Omari Gates
The Aboriginal Australians are the Indigenous people of mainland Australia and its neighbouring islands, including Tasmania. They are believed to be among the first in the world to have completed sea voyages, migrating from Southeast Asia during the Pleistocene epoch. The exact date of the earliest occupation of the Australian continent is constantly changing, as new excavations and improved dating techniques push the date further back. However, it is widely accepted that Aboriginal Australians have occupied mainland Australia for at least 50,000 to 65,000 years, making them one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date of earliest occupation of the Australian continent | 50,000-65,000 years ago |
| First contact with British explorers | 1770 |
| Number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the 2021 Australian Census | 812,728 (3.2% of the total population) |
| Number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the 2021 census as a percentage of Australia's population | 3.8% |
| Number of distinct Indigenous languages remaining | 13 |
| Number of Aboriginal groups at the time of British settlement | 200+ |
| Number of Aboriginal languages at the time of European colonisation | 250+ |
| Number of Aboriginal people in the pre-1788 population | 314,000 |
| Number of Aboriginal people in the pre-1788 population as per recent archaeological estimates | 500,000-750,000 |
| Number of Aboriginal people in the pre-1788 population as per ecologists' estimates | 1,000,000-2,000,000 |
| Number of Aboriginal people 500 years ago | 1,200,000+ |
| Number of individual nations in the Aboriginal population | 250 |
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What You'll Learn
Aboriginal Australians' ancestry and origins
Aboriginal Australians are the Indigenous peoples of mainland Australia and its surrounding islands, including Tasmania, and are recognised as such by the National Museum of Australia. They consist of many ethnic groups, each with its own individual language, culture, and belief structure.
The ancestors of present-day Aboriginal Australians migrated from Southeast Asia by sea during the Pleistocene epoch, making them among the first in the world to have completed sea voyages. They share some similarities with Papuans and other peoples of Sahul (a landmass that once included Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea) but have been isolated from Southeast Asia for a very long time.
The date of the earliest occupation of the Australian continent is constantly changing as new excavations and improved dating techniques push the date further back into the distant past. It is now widely accepted that Aboriginal Australians occupied mainland Australia at least 65,000 years ago, predating the modern human settlement of Europe and the Americas. However, some studies have questioned this date, suggesting that the archaeological record shows a sudden wave of sites from around 50,000 years ago.
From an Aboriginal perspective, their ancestors have always been in Australia since the time of creation, and prior to that, the continent was a 'land before time'. This belief is part of the Dreaming, a system of belief held by many Aboriginal Australians to account for their origins. In the Dreaming, all-powerful beings roamed the landscape and laid the moral and physical groundwork for human society.
Genetic studies have shown that Aboriginal Australians possess a broadly shared, complex genetic history. They have genetic inheritance from ancient Asian peoples, but not from more modern groups. A 2013 study indicated that Aboriginal Australians, the indigenous peoples of New Guinea and the Mamanwa of the Philippines were closely related, having diverged from a common origin approximately 36,000 years ago. However, a 2016 study using advanced gene sequencing technology showed no Indian DNA and that Aboriginal people diverged from other Sahul peoples 47,000 to 53,000 years ago.
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The Dreaming and Aboriginal beliefs
The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term first used by ethnographer Francis Gillen in 1896, and later popularised by A. P. Elkin. It refers to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal philosophy. The term is based on a translation of the Arandic word "alcheringa", used by the Aranda people of Central Australia, which has been interpreted to mean "eternal, uncreated".
The Dreaming is a complex system of Aboriginal beliefs that explains the origin of the universe, nature, and humanity. It is based on the inter-relation of all people and things. During the Dreaming, ancestral spirits roamed the land, creating life and shaping the land formations, rivers, mountains, forests, and deserts. These ancestors are believed to have also created all the people, animals, and vegetation, and laid down the patterns of life, including the lores, customs, and codes of conduct. The Dreaming is not just a belief system, but a way of life that structures how Aboriginal people live, their relationships with each other, and their connection to the land and spirits.
