An Overview of Historical Archaeology in Queensland, Australia

The ability of historical archaeology to make a significant contribution to our understanding of Queensland’s recent past is hindered by factors including few practitioners, limited publications about historical archaeological research and a need to establish its relevance beyond the archaeological community. There exists great opportunities in Queensland for researchers to explore a diverse range of research topics of which only some are beginning to be investigated through historical archaeological enquiry. This paper investigates the current state of the discipline in Queensland, the challenges practitioners face today and into the future, and the avenues down which historical archaeologists may make significant contributions to our understanding of Queensland’s recent past.     

Probabilistic Regional Population Forecasts: The Example of Queensland, Australia

The variability of demographic trends at the subnational scale, particularly internal and international migration, renders subnational population forecasting more difficult than at the national scale. Illustrating the uncertainty of the demographic future for subnational regions is therefore a crucial element of any set of subnational population forecasts. However, subnational forecasts are currently prepared using deterministic models, which fail to properly address the issue of demographic uncertainty. The traditional high, medium, and low variants approach employed by many national statistical offices poses a number of problems. Probabilistic population forecasting models have the potential to overcome many of these problems, but these models have so far been limited to national-level forecasts. This article reports a first attempt to implement a probabilistic approach to subnational population forecasting using a biregional projection framework. The article sets out the forecasting framework, outlines the approach adopted to formulate each of the assumptions, and presents probabilistic forecasts for 2002–2051 for Queensland and the rest of Australia. The forecasts show a two-thirds probability that Queensland's population in 2051 will be between 5.4 and 7.7 million while the same range for the rest of the country is 18.6 and 22.7 million. The forecasts quantify to what extent greater uncertainty exists about the demographic future at the subnational compared with the national scale.     

The Herbert River,Queensland, Tropical Australia: Community Perception and River Management

There is a widespread perception amongst the community of Ingham and surrounding areas that the Herbert River in tropical Queensland has aggraded since the time of European settlement. Yet this perception is not supported by such evidence as historical accounts of the river and river trade, changes at the Ingham gauging station since 1940 and comparison of channel cross-sections surveyed since 1968. No reason has been identified for this divergence, but experience elsewhere teaches us that ignoring local perception is likely to result in an incomplete understanding of environmental issues. Unless the challenge of reconciling popular perception and deductive interpretation of the evidence is met, the potential for conflict will remain. Community proposals for strategies will struggle for support from the ‘rationalists’ and the community will oppose ‘rational’ strategies if they are not seen to be addressing the ‘real’ problems.     

ENSO influence on Holocene Aboriginal populations in Queensland, Australia

In the Pacific region, the onset of modern El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) activity at approximately 5000 years ago may have played a significant role in the development of cultures in the Pacific basin. Within Australia, similar trends in population and resource use have been identified but largely ascribed to cultural changes. To test human responses to changing ENSO activity through the Holocene we analysed a comprehensive suite of 710 radiocarbon ages from archaeological sites in ENSO-sensitive Queensland. We observe a dramatic and sustained increase in landscape activity at inland sites from 4860 ± 15 years ago, statistically indistinguishable from the timing of the onset of modern ENSO activity. Subsequent changes in long-term activity directly impacted on human populations indicating that once established, ENSO maintained a continuous influence on disparate cultures throughout the Pacific basin.     

Fluvial Sediment Supply to the North-East Queensland Coast,Australia

Rivers play a dominant role in supplying sediment to the mainly siliceous sandy north-east Queensland coast. The interaction of geology and the seasonally wet tropical climate in the coastal catchments results under natural conditions in a high, but seasonally variable river discharge and sediment yield. These are examined in the sample catchments of the Barron, Mulgrave-Russell and Burdekin Rivers Peak sediment delivery occurs with major river floods produced by tropical cyclones. The initial erosive impact of these floods and subsequent constructional effects are examined along the Burdekin and Barron delta coasts. Human interference in the coastal catchments has caused increased sediment yield especially with extensive clearance of tropical rainforest and with some agricultural practices; but when dams and weirs trap sediment and sand is extracted from river beds a decrease occurs.     

