Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance company focused on contemporary dance. It was founded by African American dancer and choreographer Carole Y. Johnson, Gumbaynggirr man Rob Bryant, and South African-born Cheryl Stone. Stephen Page was artistic director from 1991 to 2021, with Frances Rings taking over in 2022.
Australian Aboriginal astronomy has been passed down orally, through ceremonies, and in their artwork of many kinds. The astronomical systems passed down thus show a depth of understanding of the movement of celestial objects which allowed them to use them as a practical means for creating calendars and for navigating across the continent and waters of Australia. There is a diversity of astronomical traditions in Australia, each with its own particular expression of cosmology. However, there appear to be common themes and systems between the groups. Due to the long history of Australian Aboriginal astronomy, the Aboriginal peoples have been described as "world's first astronomers" on several occasions.
Anita Marianne Heiss is an Aboriginal Australian author, poet, cultural activist and social commentator. She is an advocate for Indigenous Australian literature and literacy, through her writing for adults and children and her membership of boards and committees.
Frederick Garnett Watson AM is an English-born astronomer and popular scientist in Australia. He holds the role of Australia's First Astronomer at Large within the Commonwealth Government of Australia, relaying the important aspects of Australian astronomy to the government, the general public, and associated organisations.
Ray Norris is an astrophysicist and science communicator, based at the CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility, and Western Sydney University, and conducts research in astrophysics and Aboriginal Astronomy.
Barnumbirr, also known as Banumbirr or Morning Star, is a creator-spirit in the Yolngu culture of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, who is identified as the planet Venus. In Yolngu Dreaming mythology, she is believed to have guided the first humans, the Djanggawul sisters, to Australia. After the Djanggawul sisters arrived safely near Yirrkala in North East Arnhem Land, Barnumbirr flew across the land from east to west, creating a songline which named and created the animals, plants, and geographical features.
The Australian Aboriginal Astronomy Project is a collaboration of academics, educators, and Indigenous elders researching the astronomical traditions and knowledge of Indigenous Australians, commonly termed Australian Aboriginal astronomy. This research in cultural astronomy covers the disciplines of archaeoastronomy, ethnoastronomy, historical astronomy, geomythology, and Indigenous knowledge. Their work encompasses the cultural significance of astronomy within indigenous communities, while simultaneously maintaining the continuation of indigenous knowledge that astronomy encompasses.
Stargazing Live is a British live television programme on astronomy that was broadcast yearly on BBC Two over three nights every winter from 2011 to 2017. The series was primarily presented by scientist Brian Cox and comedian and amateur astronomer Dara Ó Briain with support from TV presenter and biochemist Liz Bonnin and astronomer Mark Thompson. For the first six series, the show was broadcast from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, and featured live links from scientific facilities in locations such as Hawaii, South Africa, and Norway. The seventh series in 2017 was broadcast from Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, and a special episode filmed at Kennedy Space Center was broadcast in July 2019 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.
Macarthur Astronomy Forum is a monthly public forum organised by Macarthur Astronomical Society, providing leading national and international professional astronomers with a platform to address the Forum on topics of astronomical interest; also providing members of the Society and the general public with opportunities to learn and ask questions.
Lisa Harvey-Smith is a British-Australian astrophysicist, Australia's Women in STEM Ambassador and a Professor of Practice in Science Communication at the University of NSW. Her research interests include the origin and evolution of cosmic magnetism, supernova remnants, the interstellar medium, massive star formation and astrophysical masers. For almost a decade Harvey-Smith was a research scientist at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), including several years as the Project Scientist for the Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder and later Project Scientist for the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) Telescope.
Amanda Elaine Bauer is an American professional astronomer and science communicator. She is the Deputy Director and Head of Science and Education at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. She was previously based in Tucson, Arizona, working as Head of Education and Public Outreach at the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. From 2013 to 2016 she was a Research Astronomer at the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO). Her principal field of research concerns how galaxies form, how they create new stars, and particularly why they suddenly stop creating new stars.
Elaine Margaret Sadler is an Australian astrophysicist. She is the Australia Telescope National Facility Chief Scientist and a Professor of Astrophysics in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney. She was elected as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (AAS) in 2010 and commenced a 4-year term as Foreign Secretary of the AAS in 2018. She was previously director of the CAASTRO centre (2014-2018).
Jessie Christiansen is an Australian astrophysicist who is the Chief Scientist of the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). She won the 2018 NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal for her work on the Kepler planet sample.
Faye Beverley McMillan is an Australian academic and pharmacist known for her work on improving Indigenous healthcare. In 2023 she was awarded the Australian Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy and Practice. She is a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Social Equity, as well as being a Senior Fellow with Advance HE. She is a founding member of Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA) and was a board member of IAHA from 2009-2017. She joined UTS in 2022 with over 20 years of experience in the Higher Education Sector and over 30 years in the health sector.
Karlie Alinta Noon is the first Indigenous woman in Australia to graduate with a double degree in maths and physics, an astronomer, of the Gamilaraay people, multiple award winner, 2019 Eureka Prize nominee, and one of the 2017 BBC's 100 Women. She is researching astronomy and astrophysics at the Australian National University, Australia.
Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident? is a 2014 non-fiction book by Bruce Pascoe. It re-examines colonial accounts of Aboriginal people in Australia, and cites evidence of pre-colonial agriculture, engineering and building construction by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. A second edition, published under the title Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture was published in mid-2018, and a version of the book for younger readers, entitled Young Dark Emu: A Truer History, was published in 2019.
Stacy Lyall Mader is an Australian astronomer. He is a Senior Experimental Scientist at CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, and was the first Aboriginal Australian to obtain a PhD in astronomy.
Ghillar Michael Anderson, or Michael Ghillar Anderson, is a Euahlayi Elder and activist from Goodooga, New South Wales, in Australia.
Indigenous astronomy is the name given to the use and study of astronomical subjects and their movements by indigenous groups. This field encompasses culture, traditional knowledge, and astronomy. Astronomy has been practised by indigenous groups to create astronomical calendars which inform on weather, navigation, migration, agriculture, and ecology. Alongside calendric uses, constellations have names and stories that inform ceremony and social structures holding specific and deep cultural meanings for respective indigenous groups.
