{{Short description|One of the two categories of Indigenous Australians}} {{Distinguish|Indigenous Australians}} {{pp-vandalism|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Use Australian English|date=May 2026}} {{infobox ethnic group | group = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | flag = Australian Aboriginal Flag.svg | flag_caption = The Australian Aboriginal flag. It was proclaimed as a flag of Australia alongside the Torres Strait Islander flag in 1995. | population = 944,171 (2021)<br/>3.7% of Australia's population | rels = 51% secular or other spiritual belief or no religious affiliation; 41% Christianity; and 1% traditional Aboriginal religion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=2021 Census of Population and Housing, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Profile, Table I01 |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/community-profiles/2021/AUS |access-date=19 October 2025 |website=Australian Bureau of Statistics}}</ref> | langs = Several hundred Australian Aboriginal languages, many no longer spoken, Australian English, Australian Aboriginal English, Kriol }} [[File:Hut Eastern Arrernte Basedow.jpg|thumb|An Eastern Arrernte man of the Arltunga district, Northern Territory, in 1923. His hut is decked with porcupine grass.]] [[File:186 Aboriginal dwellings w480.jpg|thumb|Dwellings accommodating Aboriginal families at Hermannsburg Mission, Northern Territory, 1923]] '''Aboriginal Australians''' are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands.
Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, and over time formed as many as 500 linguistic and territorial groups.<ref name=socio-cultural>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Traditional sociocultural patterns |encyclopedia=Britannica |year=2023 |last1=Berndt |first1=Ronald M. |last2=Tonkinson |first2=Robert |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |location=Chicago |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Australian-Aboriginal/Traditional-sociocultural-patterns |access-date=19 July 2023}}</ref> Aboriginal people once lived across large areas of the continental shelf that were later inundated by postglacial sea-level rise at the start of the Holocene inter-glacial period, reshaping coastal landscapes and separating Tasmania from the mainland.<ref name="Morrison2023">{{cite journal |last1=Morrison |first1=Patrick |last2=O'Leary |first2=Michael |last3=McDonald |first3=Jo |year=2023 |title=The evolution of Australian island geographies and the emergence and persistence of Indigenous maritime cultures |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=308 |article-number=108071 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108071 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Aboriginal people maintained extensive networks within the continent and certain groups maintained relationships with Torres Strait Islanders and the Makassar people of modern-day Indonesia.
Over the millennia, Aboriginal people developed complex trade networks, inter-cultural relationships, law and religions,<ref name=socio-cultural/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Australian Aboriginal peoples |encyclopedia=Britannica |year=2023 |last1= Berndt|first1=Ronald M. |last2=Tonkinson |first2=Robert |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |location=Chicago |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Australian-Aboriginal |access-date=19 July 2023}}</ref> which make up some of the oldest continuous cultures in the world.<ref name="Tonkinson-2011"/> At the time of European colonisation of Australia, the Aboriginal people spoke more than 250 different languages,<ref>{{cite web | title = Community, identity, wellbeing: The report of the Second National Indigenous Languages Survey | year = 2014 | publisher = AIATSIS | url = http://aiatsis.gov.au/publications/products/community-identity-wellbeing-report-second-national-indigenous-languages | access-date = 18 May 2015 | ref = {{harvid|AIATSIS|2014}} | archive-date = 24 April 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150424032821/http://aiatsis.gov.au/publications/products/community-identity-wellbeing-report-second-national-indigenous-languages }}</ref> possessed varying degrees of technology, and lived in various types of settlements. Languages (or dialects) and language-associated groups of people are connected with stretches of territory known as "Country", with which they have a profound spiritual connection.
Contemporary Aboriginal beliefs are shaped by traditional beliefs, the disruption of colonisation, religions brought to the continent by later migrants, and contemporary issues.<ref name="Cox-2016"/><ref name="Harvey-2019"/><ref name="Fraser-2012"/> Just over half hold secular or other spiritual beliefs or no religious affiliation; about 40% are Christian; and about 1% adhere to a traditional Aboriginal religion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=2021 Census of Population and Housing, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Profile, Table I01 |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/community-profiles/2021/AUS |access-date=19 October 2025 |website=Australian Bureau of Statistics}}</ref> Traditional cultural beliefs are passed down and shared through dancing, stories, songlines, and art that collectively weave an ontology of modern daily life and ancient creation known as the Dreaming.
Studies of Aboriginal groups' genetic makeup are ongoing, but evidence suggests that they have genetic inheritance from ancient Asian peoples. Aboriginal Australians and Papuans shared the same paleocontinent Sahul, although they became genetically distinct about 37,000 years ago.<ref name=":4" /> Aboriginal Australians have a broadly shared, complex genetic history, but only in the last 200 years have they been defined by others as, and started to self-identify as, a single group. Aboriginal identity has changed over time and place, with family lineage, self-identification, and community acceptance all of varying importance.
The {{CensusAU|2021}} shows that there were 944,171 Aboriginal people, comprising 3.7% of Australia's population.<ref name="Australian-Bureau-of-Statistics-2023">{{cite web|url=http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3238.0.55.001|title=Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians|work=Australian Bureau of Statistics|date=June 2023}}</ref><ref group="note">This includes those who identified as both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.</ref> Over 80% of Aboriginal people today speak English at home, and about 77,000 speak an Indigenous language at home. Aboriginal people, along with Torres Strait Islander people, suffer a number of severe health and economic deprivations in comparison with the wider Australian community.
