The First Inventors | How people shaped a continent

The First Inventors explains how Indigenous knowledge shaped the Australian continent. A landmark work of First Nations history and First Nations science, it tells Australia's history with Indigenous perspectives at its heart. Written by Billy Griffiths, Larissa Behrendt and Sean Ulm and based on the acclaimed SBS and Channel 10 television series, this book takes the reader on a journey through 65,000 years of innovation, diplomacy and design, and challenges much of what we think we know about the deep history of this continent.

For more than 65,000 years, people have made this land their own through language, song, water and fire. The First Inventors tells their story through the history of invention and design, and a celebration of the survival and resilience of cultural knowledge. It shares the way first nations managed and engineered landscapes, and how they read the seascapes according to the stars, the tides and their relationships with animal kin.

The book is grounded in the idea of Country, a transformative way of seeing and relating to the world. It honours traditional ways of knowing and shares fresh insights from collaborative research, spanning astronomy, navigation and ancient memory systems through to archaeology, pottery and international trade.

The result is a deep history of Australia that is scientific, cultural and profoundly human.

Authors Billy Griffiths, Larissa Behrendt and Sean Ulm bring together expertise across history, law and archaeology to present this knowledge with care and authority. For readers seeking to understand First Nations history, Australia's history and First Nations science, it is an essential and rewarding read.

Backed by the educational mission of the Australian Museum, The First Inventors is a story of hope, wonder and possibility, and a meaningful addition to any home, classroom or library.

Format: paperback, 308 pages

ISBN: 9781761471735

Dimensions: 230x150x24mm

Weight: 450g