties agreed on a bill that addressed conservative politicians’ fears that allowing gay people to marry would impinge on other people’s religious freedom. The bill created four categories of celebrant (a person who officiates a wedding ceremony), two of which allow people to refuse to perform weddings on the basis of their religious beliefs. Governor General Peter Cosgrove signed the bill into law on Dec. 8, 2017, and it went into effect the following day.

Australian law requires couples intending to marry to give their chosen celebrant one month’s prior notice. This stipulation is intended as a kind of “cooling-off period” to ensure that the couple really want to get married. It also gives the celebrant time to file the requisite paperwork. This meant that, effectively, the first Australian same-sex marriages would take place on Jan. 9, 2018.

However, Australian law allows couples in certain circumstances to skip the waiting period. For example, several couples were granted waivers because one of the partners was terminally ill. Australia’s first legal same-sex weddings took place in mid-December 2017. The first same-sex marriages without a waiver took place a few days ago as expected.

January 5, 2018

Late last year, the oldest known human skeleton from Australia, known as Mungo Man, came home. The remains of Mungo Man, who lived more than 40,000 years ago, were transported in a special hearse that had been ritually cleansed with eucalyptus smoke back to his ancestral homeland in the Willandra region of New South Wales. Local representatives of the Mutthi Mutthi​, Paakantyi​, and Ngiyampaa​ peoples—the traditional owners of the Willandra region—were present to receive the casket, fashioned from 8,000-year-old wood, that held the remains. Mungo Man was later reburied in a private ceremony at an undisclosed location. The ceremony marked the end of a long campaign by indigenous Australians to return Mungo Man to his ancestral resting place.

Mungo Man was found in the deserts of what is now Mungo National Park in New South Wales, Australia. Credit: © Cornfield/Shutterstock

Since his discovery by archaeologists near the edge of Lake Mungo, one of a series of ancient lakes that dried up about 20,000 years ago in Willandra, Mungo Man had a pivotal role in the understanding of the human colonization of Australia. Mungo Man was discovered in 1974. He was the best-preserved of three human burials found at the site that archaeologists began investigating in the late 1960’s. Archaeologists determined from the near-complete skeleton that Mungo Man was about 50 years old when he died. His body had been carefully placed in a shallow grave in a complex funeral ritual. His hands were found interlocked over his torso and his face had been sprinkled with a dusting of a bright mineral called red ochre.

The ancient remains of Mungo Man. Credit: © University of Melbourne

Radiocarbon dating showed that Mungo man was buried about 42,000 years ago, making him the oldest human skeleton known from Australia. Archaeologists discovered stone tools and other artifacts near the burial site that were determined to be nearly 50,000 years old. This puts a firm minimum date for the earliest human arrivals in Australia. Scientists think that humans probably reached northern Australia from Asia even earlier than Mungo Man, but it took time, perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years, to migrate farther into the interior region of Lake Mungo.

Aboriginal people of the Willandra region were profoundly unhappy that their ancestor’s remains had been dug up and stored at the Australian National University in Canberra for study. For years, Aboriginal representatives have vied for the repatriation (return) of all ancestral remains and sacred objects. Their efforts have been helped by the Return of Indigenous Cultural Property Program of the Australia Department of Families, Housing, Community Services, and Indigenous Affairs. In 2015, the Australian National University relinquished the remains and apologized for their original excavation. The remains were kept in Canberra as repatriation plans were prepared. In November 2017, Mungo Man was repatriated along with the remains of more than 100 other ancient Aboriginal people recovered from archaeological and other investigations from the region. Aboriginal elders expressed a somber comfort knowing that their ancestor was home at last. As one elder said, “His spirit will be relieved.”

January 3, 2018

Last month, the wreckage of HMAS AE1, a Royal Australian Navy submarine lost early in World War I (1914-1918), was found north of Australia off the coast of Papua New Guinea. HMAS stands for His or Her Majesty’s Australian Ship. AE1 and its sister ship, AE2, were the first submarines to serve in Australia’s navy. AE1 disappeared in September 1914, and a dozen searches since had turned up nothing of the submarine or its 35 crew members. At last, in December 2017, the research vessel Fugru Equator tracked down AE1 deep beneath Saint George’s Channel off the New Britain island port of Rabaul.

Crew members walk the deck of the surfaced HMAS AE1 during a mail delivery on Sept. 9, 1914. The submarine disappeared with all hands five days later. Credit: Australian War Memorial

AE1 and AE2 were built in the United Kingdom and entered service in the fledgling Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in the spring of 1914. As a dominion of the British Empire, Australia went to war when the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on August 4. The RAN was immediately tasked with securing German-controlled ports in the south Pacific Ocean. AE1 and AE2 took part in a naval operation that forced the surrender of a German garrison at Rabaul on Sept. 13, 1914. AE1 disappeared the next day, September 14, while patrolling with other ships near the Duke of York Islands in Saint George’s Channel. The loss of AE1 was most likely due to mechanical failure.

The sinking of AE1 was the first major loss suffered by the RAN. It was also the first loss of an Allied submarine during World War I. AE2 went on to participate in the Gallipoli campaign on Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula (now also called Gelibolu Peninsula). On April 30, 1915, AE2 was damaged and forced to surface while engaging enemy ships in the Sea of Marmara. The submarine was scuttled, and the entire crew became prisoners of war. The wreckage of AE2 was found in 1998.

August 15, 2017

This week in Brisbane, a city in Australia’s northeastern state of Queensland, many thousands of people are crowding into the Queensland Ekka, an event officially known as the Royal Queensland Show. The Ekka (Queensland slang for exhibition) is a carnival-like atmosphere of food, drink, concerts, games, pageants, rides, shopping, and animal and other competitions. The Royal Queensland Show began mainly as an agricultural exhibition in 1876, and it has evolved and grown ever since. Queensland’s largest annual event, the one-of-a-kind Ekka runs this year from August 10 to August 20.

The sun sets over Sideshow Alley at the Royal Queensland Show, an event also known as the Ekka, in Brisbane, Australia. Credit: Cozzie 1996 (licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)

The first Ekka, known then as the Intercolonial Exhibition, was held in August 1876. The exhibition promoted the development of Queensland, a colony then just 17 years old. The event brought together the fast-growing and often-disparate urban and rural populations of Queensland, helping to create a sense of community. Held at Bowen Park (adjacent to the Ekka’s current home at Brisbane Showgrounds), the first exhibition’s attendance nearly equaled the entire population of Brisbane (about 22,000 at the time). The Ekka then grew in size and popularity to the extent that, in 1921, King George V of the United Kingdom allowed the addition of Royal to the exhibition’s name. The Ekka has been held every year since 1876 except in 1919, when it was canceled because of the Spanish flu epidemic, and in 1942, when the showgrounds were packed with troops during World War II.

Queenslanders parade their livestock during the Grand Parade in the main arena of Brisbane’s Ekka in 1948. Credit: State Library of Queensland

Today, the Ekka attracts about 500,000 visitors every August. Ekka is famous for its unusual mix of attractions, including a champion rooster show, a whip-cracking competition, and self-proclaimed “glamorous fashion parades.” Queenslanders have been entering the Ekka gates for generations now, and kids today still get their dagwood dogs (corn dogs) and showbags (themed gift bags), just as their grandparents did. Entertainment has modernized, of course, since the 1876 manure competition, as have the contents (and prices and varieties) of showbags. That first year, the lone showbag was a free sack of coal—reason enough for Queenslanders to attend.