Aboriginal Technology and Bioresources Collection
The Macquarie University Aboriginal Technology and Bioresources Collection is housed within the Department of Biological Sciences, and selected items are on permanent display in the Biology Museum.
The collection consists of Aboriginal artifacts from all parts of Australia, made from a wide range of raw materials including stone, bone, shell, wood, bark, fibre, resin and beeswax. The museum also includes a small photographic collection.
The aim of the collection is to demonstrate the variety of raw materials used by Aboriginal people, and the variety of artifact types used in different areas and environments. It includes left-handed and right-handed returning and non-returning boomerangs. The counterbalanced woomera from Cape York can be contrasted with the simple hooked stick from southeastern Australia, which is different from the multifunctional woomera/bowl/adze/knife/firestick from the desert regions of Central Australia.
Stone artifacts span almost the entire period of Aboriginal occupation of Australia - more than 40,000 years. They range from simple pebble tools and scapers to exquisitely made Kimberley points which were used a spear tips.