Archaeology in Victoria and Australia: Tracing Deep Histories Through Country
Archaeology is the study of past human life through material remains — stone tools, hearths, bone fragments, earthworks, and sacred sites. In Australia, and especially Victoria, archaeology offers evidence of Aboriginal occupation stretching back tens of thousands of years (Broome, 2005). Yet for Aboriginal communities such as the Wadawurrung, Gunditjmara, Wurundjeri, Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung, and Taungurung, archaeology is not simply about objects in the ground. These sites are living archives, tied to ancestors, stories, and ongoing cultural law (McNiven & Russell, 2005).
Archaeology in Victoria bridges scientific analysis and cultural authority, showing how the oldest continuous culture on Earth has shaped, and continues to shape, Country.
Deep Time Archaeology in Victoria
Early Occupation
Archaeological evidence places Aboriginal presence in Victoria for at least 40,000–50,000 years, with stone tools and hearths dated to the late Pleistocene (Clark, 1990).
At Keilor (near Melbourne), hearths and artefacts indicate Aboriginal occupation at least 31,000 years ago (Broome, 2005).
On the Murray River, middens, fish traps, and scarred trees trace tens of millennia of cultural practice (Pascoe, 2014).
Wurdi Youang
The Wurdi Youang stone arrangement (near Little River on Wadawurrung Country) is aligned with solar positions at the equinoxes and solstices, functioning as an astronomical observatory (Norris et al., 2013).
It represents one of the world’s oldest surviving observatories, evidence of Aboriginal scientific practice embedded in Country.
Budj Bim Cultural Landscape
On Gunditjmara land, Budj Bim aquaculture systems — stone channels and ponds designed to farm and trap kooyang (short-finned eels) — date back over 6,600 years (Pascoe, 2014).
Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019, Budj Bim represents both an archaeological treasure and a continuing cultural practice.
Archaeological Practices and Methods
Excavations and Dating: Radiocarbon dating of charcoal, bones, and shells has anchored timelines of occupation. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) is used to date sediments beyond radiocarbon’s range.
Middens: Accumulated shell, fish bones, and charcoal provide insight into diet, seasonality, and mobility (Gammage, 2011).
Rock Art and Scarred Trees: Rock shelters in western and northern Victoria preserve ochre paintings and engravings, while canoe and shield trees demonstrate everyday technologies. These are living archaeological records.
Collaborative Archaeology
Increasingly, archaeology in Victoria is shifting from extractive excavation to collaborative practice with Traditional Owners. Research now requires cultural authority, recognising that Country itself is an ancestor (McNiven & Russell, 2005).
Impacts of Colonisation on Archaeological Landscapes
Destruction and Suppression
Land clearing for sheep and cattle destroyed thousands of middens and sacred sites (Gammage, 2011).
Artefacts were removed to museums without consent, stripping them of cultural context.
Missions disconnected people from Country, creating gaps in intergenerational transmission.
Appropriation and Erasure
In the 19th century, collectors and ethnographers often treated Aboriginal artefacts as “curiosities” rather than evidence of advanced systems of knowledge (Broome, 2005).
Early interpretations downplayed Aboriginal agency, ignoring aquaculture, astronomy, or complex governance.
Case Study: Wadawurrung Archaeological Heritage
The Wadawurrung people maintain some of the most significant archaeological landscapes in Victoria:
Wurdi Youang: This stone arrangement demonstrates astronomical knowledge embedded in law and ceremony. Its solstice and equinox alignments highlight the Wadawurrung as expert observers of the cosmos (Norris et al., 2013).
Barwon and Moorabool Rivers: Artefacts along these waterways — including stone tools and hearths — record fishing, eel harvesting, and plant processing, revealing daily and seasonal life (Clark, 1990).
Bellarine Peninsula middens: Coastal middens provide evidence of marine harvesting across millennia, showing sustainable use of shellfish and marine resources.
Living knowledge: For Wadawurrung people, these sites are not only archaeological evidence but also active presences of ancestors and continuing lore. They inform cultural education programs, heritage management, and truth-telling processes today.
Contact Archaeology: Wadawurrung and the First Ships
While Wadawurrung archaeology stretches back tens of thousands of years, material evidence also reveals the arrival of the first European ships and the beginnings of cultural encounter.