Studies in Urban Ecology: Strangler Figs in the Urban Parklands of Brisbane,Queensland, Australia

This study investigated the establishment dynamics of strangler figs and the constraints on their development in the urban parklands of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Of 3580 trees and palms in the study parks, approximately 5% support at least one Ficus species. Six Ficus species occur epiphytically in older parkland. Four are Brisbane natives: F. macrophylla, F. obliqua, F. platypoda and F. virens; and two are from elsewhere in Australia: F. benjamina and F. rubiginosa. A lack of pollinator wasps in the Brisbane area prevents exotic and other native Ficus spp. from reproducing. Though they form predominantly open communities, the percentage of phorophytes (support trees) in the study parks is similar to that associated with natural, closed communities. Ficus spp. become established in structural features that accumulate humic soil, such as the forks of trunks and branches on trees, and behind marcescent leaf bases on palms. Plants with few humus pockets support few Ficus species. Environmental factors such as atmospheric quality, canopy shade, bark texture and whether or not a park is irrigated, seem not to be consequential to Ficus establishment. Significantly greater numbers of Ficus occur on deciduous trees, perhaps because avian seed dispersers favour them as perches over evergreen trees. Ficus also occur significantly more frequently on the western sides of palms with marcescent leaf bases. These western flanks offer shelter from the prevailing sea breezes: fewer Ficus are therefore likely to be torn from these sides in strong winds.     

Rainforests,Agriculture and Aboriginal Fire‐Regimes in Wet Tropical Queensland,Australia

This paper challenges the hypothesis that Aboriginal fire‐regimes in the coastal wet tropics of north Queensland have been responsible for significant rainforest decline in the past, and rejects the narrative that recent rainforest expansion is the result of the disappearance of Aboriginal people and their fire practices from the area. Mapping of vegetation in the Mossman district in c. 1890 from surveyors’ plans, and in 1945 and 1991 from aerial photography demonstrates that the expansion of rainforest since 1945 represents a recovery following extensive rainforest destruction associated with sugar cane cultivation in the first 70 years of European occupation. Kuku‐Yalanji Aboriginal people continued to occupy their traditional lands, and participated in the sugar industry, throughout this period. They adapted their fire management practices to the changed economic and social circumstances. Management of fire by the Kuku‐Yalanji people prior to European occupation ensured the presence of extensive rainforest cover, whilst also providing access to fire‐prone forests and their cultural resources.     

Parotosuchus from the Early Triassic of Queensland and Western Australia

Three members of the labyrinthodont Family Capitosauridae are described. Two new species from the Arcadia Formation of the Rewan Group, Queensland, show affinities with more primitive capitosaurs and with pre-capitosaurid groups. A third skull from the Blina Shale of Western Australia is of indeterminate species. These are the first recorded capitosaurs from Queensland and Western Australia and the first Parotosuchus from a Lystrosaurus Zone fauna.     

The Symbolic Politics of Belonging and Community in Peri‐urban Environmental Disputes: the Traveston Crossing Dam in Queensland,Australia

This paper examines a recent dispute generated by the Queensland State Government proposal to build the Traveston Crossing Dam on the Mary River in southeast Queensland, Australia. It is particularly concerned with the ways in which interrelated issues of belonging, community identity, and social diversity were negotiated during the anti‐dam campaign. As an unusual alliance of farmers, environmentalists, urban retirees, some Aboriginal people and others, it takes a view of the anti‐Traveston Crossing Dam campaign as a fluid network of people and approaches the notion of community identity as the symbolic construction of similarity. Locally specific, the paper describes pertinent aspects of community politics in the context of rural socioeconomic change, and the mobilisation of heritage. With regard to local senses of belonging, it also discusses the involvement of Aboriginal people during the campaign. More broadly then, this paper attempts to make an ethnographic contribution to the study of environmental disputes and the politics of alliance in peri‐urban areas of settler‐descendant societies such as Australia.     

Tracking ‘Snowbirds’ in Australia: Winter Sun Seekers in Far North Queensland

Seasonal migration is gaining acceptance as a retirement form among Canadians and Americans. These so-called snowbirds spend their winters in the U.S. Sunbelt as residents of seasonal recreational communities. The three defining qualities of life in snowbird communities are very high levels of recreation activity, social interaction and geographic mobility. This paper explores ‘snowbirding’ in Australia and draws comparisons with North America. The focus is on retirees staying in caravan parks in far north Queensland during the winter of 1995 when 306 couples were interviewed. As expected, many similarities exist between North American and Australian ‘snowbirding’. However, Australian levels of social interaction are appreciably lower, while levels of geographical mobility are higher.     