The Dreaming is often represented in Aboriginal art, stories, songs, dances, designs, languages, and rituals. The symbols used in contemporary Aboriginal paintings are the same as those found on ancient cave paintings and rock art. These visual expressions are a way for Aboriginal people to preserve their culture, beliefs, and history.
The Rainbow Serpent is one of the few common Dreamtime stories shared by all Aboriginal tribes. In this story, the world was flat and empty, and the Rainbow Serpent lay sleeping under the ground. When the time came, she pushed herself up, and with all the animals in her belly, she created the mountains, hills, rivers, and lakes. The serpent or snake is an important figure in Aboriginal culture, sometimes seen as the Creator or Source of everything, and other times as a giver of knowledge or spiritual awakener.
The belief in the Dreaming is deeply rooted in the Aboriginal understanding of their presence in Australia since the beginning of time. Aboriginal people have occupied mainland Australia for at least 50,000 to 65,000 years, with some evidence suggesting an even earlier presence. Genetic studies have shown that Aboriginal Australians are closely related to the indigenous peoples of New Guinea and the Philippines, with a common origin dating back approximately 36,000 to 53,000 years.
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First contact with Europeans
Aboriginal Australians' first contact with Europeans occurred in 1606 when Dutch captain Willem Janszoon sailed along the western coast of Cape York Peninsula. Some of Janszoon's crew came across the Wik, the local Aboriginal people, and according to Wik oral history, a fight broke out that resulted in deaths on both sides. This was the first known conflict between Europeans and Aboriginal peoples.
The first British contact with Indigenous Australians came in 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook explored the east coast of Australia. Cook's orders were to look for "a Continent or Land of great extent" and "with the Consent of the Natives to take possession of Convenient situations in the Country in the name of the King". On 29 April, Cook made landfall at a beach now known as Silver Beach on Botany Bay. Two Gweagal men of the Dharawal/Eora nation opposed their landing and in the confrontation, one of them was shot and wounded. Cook and his crew stayed at Botany Bay for a week, but his attempts to establish relations with the locals were unsuccessful.
In 1788, the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Harbour, consisting of eleven ships, 290 marines, women and children, 717 convicts, and supplies of pork and rum, equipment, and livestock. The original customs and lifestyles of the Aboriginal people in Sydney broke down as colonisers began to fish, fell trees, and shoot kangaroos. This pressure on natural resources resulted in people starving during the winter, and some Aboriginal people moved into town, sleeping and eating in settlers' houses.
In 1789, Aboriginal warriors Bennelong and Coleby were captured at Manly, although Coleby later escaped. Bennelong adopted the customs of 'civilisation', and his band of Gamaragal people began visiting the town. Governor Phillip was speared in the shoulder at a whale feast in Manly Cove in May 1790, and negotiations with the locals were made through Bennelong.
In 1795, one of the earliest incidents of Aboriginal resistance occurred when two Europeans were killed near Rushcutters Bay. The first conflict to be called a war began on the frontier west of Sydney, with settlers along the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers treating the local Darug people especially cruelly. The Darug struck back, and over the next 20 years, the two groups fought in a series of conflicts known as the Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars.
In 1802, the first British settlement on the island of Tasmania, then called Van Diemen's Land, was established. The next year, European soldiers fired on an Aboriginal hunting party, beginning a long period of conflict known as the Black War. The settlers occupied hunting areas to raise sheep and killed great numbers of kangaroos, causing the Aboriginal Tasmanians to struggle to find food. The Black War continued until 1830 and claimed the lives of more than 200 Europeans and 600 Aboriginal people—virtually the entire Aboriginal population of the island.
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The impact of colonisation
The colonisation of Australia by the British had a profound impact on the Indigenous population, who had lived on the continent for thousands of years. The first contact between British explorers and Indigenous Australians occurred in 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook explored the east coast of Australia. This marked the beginning of a period of colonisation that would drastically alter the lives and culture of the Indigenous people.
One of the most devastating consequences of colonisation was the introduction of diseases. In April 1789, a disease, likely smallpox, struck the Aboriginal people around Port Jackson. The epidemic had a severe impact on the Indigenous population, reducing their numbers significantly. By 1820, the settler population in New South Wales had reached 30,000, surpassing the Indigenous populace in the region.