==Origins== {{Main|History of Indigenous Australians|Prehistory of Australia}} {{see also|Early human migrations#Near Oceania}} {{Multiple image | align = right | direction = vertical | width = 235 | image1 =1981 event Australian aboriginals.jpg | caption1 = Arnhem Land Aboriginal dancers in 1981 | image2 = Glen Namundja.jpg | caption2 = Arnhem Land artist Glen Namundja painting at Injalak Arts | image3 = Didgeridoo (Imagicity 1070).jpg | caption3 = Didgeridoo player Ŋalkan Munuŋgurr performing with East Journey<ref>{{cite web |last=Graves |first=Randin |title=Yolngu are People 2: They're not Clip Art |url=https://yidakistory.com/blog/page/4/ |website=Yidaki History |date=2 June 2017 |access-date=30 August 2020}}</ref>}} Archeological evidence indicates that the ancestors of today's Aboriginal Australians first migrated to the continent 50,000 to 65,000 years ago.<ref name=":022">{{Cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Martin A. J. |last2=Spooner |first2=Nigel A. |last3=McDonnell |first3=Kathryn |last4=O'Connell |first4=James F. |date=January 2021 |title=Identifying disturbance in archaeological sites in tropical northern Australia: Implications for previously proposed 65,000-year continental occupation date |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/gea.21822 |url-status=live |journal=Geoarchaeology |language=en |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=92–108 |bibcode=2021Gearc..36...92W |doi=10.1002/gea.21822 |issn=0883-6353 |s2cid=225321249 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004091731/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/gea.21822 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |access-date=16 October 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="ClarksonJacobs201722">{{Cite journal |last1=Clarkson |first1=Chris |last2=Jacobs |first2=Zenobia |last3=Marwick |first3=Ben |last4=Fullagar |first4=Richard |last5=Wallis |first5=Lynley |last6=Smith |first6=Mike |last7=Roberts |first7=Richard G. |last8=Hayes |first8=Elspeth |last9=Lowe |first9=Kelsey |last10=Carah |first10=Xavier |last11=Florin |first11=S. Anna |last12=McNeil |first12=Jessica |last13=Cox |first13=Delyth |last14=Arnold |first14=Lee J. |last15=Hua |first15=Quan|display-authors=2 |year=2017 |title=Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago |url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/4803 |journal=Nature |volume=547 |issue=7663 |pages=306–310 |bibcode=2017Natur.547..306C |doi=10.1038/nature22968 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=28726833 |s2cid=205257212 |hdl-access=free |last16=Huntley |first16=Jillian |last17=Brand |first17=Helen E. A. |last18=Manne |first18=Tiina |last19=Fairbairn |first19=Andrew |last20=Shulmeister |first20=James |last21=Lyle |first21=Lindsey |last22=Salinas |first22=Makiah |last23=Page |first23=Mara |last24=Connell |first24=Kate |last25=Park |first25=Gayoung |last26=Norman |first26=Kasih |last27=Murphy |first27=Tessa |last28=Pardoe |first28=Colin |hdl=2440/107043}}</ref><ref name="Veth2">{{Cite book |last1=Veth |first1=Peter |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory0001unse_m8y7 |title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume 1, Indigenous and Colonial Australia |last2=O'Connor |first2=Sue |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-1070-1153-3 |editor-last=Bashford |editor-first=Alison |location=Cambridge |page=19 |chapter=The past 50,000 years: an archaeological view |editor-last2=MacIntyre |editor-first2=Stuart |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="FaganDurrani201822">{{Cite book |last1=Fagan |first1=Brian M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0NvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT250 |title=People of the Earth: An Introduction to World Prehistory |last2=Durrani |first2=Nadia |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-3517-5764-5 |pages=250–253 |access-date=17 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203142816/https://books.google.com/books?id=W0NvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT250#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=3 December 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> While there have been genomic studies placing arrival as late as 43,000 years ago, a 2025 study suggests that the peopling of Australia happened around 60,000 years ago, via two distinct routes.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Gandini | first1=Francesca | last2=Almeida | first2=Mafalda | last3=Foody | first3=M. George B. | last4=Nagle | first4=Nano | last5=Bergström | first5=Anders | last6=Olivieri | first6=Anna | last7=Rodrigues | first7=Simão | last8=Fichera | first8=Alessandro | last9=Oteo-Garcia | first9=Gonzalo | last10=Torroni | first10=Antonio | last11=Achilli | first11=Alessandro | last12=Pomat | first12=William | last13=Zainuddin | first13=Zafarina | last14=Eng | first14=Ken Khong | last15=Shoeib | first15=Tarek | last16=Rito | first16=Teresa | last17=Bulbeck | first17=David | last18=O'Connor | first18=Sue | last19=Bryk | first19=Jarosław | last20=Pala | first20=Maria | last21=Grant | first21=Michael J. | last22=Edwards | first22=Ceiridwen J. | last23=Oppenheimer | first23=Stephen J. | last24=Mitchell | first24=Robert J. | last25=Soares | first25=Pedro A. | last26=Farr | first26=Helen | last27=Richards | first27=Martin B.|display-authors=2 | title=Genomic evidence supports the "long chronology" for the peopling of Sahul | journal=Science Advances | volume=11 | issue=48 | date=28 November 2025 | issn=2375-2548 | pmid=41313774 | pmc=12662211 | doi=10.1126/sciadv.ady9493 | article-number=eady9493 | bibcode=2025SciA...11y9493G | quote=In contrast to recent recombinational dating approaches, we find support for the long chronology, suggesting settlement by ~60 ka via at least two distinct routes into Sahul.}}</ref><ref name=bowler2025>{{cite web | last=Bowler | first=Jacinta | title=DNA analysis suggests first Australians arrived about 60,000 years ago | website=ABC News | date=29 November 2025 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-11-29/sahul-aboriginal-australia-65000-genetic-evidence/106054352 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251129073127/https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-11-29/sahul-aboriginal-australia-65000-genetic-evidence/106054352 | archive-date=29 November 2025 | url-status=live | access-date=2 December 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Allen |first1=Jim |last2=O'connell |first2=James F. |date=2020 |title=A different paradigm for the initial colonisation of Sahul |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/arco.5207 |journal=Archaeology in Oceania |language=en |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=1–14 |doi=10.1002/arco.5207 |issn=1834-4453 |quote=Y-chromosome data show parallel patterns, with deeply rooted Sahul-specific haplogroups C and K diverging from the most closely related non-Sahul lineages c.54 ka and dividing into Australia- and New Guinea-specific lineages c.48–53 ka (Bergstrom et al. 2016)." p5 ... While the chronology of Sahul colonisation remains important, we see no arguable cause-and-effect nexus between when Sahul colonisation first occurred and AMH ability to achieve it (cf. Davidson & Noble 1992). If we exclude the extreme age claimed for Madjedbebe (Clarkson et al. 2017) the increasing consensus of available evidence currently puts this event in the range 47–51 ka.|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tobler |first1=Ray |last2=Rohrlach |first2=Adam |last3=Soubrier |first3=Julien |last4=Bover |first4=Pere |last5=Llamas |first5=Bastien |last6=Tuke |first6=Jonathan |last7=Bean |first7=Nigel |last8=Abdullah-Highfold |first8=Ali |last9=Agius |first9=Shane |last10=O'Donoghue |first10=Amy |last11=O'Loughlin |first11=Isabel |last12=Sutton |first12=Peter |last13=Zilio |first13=Fran |last14=Walshe |first14=Keryn |last15=Williams |first15=Alan N. |display-authors=2|date=8 April 2017 |title=Aboriginal mitogenomes reveal 50,000 years of regionalism in Australia |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21416 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=544 |issue=7649 |pages=180–184 |doi=10.1038/nature21416 |pmid=28273067 |bibcode=2017Natur.544..180T |issn=1476-4687 |quote=The timing of human arrival in Australia was estimated using the age of the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) for the different Australian-only haplogroups, calculated using a molecular clock with substitution rates calibrated with ancient European and Asian mitogenomes18. Although these TMRCA values are likely to be minimal estimates given the limited sampling, they group in a narrow window of time from approximately 43–47 ka (Fig. 1 and Extended Data Figs 2, 3), consistent with previous studies (Supplementary Information). ... The resulting independent estimate for initial colonization of Sahul, 48.8 ± 1.3 ka, is a close match to the genetic age estimates (Fig. 1 and Supplementary Table 4).