r/AskHistorians Oct 29 '24

What made trade or contact with Australia and its indigenous population so difficult initially?

I am a European and I don't know a whole lot about the history/geography of the South-East Asian sea but from my understanding the isles that are now occupied by Indonesia had many different maritime nations over the last two millennia that avidly traded with one another as well as trade with outside forces from China or India. Why though was there no/minimal contact for these people with the aboriginals of Australia? It seems like "simple" island hopping would allow easy access to Australia? It was only later on after the colonisation from Europe that trade happened there or am I Just missinformed?

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u/Halofreak1171 Oct 30 '24

u/TheWellSpokeMan has provided a great starting point, but I did want to delve deeper into Indigenous Australia pre-European contact for just a bit.

Now, when discussing the Indigenous Australians and their contact with the world beyond Australia's shores, it is important to note we are discussing a place and time where, unlike European sailing, not every interaction and event was recorded. Indigenous oral history does have incredible strength in both its accuracy over time and ability to tell events (I discuss that in this post), and their art is quite similar, however, it could not capture every single interaction that occurred. As such, the set of sources we can utilise to decipher who visited Australia and when is quite limited. That does not mean there isn't any.

Indigenous Australian migration

So first thing I want to discuss is the fact that, the Indigenous Australians aren't a monolithic peoples. While their arrival to the continent anywhere between 50,000-70,000 years ago was likely in one major wave, there is a second one, far less known but incredibly important, which is relevant to us. Around 4,000 years ago, Indigenous language, culture, and tools began to change, especially in the north. Why this happened isn't well understood, but it is believed a new wave of migration, stemming from a "ghost-like" source, had significant influence on Indigenous Australia as a whole. For instance, the Pama–Nyungan languages, the broad church most of the Indigenous language groups are believed to belong to (though there is some debate), likely orginated from this wave 4,000 years ago. Another, perhaps Australian Icon, the Dingo, also likely came to Australia around this time, though whether it was from this wave of migration or something else is unknown. All of this is to say that, even before the South-East Asians, there was likely contact with the 'outside' world. Whether this was continuous or not, and how often it occurred, are both difficult to say with any certainty, but it did exist.

Contact Prior to the Makassar

Now, you may still be wondering if there was any other contact with the Indigenous Australians pre-European contact. There are a few places you might think could have potential, such as China or the Pacific Islands. If we take a look at China, their contact with Australia has been theorized before, by Gavin Menzies. I'm not going to give Menzies and his books any real time, as his work is incredibly poor and unreliable and his conclusions highly problematic and false (the subreddit has a bunch of posts discussing the bad work of Menzies). But I did want to note him to at least show that China contacting Indigenous Australia is something that has been theorized, even if it theory is both incredibly poor and impossible.

The Pacific Islanders on the other hand, are an interesting source of possible contact. They are obviously a group well-known for their seafaring ability, and these days it seems more likely than not that they had contact with South America. As such, why couldn't they have reached Australia's shores? This has been theorised over the years, however, such a visit likely would have little in the way record its occurrence, especially if it was not regular. These theories then have stood for centuries without much credence, but recent work has begun to change this. Back in 2022, Michael Rowland and Raymond Kerkhove from the James Cook University wrote a paper titled 'Evidence of external contact between the Pacific Basin and the east coast of Australia during the Holocene: A review'. They discuss some archaeological and cultural finds which could point to contact being made, but, as this paper is essentially the 'first' of its kind, they're more focused on providing a detailed overview of whether the evidence could exist, and how it could be found. They conclude by stating that more and better research into archeological and oral history on Australia's eastern coast could likely reveal whether contact occurred, and if it did, how they contact went. In addition, they note the introduction of outrigger and dug-out canoes less than 4,000 years ago, once again suggesting that this time period was significant in regards to contact between Indigenous Australia and the 'wider' world.

These two theories, one far less real than the other, both point to a reality that Australia likely was not as isolated as you may think. The Indigenous Australians may have had contact with outside peoples, it is just hard due to both a lack of evidence, and a lack of research, to demonstrate when, where, and how this occurred. That is not the case for the next group.

Part 1/3

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u/Halofreak1171 Oct 30 '24

Part 2/3

Trade on the Northern Coasts

As already commented, Indigenous Australians and South East Asians have had a significant period of trade and contact prior to the arrival of Europeans. The most major of the South East Asian groups to contact and trade with the Indigenous Australians would be the Makassar people of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Makassar both ate and traded trepang, sea cucumber, and as such this caused them to sail throughout the Indonesian isles in search of the trepang. In doing so, they eventually arrived at Australia's coast, and began to fish and process the sea cucumber both on and off Australia's shores. When this first happened is of some debate, with consensus sitting around anytime from the mid-1600s to early 1700s, though more controversial dates as early as the 1500s have been suggested. Whatever the case, this contact runs right alongside the initial contact made with Europeans (more specifically, the Dutch).

