Indigenous Australians preserved the oldest story known to humankind

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Most of human history has been lost forever. A lot of history has been written down on paper or parchment that has deteriorated and been destroyed or lost. Even then, a lot was not written down and even before then, several thousand years ago, we did not have written language at all, right? And indigenous Australians did not have a written language for millennia and millennia and millennia. But despite that, impressively, indigenous Australians have preserved through strong oral traditions one of, if not the oldest, story known to all of humankind.

[00:00:38]So, you may have heard of the Pleiades constellation, which is more commonly known as the Seven Sisters. Now, it is actually a lot of stars, but to the naked eye, it doesn't actually look like that. To the naked eye, it actually just looks like six stars, not even seven.

[00:00:55]It's called the Seven Sisters, but only six are actually easily visible. So, why is it called that? The explanation could go back to a hundred thousand years ago when the stars were in different positions and the seventh star that is being referenced in this story was in a different position and it was brighter and more visible. Now, the idea of calling this constellation the Seven Sisters is actually pretty common around the world in many, many cultures, but the Gamilaraay people of like northern New South Wales, their language and culture has a story to explain the seventh sister's absence.

[00:01:35]They call it Gurri Gurri, which means shy. Basically, yeah, there is meant to be seven. The seventh one's hiding behind one of the other ones. How could you not find that deeply impressive and cool? That there is this oral tradition that goes back, it finds its roots in tens of thousands of years of history and it preserves an image of the galaxy so old it does not exist anymore. The stars have shifted so much that you need a telescope to see what an oral tradition is actually referencing. There is just so much knowledge preserved in oral stories that is incredibly impressive that it managed to survive so long because a lot of it doesn't even reference things that exist anymore.

[00:02:25]There are a bunch of stories around the continent in reference to geography that has since shifted and has not been visible for over 7,000 years due to climate change and rising sea levels.

[00:02:37]Like the Great Barrier Reef used to be hunting grounds. There used to be a land bridge where you could walk to Rottnest Island, aka Wadjemup. Imagine preserving an oral tradition for over 7,000 years in reference to something that you cannot see.

[00:02:54]That is so cool.