|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Taufik |first1=Leonard |last2=Teixeira |first2=João C. |last3=Llamas |first3=Bastien |last4=Sudoyo |first4=Herawati |last5=Tobler |first5=Raymond |last6=Purnomo |first6=Gludhug A. |date=16 December 2022 |title=Human Genetic Research in Wallacea and Sahul: Recent Findings and Future Prospects |journal=Genes |language=en |volume=13 |issue=12 |page=2373 |doi=10.3390/genes13122373 |issn=2073-4425 |pmc=9778601 |pmid=36553640 |quote=Genetic inferences suggest that the initial peopling of the region occurred around 50–60 kya, with the separation of Aboriginal Australian and New Guinea populations occurring around the same time [p 6]. |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hublin |first=Jean-Jacques |date=9 March 2021 |title=How old are the oldest Homo sapiens in Far East Asia? |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=118 |issue=10 |article-number=e2101173118 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2101173118 |doi-access=free |pmc=7958237 |pmid=33602727 |bibcode=2021PNAS..11801173H |quote=Dating the diversification of present-day lineages of mitochondrial DNA—a part of our genome maternally transmitted—supports a single and rapid dispersal of all ancestral non-African populations less than 55,000 y ago .}}</ref>
Early human migration to Australia was achieved when it formed a part of the Sahul continent, connected to the island of New Guinea via a land bridge.<ref name="crwi21">{{cite news |last1=Crabtree |first1=Stefani |last2=Williams |first2=Alan N |last3=Bradshaw |first3=Corey J. A. |last4=White |first4=Devin |last5=Saltré |first5=Frédérik |last6=Ulm |first6=Sean |date=30 April 2021 |title=We mapped the 'super-highways' the First Australians used to cross the ancient land |url=https://theconversation.com/we-mapped-the-super-highways-the-first-australians-used-to-cross-the-ancient-land-154263 |access-date=30 April 2021 |work=The Conversation}}</ref> This would have nevertheless required crossing the sea at the Wallace Line.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Russell |first1=Lynette |last2=Bird |first2=Michael |last3=Roberts |first3=Richard 'Bert' |date=5 July 2018 |title=Fifty years ago, at Lake Mungo, the true scale of Aboriginal Australians' epic story was revealed |url=http://theconversation.com/fifty-years-ago-at-lake-mungo-the-true-scale-of-aboriginal-australians-epic-story-was-revealed-98851 |access-date=4 May 2021 |website=The Conversation |language=en}}</ref> It is also possible that people came by island-hopping via an island chain between Sulawesi and New Guinea, reaching North Western Australia via Timor.<ref>Lourandos, Harry. ''Continent of Hunter-Gatherers: New Perspectives in Australian Prehistory'' (Cambridge University Press, 1997) p.81</ref> As sea levels rose, the people on the Australian mainland and nearby islands became increasingly isolated, some on Tasmania and some of the smaller offshore islands when the land was inundated at the start of the Holocene, the inter-glacial period that started about 11,700 years ago.<ref>{{cite book |author=Rebe Taylor |author-link=Rebe Taylor |title=Unearthed: The Aboriginal Tasmanians of Kangaroo Island |publisher=Wakefield Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-86254-552-6 |location=Kent Town}}</ref>
A 2021 study by researchers at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage has mapped the likely migration routes of the peoples as they moved across the Australian continent to its southern reaches of what is now Tasmania (then part of the mainland). The modelling is based on data from archaeologists, anthropologists, ecologists, geneticists, climatologists, geomorphologists, and hydrologists. The new models suggest that the first people may have landed in the Kimberley region in what is now Western Australia about 60,000 years ago, and had settled across the continent within 6,000 years.<ref>{{cite web |last=Morse |first=Dana |date=30 April 2021 |title=Researchers demystify the secrets of ancient Aboriginal migration across Australia |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/research-into-ancient-aboriginal-migration-across-australia/100105902 |access-date=7 May 2021 |website=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crabtree |first1=S. A. |last2=White |first2=D. A. |last3=Bradshaw |first3=C. J. A. |display-authors=2 |date=29 April 2021 |title=Landscape rules predict optimal superhighways for the first peopling of Sahul |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01106-8 |journal=Nature Human Behaviour |volume=5 |issue=10 |pages=1303–1313 |doi=10.1038/s41562-021-01106-8 |pmid=33927367 |s2cid=233458467 |access-date=7 May 2021}}</ref>
Aboriginal Australians may have one of the oldest continuous cultures on earth.<ref>{{cite web |date=23 September 2011 |title=DNA confirms Aboriginal culture one of Earth's oldest |url=https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2011/09/dna-confirms-aboriginal-culture-one-of-earths-oldest/ |access-date=21 May 2024 |website=Australian Geographic}}</ref> In Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, oral histories comprising complex narratives have been passed down by Yolngu people through hundreds of generations. The Aboriginal rock art, dated by modern techniques, shows that their culture has continued from ancient times.<ref>{{cite web |date=22 December 2023 |title=Discover the oldest continuous living culture on Earth |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/plan-your-australian-holiday/northern-territory/oldest-continuous-living-culture/ |access-date=21 May 2024 |website=The Telegraph}}</ref>
===Genetics=== {{Main|Ancient East Eurasians}} {{multiple image | align = right | direction = vertical | width = 231 | image1 = Phylogenetic structure of Eastern Eurasians.png | caption1 = Phylogenetic position of the Aboriginal Australian lineage among other East Eurasians}}
Genetic studies have revealed that a population wave, termed East Eurasian Core, outgoing from the Iranian plateau during the Initial Upper Paleolithic period populated the Asia-Pacific region via a southern route dispersal. This wave is suggested to have expanded into the South and Southeast Asia region and subsequently diverged rapidly into the ancestors of Ancient Ancestral South Indians (AASI), Andamanese, East Asians, and Australasians, including Aboriginal Australians and Papuans.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Bennett |first1=E. Andrew |last2=Liu |first2=Yichen |last3=Fu |first3=Qiaomei |date=3 December 2024 |title=Reconstructing the Human Population History of East Asia through Ancient Genomics |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/reconstructing-the-human-population-history-of-east-asia-through-ancient-genomics/0524D629660B5E43FC7094C043D54C6A |journal=Elements in Ancient East Asia |language=en |doi=10.1017/9781009246675 |isbn=978-1-009-24667-5 |quote=Australasian, one of three deeply branching East Asian lineages (with AASI and ESEA). AA includes modern-day Papuans and Aboriginal Australians.