The Makassar contact was, though, far more influential on Indigenous Australia at that time. We know that trade occurred quite frequently between the Makassar and Indigenous Australias in Northern Australia, with negotiations being held. It is also likely violence occurred between these two groups, as 'explorers' like Matthew Flinders were warned by the Makassar to beware the Indigenous Australians, though how often this violence occurred is unknown. This trade and conflict led to pidgin Makassan becoming a language spoken throughout the region, both during trade and negotiation, but also between different Indigenous groups. In addition, loan words from Makassan entered the Indigenous Languages up north, such as the words for sail and white person. Finally, and perhaps most controversially, academics such as Regina Ganter suggest that Islam, from the Makassar, was adopted, or rather molded, into the local Indigenous faiths. Once again, the certainty of such claims is difficult to ascertain, though more recent studies have suggested that the Yolngu people may have adopted Allah into a small part of their faith cosmology.

interestingWhether that is the case, what cannot be understated is the fact that the contact occurred, and was two-sided. In addition to all those examples I have just mentioned, a more recent find has demonstrated an incredible event. Back in 2023, black and white photographs from an Italian library were rediscovered, taken by Odoardo Beccari, which showed people in Makassar, Indonesia. Amongst these photos laid multiple which contained Indigenous Australians, young, old, men and women. These photos demonstrate the fact that, not only did the Indigenous Australians and Makassar contact and trade with each other, but, enough trade occurred that Indigenous Australians left with the Makassar and came to Indonesia to set up a small community. How large this community was, and its exact timeframe aren't exactly known, but what we do know is that they were there during the 1870s, and possibly as early as the 1820s, as a Dutch governor-general at the time described persons whose details fit incredibly well with Indigenous Australians. This community, is one which Beccari noted as a part of a vibrant, multi-cultral one; "In July and in September at the height of the influx, the harbour teems with boats of every type and size: Chinese, Malays, Indians, Bughis, Papuans, and Australians form a confused jumble of colourful turbans and multi-coloured clothes." The inclusion of Indigenous Australians in this mix demonstrates their lack of isolation, though to be fair this is post-European contact, and so as amazing and interesting as I find it, it is possibly cheating within the answer.

Nonetheless, the contact between the Indigenous Australians and Makassar must be kept in mind whenever Australia is thought of pre- and post- European contact.

The Torres Strait Islanders and Papua New Guinea

This part will be short, but I felt amiss not to add it. The Torres Strait Islanders, a separate, unique peoples to mainland Indigenous Australians who nonetheless tend to fall under a similar umbrella in Australia, live on the island chains between Cape York and Papua New Guinea. These island chains are easily navigable, and the closest are within visual distance of both Australia and New Guinea. As such, contact between the mainland Indigenous Australians, Torres Strait Islanders, and Papua New Guineans (or Melanesians) was likely commonplace, as intermixing and trade occurred throughout the region. This was possibly continuous, though once again, a lack of research hinders any answer with certainty. All of this is to say that Australia was once again not isolated throughout its pre-European history, and the Torres Strait Islanders, a unique and relatively unknown group of peoples outside of Australia, played a role in that lack of isolation.

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u/Halofreak1171 Oct 30 '24

Part 3/3

Conclusion

All up, I hope these multiple case demonstrate that Indigenous Australia was not as isolated as you may have been taught. Contact and trade throughout the centuries and millennia has occurred, though the common thread of a lack of evidence, most likely due to a lack of research, is a constant bugbear in answering with certainty for most of these cases. In the end, Indigenous Australia played its role in the 'wider' world as most other places did, and hopefully with increased research and better archeological/scientific research methods, further study can illustrate how common and vaired this contact may, or may not, have been.

Sources Used:

Ganter, Regina, 'Muslim Australians: the deep histories of contact', Journal of Australian Studies 32, no. 4, 2012 1-14.

Macknight, Charles Campbell, The Voyage to Marege: Macassan trepangers in northern Australia, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1976.

Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo, Michael C. Westaway, Craig Muller, et al, 'A genomic history of Aboriginal Australia', Nature 538, no. 7624, 2016, 207-214.

Rowland, Michael J., Raymond C. Kerkhove, 'Evidence of external contact between the Pacific Basin and the east coast of Australia during the Holocene: A review', Queensland Archaeological Research 25, 2022, 47-66.

In addition, this news article discusses Professor Jane Lydon's work in regards to the Indigenous Australians in Indonesia.

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u/Kelpie-Cat Picts | Work and Folk Song | Pre-Columbian Archaeology Nov 04 '24

Thank you for that great answer!

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u/koolaidkrys 28d ago

your response was very interesting! you mention briefly that its likely that pacific islanders and south americans had contact, do you know of any research or evidence found to support this? if so, i’d love to read about it