The following information is derived from the Aboriginal Flaked Stone Tools mini-poster; one of a set of 15 Aboriginal heritage mini-posters produced by Aboriginal Affairs Victoria.
The mini-poster can be downloaded by clicking
the poster thumbnail 
Flaked stone tools were made by hitting a piece of stone, called a core, with a ‘hammer stone’, often a pebble. This would remove a sharp fragment of stone called a flake.
Both cores and flakes could be used as stone tools. New flakes were very sharp, but quickly became blunt during use and had to be sharpened again by further flaking, a process called ‘retouch’. A tool that was retouched has a row of small flake scars along one or more edges. Retouch was also used to shape a tool.
Not all types of stone could be used for making tools. The best types of stone are rich in silica, and are hard and brittle. These include quartzite, chert, flint, silcrete and quartz. Aboriginal people quarried such stone from outcrops of bedrock, or collected it as pebbles from stream beds and beaches. Many flaked stone artifacts found on Aboriginal sites are made from stone types that do not occur naturally in the area. This means they must have been carried long distances.
General
Flakes
Cores
Quartzite flakes
Chert flakes
These are examples of flakes that have not obviously been shaped and which have edges that have not been 'touched up'. Such artifacts are the most common found. They were generally cast-offs produced as a by-product of the manufacture of tools.
Stone tools are the most common evidence of past Aboriginal activities in Australia. They occur in many places and are often found with other remains from Aboriginal occupation, such as shell middens and cooking hearths. They are most common near rivers and creeks. It is easier to find them where there is not much vegetation or where the ground surface has been disturbed, for example by erosion.
Do not remove any material from the area. If you pick up a stone to examine it, make sure that you put it back where it came from. Check whether it has some of the key characteristics. Record the location, noting roughly how many stones there are. Note whether the area is under threat of disturbance.
Flaked stone tools could be made quickly, and were used for many everyday tasks, including shaping objects made of wood, bark and bone. They were used as spear-tips in hunting weapons and as knives to butcher game. They were also used to scrape and prepare animal skins for making cloaks, containers and decorative items.
Many natural processes can breakstone. These include rock-fall and extreme changes in temperature. Modern machines, such as ploughs, can also fracture stone. It is important to be able to distinguish stone that has been naturally or accidentally fractured from stone that was deliberately flaked by Aboriginal people. Some of the characteristics of Aboriginal flaked stone artifacts may occasionally occur on naturally fractured stone. However, it is very rare for two or more of these characteristics to occur on the same piece of stone as the result of a natural process.
Because stone artifacts do not rotor rust, they are often the only evidence of Aboriginal occupation in a particular area. Stone artifacts can provide information about where Aboriginal people lived,how they made other tools, hunted and prepared food. Sometimes traces of wood, plant food, or animal blood can survive on the edges of flaked stone tools. Specific marks and damage on a tool from use can help tell us what it was used for. This is because different tasks, such as wood carving or scraping animal skins, damaged the edge in different ways.
By finding the original source of stone that was used to make tools,it is sometimes possible to trace the movement of stone within an area.This tells us about Aboriginal systems of trade, exchange and social alliances.
There were a number of changes to the stone tools used by Aboriginal people over time. Because of this, stone tools can help provide an approximate age for the Aboriginal occupation of an area. Flaked stone tools are one of a range of artifacts that provide Aboriginal people today with an important link to their culture and past.
Because stone artifacts are found in many different places, and are usually small, they can be difficult to protect. They are sometimes collected by people who do not understand the importance of leaving Aboriginal cultural materials where they are found. Erosion and weathering and activities such as ditch digging and ploughing can disturb flaked stone artifacts. They can also be broken when trampled by animals such as cows, or when run over by vehicles.
Aboriginal Affairs Victoria records flaked stone artifacts. so that we will have a permanent photographic and written record of this important part of the heritage of all Australians. Some particularly good examples of sites containing flaked stone artifacts may require active conservation so that they can be preserved for future generations.
All Aboriginal cultural places and artifacts in Victoria are protected by law. It is illegal to disturb or destroy an Aboriginal place. Artifacts should not be removed from sites.
In general, the presence of flaked stone tools or flake discards on private land will not affect ownership, or stop existing land uses from continuing.
The presence of an flaked stone tools may indicate that other artifacts are present, or that a site of Aboriginal Cultural heritage significance is present. Please preserve Aboriginal cultural heritage sites by conducting environmental, agricultural and other activities in a manner that does not impact on them. Such areas are likely to cover a very small area relative to the size of most properties and avoiding disturbance should therefore have little effect on productivity. The presence of such a place will greatly enhance the value of an appropriately implemented environmental project and is likely to be assist applicants seeking funds for environmental projects.
Please help to preserve Aboriginal artifacts cultural heritage sites by reporting their presence to Aboriginal Affairs Victoria.