Robert S Fuller
Biographic Data
| ID | 149371 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robert S Fuller |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robert S |
| FAMILY NAME | Fuller |
| SIGNATURE | FULLER R S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western Sydney University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5592-9138 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 8 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The Role of Astronomy in Australian Indigenous Knowledge
Astronomy plays a significant role in the culture of many Australian Indigenous peoples. Traditional Indigenous Australians had an extensive knowledge of the sky and the motion of the bodies within it. That astronomical knowledge was not only important culturally, but also revealed an intellectual complexity that has gone largely unrecognized, including a quest to understand phenomena such as tides and eclipses (Hamacher and Norris, 2011). More p…
The Astronomy of the Aboriginal Peoples of the Sydney Basin
Linking the Pleiades to a reawakened Black Duck Songline in Southeastern Australia
This article presents an analysis of an Aboriginal songline in South‐eastern Australia that has not been previously recorded. As part of a project examining the astronomy and songline connections of the Saltwater Aboriginal peoples of the New South Wales coast, the Black Duck Songline was identified that may have links to the Pleiades star cluster. The Pleiades, known by many peoples as the Seven Sisters, is one of the most important elements of …
Solstice and Solar Position Observations in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditions
A major focus of archaeoastronomical research conducted around the world is to understand how ancient cultures observed sunrise and sunset points along the horizon, particularly at the solstices and equinoxes. Scholars argue that observations of sunrise and sunset points are useful for developing calendars and predicting seasonal change, which is the foundation of the Eurocentric four-season Julian (and later Gregorian) calendar. Famous examples …
Did Aboriginal Australians Record a Simultaneous Eclipse and Aurora in Their Oral Traditions
We investigate an Australian Aboriginal cultural story that seems to describe an extraordinary series of astronomical events occurring at the same time. We hypothesise that this was a witnessed natural event and explore natural phenomena that could account for the description. We select a thunderstorm, total solar eclipse, and strong Aurora Australis as the most likely candidates, then conclude a plausible date of 764 CE. We evaluate the differen…
The Emu Sky Knowledge of the Kamilaroi and Euahlayi Peoples
This paper presents a detailed study of the knowledge of the Kamilaroi and Euahlayi peoples about the 'Emu in the Sky'. This study was done with ethnographic data that was not previously reported in detail. We surveyed the literature to find that there are widespread reports of an 'Emu in the Sky' across Aboriginal Australian language groups, but little detailed knowledge available in the literature. This paper reports and describes a comprehensi…
Astronomical orientations of Bora ceremonial grounds in southeast Australia
Ethnographic evidence indicates that bora (initiation) ceremonial sites in southeast Australia, which typically comprise a pair of circles connected by a pathway, are symbolically reflected in the Milky Way as the ‘Sky Bora’. This evidence also indicates that the position of the Sky Bora signifies the time of year when initiation ceremonies are held. We use archaeological data to test the hypothesis that southeast Australian bora grounds have a p…
Orientations Of Linear Stone Arrangements in New South Wales
We test the hypothesis that Aboriginal linear stone arrangements in New South Wales are oriented along cardinal directions. We accomplish this by measuring the azimuths of stone arrangements described on site cards held in the New South Wales Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System. We find a preference recorded on the site cards for cardinal orientations among azimuths. We then survey a subset of these sites to test the accuracy of the…
The Emu Sky Knowledge of the Kamilaroi and Euahlayi Peoples
This paper presents a detailed study of the knowledge of the Kamilaroi and Euahlayi peoples about the 'Emu in the Sky'. This study was done with ethnographic data that was not previously reported in detail. We surveyed the literature to find that there are widespread reports of an 'Emu in the Sky' across Aboriginal Australian language groups, but little detailed knowledge available in the literature. This paper reports and describes a comprehensi…
Did Aboriginal Australians Record a Simultaneous Eclipse and Aurora in Their Oral Traditions