In the Footsteps of J. Alfred Griffiths: a Cataclysmic History of Great Artesian Basin Springs in Queensland,Australia

The first systematic survey of springs of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) was conducted between 1896 and 1898 by J. Alfred Griffiths. His survey documents 107 GAB spring‐groups from western, northern and central Queensland. These springs were located and assessed by the authors between 1998 and 2000, and the results of this comparison are presented in this paper. Eighty‐seven of 107 (81%) of spring‐groups are no longer active. Of the remaining springs the flows of at least eight are substantially less than that witnessed a century ago. The tapping of the GAB by thousands of bores and consequent reduction of artesian pressure is clearly the overwhelming cause of diminished flows and spring inactivity. The cataclysmic loss of springs has had disastrous impacts on the biota of spring wetlands, almost certainly resulting in the extinction of endemic spring species.     

Oldest meiolaniid turtle remains from Australia: evidence from the Eocene Kerosene Creek Member of the Rundle Formation,Queensland

Poropat, S.F., Kool, L., Vickers-Rich, P. &; Rich, T.H., September 2016. Oldest meiolaniid turtle remains from Australia: evidence from the Eocene Kerosene Creek Member of the Rundle Formation, Queensland. Alcheringa 41, XX–XX. ISSN 0311-5518.

Fossil meiolaniid turtles are known only from South America and Australasia. The South American record is restricted to the Eocene, and comprises two genera: Niolamia and Gaffneylania. The Australasian meiolaniid record is more diverse, with three genera known (Ninjemys, Warkalania and Meiolania); however, the oldest known specimens from this continent are significantly younger than those from South America, deriving from upper Oligocene sediments in South Australia and Queensland. Herein, we describe the oldest meiolaniid remains found in Australasia to date. The specimens comprise a posterior peripheral, a caudal ring, and an osteoderm, all of which derive from the middle–upper Eocene Rundle Formation of The Narrows Graben, Gladstone, eastern Queensland. Despite their fragmentary nature, each of these specimens can be assigned to Meiolaniidae with a high level of confidence. This is particularly true of the partial caudal ring, which is strongly similar to those of Niolamia, Ninjemys and Meiolania. The extension of the Australasian meiolaniid record to the Eocene lends strong support to the hypothesis that these turtles arose before South America and Australia detached from Antarctica, and that they were consequently able to spread across all three continents.

Stephen F. Poropat*^? [stephenfporopat@gmail.com], Australian Age of Dinosaurs Natural History Museum, The Jump-Up, Winton, Queensland 4735, Australia; Lesley Kool*^? [koollesley@gmail.com] and Thomas H. Rich [trich@museum.vic.gov.au], Melbourne Museum, 11 Nicholson St, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia; Patricia Vickers-Rich [pat.rich@monash.edu], Monash University, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia. *These authors contributed equally to this work. ^?Also affiliated with Monash University, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.     

Adaptations to life in freshwater for Mioceratodus gregoryi,a lungfish from Redbank Plains,an Eocene locality in southeast Queensland,Australia

Kemp, A., December 2017. Adaptations to life in freshwater for Mioceratodus gregoryi, a lungfish from Redbank Plains, an Eocene locality in southeast Queensland, Australia. Alcheringa 42, 306–311. ISSN 0311-5518

Few Cenozoic lungfish fossils consist of articulated, associated bones and tooth plates. Mioceratodus gregoryi from the Paleogene (Eocene) deposit of the Redbank Plains Formation in southeast Queensland is unusual in this respect because the fossil includes tooth plates and elements of the skull. An analysis of the material and reconstruction of the skull and associated skeletal material provides new insights into the fish and its environment. The fish has a mandible with a wide separation between the lower tooth-bearing bones, and a strong ceratohyal bone. This suggests that, like the extant Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, the fossil fish had a moveable basihyal that could be inserted between the prearticular bones to seal the oral cavity. This would have allowed the fish to draw food, air and water into the mouth, and dig holes by sucking mud into the oral cavity and blowing it out again, all useful attributes for a fish that lived in a shallow freshwater lake. The living Australian lungfish has similar structures in the mandible and hyoid apparatus, and performs comparable actions. The occipital ribs, also preserved in the Redbank Plains fossil, are embedded in hypaxial muscles and not moveable. It is unlikely that these ribs have any influence on the suctorial process in these two species.

