Collaborative archaeological research reveals 1000 years of sustained Butchulla mollusc harvesting and cultural resilience on the largest sand island in the world, K’gari, Australia

Abstract

Abstract

Indigenous island and coastal occupation of southeast Queensland has been one of the most intensively studied topics in Australian archaeology. Indeed, the region possesses the best documented coastal archaeological record in the country. Yet the most famous and iconic landscape in this region, K’gari (Fraser Island) World Heritage Area in Butchulla Country, has been comparatively less studied. Here we present a new and detailed radiocarbon chronology and archaeomalacological analysis for Waddy Point 1 (WP1) rockshelter on K’gari, excavated with the Butchulla community in 2001. A Bayesian analysis of WP1 radiocarbon dates documents continuous occupation between c.1000 and c.150 years ago, with mollusc harvesting focused consistently on rocky shore gastropods and sandy shore bivalves. Recent development of the WP1 midden supports models of increased coastal residency, sedentism, and territoriality for southeast Queensland over the past 1000 years. Long-term sustained mollusc harvesting also speaks to the continued importance of the sea and marine foods to Butchulla diet and identity. Although British colonial invasion during the nineteenth century attempted to displace and erase Butchulla culture, post-contact mollusc shells in the upper levels of WP1 record Butchulla cultural resilience and possible scheduling changes in use of the site. In what ways the history of mollusc harvesting registered at the hundreds of other midden sites along the east coast of K’gari similarly record long-term continuities in marine-focused cultural practices and responses and resistances to colonial invasion are questions for future archaeological research. Such Truth-Telling archaeological research helps redress major inadequacies in colonial archival recordings of continuities in nineteenth century Butchulla occupation and use of K’gari.