All language subtitles for the first inventors s01e02 1080p hdtv h264-cbfm_track3_[eng]

VOICEOVER: We acknowledge the many
First Nations across the country

and their elders
and knowledge holders

who have generously
shared their stories

and welcomed us onto their country
for this series.

And we would like to warn Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander viewers

that the following program
may contain images and voices

of deceased persons.

The past is an elusive place.

We desperately want to go there,
to know it, to experience it.

What was life really like
100 hundred years ago,

1,000 years ago
or even 10,000 years ago?

Sadly, we'll never know.

Written history dates back
to just 5,000 years ago

and beyond that we have
archaeologists sifting through ruins

hoping for some vague insight
into the life of the ancients.

It's unfathomable to think
of prehistoric time being recorded

by the very people
who lived through it.

Well, here in Australia, it was.

Go.

We're revealing how the First Nations
people of Australia

invented the most effective
memory systems on the planet.

A memory system which can store
volumes of information -

geography, law, education,
astronomy and even maps,

all stored in the mind.

We know some of the story.

MAN: It's the connection
from the sea to land.

Not many people get to see this.
WOMAN: That's amazing.

Only the ancestors know it all.

To reveal what was lost,
a new generation of detective...

Knowing how to navigate using
the stars and knowing your country,

it's a matter
of life and death, really.

..will retell the ancient story
of the world's oldest living culture.

MAN: So what we're looking for today
is evidence that people were here

living on what is now the seabed.

Tens of thousands of years
in the making,

the story of the first inventors
can now be told.

What if I told you there's a proven
method to transmit information

accurately across
tens of thousands of years

and that First Nations people
knew it and used it?

Even the written word dates back
to only 5,000 years ago.

So what was this
information delivery system?

Well, I'm using it right now.

Storytelling.

Tens of thousands of years ago,

humans witnessed an extraordinary
change to our planet.

During a period referred to
as the glacial maximum,

ice sheets 3km thick
covered large parts of the Earth.

Some 20,000 years ago,
as the planet warmed,

ice started melting,

causing sea levels to rise
by a massive 120 metres.

In some places
the change was fast enough

to be witnessed in a single lifetime.

Entire coastlines disappeared,
valleys flooded,

hills and mountains became islands.

These prehistoric events
are now lost to time.

So far back in human history

that scientists only discovered proof
of this ice age

around 150 years ago.

But, incredibly,

there's growing evidence that
some First Nations in Australia

may have recorded this event
and passed the information on

from generation to generation
for 10,000 years or more.

(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)

(REPLIES IN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Ah, that's good.

Auntie Maggie is an elder on my
home country, the Tiwi Islands.

She has a story which,
if you listen carefully,

speaks of dramatic change.

The story describes how, in order
to provide for her children,

Murtankala created the Earth,

the elements,

and the Tiwi Islands themselves.

Murtankala crawled on her knees,

and as she crawled, water bubbled,

filling her tracks,

dividing Tiwi from the mainland.

I remember this story growing up.
Every Tiwi does.

It's a fundamental part
of our identity and who we are.

To an outsider
it might seem like just a story,

but what if stories like this one,

despite being handed down
through word of mouth

over hundreds of generations,

actually documented real events?

The similarities
between the Tiwi creation story

and the end of the ice age

could be written off
as a coincidence.

After all, a story
describing actual events

that took place 10,000 years ago
seems impossible.

And yet there are no less
than 22 First Nations groups

which can recall a time
when oceans were lower

and their ancestors
lived in places now submerged.

If they really are accounts
of sea level rise,

it makes them
a form of recorded history

which predates writing
by thousands of years.

Western Australia.

Five clans are working
with maritime archaeologists

to uncover evidence of human
settlements on the sea floor

here off the coast of Murujuga.

Vince Adams is one of
four traditional owners

joining the expedition.

All the Dreamtime stories
that come from ocean to here,

those Dreamtime stories
are actually coming true

with the science and the stuff
that we are doing today.

They're both diving full face today.

MAN: Set up.

Professor Jonathan Benjamin
is leading the dive.

So what we're looking for on this
project primarily is stone tools.

Evidence that people
were here using stone tools

and making a living
on what is now the seabed.

Stone tools were chipped out of
large boulders common to this area.

So what you've got here
is granite fire.

It's the local hard rock.

You can see very clearly this has
all been altered and adjusted.