Anne Kemp [a.kemp@griffith.edu.au] Environmental Futures Centre, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia.     

Prehistoric hand stencils at Fern Cave, North Queensland (Australia): environmental and chronological implications of Raman spectroscopy and FT-IR imaging results

Raman spectroscopy and FT-IR imaging analyses of cave wall pigment samples from north Queensland (Australia) indicate that some hand stencils were undertaken during a dry environmental phase indicating late Holocene age. Other, earlier painting episodes also took place during dry environmental periods of the terminal Pleistocene and/or early Holocene. These results represent a rare opportunity to attain chronological information for rock art in conditions where insufficient carbon is present for radiocarbon dating.     

Understanding Cultural History Using Ground-Penetrating Radar Mapping of Unmarked Graves in the Mapoon Mission Cemetery, Western Cape York, Queensland, Australia

The Mapoon Mission Cemetery in Cape York, Queensland contains unmarked pre-contact burials with potential national heritage values, despite a lack of formal recognition and protection through State and National heritage listings. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) showed great potential as a non-intrusive technique to identify over 120 potential unmarked graves and understand mortuary practices at the Cemetery. When integrated with written and oral histories, such information provided new insights into the cultural history of this region, particularly the continuity of Aboriginal occupation and changes in mortuary practices since the establishment of the Mapoon Mission.     

Humeral morphology of the early Eocene mekosuchine crocodylian Kambara from the Tingamarra Local Fauna southeastern Queensland,Australia

Stein, M., Salisbury, S.W., Hand, S.J., Archer, M. & Godthelp, H., December 2012. Humeral morphology of the early Eocene mekosuchine crocodylian Kambara from the Tingamarra Local Fauna southeastern Queensland, Australia. Alcheringa 36, 473–486. ISSN 0311-5518.

Mekosuchines (Crocodylia; Crocodyloidea) were a clade of crocodylians endemic to Australia and the South Pacific that underwent radiation during the Cenozoic. Numerous questions about mekosuchine palaeoecology remain unanswered. Tantalizing among these is the possibility that some mekosuchines were primarily terrestrial. To date, studies of mekosuchines have focused mainly on the cranium. However, the morphological signal for terrestriality is more likely to be found in the postcranial skeleton. Here, we present a comparative morphological study of fossil humeri referable to Kambara from the early Eocene Tingamara Local Fauna, Murgon, southeastern Queensland. The humeri of Kambara do not show the torsion between the proximal and distal extremity seen in extant crocodylians, illustrated here with Crocodylus porosus and Crocodylus johnstoni. They also differ in the structure of the medial and lateral condyles of the distal extremity. When the effects of these features on musculature and articulation are considered, it appears that the forelimb of Kambara could have facilitated a greater force at the glenohumeral joint and possibly swung the lower forelimb faster with a greater arc of motion than Australia's extant crocodylians. This is conducive to an improved capacity for both terrestrial locomotion and paraxial swimming. Although the former case suggests that Kambara may not have been as closely tied to water as extant crocodylians, it is unusual given the typically broad rostra of the cranium. Among crocodylians this is a common characteristic of semi-aquatic ambush predators. This study shows the utility of the postcranial skeleton in interpreting crocodylian palaeoecology.

Michael Stein [michael.stein@student.unsw.edu.au] (corresponding author), Suzanne J. Hand [s.hand@unsw.edu.au], Michael Archer [m.archer@unsw.edu.au] and Henk Godthelp [h.godthelp@unsw.edu.au], School of Earth and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia; and Steven W. Salisbury [s.salisbury@uq.edu.au], School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, 4072, Australia. Received 13.1.2012, revised 24.2.2012, accepted 28.2.2012.     

Reef,Range and Red Dust: Behind the Atlas of Queensland

Reef, range and red dust are the ‘three Rs’ which sum up the geography of Queensland. The recently-completed state atlas, a joint venture of the Premier's and Lands Departments, was charged with capturing the physical and human aspects of this vast area. This paper recounts the background, decisions, controversies and some technicalities inherent in its production. No human hands, save those of graphic artists, touched the paper of the atlas: it was completely computer drawn and composed. Over 80 external authors were involved. The project took four and a half years and follows a series of other Australian state atlases. In a departure from their tradition, it adopts a ‘popular’ format using techniques more commonly associated with business magazines.