While I appreciate (and have some sympathy for) the sentiments expressed above I thought the Guest who started the query hadn't fully thought through the connection between the thread title, their proposition and their question, namely

"The bodhran is as traditional Irish as the didgeridoo is trad. Australian Aboriginal."

True or false ?

The bodgran now has association with Irish music that many people think of as "traditional" (to the regret of many, but that's the way of things) and the didge has acquired similar association, to such an extent that the sound of one in a soundtrack somewhere is supposed to invoke some connection to the whole gamut of things Australian whether Aboriginal or not.

Didgeridoos were originally limited to Arnhem Land, the Kimberley and places in between. There is no evidence of them anywhere else in Australia until colonists, anthropologists and other Balandas took them from those limited areas. Timber artefacts have a limited potential to survive in archaeological contexts in those areas so it's unlikely we'll get evidence older than the current ethnographic material and information.

Didgeridoos certainly were not ethnographically recorded south of the frost free line although more of them now reside there than in the Top End and their presence in sound tracks from everywhere has exactly the same "traditional" association as bodhrans now do with "Irish" music.

So, which of these modern associations is older? Does the answer provide any information that is meaningful?

Cheers, Rowan