The First Knowledges series offers an introduction to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges in vital areas and their application to the present day and the future. Exploring practices such as architecture and design, land management, medicine, astronomy and innovation, this seven-book series brings together two very different ways of understanding the natural world: one ancient, the other modern.
Each book is a collaboration between First Nations and non-Indigenous writers and editors. The series is edited by Margo Neale, senior curator at the National Museum of Australia.
Pages: 7 x 224-228, Paperback
Published: 2020-2023
Law: The Way of the AncestorsMarcia Langton and Aaron Corn show how Indigenous law has enabled people to survive and thrive in Australia for more than 2000 generations.
Law is culture, and culture is law. Given by the ancestors and cultivated over millennia, Indigenous law defines what it is to be human. Complex and evolving, law holds the keys to resilient, caring communities and a life in balance with nature.
Nurturing people and places, law is the foundation of all Indigenous societies in Australia, giving them the tools to respond and adapt to major environmental and social changes. But law is not a thing of the past. These living, sophisticated systems are as powerful now as they have ever been, if not more so.
Law: The Way of the Ancestors challenges readers to consider how Indigenous law can inspire new ways forward for us all in the face of global crises.
Pages: 227, Paperback
Published: 2023
Somebody’s LandFor thousands and thousands of years, Aboriginal people lived in the land we call Australia.
The land was where people built their homes, played in the sun, and sat together to tell stories. When the white people came, they called the land Terra Nullius. They said it was nobody’s land. But it was somebody’s land. Somebody’s Land is an invitation to connect with First Nations culture, to acknowledge the hurt of the past, and to join together as one community with a precious shared history as old as time.
Pages: 24, Hardcover
Published: 2021
Age: 4+ years
SharingWhen we share, there is plenty for all.
A tender, thoughtful story with a gentle reminder of all the ways sharing makes us stronger.
Pages: 32, Hardcover
Published: 2021, Age 3+
RespectA tender, thoughtful story reminding us to respect others and respect ourselves.
Part of the Our Place series which welcomes children to culture.
Pages: 32, Hardcover
Published: 2020
Ages: 3-6 years
FamilyFamily, Heart and home, Yarning old people, Endless sky
Family is a thoughtful contemplation for all to learn the different ways that family makes us whole. This beautifully illustrated children’s picture book shows everyone that ‘family’ can be about heart and home; an endless sky; stories and songs. It ‘learns’ us how to be with each other and with Country. Families come in all shapes and sizes, and this remarkably simple story teaches us all, that family can be many things.
Pages: 32, Hardcover
Published: 2020
Age: 3+ years
CeremonyA joyful celebration of family and culture, the Welcome to Our Country series introduces First Nations history to children.
Joyful and full of fun, Ceremony invites you to celebrate the rich traditions of dance, family, community and caring for Country from the world’s oldest continuous culture.
Pages: 24, Hardcover
Published: 2022
Age: 4+ years
Awesome EmuA charming morality tale that reminds us to be humble about our successes.
Way back, before once-upon-a-time time, there was the Dreamtime, and during this period lived a very confident emu called Dinewah. He was tall, fast and colourful. Most animals thought he was a show-off, but he was too busy talking about himself to take any notice…
Pages: 32, Hardcover
Published: 2021
Age: 3+ years
Songlines: Power and PromiseThis book invites readers to understand a remarkable way for storing knowledge in memory by adapting song, art and Country, into their lives.
Weaving deeply personal storytelling with extensive research on mnemonics, Songlines: The Power and Promise offers unique insights into Indigenous traditional knowledges, how they apply today and how they could help all peoples thrive into the future.
Pages: 216, Paperback
Published: 2020
Design: Building on CountryAlison Page and Paul Memott show how design principles based in the Dreaming are now being applied to contemporary practices.
Aboriginal design is of a distinctly cultural nature, based in the Dreaming and in ancient practices grounded in Country. It is visible in the aerodynamic boomerang, the Ingenious design of fish traps and the precise layouts of community settlements that strengthen social cohesion.Alison Page and Paul Memmott show how these design principles of sophisticated function, sustainability and storytelling, refined over many millennia, are now being applied to contemporary practices. Design: Building on Country issues a challenge for a new Australian design ethos, one that truly responds to the essence of Country and its people.
Pages: 228, Paperback
Published: 2021
Country: Future Fire, Future FarmingThe First Knowledges series offers an introduction to Indigenous knowledges in vital areas and their application to the present day and the future. Exploring practices such as architecture and design, land management, botany, astronomy and innovation, this six-book series brings together two very different ways
Bill Gammage and Bruce Pascoe demonstrate how Aboriginal people cultivated the land through manipulation of water flows, vegetation and firestick practice. Not solely hunters and gatherers, the First Australians also farmed and stored food. They employed complex seasonal fire programs that protected Country and animals alike. In doing so, they avoided the killer fires that we fear today.
Pages: 224, Paperback
Published: 2021
Astronomy: Sky CountryKarlie Noon and Krystal De Napoli explore the connections between Aboriginal environmental and cultural practices and the behaviour of the stars.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the oldest scientists in human history. In Astronomy:Many First Peoples regard the land as a reflection of the sky and the sky a reflection of the land. Sophisticated astronomical expertise embedded within the Dreamtime and Songlines is interwoven into a deep understanding of changes on the land, such as weather patterns and seasonal shifts, that are integral to knowledges of time, food availability, and ceremony.In Astronomy: Sky Country, Karlie Noon and Krystal De Napoli explore the connections between Aboriginal environmental and cultural practices and the behaviour of the stars, and consider what must be done to sustain our dark skies, and the information they hold, into the future.
Pages: 224, Paperback
Published: 2022