Colonisation also led to the dispossession and displacement of Indigenous communities. The British settlers acquired land, often through force or without the consent of the traditional owners, disrupting the long-standing connection that Aboriginal people had with their Country. The Indigenous population, which had a complex system of trade networks, inter-cultural relationships, and varying degrees of settlements and technology, was pushed to the outskirts of European society.
Cultural practices and beliefs of the Indigenous Australians were also affected. The Native Institution, established in 1814, aimed to "civilise" Aboriginal children and assimilate them into European ways of life. This included enrolling them in residential schools and distancing them from their traditional cultures and languages. Additionally, the introduction of Christianity and Western religious practices led to a decline in the traditional beliefs and spiritual practices of the Indigenous people, such as the Dreaming, a system of belief accounting for their origins and the moral and physical groundwork of their society.
Furthermore, colonisation resulted in violent conflicts and resistance. Initial encounters between British explorers and Indigenous Australians were often marked by tension and hostility, as evidenced by the confrontation between Cook's crew and the Gweagal men of the Dharawal/Eora nation during Cook's first landing. As British settlement expanded, clashes and resistance continued, with Indigenous groups defending their land and way of life.
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Aboriginal Australians' genetic makeup
Aboriginal Australians have a complex genetic history. They are genetically most closely related to other Oceanians, such as Papuans and Melanesians, collectively referred to as "Australasians". They share some similarities with Papuans, but have been isolated from Southeast Asia for a long time.
A 2013 study based on large-scale genotyping found that Aboriginal Australians, the indigenous peoples of New Guinea, and the Mamanwa of the Philippines were closely related, having diverged from a common origin approximately 36,000 to 37,000 years ago. The study also suggested that Aboriginal genomes consist of up to 11% Indian DNA, indicating gene flow between Indian populations and northern Australia around 4,000 years ago. However, a 2016 study using advanced gene sequencing technology refuted the presence of Indian DNA and placed the divergence between Aboriginal Australians and other Sahul peoples at 47,000 to 53,000 years ago.
A 2016 study at the University of Cambridge supports the idea that Aboriginal Australians were part of an earlier human diaspora, which originated 75,000 to 62,000 years ago. This study found that Aboriginal Australians and Papuans reached the supercontinent of Sahul, which included present-day Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania, about 50,000 years ago. The rising sea levels isolated Australia about 10,000 years ago, but the two groups diverged from each other genetically much earlier, possibly due to the flooding of the Carpentaria basin.
The first major genomic study of Aboriginal Australians, conducted by an international team of academics, sequenced the complete genetic information of 83 Aboriginal Australians and 25 Papuans from New Guinea. This study confirmed that all present-day non-African populations are descended from a single wave of migrants who left Africa around 72,000 years ago. The study also found evidence of an unknown hominin group distantly related to Denisovans, with whom the ancestors of Aboriginal Australians interbred, leaving a trace of about 4% in their genome.
While the scientific evidence provides insights into the genetic makeup and history of Aboriginal Australians, it is important to acknowledge the Aboriginal perspective on their origins. From an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander view of creation, people have always been in Australia since the land was created. This belief system, known as the Dreaming, holds that all-powerful beings roamed the landscape and laid the groundwork for human society. Aboriginal people traditionally believe that they have been in their country since the time of creation, and archaeological evidence supports their continuous presence in Australia for at least 65,000 years.
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Frequently asked questions
The Aborigines are the Indigenous Australians, comprising the Aboriginal Australians of the mainland and many islands, including Tasmania, and the Torres Strait Islanders of the seas between Queensland and Papua New Guinea.
The ancestors of present-day Aboriginal Australians migrated from Southeast Asia by sea during the Pleistocene epoch, making them among the first in the world to have completed sea voyages. They have effectively been on their country as long as modern human populations have been outside of Africa.
The first contact between British explorers and Indigenous Australians came in 1770, when Lieutenant James Cook explored the east coast of Australia.