So it's a nice tool for cutting,
scraping, chopping,

those kinds of things.

Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna man
Chris Wilson

is an archaeologist
joining the expedition.

And so you can tell
this is then cultural?

Rocks aren't made
like this naturally.

So this is formed after
human intervention, reduction.

Stone tool manufacture,
very clearly.

So, in this whole archipelago
there are more than 40 islands.

So what we have to do as
archaeologists who work underwater,

is find out, first,
where the haystack is

and then we can look for the needle.

10,000 years ago, Flying Foam Passage
would've been a dry valley,

aside from a large
freshwater spring.

MAN: This is the bathometric map
of Flying Foam Passage.

We can clearly see the outline
of the depression,

which we interpret
as a submerged spring.

The locals have told us that this
is a good area to go fishing.

Why would that be?

It's different. There's some sort
of depression going on there.

Maybe there's fresh water, which
increases the marine biodiversity.

It's for good reason
the team are excited

about this underwater spring.

We need to think about where people
would've been basically hanging out

around this spring

and have left maybe evidence
of the occupation

in the form of artefacts
of some type or another,

and we'll target those dives
at those locations.

Anything that we find that
will confirm cultural activity

makes this a confirmed
underwater archaeological site

and probably the oldest underwater
archaeological site in Australia.

Yeah, it's exciting stuff, isn't it?

Yeah. Yeah. So fingers crossed
we find something.

Yeah.
Yeah.

Discovering artefacts here
could prove that

First Nations Australians

are the keepers of the oldest
historical records on Earth.

So today, if you find
something at that deep depth,

then will that rewrite
the history books?

For us it's a real opportunity
to see

is this an ancient Aboriginal site
that rests now on the seabed?

And that's the exciting thing
that we're going to find out today.

The ocean floor is 15 metres below

and today visibility is poor.

As we go deeper,
our dives get shorter,

it gets darker, it gets colder,
it gets harder to see.

So the archaeology becomes
more and more challenging, you know.

It's next-level difficult to do.

On the ocean floor

an ancient stone tool and
a plain rock can look very similar.

There's always a risk
with underwater archaeology

when it comes to
not finding anything.

Could be because
you're in the wrong spot.

It could be because
the ocean is gigantic.

This could be the most significant
maritime archaeological discovery

in Australian history.

So, can I guarantee
we will find archaeology?

Unfortunately, no.

Is it possible that people
with no written language

could pass down their ancestors'
experiences of living on land

that has now been underwater
for close to 10,000 years?

Off the coast of Murujuga,
Western Australia,

maritime archaeologists are diving
in search of the answer.

PROFESSOR BENJAMIN: We only have
a limited amount of time to dive,

so we really have to make the most

of every minute
that we're on the seabed.

No fewer than 22 First Nations groups

recall a time
when sea levels were lower.

If the dive is successful,

it could prove that their stories
have been accurately handed down

for hundreds of generations -

a feat which until now
would've seemed impossible.

Sometimes you get lucky,

you go down and you pick
something up and you look at it

and you just go,
"Wow, that's a stone tool."

Yep.

So, John's just handed me this.

There's a point of concussion there.

So you can see how that
would be difficult to find

in waters like this.

To verify if these
are actually artefacts,

Jonathan will need
to examine them at the lab.

Fortunately, there are local experts
here on location.

We found this underwater
on the seabed.

Mm-hm.

This one is used for skinning meat.

You cut the skin off this one.

With another one we use a knife.
That's right.

So, skinning the skin off.
That's right.

It's a scraper.
Yeah.

That's what I would've
called it too.

But it's fantastic
to hear it from you guys.

It's just the best.

So what kind of animals
would they have...?

So, these would be used
for mainly small type animals.

More...more possums.

So, hill kangaroo.

We know how to use this tool.

We know how to make this tool today.

Those stories are far older
than what we ever imagined.

Ever imagined.

This proves that.

This is evidence of...
of how, when and why.

We're changing the history
of the story of Australians

10,000 years ago
who lived in what is now offshore.

We now have the scientific evidence
that backs up and supports

all of the oral histories
that is in line

with what traditional owners
tell us about Sea Country

and their relationship
with Sea Country.

This is important for all of us.

Events recorded and passed down
over more than 400 generations,

and all through the power
of memory and storytelling.

