Change or stability?: Hydraulics, hunter‐gatherers and population in temperate Australia

Abstract

Population and technology have been seen as remaining relatively stable for the length of Australia's prehistory. This viewpoint is challenged and evidence is provided to suggest that increases in population density in certain ecological zones have occurred due to changes in energy harnessing methods. A case study from south‐western Victoria demonstrates that the high density hunter‐gatherer populations of the area lived a semi‐sedentary life, had a broad based subsistence economy supported by a specialized technology which included the construction of large‐scale water controls. The development of these high energy expenditure systems is discussed, and mechanisms promoting change within hunter‐gatherer economies are described. A comparison between the population densities of the high density Australian hunter‐gatherers and some New Guinea shifting agriculturalists reveals only marginal differences, suggesting that comparable levels of energy harnessing have been achieved by different means.