- The First Astronomers: How Indigenous Elders read the stars, by Duane Hamacher. Allen & Unwin, $34.99.
In the subtitle of The First Astronomers - "How Indigenous Elders read the stars" - author Duane Hamacher is referring to world-wide "Indigenous Elders". Not only Australians, although Australian Indigenous people do figure prominently in his book and his contact is mainly with Elders of Torres Straight Islands. However, Hamacher's research often extends to Maori, Melanesian, Micronesian, Aztec, Inuit, Chinese and Peruvian Indigenous people - along with ancient Egyptians and Greeks. He is from the mid-west of the United States and has studied the Indigenous people of that region: the Lakotas.
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Although American, Hamacher is domiciled in Australia, as associate professor of Cultural Astronomy at the University of Melbourne. He serves on national and international organisations investigating traditional star knowledge.
Hamacher explains some basic astronomy principles - often necessary for the reader to fully understand the nature and apparent movement of heavenly bodies observed by Indigenous people. There is also a useful glossary of astronomical terms. While The First Astronomers can be appreciated by readers with little or no knowledge of astronomy, those with some prior knowledge of the subject will enjoy a greater appreciation.
In the first chapter, Hamacher is at pains to broaden the accepted meaning of the word "science" - presumably to leave no doubt that the data he presents is, in fact, science.
In the absence of other distractions, Indigenous people were great observers of the heavens. These observations provided them with their yearly calendar and their daily clock.
The timing of ceremonies and religious events were determined by the position of the moon and stars. As were the time for planting and harvesting of crops, collection of native plants and the hunting of specific animals and fish.
Successful weather forecasting, by observation of the moon and stars, was practised by many Indigenous people. The ring around the moon, as an indication of the likelihood of rain, was universally recognised. Some Torres Straight Islanders believed this likelihood increased if cockroaches were "flying about when the halo (was) visible".
Hamacher gives a lucid lesson on the determination of direction and latitude from the stars and describes how Indigenous people used these and other methods in their navigation. Sadly, the development of Global Positioning Systems is resulting in the loss of this science
Then, of course, there is the multitude of stories referenced in the sky, and the similarities and differences in the stories of various Indigenous people. A Torres Straight legend involving planets bears a strong resemblance to a story of the ancient Babylonians, involving the same planets. ("The word planet comes from the Greek planets, meaning 'wanderer'.")
From the edge of the Nullabor Plain comes the story of the star group, the Seven Sisters (the Pleiades), being chased across the sky by one of Orion's stars with evil intent, while in Brazil the Pleiades represent an heroic character chasing human-eating rheas. In the Torres Straight, the Pleiades are recalcitrant sailors who have been thrown overboard by their captain, Tagai, on a spear-fishing expedition.
Later, Tagai ascends to the heavens. The Southern Cross is his right hand, the Corvus constellation his left. In between, Tagai's head and body - via Greek named constellations Lupus, Centaurus and Hydra - lead down to the Scorpion constellation: Tagai's boat, in which he is standing. This figure can currently be seen - conditions permitting - overnight, in the eastern Canberra sky.
Being such constant sky-watchers, Indigenous people saw unusual astronomical events: eclipses, exploding stars, comets, meteors. Ancient cultures that kept written records (Chinese, Korean, Japanese), enable modern researchers to date such sightings.
Several times, Hamacher makes the point that "Western science" has ignored the astronomical findings of Indigenous people. He is not so insistent on describing instances where Western science has profited by using their findings or when Indigenous astronomers have adopted Western science. He places great store on who - Western scientists or Indigenous people - was the first to make specific astronomical discoveries, such as of pulsating stars, or the appearance and disappearance of stars.
Hamacher includes numerous personal experiences related to his topics, which helps prevent The First Astronomers reading like a text book. He does not litter the book with concentration-breaking footnotes to all his facts, instead supplying an extensive bibliography for each chapter.
Apparently courses dealing with Indigenous "ways of knowing" are being introduced in schools and universities "all around the world". Hamacher concludes with an impressive list of Indigenous Australians, with qualifications in indigenous astronomy, currently "popularising" the subject.
All very commendable, but distribution of books like The First Astronomers, in communities where the glory of the heavens can still be viewed in full, may be of greater benefit to Australian First Nations people.