How is it that the information
hasn't disintegrated entirely

with each telling?

Here's the thing -
memory is unreliable.

I'm a professional actor.

It's my job to learn
and retain information,

but even on my best day
I struggle to remember lines.

So how is it humanly possible
to learn and pass on stories

from generation to generation
across thousands of years?

G'day, Lynne.
Hi, Rob.

How's this? (LAUGHS)
Great to meet you. It's gorgeous.

Lynne Kelly
is an Australian memory champion -

a feat she achieved by using
First Nations memory techniques.

She's going to show me how it's done,

but first she's demonstrating

just how quickly our memories fail
under normal conditions.

Rob is going to tell
a little story to you

and we're going to do it right round

and then you'll hand it back
at the end.

So my story is, "Five little geckos
crawl past three sleepy koalas.

"The koalas awake, the storm breaks,
and the geckos creep back."

(LAUGHTER)

Something about a koala
eating a monkey.

(LAUGHTER)

That's not even close
to what we had.

That is incredible that you couldn't
get that story right.

But Indigenous stories
date back tens of thousands of years

accurately recorded.

It's phenomenal.

What is this memory method

which makes stories
last for thousands of years?

So, Lynne, you are Senior
Australian Memory Champion.

What's your trade secret?
How'd you do it?

Right, anyone can do it.

It's not a special brain thing.

It's a matter of using techniques.

So, in the competitions we memorise
decks of cards and lists of numbers

and all sorts of useless stuff.

But we associate it with locations

and then imagine ourselves
walking it.

What you need is to add characters.

That's why you'll find
all Indigenous stories

are full of characters.

Everyone talks about Indigenous
cultures not having writing,

but what's important
is what they do have,

and this is a whole suite
of techniques that are...

..have evolved
over thousands of years

to suit the way the brain works

and the best memory systems
in the world.

And that's just
a really simplified version

of what Indigenous cultures do.

In many ways, this seems too simple -

use story characters
and connect them to locations.

We're going to do this experiment
over here.

I'm giving it a go by attempting
to memorise 15 countries

in select order.

What we're going to do is put
different countries of the world

in population order.

What do you think?

I don't know. Shall we give it a go?

I'm learning one of the ancient
memory techniques

used by my ancestors.

My test is to memorise the names
of 15 countries

in order of population.

I have 10 minutes to do it.

So, the first country is China.

Can you imagine something
to do with China there?

So, think of an image?
Yeah.

Whatever you associate naturally
with China.

Alright. The Chinese dragon.

Chinese dragon?
Yeah.

Oh, how gorgeous.

Doing loops
in that little alcove there.

Oh, right. I can see it.

(LAUGHS) Yep.

The next is India.

Alright, I think I've got something.

Yeah?

Uh, so, it's an elephant.

In the Australian bush?

Well, you certainly
wouldn't see it here.

(BOTH LAUGH)

The third is United States.
Yep, yep.

This rock face here
looks like Mount Rushmore-ish.

Like a miniature.
Oh.

Next is Indonesia.

It's an Indonesian holiday.

It's my younger self
jumping into the water.

Then next we've got Pakistan.

Oh, I like these
little crevices here.

Like, you can pack them...

Right.
..with things, yeah?

Bangladesh.

Bang, bang the drum.

What do you associate with Egypt?

Egypt, the great Sphinx.

That kind of looks like a face
at the back.

Fantastic.

Vietnam.

Rice fields.

Rice fields
forever into the distance.

OK, I've got it.
OK.

Now, I've got a favourite
for Brazil.

You know the Carnival in Brazil?
Yeah.

I'm looking at them coming, voom,
and dancing everywhere.

I want to go to Brazil.

We're now up to
the biggest country in Africa.

Nigeria.

Alright. Nigeria. OK.

We've got Russia.
OK.

Mexico, Japan, Ethiopia.

Do you know anyone called Philip?

Yes. He's sitting on that ledge
playing the ukulele.

Right, well, that's the Philippines.
Alright.

15 countries committed to memory

by attaching a location
and a character to each one.

But did it work?

What do you think?

I don't know.
Shall we give it a go?

OK.

So, moment of truth.

Ordinarily, I need like two weeks
to learn a bit of dialogue.

So we've just done 15 countries
in less than 10 minutes.

Lynne has a whole lot more confidence
in me than I do,

so let's put it to the test.

Can you do it
without actually walking it?