We investigate an Australian Aboriginal cultural story that seems to describe an extraordinary series of astronomical events occurring at the same time. We hypothesise that this was a witnessed natural event and explore natural phenomena that could account for the description. We select a thunderstorm, total solar eclipse, and strong Aurora Australis as the most likely candidates, then conclude a plausible date of 764 CE. We evaluate the differen…
Astronomical orientations of Bora ceremonial grounds in southeast Australia
Ethnographic evidence indicates that bora (initiation) ceremonial sites in southeast Australia, which typically comprise a pair of circles connected by a pathway, are symbolically reflected in the Milky Way as the ‘Sky Bora’. This evidence also indicates that the position of the Sky Bora signifies the time of year when initiation ceremonies are held. We use archaeological data to test the hypothesis that southeast Australian bora grounds have a p…
Orientations Of Linear Stone Arrangements in New South Wales
We test the hypothesis that Aboriginal linear stone arrangements in New South Wales are oriented along cardinal directions. We accomplish this by measuring the azimuths of stone arrangements described on site cards held in the New South Wales Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System. We find a preference recorded on the site cards for cardinal orientations among azimuths. We then survey a subset of these sites to test the accuracy of the…
Astronomical orientations of Bora ceremonial grounds in southeast Australia
Ethnographic evidence indicates that bora (initiation) ceremonial sites in southeast Australia, which typically comprise a pair of circles connected by a pathway, are symbolically reflected in the Milky Way as the ‘Sky Bora’. This evidence also indicates that the position of the Sky Bora signifies the time of year when initiation ceremonies are held. We use archaeological data to test the hypothesis that southeast Australian bora grounds have a p…
The Emu Sky Knowledge of the Kamilaroi and Euahlayi Peoples
This paper presents a detailed study of the knowledge of the Kamilaroi and Euahlayi peoples about the 'Emu in the Sky'. This study was done with ethnographic data that was not previously reported in detail. We surveyed the literature to find that there are widespread reports of an 'Emu in the Sky' across Aboriginal Australian language groups, but little detailed knowledge available in the literature. This paper reports and describes a comprehensi…
Did Aboriginal Australians Record a Simultaneous Eclipse and Aurora in Their Oral Traditions
We investigate an Australian Aboriginal cultural story that seems to describe an extraordinary series of astronomical events occurring at the same time. We hypothesise that this was a witnessed natural event and explore natural phenomena that could account for the description. We select a thunderstorm, total solar eclipse, and strong Aurora Australis as the most likely candidates, then conclude a plausible date of 764 CE. We evaluate the differen…
Solstice and Solar Position Observations in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditions
A major focus of archaeoastronomical research conducted around the world is to understand how ancient cultures observed sunrise and sunset points along the horizon, particularly at the solstices and equinoxes. Scholars argue that observations of sunrise and sunset points are useful for developing calendars and predicting seasonal change, which is the foundation of the Eurocentric four-season Julian (and later Gregorian) calendar. Famous examples …
Linking the Pleiades to a reawakened Black Duck Songline in Southeastern Australia
This article presents an analysis of an Aboriginal songline in South‐eastern Australia that has not been previously recorded. As part of a project examining the astronomy and songline connections of the Saltwater Aboriginal peoples of the New South Wales coast, the Black Duck Songline was identified that may have links to the Pleiades star cluster. The Pleiades, known by many peoples as the Seven Sisters, is one of the most important elements of …
The Astronomy of the Aboriginal Peoples of the Sydney Basin
The Role of Astronomy in Australian Indigenous Knowledge
Astronomy plays a significant role in the culture of many Australian Indigenous peoples. Traditional Indigenous Australians had an extensive knowledge of the sky and the motion of the bodies within it. That astronomical knowledge was not only important culturally, but also revealed an intellectual complexity that has gone largely unrecognized, including a quest to understand phenomena such as tides and eclipses (Hamacher and Norris, 2011). More p…
Geography (8 works) · Australian Indigenous Culture and History (7 works) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (7 works) · History (5 works) · Physics (5 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (4 works) · Astronomy (4 works) · Archaeology (3 works) · History (3 works) · Computer Science (2 works)