Name: Aboriginal Skies
Start: 2025-05-17T19:30:00+09:30
Location: Adelaide Planetarium, University Of South Australia (Mawson Lakes)

Paul Curnow
Adelaide Planetarium
University of South Australia
Abstract: Aboriginal Australians have been looking at the night sky for thousands of years. During this time, they have been able to build up a complex knowledge of the stars and their movements. This connection with the night sky represents some of the earliest ponderings about the cosmos and was an effort to explain natural phenomena. Moreover, the stars were used for navigation, education, as a seasonal guide to the availability of foods, in addition to reinforcing cultural identity and spirituality. Come along and hear about some of the Aboriginal Dreaming stories; their ‘dark pattern’ constellations such as the ‘celestial emu’; the names they gave to the stars and the differences between the way the sky is viewed in comparison to the classical 88-constellations used by contemporary astronomers (no admission for children under 16-years of age due to cultural protocols).
Bio: Paul Curnow (B.Ed.) is a world-renowned educator and astronomer, and after 33-years is South Australia’s longest serving planetarium lecturer. In 2002, he served as a southern sky specialist for visiting U.S. and British astronomers who were in Australia for the total solar eclipse. After three decades of research, he is regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on Australian Aboriginal night sky knowledge; and in 2004, he worked in conjunction with the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center Planetarium in Ohio, on the creation of a show that features Indigenous Australian stories of the night sky. Moreover, from 2018-2024, he has served as a consultant on Indigenous Astronomy for the Australian Space Agency.
In addition, Paul runs several popular courses for the public that focus on the constellations, planetary astronomy, meteoritics, historical astronomy and ethnoastronomy, which primarily deals with how the night sky is seen by non-western cultures. He appeared as the keynote speaker at the inaugural 2010 Lake Tyrrell Star Party in Sea Lake, Victoria and in 2011 was a special guest speaker at the Carter Observatory in Wellington, New Zealand. Since 2012 Paul has taken the role of Lecturer for the ‘Astronomy & the Universe’ course (EDUC2066); and between 2019-2021 for ‘Science’ (EDUC 2030) for the School of Education at the University of South Australia. He has been a member of the Field Geology Club of South Australia since 1992.
Moreover, from 2021-2024 was an advisor for the Andy Thomas Space Foundation Education Advisory Committee; and in 2023 completed a U.S. lecture tour, where he was a special invited guest speaker at several planetariums, colleges, and universities. Paul appears regularly in the media and has authored over 50 articles on astronomy.
To be held at the Adelaide Planetarium (upstairs), Building P, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus. Mawson Lakes Boulevard, Mawson Lakes SA 5095. Cost $35.00 per person.
FOR GENERAL ENQUIRIES OR FURTHER INFORMATION
Contact Name: Allison Price
Company Name: University of South Australia
Telephone: (08) 8302 3138
Email: [email protected]