Close your eyes
and imagine yourself walking it.

China.

India.

United States of America.

This is the part...

United States,

Indonesia.

What's around the corner there?

I can see the place.

Pakistan, Bangladesh.

Yes.

Around the corner we've got Egypt -

the Sphinx on the back wall there.

And then we've got Vietnam.

Um...

Brazil.

Yep.

Nigeria, Russia, Mexico, Japan.

Ethiopia.

Going up the ledge,
Phil from the Philippines.

15 out of 15!
Yeah? Yes!

Phenomenal.

So I think the experiment
went really well.

I'm patting myself
on the back for that.

That's 10 minutes' worth of work,
and I've remembered 15 countries.

Now, on the scale of things,
it's a small experiment,

but for someone like me
whose mind's a sieve,

it's quite profound

and gives me some insight

into how cultures
thousands and thousands of years ago

retained information
that was really important

for their culture and survival.

I've now learned how my ancestors
stored information in memories,

but connecting characters
to locations

is only one part
of their ancient memory technique.

(RHYTHMIC BANGING)

Through repetition, singing
is one of the most effective ways

of creating memories.

Plus, songs have a chemical effect
on our brains.

Indigenous Australians use songs as a
place to store important information.

Within these songs are stories.

Stories help release oxytocin,

which makes information
more memorable.

This extraordinary record-keeping
system is known as songlines.

Songlines record information,
law, geography, astronomy,

plant and animal species,

and even navigation.

At its simplest,

these songs describe pathways
through country,

or lines, if you like.

They connect places.

Songlines describe those places.

A rock formation that looks like
a sleeping snake on the horizon

or a tree with special markings.

Songlines tell you everything
you need to know

about where you are
and where you're going.

They contain vital information
for survival -

where to find water,
when and what to hunt.

All that information in a song
taught to us by our elders.

Wardaman Country, Northern Territory.

Elder Yidumduma Bill Harney

has travelled the 7,000 square
kilometre region and far beyond

since he was a boy.

Never needing a map,

he has relied on songlines
to guide him.

(SINGS)

(SINGS)

Bill is the senior custodian
of countless songlines.

This songline
starts 200 kilometres west

and ends at Bill's home
here in Wardaman Country.

Four pythons begin their journey
winding inland from the sea.

To avoid the water python,
the black-headed python turns left,

creating a fork in the river

and an unmistakable landmark
for navigation.

The songline continues
a few kilometres upstream,

where the python turns
and looks back,

his head visible across the valley.

More landmarks become visible
as the songline continues.

The landmarks present themselves
at walking pace.

The final landmark
in this 200-kilometre journey...

The three other snakes
continue their own journey,

each on a songline with different
destinations and new waypoints.

Aged 92, Bill is the final custodian
of his people's songlines,

the last fully initiated member
of the Wardaman tribe still alive.

But his knowledge will live on.

Yamaji-Nyungar woman Tui Raven

is an art curator and collector
of Indigenous stories.

She's come to learn how
Bill navigates using songlines.

Uh, what I've heard about Bill
is that he can use the stars

and all of his stories
about country to navigate.

That's pretty special.

Tonight in the outback she'll be
left alone in total darkness

to navigate her way

using nothing more than
the knowledge of the stars.

Knowing how to navigate using
the stars and knowing your country,

it's a matter of
life and death, really.

Making observations
of the natural world,

storing that information
in stories and songs

and then transmitting
that information

across thousands of years -

there's no question,
that's remarkable.

Once information
can be reliably recorded,

it can then be applied
to scientific observation,

law, teaching, and geography.

It becomes practical and useful.

Take a place like this,

thousands of kilometres
of tough country,

baking daytime heat,
freezing cold nights,

not someplace
you'd ever want to be lost.

In summer,
temperatures in the outback

often reach 45 degrees.

Travelling on foot
could cost you your life.

So Indigenous Australians
invented ways to navigate at night.

Uh, what I've heard about Bill

is that he can use the stars

and all of his stories
about country to navigate.

That's pretty special.

Where you come from?

I'm from Nyungar. I'm from Perth.

Oh! Welcome you
in this Wardaman land.

Thank you.

Easy or hard?

Yeah.

Bill is a master navigator,

but can he teach a beginner
how to travel 2.5 kilometres

over rocky terrain in the dark?

Yep.

