When white Europeans invaded Australia they disrupted and displaced many indigenous people, either incidentally via colonising farmland, or intentionally via snatching kids and putting them in boarding schools etc. Slaughters/massacres also occurred, especially early in colonisation.
Given indigenous Australians favoured oral storytelling rather than written records a great many traditions and histories were lost during that time. While efforts by Europeans to catalogue and record traditions has occurred (as seen in this piece), only in the past few decades have many tribes/nations been able to properly explore and research their past.
A recent example I can cite, anecdotally, was an Aboriginal man who told me he was only able to learn his native language* because German missionaries has recorded it in the 1800s and released the records back to the people a century later.
* There's hundreds of indigenous dialects throughout Australia.
Given indigenous Australians favoured oral storytelling rather than written records a great many traditions and histories were lost during that time. While efforts by Europeans to catalogue and record traditions has occurred (as seen in this piece), only in the past few decades have many tribes/nations been able to properly explore and research their past.
A recent example I can cite, anecdotally, was an Aboriginal man who told me he was only able to learn his native language* because German missionaries has recorded it in the 1800s and released the records back to the people a century later.
* There's hundreds of indigenous dialects throughout Australia.