As valuable as indigenous knowledge of past environments is, we do have to acknowledge that it originates from verbal messages handed down from generation to generation. There are no written records to verify any of this knowledge. It is highly coloured by mythology and dreamtime stories, which are worthwhile in themselves, but cannot necessarily be relied upon in detail as an unbiased “scientific” account (similar to the Genesis story).
As well, there is evidence that aboriginal peoples have been on this continent for only about 40,000 years, which means that their historical knowledge, even if it were completely accurate, cannot include anything that happened before that time. When we are talking about our environment, this period is a mere blip in time
by Elizabeth Gordon-Mills, Phd