I'm loving this timeline, the level of details placed into it, whether it be cultural, ecological, agricultural etc.
Glad you like it.
Suffice to say, it has kind of given me food for thought about how I should approach and express my AH ideas. Alas, work does not afford me the time for the devotion and amount of research that you have obviously poured into this work.
Hope you find the time to write something; more AH is always good.
I had a short question about the Atjuntja and Yuduwungu people of the Southwest, are they in anyway cultural descendants of the OTL Nyoongars (or some of the many sub-clans like the Whadjuk, Bibbulmun, Pinjarup) or are they very culturally distinct?
They aren't really cultural descendants in any sense. They are the people who would have become the Noongar (or Nyoongar, or several other spellings), but they're more or less completely different. There's a few details of their beliefs which I've incorporated in a very changed form, and I've also used some actual Noongar words for the Atjuntja and related languages, but with completely different meanings.
I did have a vague idea of a semi monotheistic faith based on Wagyl/Waakal the Rainbow Serpent and it's "Mecca"
The Holy Golden Shrine of the Rainbow Serpent (loosely based on the Sikh's Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar) erected on the shores of Lake Walliabup (Bibra Lake) with a huge Golden Serpent arising from the waters (I know very phallic in nature
)
Does the high priest carry a rod of office?
Though I'm very anxious to find out the source for the comment "You don't want to know what goes on in a Yuduwungu Temple!"
Heh. There's several kinds of Atjuntja temples. But only one which will really get noticed by the Dutch and other Europeans - the one which is formally called the House of Absolution, although most Atjuntja give it another name.
All will be revealed in the post on the Atjuntja, which is more or less finished, except the usual final edit. (About 7500 words. Gah.) It's still two posts away, though. The next post is an overview of Australia in 1618, which will be followed by a few posts showing more detail about individual cultures. The Atjuntja post will be the first; the second is about the cultures which have arisen on Tasmania.
Also I wonder about the smaller off-shore yet still decently sized islands such as Fraser Island, Rottnest, Garden Island, Kangaroo Island, Flinders Island, King Island etc. Do any of these show potential for at least small to mid scale-settlement?
Kangaroo Island has been inhabited since late Classical times, and will play a significant part in *Australian history. Flinders and King Islands were settled as part of the colonisation of Tasmania. I haven't specified anything for Fraser Island yet, but it might be settled by the Kiyungu who live in the general area. Rottnest and Garden Islands are uninhabited, although they might be visited occasionally. (The Garden Island in WA, that is. The Garden Island in NSW is inhabited.)
This comment made me wonder about what happened with the natives of Tasmania when civilized *Australian started visiting in small boats? Did they retreat inland, or did they integrate themselvbes with the newcommers, adopting their techniques and/or their culture?
The Palawa (Tasmanian Aborigines) were relatively few in number, hunter-gatherers, and vulnerable to Australian diseases. Blue-sleep, anyway; Marnitja had not yet appeared. They were also unfortunate enough to face a mass migration from the mainland. Mainlanders moved across to Tasmania in considerable numbers, mostly due to pressure from mainland enemies and a tin rush. The Palawa weren't wiped out, by any means, but they've been pushed out of a lot of territory.
If Wikipedia is right, Tasmanians had arrived there on foot, when sea levels where lower than today, and had lost all contact with the mainland after they went up. If this is right, Tasmanians would have seen *Australians as people very different from themselves, as, although they would have had common ancestors, these would have lived more than 10.000 years ago. *Australians technology would be very strange for Tasmanians. Their diseases might cause a few problems there too. However, in the long right, I think they could have survived and integrated themselves with newcommers.
The surviving Palawa will certainly pick up a lot of technology from the colonising mainlanders (and the mainlanders will also learn a couple of things from them, of course.) They will, however, be displaced from the most fertile agricultural territories. This is another example of farmers displacing hunter-gatherers. Not completely, but the Palawa will be a demographic minority.
I would think that a sedentary lifestyle plus the impact of agriculture have combine to cause a profound physiological (morphological? I always mix these kinds of terms) change in mainland Australians. So much so, that the Tasmanians might think of them too alien in comparison to themselves. However that shouldn't prevent a hospitable reception and cultural exchange. After all, Jared have the Maori making contact without too much fuss.
The difference between the Maori contact with Australia and mainlanders (Tjunini and Kurnawal) settling Tasmania was the distance of sea lanes which they had to cross. The Maori and mainland Australian peoples didn't really fight because they're too far away to do anything meaningful. Tasmania is a lot closer, and thus easier to conduct a mass migration. That doesn't mean that the mainlanders will deliberately try to kill the Tasmanians, but the demographic tide is going to be against the Tasmanians.
I do wonder how suitable Tasmania really is for Australia's agricultural package, it does have some significant areas of relative fertile soils IIRC and rather heavy rainfall but is rather cool compared to the mainland. In OTL, agriculturally, it's renowned for its apples, stone fruits, wines and cheeses. It also exports a lot of premium seafood. As Jared pointed out, it also has sizable mineral deposits especially Tin.
Parts of Tasmania are quite suitable for the Australian agricultural package. The northern coast of Tasmania isn't that much colder than parts of southern Victoria. The eastern coast is pretty reasonable for growing those crops, too. However, the highland areas of Tasmania are mostly too cold for large-scale agriculture.
What happens is that some of the wattle species don't grow quite so well - bramble wattle and mystery wattle, to be precise. Other domesticated wattle species grow just fine - golden wattle, coastal wattle. Red yams still grow, but they have a shorter growing season, since they start slightly later in the year. As with highland areas on the mainland (the Monaro plateau, for instance), murnong is a relatively more important staple than it is in the warmer areas of the Murray basin.
It's amazing to think that two peoples could live so close together, yet be separated for so long.
It is. Especially since the ancestors of the Aborigines reached Australia (and Tasmania and New Guinea) by crossing waters which were nearly as far apart as Tasmania and Australia. Admittedly Bass Strait is a good deal rougher, what with currents and winds and so forth.
Actually, if platypus are, well, not domesticated so much as being encouraged to live where they can easily be harvested, have there been any *Aborigines who've tried to collect the venom? I'd think that a venom that causes immense pain and paralysis without actually killing or permanently injuring its victim (at least, when used on humans; perhaps it could also be used as an *Aboriginal rat poison?) would have some sort of use.
I'm not sure if platypus would be a major food item. They're not that big, and while their fur would be of some use, it might be too much hassle to collect.
Do platypuses taste good?
I've never tried it. I've heard some claims that it was considered taboo to eat by some Aboriginal peoples, but I'm not sure if that's universal.
Please: platypus, platypi, or if you really must platypodes.
As far as I know, platypuses (or simply platypus) is the plural form used in scientific literature; platypi is incorrect since the word platypus is of Greek derivation, not Latin.
Would that mean the name for a group of platypi would be a platypod?
Only if they're in hibernation.
The problem with Platypus is that they are the only poisonous mammal, the males have a spur on their hind legs that is backed by a poison gland.
To be pedantic, they're not the only poisonous mammal. A couple of species of shrew have venomous bites, as do some weird shrew-like animals which live on Cuba and Hispaniola (I can't remember their name at the moment.)
So pardon me if I'm not ovely keen of trying catch a platypus to have for lunch, apparently the poison spur hurts like hell if the male stabs you.
Depends how hungry you are, I suppose. Platypus (even introduced platypus) may be a minor part of the diet in New Zealand. If there are artificial wetlands there, though, I'd expect fish and waterbirds to be much more important.