|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Aoki |first1=Kenichi |last2=Takahata |first2=Naoyuki |last3=Oota |first3=Hiroki |last4=Wakano |first4=Joe Yuichiro |last5=Feldman |first5=Marcus W. |date=30 August 2023 |title=Infectious diseases may have arrested the southward advance of microblades in Upper Palaeolithic East Asia |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=290 |issue=2005 |article-number=20231262 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2023.1262 |pmc=10465978 |pmid=37644833 |quote=A single major migration of modern humans into the continents of Asia and Sahul was strongly supported by earlier studies using mitochondrial DNA, the non-recombining portion of Y chromosomes, and autosomal SNP data [42–45]. Ancestral Ancient South Indians with no West Eurasian relatedness, East Asians, Onge (Andamanese hunter–gatherers) and Papuans all derive in a short evolutionary time from the eastward dispersal of an out-of-Africa population [46,47]}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Yang |first=Melinda A. |date=6 January 2022 |title=A genetic history of migration, diversification, and admixture in Asia |url=https://www.pivotscipub.com/hpgg/2/1/0001 |journal=Human Population Genetics and Genomics |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=1–32 |article-number=0001 |doi=10.47248/hpgg2202010001 |issn=2770-5005 |quote=Mallick et al. found that a well-fitting admixture graph (qpGraph, Box 1) grouped Papuans, Australians, and the Andamanese Onge with East Asians, with additional Denisovan admixture into Papuans and Australians [15]. ... Though present-day Asians and Australasians are more closely related to each other than to present-day Europeans, genetic comparisons highlight deep separations between mainland East and Southeast Asians, island Southeast Asians, and Australasians.}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> Aboriginal Australians are genetically most closely related to other Oceanians, such as Papuans and Melanesians, who are collectively referred to as "Australasians," which can be described as "a deeply branching East Asian lineage".<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Lipson |first1=Mark |last2=Reich |first2=David |date=1 April 2017 |title=A Working Model of the Deep Relationships of Diverse Modern Human Genetic Lineages Outside of Africa |url=https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/34/4/889/2838774 |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=889–902 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msw293 |issn=0737-4038 |pmc=5400393 |pmid=28074030}}</ref><ref name="Vallini2024">{{Cite journal |last1=Vallini |first1=Leonardo |last2=Zampieri |first2=Carlo |last3=Shoaee |first3=Mohamed Javad |last4=Bortolini |first4=Eugenio |last5=Marciani |first5=Giulia |last6=Aneli |first6=Serena |last7=Pievani |first7=Telmo |last8=Benazzi |first8=Stefano |last9=Barausse |first9=Alberto |last10=Mezzavilla |first10=Massimo |last11=Petraglia |first11=Michael D. |last12=Pagani |first12=Luca |date=25 March 2024 |title=The Persian plateau served as hub for Homo sapiens after the main out of Africa dispersal |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=15 |issue=1 |page=1882 |doi=10.1038/s41467-024-46161-7 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=10963722 |pmid=38528002|bibcode=2024NatCo..15.1882V }}</ref><ref name=":3"/>
While the commonly accepted date for the diversification of modern humans following the Out of Africa migration is placed at 60–50,000 years ago, there is, however, evidence that Aboriginal Australians may carry ancestry from an earlier human diaspora (xOoA) that originated 75,000 to 62,000 years ago. This earlier group has been estimated to have possibly contributed around 2% ancestry to modern Aboriginal Australians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Taufik |first1=Leonard |last2=Teixeira |first2=João C. |last3=Llamas |first3=Bastien |last4=Sudoyo |first4=Herawati |last5=Tobler |first5=Raymond |last6=Purnomo |first6=Gludhug A. |date=16 December 2022 |title=Human Genetic Research in Wallacea and Sahul: Recent Findings and Future Prospects |journal=Genes |language=en |volume=13 |issue=12 |page=2373 |doi=10.3390/genes13122373 |doi-access=free |issn=2073-4425 |pmc=9778601 |pmid=36553640 |quote=Genomic data have repeatedly demonstrated that all contemporary non-African AMH populations have diversified from an ancestral AMH group that left Africa between 60–50 kya [28]; however, the initial results from a single deeply sequenced Aboriginal Australian genome derived from a ~100-year-old hair sample proposed that Indigenous Australians also carry substantial AMH ancestry from an earlier African diaspora that originated 75–62 kya [29]. ... though notably a small contribution (~2%) from a deeper AMH source cannot be entirely ruled out [30].}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hublin |first=Jean-Jacques |date=9 March 2021 |title=How old are the oldest Homo sapiens in Far East Asia? |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=118 |issue=10 |article-number=e2101173118 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2101173118 |doi-access=free |pmc=7958237 |pmid=33602727 |bibcode=2021PNAS..11801173H |quote=However, it has often been argued that pioneer groups could have been totally replaced by later demographically dominant waves and thereby, left no genetic trace in extant populations. ... and unless it documents a failed early colonization of Australia, its age is difficult to reconcile with the genetic evidence (9, 12).}}</ref>
Mallick et al. 2016 and Mark Lipson et al. 2017 found the bifurcation of Eastern Eurasians and Western Eurasians dates to at least 45,000 years ago, with indigenous Australians nested inside the Eastern Eurasian clade.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mallick |first1=Swapan |last2=Li |first2=Heng |last3=Lipson |first3=Mark |last4=Mathieson |first4=Iain |last5=Patterson |first5=Nick |last6=Reich |first6=David |date=13 October 2016 |title=The Simons Genome Diversity Project: 300 genomes from 142 diverse populations |journal=Nature |volume=538 |issue=7624 |pages=201–206 |bibcode=2016Natur.538..201M |doi=10.1038/nature18964 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=5161557 |pmid=27654912}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> Aboriginal Australians, together with Papuans, may either form a sister clade to a single mainland Asian clade consisting of the AASI, Andamanese and East Asians, and to the exclusion of West Eurasians,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mondal |first1=Mayukh |last2=Bertranpetit |first2=Jaume |last3=Lao |first3=Oscar |date=16 January 2019 |title=Approximate Bayesian computation with deep learning supports a third archaic introgression in Asia and Oceania |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |page=246 |doi=10.1038/s41467-018-08089-7 |pmid=30651539 |pmc=6335398 |bibcode=2019NatCo..10..246M |issn=2041-1723 |quote=OOA origin of modern humans, with a Eurasian split between Europeans and the group comprising two subgroups, East Asians, Indian and Andamanese on one hand, and Papuans and Australians on the other.}}</ref> or alternatively are nested within the Eastern Eurasian cluster without a strong internal cladal structure against mainland Asian lineages.<ref name=":2" />[[File:Noongar traditional dancers, Perth, Australia.jpg|thumb|250px|Noongar traditional dancers in Perth]]
Genetic data on indigenous populations of Borneo and Malaysia showed them to be more closely related to other mainland Asian groups, than compared to the groups from Papua New Guinea and Australia. This indicates that populations in Australia were isolated for a long time from the rest of Southeast Asia. They remained untouched by migrations and population expansions into that area, which can be explained by the Wallace line.<ref name="Huoponen2001"/>
==== Uniparentals ==== The most common Y-chromosome haplogroups among Aboriginal Australians is C1b2, followed by haplogroups S and M; these latter haplogroups are also very frequent among Papuans.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nagle |first1=Nano |last2=Ballantyne |first2=Kaye N. |last3=van Oven |first3=Mannis |last4=Tyler-Smith |first4=Chris |last5=Xue |first5=Yali |last6=Taylor |first6=Duncan |last7=Wilcox |first7=Stephen |last8=Wilcox |first8=Leah |last9=Turkalov |first9=Rust |last10=van Oorschot |first10=Roland A. H. |last11=McAllister |first11=Peter |last12=Williams |first12=Lesley |last13=Kayser |first13=Manfred |last14=Mitchell |first14=Robert J. |last15=Genographic Consortium |date=30 March 2016 |title=Antiquity and diversity of aboriginal Australian Y-chromosomes |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=159 |issue=3 |pages=367–381 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.22886 |issn=1096-8644 |pmid=26515539 |bibcode=2016AJPA..159..367N }}</ref>
