Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Paul Daley

Can the story of Mungo Man be the ‘healing glue’ of the nation 50 years on from the monumental discovery?

Jim Bowler
‘We saw unfolding before our eyes this remarkable testimony to human antiquity’: geologist Jim Bowler, 94, remembers discovering the Mungo Man remains 50 years ago. Photograph: Jenny Bowler

Five decades after significantly enhancing understanding of the tens of thousands of years modern humans have inhabited Australia with his discovery of ancient “Mungo man”, Jim Bowler has returned to the dry lake that staged the momentous encounter.

That day – 26 February 1974 – would change scientific understanding of human antiquity and prove what Australian Indigenous people have always known: they have been here for as good as forever or, in the case of Mungo Man and Mungo Lady – also found by Bowler in 1968 – 42,000 years and counting.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.