On Murray Island in the Torres Strait the Meriam people have a song about the stars and the change of seasons.

Why is it so calm tonight Why are the stars twinkling like embers? Me, I think it's because of the big wind The clouds are coming from the south And being swept to the northwest Why are the stars twinkling like embers? — Uer Naskaisreda 'The Twinkling Stars' song by George Passi

It tells of a time of year when it is very still on the ground but the high-altitude trade winds are changing to bring the monsoon season.

"This is a period of transition," says Meriam elder Mr Alo Tapim. "It's when you harvest yam and prepare the garden for new plantings. The monsoon is when the land turns from being brown to green."

The way stars twinkle tell the Meriam about changes in the weather and seasons.

"Rapid twinkling tells you the wind is going to pick up," Mr Tapim says.

He has been collaborating with astronomer Dr Duane Hamacher of Monash University to document traditional knowledge used by the people from Murray Island — also known as Mer.

Dr Hamacher, who has a background in physics and used to study exoplanets, has been studying Indigenous knowledge about astronomy for nearly a decade.

While some scientists may dismiss knowledge systems that include spirituality — as myth, legend and fairy tale — Dr Hamacher disagrees.

"As a scientist myself, I can see all the scientific information encoded here," says Dr Hamacher, who recently gave a talk on his research at an Indigenous sciences symposium.

The indigenous inhabitants of Murray Island (Mer) rely heavily on the sea. ( Duane Hamacher )

The science in the song

Dr Hamacher says the information contained in songs such as Uer Naskasisreda shows a scientific understanding that the Earth's atmosphere is the main factor affecting the way stars appear to us.

The brightness of stars change as a result of moving pockets of air bending the starlight in different directions, and the faster these pockets move, the faster stars twinkle.

So, in the song, the stars are said to be twinkling rapidly because of high-altitude trade winds.

"Even though it's calm on the ground you can look at how the stars are twinkling and tell the seasons are changing," Dr Hamacher says.

He says the Meriam people also observe the colours of twinkling stars to help predict weather. If the stars are twinkling fast and are bright blue in colour, this indicates storms are approaching.

This shows the scientific understanding that moisture in the atmosphere will make stars appear blue (because water absorbs the redder and greener wavelengths), Dr Hamacher says.

"It doesn't absorb the blue wavelengths of light and that's one of the reasons why the ocean looks blue," he says.

Other Indigenous cultures such as the Northern Dene people in Canada and Alaska, he adds, also read the stars in a similar way to the Mer Islanders.

"Even though their climate and geography is completely different and the two cultures are separated by thousands of kilometres, the science behind it is essentially the same," he says.

Astronomy features in fight for land rights

Two Meriam men perform a dance to a song about how the moon rises over their home island. ( Duane Hamacher )

Astronomical features are also part of the Meriam people's historical tribal law called Malo's law (named after the god Malo), which Meriam man Eddie Mabo used in his famous argument for land rights.

"The stars will always follow their own path," Mr Tapim says.

"You don't go on someone else's land. The Southern Cross doesn't cross over to the Pleiades — they have their own path."

One traditional song about the moon was used as evidence in a court case in which the Torres Strait Islanders were fighting for sea rights.

The song, which is also performed as a dance, encodes navigational information and tells of how the Moon can be seen rising above Mer Island when the Meriam are returning from another island 150 kilometres to the west.

Mr Tapim performed the song for a judge to prove connection between the islands — a crucial point in the case for sea rights.

Indigenous knowledge and western science

While Indigenous knowledge and western science may seem a world apart, Dr Hamacher says both involve trying to understand how the world works, using the methods of observation and experimentation.

But Indigenous knowledge tends to be holistic in its approach, asking different questions to the hard sciences of physics and chemistry.

The focus is more on how to live as part of the ecology, Mr Tapim explains.

"The Meriam world is all about the environment — it's not about pens, paper or computers. It's just a simple world of what you see and who's around you," he says.

Mr Tapim hopes the collaboration with Dr Hamacher will raise awareness of his continuing culture and its knowledge system.

"We have to make the wider world aware that there was a system that existed [prior to European arrival], and still exists," Mr Tapim says.

"It's a matter of one society recognising another society and both can co-exist."