==== Other studies ==== In a 2001 study, blood samples were collected from some Warlpiri people in the Northern Territory to study their genetic makeup (which is not representative of all Aboriginal peoples in Australia). The study concluded that the Warlpiri are descended from ancient Asians whose DNA is still somewhat present in Southeastern Asian groups, although greatly diminished. The Warlpiri DNA lacks certain information found in modern Asian genomes, and carries information not found in other genomes. This reinforces the idea of ancient Aboriginal isolation.<ref name="Huoponen2001">{{Cite journal|last1=Huoponen|first1=Kirsi|last2=Schurr|first2=Theodore G.|last3=Chen|first3=Yu-Sheng|last4=Wallace|first4=Douglas C.|display-authors=2|date=1 September 2001|title=Mitochondrial DNA variation in an Aboriginal Australian population: evidence for genetic isolation and regional differentiation|journal=Human Immunology| volume=62| issue=9| pages=954–969| doi=10.1016/S0198-8859(01)00294-4|pmid=11543898}}</ref>
Genetic data extracted in 2011 by Morten Rasmussen et al., who took a DNA sample from an early-20th-century lock of an Aboriginal person's hair, found that the Aboriginal ancestors probably migrated through South Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia, into Australia, where they stayed. As a result, outside of Africa, the Aboriginal peoples have continuously occupied the same territory longer than any other human populations. These findings suggest that modern Aboriginal Australians are the direct descendants of the eastern wave, who left Africa up to 75,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Rasmussen| first1=Morten|last2=Guo|first2=Xiaosen |last3=Wang| first3=Yong|last4=Lohmueller| first4=Kirk E.| last5=Rasmussen|first5=Simon| last6=Albrechtsen|first6=Anders|last7=Skotte|first7=Line| last8=Lindgreen| first8=Stinus|last9=Metspalu|first9=Mait|last10=Jombart|first10=Thibaut|display-authors=2|date=7 October 2011|title=An Aboriginal Australia Genome Reveals Separate Human Dispersals into Asia|journal=Science|publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science|volume=334|issue=6052|pages=94–98|doi=10.1126/science.1211177|pmc=3991479|pmid=21940856|bibcode=2011Sci...334...94R}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Callaway|first=Ewen|url=http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110922/full/news.2011.551.html|title=First Aboriginal genome sequenced|journal=Nature|issn=1476-4687|doi=10.1038/news.2011.551|year=2011|access-date=16 January 2016|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
The Rasmussen study also found evidence that Aboriginal peoples carry some genes associated with the Denisovans (a species of human related to but distinct from Neanderthals) of Asia; the study suggests that there is an increase in allele sharing between the Denisovan and Aboriginal Australian genomes, compared to other Eurasians or Africans. Examining DNA from a finger bone excavated in Siberia, researchers concluded that the Denisovans migrated from Siberia to tropical parts of Asia and that they interbred with modern humans in Southeast Asia 44,000 years BP, before Australia separated from New Guinea approximately 11,700 years BP. They contributed DNA to Aboriginal Australians and to present-day New Guineans and an indigenous tribe in the Philippines known as Mamanwa. This study confirms Aboriginal Australians as one of the oldest living populations in the world. They are possibly the oldest outside Africa, and they may have the oldest continuous culture on the planet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2011/09/dna-confirms-aboriginal-culture-one-of-earths-oldest|title=DNA confirms Aboriginal culture is one of the Earth's oldest|publisher=Australian Geographic|date=23 September 2011}}</ref>
A 2016 study at the University of Cambridge suggests that it was about 50,000 years ago that these peoples reached Sahul (the supercontinent consisting of present-day Australia and its islands and New Guinea). The sea levels rose and isolated Australia about 10,000 years ago, but Aboriginal Australians and Papuans diverged from each other earlier, genetically, about 37,000 years BP, possibly because the remaining land bridge was impassable. This isolation makes the Aboriginal people the world's oldest culture. The study also found evidence of an unknown hominin group, distantly related to Denisovans, with whom the Aboriginal and Papuan ancestors must have interbred, leaving a trace of about 4% in most Aboriginal Australians' genome. There is, however, increased genetic diversity among Aboriginal Australians based on geographical distribution.<ref name=klein2016>{{cite web | last=Klein | first=Christopher | title=DNA Study Finds Aboriginal Australians World's Oldest Civilization | website=History | publisher=A&E Television Networks | date=23 September 2016 | url=https://www.history.com/news/dna-study-finds-aboriginal-australians-worlds-oldest-civilization | access-date=13 March 2020|quote=Updated Aug 22, 2018}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{cite journal | last1=Malaspinas | first1=Anna-Sapfo | last2=Westaway | first2=Michael C. | last3=Muller | first3=Craig | last4=Sousa | first4=Vitor C. | last5=Lao | first5=Oscar | last6=Alves | first6=Isabel | last7=Bergström | first7=Anders | last8=Athanasiadis | first8=Georgios | last9=Cheng | first9=Jade Y. | last10=Crawford | first10=Jacob E. | last11=Heupink | first11=Tim H. | last12=Macholdt | first12=Enrico | last13=Peischl | first13=Stephan | last14=Rasmussen | first14=Simon | last15=Schiffels | first15=Stephan | last16=Subramanian | first16=Sankar | last17=Wright | first17=Joanne L. | last18=Albrechtsen | first18=Anders | last19=Barbieri | first19=Chiara | last20=Dupanloup | first20=Isabelle | last21=Eriksson | first21=Anders | last22=Margaryan | first22=Ashot | last23=Moltke | first23=Ida | last24=Pugach | first24=Irina | last25=Korneliussen | first25=Thorfinn S. | last26=Levkivskyi | first26=Ivan P. | last27=Moreno-Mayar | first27=J. Víctor | last28=Ni | first28=Shengyu | last29=Racimo | first29=Fernando | last30=Sikora | first30=Martin | last31=Xue | first31=Yali | last32=Aghakhanian | first32=Farhang A. | last33=Brucato | first33=Nicolas | last34=Brunak | first34=Søren | last35=Campos | first35=Paula F. | last36=Clark | first36=Warren | last37=Ellingvåg | first37=Sturla | last38=Fourmile | first38=Gudjugudju | last39=Gerbault | first39=Pascale | last40=Injie | first40=Darren | last41=Koki | first41=George | last42=Leavesley | first42=Matthew | last43=Logan | first43=Betty | last44=Lynch | first44=Aubrey | last45=Matisoo-Smith | first45=Elizabeth A. | last46=McAllister | first46=Peter J. | last47=Mentzer | first47=Alexander J. | last48=Metspalu | first48=Mait | last49=Migliano | first49=Andrea B. | last50=Murgha | first50=Les | last51=Phipps | first51=Maude E. | last52=Pomat | first52=William | last53=Reynolds | first53=Doc | last54=Ricaut | first54=Francois-Xavier | last55=Siba | first55=Peter | last56=Thomas | first56=Mark G. | last57=Wales | first57=Thomas | last58=Wall | first58=Colleen Ma'run | last59=Oppenheimer | first59=Stephen J. | last60=Tyler-Smith | first60=Chris | last61=Durbin | first61=Richard | last62=Dortch | first62=Joe | last63=Manica | first63=Andrea | last64=Schierup | first64=Mikkel H. | last65=Foley | first65=Robert A. | last66=Lahr | first66=Marta Mirazón | last67=Bowern | first67=Claire | last68=Wall | first68=Jeffrey D. | last69=Mailund | first69=Thomas | last70=Stoneking | first70=Mark | last71=Nielsen | first71=Rasmus | last72=Sandhu | first72=Manjinder S. | last73=Excoffier | first73=Laurent | last74=Lambert | first74=David M. | last75=Willerslev | first75=Eske | display-authors=7 | title=A genomic history of Aboriginal Australia | journal=Nature | volume=538 | issue=7624 | date=13 October 2016 | issn=0028-0836 | doi=10.1038/nature18299 | pages=207–214| pmid=27654914 | pmc=7617037 | bibcode=2016Natur.538..207M | hdl=10754/622366 | hdl-access=free }}</ref>
