The First Inventors

This is the story of how Indigenous knowledge shaped the Australian continent. Based on the stunning SBS and Channel 10 TV series, The First Inventors takes readers on a journey through 65,000 years of innovation, diplomacy and design. It challenges everything you thought you knew about the deep history of Australia.

This is what a history of Australia looks like when it has Indigenous perspectives at its heart.

For over 65,000 years, people have made this continent their own through language, song, water and fire. The First Inventors tells their story. It is a history of innovation, diplomacy and design, and a celebration of the survival and resilience of cultural knowledge. It explores how people managed and engineered entire landscapes, and how they orchestrated seascapes according to the stars, tides and relationships with animal kin.

The First Inventors is grounded in the idea of Country: a transformative way of seeing, and relating to, the world. It honours old ways of knowing and relates fresh insights from cutting-edge collaborative research: from astronomy, navigation and ancient memory systems to archaeology, pottery and international trade.

Based on the stunning SBS and Channel 10 TV series, The First Inventors is a story of hope, wonder and possibility.

'A dazzling history that is anchored in the knowledges and practices of the Ancestors. With vivid prose and a wonderful sense of story, The First Inventors offers a different way of relating to the history and future of the continent.' Rachel Perkins

'Celebrates how our people shaped the landscape through curiosity, care and invention.' Professor Wesley Enoch AM

'An instant classic' Robyn Williams AO

'A big story in every sense of the word' Professor Lynette Russell AM

About the Author

BILLY GRIFFITHS is a writer and historian at Deakin University. He is the bestselling author of Deep Time Dreaming, which has won prizes in literature, archaeology and history, including Book of the Year at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. He lectures in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies and holds a research fellowship with the Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation.

LARISSA BEHRENDT AO is a legal academic, writer, filmmaker and Indigenous rights advocate. She is a Distinguished Professor of Law at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney. She is the author of several novels and non-fiction works, and chair of the Writing Australia Council. She was writer and director of the TV series The First Inventors.

SEAN ULM is Distinguished Professor of Archaeology at James Cook University and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures. His publications include more than 150 research articles and books on the archaeology of Australia. He directed research partners and developed storylines for the TV series The First Inventors.