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In this article we present the results of a morphological analysis of four mostly complete non-returning boomerangs and one shaped wooden fragment recovered in 2017 and 2018 from Cooper Creek near Innamincka in South Australia's far northeast. This archaeological collection forms one of only six known/published wooden artefact assemblages in the country. We also detail the results of the direct accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) measurement of the artefacts which range from circa 275–175 BP (1650–1830 cal AD, median ages reported). Given that the age estimates obtained for the artefacts are from the recent period, we have complemented the morphological analysis by interpreting the assemblage within the context of ethnohistorical records and Traditional Owner knowledge. The assemblage reveals a variety of forms and functions representative of the diverse cultural activities and daily lives of the Aboriginal people who lived near significant waterholes in the Cooper Creek region during this period. The boomerangs also preserve manufacture and use-wear traces, providing insights into the life histories of each implement. In addition to their likely use as projectiles, our results indicate that the boomerangs were probably used for fighting, hunting, digging, fire management and possibly in ceremonies. Predictions for climate change in the region threaten to alter the conditions that allowed the preservation of these artefacts which may negatively affect the potential survival of other wooden objects that remain in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The Malara (Anuru Bay A) Macassan trepang-processing site was investigated from 2008 to 2010, to test two chronological models of the timing of cultural contact between north-west Arnhem Land and South-East Asia. Currently, the models of contact between South-East Asian people and Australian Indigenous people are a 'long model' of pre-Macassan and Macassan contact (>200 years) and a 'short model' of only Macassan contact (<120 years). The aims of this study were to assess when the site was first occupied, when intensification of site use occurred and when the site was abandoned. This assessment was undertaken by radiocarbon dating of the major trepang-processing features, the two burials at the site and several other occupation areas. Bayesian analysis of the 18 radiocarbon dates gives 80% probability that Indonesians first used the site around AD 1637. Trepang processing intensified during the middle to late eighteenth century, consistent with the known expansion of the Macassan trepang trade. There is a final occupation and processing phase in the late nineteenth century. We discuss issues regarding the 'old' radiocarbon dates from trepang-processing sites. We argue that our investigations support the 'long model' of cultural contact between Asian visitors and local Indigenous groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]