Fifty years after the monumental discovery, could the story of Mungo Man be the nation’s “healing glue”?

'We watched this remarkable testimony to human antiquity unfold before our eyes': Geologist Jim Bowler, 94, recalls discovering the remains of the Mungo Man 50 years ago. Photo: Jenny Bowler

Five decades after significantly expanding understanding of the tens of thousands of years modern humans have inhabited Australia with his discovery of the ancient 'Mungo Man', Jim Bowler has returned to the dry lake that staged the momentous encounter.

That day - February 26, 1974 - would change the scientific understanding of human antiquity and prove what Australia's indigenous people have always known: they have been here pretty much forever ...