Carlhoff et al. 2021 analysed a Holocene hunter-gatherer sample ("Leang Panninge") from South Sulawesi, which shares high amounts of genetic drift with Aboriginal Australians and Papuans. This suggests that a population split from the common ancestor of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans. The sample also shows genetic affinity with East Asians and the Andamanese people of South Asia. The authors note that this hunter-gatherer sample can be modelled with ~50% Australian/Papuan-related ancestry and either with ~50% East Asian or Andamanese Onge ancestry, highlighting the deep split between Leang Panninge and Aboriginal/Papuans.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Carlhoff|first1=Selina|last2=Duli|first2=Akin|last3=Nägele|first3=Kathrin|last4=Nur|first4=Muhammad|last5=Skov|first5=Laurits|last6=Sumantri|first6=Iwan|last7=Oktaviana|first7=Adhi Agus|last8=Hakim|first8=Budianto|last9=Burhan|first9=Basran|last10=Syahdar|first10=Fardi Ali|last11=McGahan|first11=David P.|date=2021|title=Genome of a middle Holocene hunter-gatherer from Wallacea|journal=Nature|volume=596|issue=7873|pages=543–547|doi=10.1038/s41586-021-03823-6|issn=0028-0836|pmc=8387238|pmid=34433944|bibcode=2021Natur.596..543C}}</ref><ref group="note">The qpGraph analysis confirmed this branching pattern, with the Leang Panninge individual branching off from the Near Oceanian clade after the Denisovan gene flow. The most supported topology indicates around 50% of a basal East Asian component contributing to the Leang Panninge genome (fig. 3c, supplementary figs. 7–11).</ref>
Two genetic studies by Larena et al. 2021 found that Philippines Negrito people split from the common ancestor of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans before the latter two diverged from each other, but after their common ancestor diverged from the ancestor of East Asian peoples.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Larena |first=M |date=March 2021 |title=Multiple migrations to the Philippines during the last 50,000 years | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=118 |issue=13 |article-number=e2026132118 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2026132118 |pmid=33753512 |pmc=8020671 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2021PNAS..11826132L }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |display-authors=6 |vauthors=Larena M, McKenna J, Sanchez-Quinto F, Bernhardsson C, Ebeo C, Reyes R, Casel O, Huang JY, Hagada KP, Guilay D, Reyes J, Allian FP, Mori V, Azarcon LS, Manera A, Terando C, Jamero L, Sireg G, Manginsay-Tremedal R, Labos MS, Vilar RD, Latiph A, Saway RL, Marte E, Magbanua P, Morales A, Java I, Reveche R, Barrios B, Burton E, Salon JC, Kels MJ, Albano A, Cruz-Angeles RB, Molanida E, Granehäll L, Vicente M, Edlund H, Loo JH, Trejaut J, Ho SY, Reid L, Lambeck K, Malmström H, Schlebusch C, Endicott P, Jakobsson M |date=October 2021 |title=Philippine Ayta possess the highest level of Denisovan ancestry in the world |journal=Current Biology |volume=31 |issue=19 |pages=4219–4230.e10 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2021.07.022 |pmc=8596304 |pmid=34388371|bibcode=2021CBio...31E4219L }}</ref><ref name="Lipson">{{cite journal |last1=Lipson |first1=Mark |last2=Reich |first2=David |date=April 2017 |title=A Working Model of the Deep Relationships of Diverse Modern Human Genetic Lineages Outside of Africa |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |language=en |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=889–902 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msw293 |pmc=5400393 |pmid=28074030}}</ref> Like Papuans, it's believed that Aboriginal Australians underwent a secondary admixture event with Altai-related Denisovan populations after they diverged from the ancestors of East Asians, who already mixed with Denisovans. This event was also separate from the admixture event experienced by Filipino Negritos, explaining why Aboriginal Australians and Papuans have relatively lower Denisovan ancestry.<ref name="Teixeira & Cooper">{{cite journal |vauthors=Teixeira JC, Cooper A|title=Using hominin introgression to trace modern human dispersals|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=116|issue=31|pages=15327–15332|date=July 2019|pmid=31300536|pmc=6681743|doi=10.1073/pnas.1904824116|bibcode=2019PNAS..11615327T|doi-access=free}}</ref>
Based on a reevaluation of mitogenomes, Gandini et al. 2025 proposed a "long chronology", which suggested an earlier settlement of Sahul by two migration routes about ~60 ka. One route came from northern Sunda via the Philippine archipelago whilst the other came from southern Sunda via Mainland Southeast Asia, with both routes ultimately tracing back to South Asia. The settlers that undertook these routes were ancestral to populations indigenous to Australia, New Guinea and Oceania, and were also related to other East Eurasians instead of belonging to a separate wave.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gandini |first1=Francesca |last2=Almeida |first2=Mafalda |last3=Foody |first3=M. George B. |last4=Nagle |first4=Nano |last5=Bergström |first5=Anders |last6=Olivieri |first6=Anna |last7=Rodrigues |first7=Simão |last8=Fichera |first8=Alessandro |last9=Oteo-Garcia |first9=Gonzalo |last10=Torroni |first10=Antonio |last11=Achilli |first11=Alessandro |last12=Pomat |first12=William |last13=Zainuddin |first13=Zafarina |last14=Eng |first14=Ken Khong |last15=Shoeib |first15=Tarek |date=28 November 2025 |title=Genomic evidence supports the "long chronology" for the peopling of Sahul |journal=Science Advances |volume=11 |issue=48 |article-number=eady9493 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.ady9493 |pmc=12662211 |pmid=41313774 |bibcode=2025SciA...11y9493G |quote=It has sometimes been argued that the ancestors of Sahul populations were distinct from the main wave of out-of-Africa dispersal (20, 31) but, as for mtDNA, the Y-chromosome data clearly connect Sahul to other East Eurasian populations, in line with more recent autosomal results (21).}}</ref>
===Changes about 4,000 years ago=== The dingo reached Australia about 4,000 years ago. Near that time, there were changes in language (with the Pama-Nyungan language family spreading over most of the mainland), and in stone tool technology. Smaller tools were used. Human contact has thus been inferred, and genetic data of two kinds have been proposed to support a gene flow from India to Australia: first, signs of South Asian components in Aboriginal Australian genomes, reported on the basis of genome-wide SNP data; and second, the existence of a Y chromosome (male) lineage, designated haplogroup C∗, with the most recent common ancestor about 5,000 years ago.<ref name=bergstrom2016/>
The first type of evidence comes from a 2013 study by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology using large-scale genotyping data from a pool of Aboriginal Australians, New Guineans, island Southeast Asians, and Indians. It found that the New Guinea and Mamanwa (Philippines area) groups diverged from the Aboriginal about 36,000 years ago (there is supporting evidence that these populations are descended from migrants taking an early "southern route" out of Africa, before other groups in the area).{{citation needed|date=July 2024}} Also the Indian and Australian populations mixed long before European contact, with this gene flow occurring during the Holocene ({{c.}} 4,200 years ago).<ref name=maxplanck2013>{{cite journal |last1=Pugach |first1=Irina |last2=Delfin |first2=Frederick |last3=Gunnarsdóttir |first3=Ellen |last4=Kayser |first4=Manfred |last5=Stoneking |first5=Mark |title=Genome-wide data substantiate Holocene gene flow from India to Australia |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=110 |issue=5 |date=29 January 2013 |pages=1803–1808 |pmid=23319617 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1211927110 |pmc=3562786 |bibcode=2013PNAS..110.1803P |doi-access=free }}</ref> The researchers had two theories for this: either some Indians had contact with people in Indonesia who eventually transferred those Indian genes to Aboriginal Australians, or a group of Indians migrated from India to Australia and intermingled with the locals directly.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The ocean of churn: how the Indian Ocean shaped human history| last=Sanyal| first=Sanjeev |date=2016 |isbn=978-93-86057-61-7|location=Gurgaon, Haryana, India|page=59|oclc=990782127 | publisher=Penguin UK}}</ref><ref name="MacDonald"/>
