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Government Approved Destruction 15-Jan-2007 At 10:33:08 PM BigMike

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On 15/01/2007 climberman wrote:

>When was Australia a people-free wilderness ?

"The minimum widely-accepted timeframe for the arrival of humans in Australia places this at 40,000 to 45,000 years ago: the upper range supported by others is up to 70,000 years ago. Repeated episodes of extended glaciation during the Pleistocene epoch, resulted in decreases of sea levels by some 100-150 metres. Migration was achieved during the closing stages of the Pleistocene, when sea levels were much lower than they are today. The continental coastline extended much further out into the Timor Sea, and Australia and New Guinea formed a single landmass (known as Sahul), connected by an extensive land bridge across the Arafura Sea, Gulf of Carpentaria and Torres Strait. It is theorised that these ancestral peoples first navigated the shorter distances from and between the Sunda Islands to reach Sahul; then via the land bridge to spread out through the continent."

I wonder if that bridge had a hand rail....?