Port Phillip Bay and Geelong: Archaeological surveys along the Corio Bay and Bellarine Peninsula areas have uncovered fragments of glass, metal, and ceramics within Aboriginal midden deposits (McNiven & Russell, 2005). These finds show that Wadawurrung people incorporated new materials into daily life as early as the first decades of the 19th century.
Coins and Trade Items: Reports of isolated coin discoveries, including pre-colonial European coins found in southern Australia (McIntyre, 1977), raise the possibility of earlier shipwrecks or indirect contact before formal settlement. While debated, they remind us that global trade routes may have touched Victoria before 1803.
Shipwreck Archaeology: The Bellarine and Surf Coast are littered with shipwrecks from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Artefacts such as copper nails, ballast stones, and glass bottles provide tangible evidence of the maritime frontier (Harper, 1986).
Cultural Adaptation: Wadawurrung people quickly reworked introduced materials into their toolkit. Glass shards were shaped into spear points, and iron objects were repurposed as cutting tools, showing continuity of innovation while maintaining cultural law (Pascoe, 2014).
Oral Traditions of First Contact: Wadawurrung oral histories recall the first ships in Port Phillip Bay, where canoes met European boats. These accounts, supported by archaeological traces, illustrate the profound shifts of early encounter — moments that archaeology helps confirm (Clark, 1990).
This layer of Wadawurrung archaeology demonstrates that “contact” was not a single event but an ongoing process, visible both in oral tradition and the ground itself. It links the deep time of Wurdi Youang and Barwon River sites with the disruptive arrival of foreign ships, creating a continuous narrative of adaptation, survival, and resilience.
Global Analogies
Archaeological traditions worldwide show how material remains sustain cultural identity:
Stonehenge (England): aligned to solstices, much like Wurdi Youang.
Māori pā sites (New Zealand): earthworks demonstrating Indigenous engineering, paralleling Budj Bim.
Mound-building cultures (North America): monumental earthworks, sacred like many Aboriginal sites.
African rock art: depictions of animals and spirits, echoing Victoria’s ochre art.
These comparisons highlight Aboriginal archaeology as part of a global human heritage of advanced cultural systems.
Contemporary Revival and Protection
Legal Protection: The Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 (Vic) protects sites and requires Cultural Heritage Management Plans. Registered Aboriginal Parties (RAPs), including the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, have decision-making authority.
Revitalisation: Sites such as Budj Bim and Wurdi Youang are used for both research and cultural teaching. Archaeology is increasingly recognised as a tool of truth-telling, validating Aboriginal oral histories long dismissed by colonisers.
Challenges: Climate change, coastal erosion, and urban development threaten fragile landscapes. Many artefacts remain in museums, raising urgent questions of repatriation and cultural return (McNiven & Russell, 2005).
Conclusion
Archaeology in Victoria reveals extraordinary human continuity: astronomical observatories, aquaculture engineering, ancient hearths, and sacred sites stretching back tens of thousands of years. For Aboriginal communities, these are not “ruins” of the past but living presences of ancestors, law, and Country.
Contact archaeology adds another dimension — showing how Wadawurrung and other groups adapted to the arrival of the first ships, reshaping tools, landscapes, and identities while holding firmly to cultural law.
By bringing together oral history and archaeological science, Victoria’s landscapes tell a story from the Pleistocene to the present: a story of survival, adaptation, and the endurance of culture.
References
Broome, R. (2005). Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Clark, I.D. (1990). Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria, 1800–1900. Melbourne: Monash Publications in Geography.
Gammage, B. (2011). The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Harper, N. (1986). Shipwrecks of Victoria: The Ports and Harbours of Early Melbourne. Melbourne: Heritage Council.
McIntyre, K. (1977). The Secret Discovery of Australia: Portuguese Ventures 200 Years Before Captain Cook. Sydney: Souvenir Press.
McNiven, I. & Russell, L. (2005). Appropriated Pasts: Indigenous Peoples and the Colonial Culture of Archaeology. Lanham: AltaMira Press.
Norris, R., Hamacher, D. & Abrahams, R. (2013). “Wurdi Youang: An Australian Aboriginal Stone Arrangement with Possible Solar Indications.” Rock Art Research, 30(1), pp. 55–65.
Pascoe, B. (2014). Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture. Broome: Magabala Books.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter 16/09/2025
Magic Lands Alliance
Sharing the truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education, land and community.
Copyright of MLA – 2025
Magic Lands Alliance acknowledge the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of communities.