However, a 2016 study in ''Current Biology'' by Anders Bergström et al. excluded the Y chromosome as providing evidence for recent gene flow from India into Australia. The study authors sequenced 13 Aboriginal Australian Y chromosomes using recent advances in gene sequencing technology. They investigated their divergence times from Y chromosomes in other continents, including comparing the haplogroup C chromosomes. They found a divergence time of about 54,100 years between the Sahul C chromosome and its closest relative C5, as well as about 54,300 years between haplogroups K*/M and their closest haplogroups R and Q. The deep divergence time of 50,000-plus years with the South Asian chromosome and "the fact that the Aboriginal Australian Cs share a more recent common ancestor with Papuan Cs" excludes any recent genetic contact.<ref name=bergstrom2016/>
The 2016 study's authors concluded that, although this does not disprove the presence of any Holocene gene flow or non-genetic influences from South Asia at that time, and the appearance of the dingo does provide strong evidence for external contacts, the evidence overall is consistent with a complete lack of gene flow, and points to indigenous origins for the technological and linguistic changes. They attributed the disparity between their results and previous findings to improvements in technology; none of the other studies had utilised complete Y chromosome sequencing, which has the highest precision. For example, use of a ten Y STRs method has been shown to massively underestimate divergence times. Gene flow across the island-dotted {{convert|150|km|mi|adj=mid|-wide}} Torres Strait, is both geographically plausible and demonstrated by the data, although at this point it could not be determined from this study when within the last 10,000 years it may have occurred—newer analytical techniques have the potential to address such questions.<ref name=bergstrom2016>{{cite journal |last1=Bergström |first1=Anders |last2=Nagle |first2=Nano |last3=Chen |first3=Yuan |last4=McCarthy |first4=Shane |last5=Pollard |first5=Martin O. |last6=Ayub |first6=Qasim |last7=Wilcox |first7=Stephen |last8=Wilcox |first8=Leah |last9=van Oorschot |first9=Roland A. H. |last10=McAllister |first10=Peter |last11=Williams |first11=Lesley |last12=Xue |first12=Yali |last13=Mitchell |first13=R. John |last14=Tyler-Smith |first14=Chris |title=Deep Roots for Aboriginal Australian Y Chromosomes |journal=Current Biology |volume=26 |issue=6 |date=21 March 2016 |pages=809–813 |pmid=26923783 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2016.01.028 |pmc=4819516 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2016CBio...26..809B }}</ref>
Bergström's 2018 doctoral thesis looking at the population of Sahul suggests that other than relatively recent admixture, the populations of the region appear to have been genetically independent from the rest of the world since their divergence about 50,000 years ago. He writes "There is no evidence for South Asian gene flow to Australia .... Despite Sahul being a single connected landmass until [8,000 years ago], different groups across Australia are nearly equally related to Papuans, and vice versa, and the two appear to have separated genetically already [about 30,000 years ago]."<ref name=bergstromthesis2018>{{cite thesis |last=Bergström |first=Anders |title=Genomic insights into the human population history of Australia and New Guinea |doi=10.17863/CAM.20837 | doi-access=free | date=20 July 2018 |publisher=University of Cambridge | degree=PhD <!-- https://web.archive.org/web/20200625062625/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/dd15/d63d6e30c13d486f45fb6c4fe98825a63bcc.pdf -->}}</ref>
===Environmental adaptations=== [[File:Alexander Schramm - An Aboriginal encampment, near the Adelaide foothills - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|An Aboriginal encampment near the Adelaide foothills in an 1854 painting by Alexander Schramm]]
Aboriginal Australians possess inherited abilities to adapt to a wide range of environmental temperatures in various ways. A study in 1958 comparing cold adaptation in the desert-dwelling Pitjantjatjara people compared with a group of European people showed that the cooling adaptation of the Aboriginal group differed from that of the Europeans, and that they were able to sleep more soundly through a cold desert night.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Cold Adaptation in Australian Aborigines|journal=Journal of Applied Physiology|volume = 13|issue = 2|pages = 211–218|author1-link=Per Fredrik Scholander|first1=P. F.|last1=Scholander|first2=H. T.|last2=Hammel|first3=J. S.|last3=Hart|first4=D. H.|last4=LeMessurier|first5=J.|last5=Steen|display-authors=2|doi=10.1152/jappl.1958.13.2.211|pmid=13575330|date=1 September 1958 |bibcode=1958JAPh...13..211S }}</ref> A 2014 Cambridge University study found that a beneficial mutation in two genes that regulate thyroxine, a hormone involved in regulating body metabolism, helps to regulate body temperature in response to fever. The effect of this is that the desert people are able to have a higher body temperature without accelerating the activity of the whole of the body, which can be especially detrimental in childhood diseases. This helps protect people to survive the side-effects of infection.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-29/genetic-modification-helps-aboriginal-people-survive-hot-climat/5225742 | title=Genetic mutation helps Aboriginal people survive tough climate, research finds | work=ABC News | date=29 January 2014| author=Caitlyn Gribbin|format=text and audio}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Temperature-responsive release of thyroxine and its environmental adaptation in Australians|journal= Proceedings of the Royal Society B|volume = 281|issue = 1779|article-number = 20132747|doi=10.1098/rspb.2013.2747|pmid = 24478298|date=22 March 2014|first1=Xiaoqiang|last1=Qi|first2=Wee Lee |last2=Chan|first3=Randy J.|last3=Read|first4=Aiwu|last4=Zhou|first5=Robin W. |last5=Carrell|pmc=3924073}}</ref>
==Population history==
=== Historical population === It is estimated that the Indigenous Australian population at the time of first European settlement numbered at least 314,500 people. After contact the Indigenous population started declining and continued to decline until reaching a nadir in 1921, after which point in time it has started to rebound and has eventually surpassed the pre-contact population size by the end of the 20th century: {{table alignment}} {| class="wikitable sortable defaultright col1left" |+Minimum estimates of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population for 1788-1971 and official estimates for 1996-2021<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 July 2024 |title=Historical population, 2021. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population {{!}} Australian Bureau of Statistics |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/historical-population/latest-release |access-date=6 April 2026 |website=www.abs.gov.au |language=en}}</ref> !State / Territory !1788 !1861 !1881 !1901 !1921 !1947 !1954 !1971 !1996 !2006 !2011 !2016 !2021 |- |New South Wales |48,000 |16,000 |10,000 |7,434 |9,350 |14,500 |17,500 |28,500 |109,925 |152,685 |208,476 |265,685 |339,710 |- |Victoria |15,000 |2,384 |1,200 |850 |1,400 |3,000 |3,800 |6,371 |22,598 |33,517 |47,333 |57,767 |78,696 |- |Queensland |120,000 |60,000 |40,000 |27,500 |22,500 |27,500 |32,000 |46,000 |104,817 |144,885 |188,954 |221,276 |273,119 |- |South Australia |15,000 |9,000 |6,346 |4,888 |4,598 |5,600 |6,300 |9,450 |22,051 |28,055 |37,408 |42,265 |52,069 |- |Western Australia |62,000 |44,500 |35,500 |26,500 |19,547 |18,250 |20,000 |28,000 |56,205 |70,966 |88,270 |100,512 |120,006 |- |Tasmania |4,500 |18 |120 |157 |400 |1,175 |1,525 |3,000 |15,322 |18,415 |24,165 |28,537 |33,857 |- |Northern Territory |50,000 |48,500 |38,500 |27,235 |17,809 |16,875 |18,750 |28,500 |51,876 |64,005 |68,850 |74,546 |76,487 |- |Australian Capital Territory | - | - | - | - |33 |100 |173 |255 |3,058 |4,282 |6,160 |7,513 |9,525 |- !Australia !314,500 !180,402 !131,666 !94,564 !75,637 !87,000 !100,048 !150,076 !386,049 !517,043 !669,881 !798,365 !983,709 |}
