First Footprints

The First Footprints app is the official companion to the ground-breaking First Footprints 4-part Documentary series on ABC1. Once installed, no Internet connection is needed to unlock the content for each episode.

Uncover 50,000 years of Australia’s ancient past through interactive animations, videos and galleries showing the world’s oldest oral stories, new archaeological discoveries, stunning art and cinematic CGI.

Episode 1: Super Nomads
Over 50,000 years ago people made the first open sea voyage in human history to discover Australia: an island continent full of deadly megafauna and strange plants that had been evolving in isolation for 65 million years.
• Push away the leaves and see Australia as it was 50,000 years ago still connected to Tasmania and New Guinea.

• See Mungo Man, regarded as the oldest modern human skeleton found outside Africa.
• Reveal the rock shelter at Garbarnmung, a site occupied for 48,000 years with a painting that could be one of the oldest in the world.

Episode 2: The Great Drought
When the last ice age hit Australia 30,000 years ago, sea levels dropped 130 meters below today’s level. Deserts devoured 90% of the continent. The greatest drought in human history lasted 10,000 years, yet people thrived.
• Tilt to pour away the sand and see Australia during a 10,000 year drought.

• We show how we can interpret more than 450 footprints left fossilised in the Lake Mungo clay pan.

• Use the slider to see the separation of Tasmania in-depth as the drought ends. 

Episode 3: The Great Flood
From 18,000 years ago melting polar ice caps began drowning 25% of Greater Australia. New Guinea and Tasmania became islands. This was a time of war, ingenious inventions, spectacular art and new nations.
• Crack the ice that leads to the great flood and an Australian coastline close to that of present day.

• Find out about Narrabeen Man. The 3,500 year old skeleton found underneath a bus stop in Sydney.

• Watch Sydney Harbour morph from present day to a green valley.

Episode 4: The Biggest Estate
When much of the world embraced agriculture, the first Australians rejected it. They chose instead ingenious land management systems like fire stick farming to transform the harshest habitable continent into a land of bounty.
• Rub the screen to see Australia from the perspective of the first Australians.

• Learn about trading in the Torres Strait.

• Discover evidence of the earliest system of aquaculture found in Australia.