Just as landmarks feature
in songlines, stars do as well.

Plus, there are characters -

the grasshopper,

the catfish,

and the red kangaroo

are among the many protagonists
in songlines

winding through the night sky.

Mordborronggo.

Angles and spacing between the stars
and the songline

match up with directions
and distances on the ground.

I can't believe how many
different stars you know.

Bill starts Tui off
with the fundamentals of longitude,

north and south.

OK.

Then her east-west cardinal points.

With the stars in continuous motion,

Tui will need knowledge of multiple
constellations to find her way.

Yes, they are in an angle.
I can see that.

But they're not...they're not
three equally spaced, are they?

No, no, they are...they are...

Two close and one further.
Yeah. Yeah.

The bright orange Antares
is known to Bill as Murrijun,

wife of the sky boss Narri.

She's part of a three-star formation

pointing to a pair
of bright guide stars,

and an imaginary line
through those two

cuts the horizon
almost exactly to the west.

To navigate successfully
across the 2.5-kilometre journey,

Tui will have to keep track
of these exact stars

and plot a westward course,

despite rough terrain

and obstacles like hills and trees
obscuring her vision.

So you think I could do that?

Well, I mean, you can.

Yeah?

So Bill's going to drop me off

and I should be able to find him
at the end at another location

just by using these stars.

I've never used the stars
for navigation before

so it's going to be
a little bit scary.

Tui Raven is attempting
to navigate at night

using the star knowledge
embedded in an ancient songline.

She will meet her teacher,
Wardaman elder Bill Harney,

at a destination 2.5 kilometres away,

if she doesn't get lost.

When the trees come around,
it gets a bit confusing.

You've gotta, I guess,
have a look at the stars around them

and remember it.

So let's hope when we get
on the other side of these trees

it's still those same stars.

I'm hoping.

The stars, when they move in
the sky, you think you've got it,

and I just hope I'm going to
meet up with Bill at the end.

Dense scrub and rocky terrain

make it impossible to hold a course
in one direction.

Tui must constantly refer back
to her guide stars.

One kilometre in, Tui has a problem.

The stars look so different now.

So I can see
that this is the Milky Way here.

I think the stars that I'm supposed
to use to navigate

are actually below the horizon.

There's another star
that's just on the tree line,

the top of this tree here,

that you...I can't quite see.

To maintain course, Tui must
change the stars she's following.

Now that the sky's actually moved,

the two that I thought
I had to navigate with,

it might be these two just here.

I feel more like
it's one that's near the tree line.

I just can't see the stars
that was up before.

It's actually really stressful.

Right now I'm relying on
a very small quantity of stars

to get me in a direction,

but if those have gone down,
I don't know what I'd do.

I'd have to camp out
and wait for the next night.

So I think I've just come through
the clearing

and they're the stars
that I was looking for

that were going to point me towards

where the other star
had gone down below the horizon.

Oh, I can hear something over there.

(HOWLING)

After more than 2.5 kilometres,
Tui finally hits a road.

But there's no sign of Bill.

Has she missed her mark?

Hello there.
Hello.

How are you going?
Not too bad.

Bit far south.
I come a bit too far south.

(LAUGHS) No dingoes, just donkeys.
No, you're here.

How you feel from walking
that long distance?

My leg's a bit sore.

Yeah? Oh, well, jump in the car.

OK. Sounds good.
Relax in there.

Yeah. Sounds good.
You're freed from walking.

Tui's first attempt wasn't perfect

but she did navigate
outback scrubland using the stars.

First Nations people successfully
navigated the entire country

using songlines
both at night and during the day.

Some songlines
traverse thousands of kilometres.

At least one,
the Seven Sisters songline,

covers the entire
Australian continent.

So, it's after midnight

and the clouds have finally cleared
enough to be able to see the stars.

Gamilaraay woman Karlie Noon

is looking for answers

to one of the greatest mysteries
of ancient astronomy.

The Pleiades is what we call
an open star cluster.

Basically a big collection of stars.

And we can find the Pleiades
quite easily

if we are able to find the really
large constellation of Orion.

OK.

I have found it.

And it is looking
absolutely beautiful.

Remarkably, this cluster
is known around the world

as the Seven Sisters,

from Europe to Africa,
Asia, and North America.

However, why do different cultures
around the world

refer to it as the Seven Sisters
when only six stars are visible?

