Global Encounters: Encountering the East Coast of Australia

<p dir="ltr">The current report is a contribution to the Global Encounters & First Nations Peoples: 1000 Years of Australian History Laureate project being undertaken by Monash University.</p><p dir="ltr">This report aims to explore encounters between Australia’s Indigenous peoples and voyagers from the sea over the period of a millennium <i>or more prior</i> to British ‘discovery’ and settlement. It investigates the potential presence of foreign material culture items in archaeological sites and museum collections in Australia, attempting to locate material evidence of encounters on the northern and eastern coasts of Australia over the last 65,000 years, and assess their significance. While few items were located, the report also took a perspective recommending broader lines of evidence to address the objectives of the study. As the west coast of Australia was visited by the Dutch and perhaps others, prior to 1770, to ensure this project was manageable, it focused on the north and east coasts of Australia.</p>