The First Inventors

Publisher's description:
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.

Author: Sean Ulm, Larissa Behrendt, Billy Griffiths

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Format: Paperback

Pages: 320

Published: 2 June 2026

ISBN: 9781761471735