Voyage to Australia

Genesis 11:8-9
“So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

It has long been thought that human beings arrived in Australia by raft. Animals must have migrated to Australia early in the Ice Age, and perhaps humans did the same. By the way, creationists accept that there must have been an Ice Age. We think it occurred for a few hundred years after, and was caused by, the Genesis Flood. Our disagreement with evolutionary accounts of the Ice Age is over the alleged timescales, not over its reality. Hence, some new research about human migration to Australia is of great interest.

New research suggests that this human migration was not random, but was actually deliberately planned. Large numbers of people seem to have gathered, possibly at the shores of islands just west of the Wallace Line – that famous demarcation marking the geographic transition from Eurasian fauna to Australian fauna. A New Scientist article suggests that these people bravely sailed over the horizon, landing on the shores of Sahul – an Ice Age continent comprising of New Guinea, Australia and a few smaller islands. From there, these ancestors of Aboriginal Australians were able to migrate southwards over land before the rising oceans at the end of the Ice Age separated New Guinea from Australia.

We have previously discussed how marsupials could have migrated from the Ark region to Australia. This epic voyage of people would have been later, after Babel. So, this fascinating research is consistent with a biblical worldview of history.

Prayer: We thank You, Father, for Your wonderful plans for each one of us. Thank You especially for sending Your Son to redeem people from every tribe and nation. Amen.

Author: Paul F. Taylor

Ref: Lawton, G. (2020), The epic ocean journey that took Stone Age people to Australia, < https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24532660-600-the-epic-ocean-journey-that-took-stone-age-people-to-australia/ >, accessed 1/25/2020.

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