So, there's actually a theory
that really boggles the mind.

For decades, astronomers have tried
to solve the mystery of Pleiades.

Why do different cultures
around the world

refer to it as the Seven Sisters

when only six stars are visible?

NASA's high-powered space telescopes

have shown
the constellation has been moving

and two of the seven,
Pleione and Atlas,

are now so close that to the naked
eye they look like one star.

So there's actually a theory
that perhaps 100,000 years ago

these two stars were separated
enough

so that we could see seven
with our naked eye.

If the seventh star hasn't been
visible for 100,000 years,

it's possible the Seven Sisters story

can be traced back

to the earliest origins
of human storytelling.

It's really a story that
has transcended both space and time

for essentially
the majority of human history.

It just really boggles the mind

around how long
we've been observing the sky.

How long humans have been
taking this data in

and documenting these changes.

Once considered by outsiders
to be primitive,

songlines are now known

as a highly sophisticated
record-keeping system.

A memory technique that has kept
untold knowledge alive in Australia

for thousands of years.

However, it's not Australia's
only archive of ancient events.

At Murujuga, on the coast
of Western Australia,

artists have been
painstakingly carving into rock

for over 30,000 years.

WOMAN: Basically,
we call them petroglyphs.

And so pecking and abrading
and rubbing and gouging

and all these different things
are ways that people have, in fact,

made a mark in the rock.

Around 30,000 years ago,
the art here featured land animals.

Around 10,000 to 15,000 years ago,
sea animals started to appear.

The change coincides
with the dramatic rise in sea levels.

The coastline crept inland,

taking over the desert
and stopping here at Murujuga.

This place is recording
an extraordinarily deep time

of people's menus,

their dinner menus through time.

And when the people
were first living in this landscape

between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago,

the coast was
a very, very long way away.

It was about 160km that way.

So, at that time,
people who were producing this art

were doing a very, very different
set of menus,

uh, to what they're doing now.

These extraordinary changes
recorded in rock art

also matched the oral records.

We're going to show you
how all this connect, hey?

This story we're
going to tell you today

connects the ocean and the water

from Dreamtime stories.

Traditional owners,
including Vince Adams,

have a story which recalls a time
when animals moved inland

as the sea advanced.

That's come from the ocean
way, way back out there,

travelled to land
and made home here.

Water come in, they want to go home.

Ocean god say,
"No, you can't come here."

And as we all know,
all bats are land-based animals.

So we're actually seeing story

about a particular point
in time, aren't we?

Yeah.

That's the story that connects
ocean and land from our Dreaming.

On a visit to a remote island,
Vince spots, for the first time,

one of the most vivid symbols
of this change,

when desert became sea.

And see the kangaroo
with the turtle shell?

Yeah. Wow.

The turtle carapace actually
in the body of the kangaroos.

So, to me, that story
of passing culture over and law...

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

..from the ocean to land...

Yeah.

..land to land animal.

Yeah. Wow.

This rock art marks a momentous
milestone in human history.

The kangaroo...
Yep.

..we're following that law...

Yep.
..today.

That's amazing.

And to see that,
not many people get to see this.

It's the connection
from the sea to land.

This goes to show that, uh,
this history, this culture,

the engravings,
they all mean something.

Mm-hm. That's right.

And not just people walking around

and drawing on the rock
because they think they can.

Mm.

This is basically...

It's deep connection, isn't it?
It's huge connection.

Some of the oldest stories on
the planet may record actual events

that happened
tens of thousands of years ago.

There are songlines that conjure up
a world before the last Ice Age,

instructions on how to make tools

and guides for travelling
vast expanses without a map.

These libraries of knowledge
are all locked up

in a powerful recall system -

storytelling.

Now, I think
what's most remarkable about this

is that it's all tied back
to country.

Like my memory test,

the stories are written
in the landscape.

So now we know
how the information was transmitted.

Next we'll look at
what it was used for -

the innovations that meant
Australia's first inventors

didn't just survive in this place,
they thrived.

Next time, a communication system
spanning thousands of kilometres.

It's amazing how much information
really could be encoded

in these objects.

Complex societies organised
through mathematical genius.

This is a really optimised system.

Trade routes and superhighways

moving goods across the continent

and creating roads
all Australians rely on today.

Using a supercomputer, we ran 125
billion pathways through Australia.

Captions by Red Bee Media