Out of Time, Out of Place

1983, 70 Minutes

Physical anthropologist Dr Alan Thorne presents his theory about the origins of the first Australians.

In the 1970's, two exciting discoveries of human fossil remains at Kow Swamp (Vic) and Lake Mungo (NSW) focused world attention on Australia. Evidence strongly suggested that two very different types of people lived here long before the emergence of modern Australian Aboriginal people.

Physical anthropologist Dr Alan Thorne is a leading proponent of the Regional Continuity theory of human evolution. Out of Time, Out of Place examines his hypothesis that modern Aborigines are the descendants of two groups of people who migrated to Australia from Indonesia and eastern Asia, predominantly China. We follow Dr Thorne as he travels through England, Java and China to find answers to many of the questions posed by the Dreamtime stories of the First Australians.

A Film Australia Production.
© 2011 National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.