Aboriginal Oral Traditions of Australian Impact Craters

Abstract

We explore Aboriginal oral traditions that relate to Australian meteorite craters. Using the literature, first-hand ethnographic records, and fieldtrip data, we identify oral traditions and artworks associated with four impact sites: Gosses Bluff, Henbury, Liverpool, and Wolfe Creek. Oral traditions describe impact origins for Gosses Bluff, Henbury, and Wolfe Creek craters and non-impact origins of Liverpool crater, with Wolfe Creek and Henbury having both impact and non-impact origins in oral tradition. Three impact sites that are believed to have formed during human habitation of Australia - Dalgaranga, Veevers, and Boxhole - do not have associated oral traditions that are reported in the literature.