Modern Australian

Aboriginal traditions describe the complex motions of planets, the 'wandering stars' of the sky

  • Written by Duane W. Hamacher, Senior Research Fellow, Monash University
Aboriginal traditions describe the complex motions of planets, the 'wandering stars' of the skyVenus shines bright in the sky above Victoria.Flickr/Indigo Skies Photography, CC BY-NC-ND

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story may contain images and voices of people who have died.


The five planets we can see by naked eye were known to the ancient Greeks as “asteres planetai”, meaning...