=== Population growth and location === Based on the 2021 census, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates there were 901,655 Aboriginal Australians, and 42,516 who identified as both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander. These groups comprise 3.7% of the total Australian population. 39,538 people identified as Torres Strait Islander, which is a different ethnic group from Aboriginal Australian.<ref name="Australian-Bureau-of-Statistics-20233">{{cite web |date=June 2023 |title=Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, Estimated resident population, Indigenous status – 30 June 2021 |url=http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3238.0.55.001 |work=Australian Bureau of Statistics}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable floatright mw-collapsible mw-uncollapsed" style= "font-size: 86%; margin:2em;" |+Census counts and intercensal change<br/> Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons, 2006–2021*<ref name=changes/> |- ! scope="col" style="text-align:left"|Census !! scope="col" style="text-align:left"|Number of persons !! scope="col" style="text-align:left;"|Intercensal change (number) !! scope="col" style="text-align:left;"|Intercensal change (percentage) |- ||2006 ||455,028 ||45,025 ||11.0 |- ||2011 ||548,368 ||93,340 ||20.5 |- ||2016 ||649,171 ||100,803 ||18.4 |- ||2021 ||812,728 ||163,557 ||25.2 |- | colspan="4" |*These are initial counts and differ from the final estimates, adjusted for undercounting.<ref name="Australian-Bureau-of-Statistics-20233" /><ref name="changes" /> |}
Based on initial 2021 census counts, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander population grew 25.2%, since the previous census in 2016.<ref name=changes>{{cite web |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/understanding-change-counts-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians-census/latest-release |title=Understanding change in counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians: Census |author=<!--Not stated-->|date=4 April 2023 |website=Australian Bureau of Statistics |access-date=25 July 2023}}</ref> Demographic factors – births, deaths and migration{{refn|group=note|Population change due to overseas migration continued to account for less than 2 per cent of the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander population.}} – accounted for 43.5% of the increase (71,086 people). In turn, 76.2% of that increase was attributed to people aged 0–19 years in 2021, broken down as 52.5% for 0–4 year olds (births since 2016) and 23.7% for 5–19 year olds.<ref name="changes" />
Reasons for the increase in Aboriginal population also include non-demographic factors. These include changes in individuals' identification as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in different censuses, and individuals completing a census form in 2021 but not in 2016. These factors accounted for 56.5% of the increase in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. The increase was higher than observed between 2011 and 2016 (39.0%) and 2006–2011 (38.7%).<ref name="changes" />
The distribution of the Aboriginal Australian population (including those who identify as both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) by state and territory is: New South Wales (35.3%), Queensland (26.3%), Western Australia (12.5%), Victoria (8.1%), Northern Territory (8.0%), South Australia (5.4%), Tasmania (3.4%) and Australian Capital Territory (1.0%).<ref name="Australian-Bureau-of-Statistics-20232">{{cite web |date=June 2023 |title=Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians |url=http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3238.0.55.001 |work=Australian Bureau of Statistics}}</ref>
Indigenous Australians (including Torres Strait Islanders) are less likely to live in the major Australian cities than are non-Indigenous Australians (41% compared with 73%). They are more likely to live in remote or very remote areas (15% compared with 1.4%)<ref name="Australian-Bureau-of-Statistics-20232" />
==Languages== {{main|Australian Aboriginal languages}}
Although humans arrived in Australia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago,<ref>Flood, Josephine (2019). ''The Original Australians''. Sydney: Allen and Unwin. p. 217. {{ISBN|9781760527075}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Veth |first1=Peter |title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume 1, Indigenous and Colonial Australia |last2=O'Connor |first2=Sue |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-107-01153-3 |editor-last=Bashford |editor-first=Alison |location=Cambridge |page=19 |chapter=The past 50,000 years: an archaeological view |editor-last2=MacIntyre |editor-first2=Stuart}}</ref> it is possible that the ancestor language of existing Aboriginal languages is as recent as 12,000 years old.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marchese |first=David |date=28 March 2018 |title=Indigenous languages come from just one common ancestor, researchers say |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-28/indigenous-language-comes-from-a-single-root-tongue/9594414 |access-date=9 May 2023 |website=ABC news}}</ref> Over 250 Australian Aboriginal languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact.<ref name=":92">{{Cite book |url=https://www.arts.gov.au/what-we-do/indigenous-arts-and-languages/indigenous-languages-and-arts-program/national-indigenous-languages-report |title=National Indigenous Languages Report |publisher=Commonwealth of Australia |year=2020 |location=Canberra |page=13}}</ref>
As of 2021, 84% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders spoke only English at home.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=2021 Census of Population and Housing, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Profile, Table I05 |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/community-profiles/2021/AUS |access-date=19 October 2025 |website=Australian Bureau of Statistics}}</ref> The National Indigenous Languages Survey (NILS) for 2018-19 found that more than 120 Indigenous language varieties were in use or being revived, although 70 of those in use are endangered.<ref name=":12">National Indigenous Language Report (2020). pp. 42, 65</ref> The 2021 census found that 167 Indigenous languages were spoken at home by 76,978 Indigenous Australians.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |date=28 June 2022 |title=Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Census |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people-census/2021 |access-date=7 May 2023 |website=Australian Bureau of Statistics}}</ref> NILS and the Australian Bureau of Statistics use different classifications for Indigenous Australian languages.<ref name=":16">National Indigenous Languages Report (2020). p. 46</ref>
According to the 2021 census, the classifiable Aboriginal languages with the most speakers are Kriol (7,403), Djambarrpuyngu (3,839), Pitjantjatjara (3,399), Warlpiri (2,592), Murrinh Patha (2,063) and Tiwi (2,053). There were also over 10,000 people who spoke an Indigenous language that could not be further defined or classified.<ref name=":17">{{Cite web |date=25 October 2022 |title=Language Statistics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/language-statistics-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/2021 |website=Australian Bureau of Statistics}}</ref>
=== Creoles === A number of English-based creoles have arisen in Australia after European contact, of which Kriol is among the strongest and fastest-growing Aboriginal languages. Kriol is spoken in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It is estimated that there are 20,000 to 30,000 speakers of Indigenous creole languages.<ref>National Indigenous Languages Report (2020). pp. 42, 54-55</ref>
=== Tasmanian languages === {{Main|Tasmanian languages}}
Before British colonisation, there were perhaps five to sixteen languages on Tasmania,<ref>Crowley, ''Field Linguistics,'' 2007:3</ref> possibly related to one another in four language families.<ref name="Bowern">Claire Bowern, September 2012, "The riddle of Tasmanian languages", ''Proc. R. Soc. B'', 279, 4590–4595, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.1842</ref> The last speaker of a traditional Tasmanian language, Fanny Cochrane Smith, died in 1905.<ref>NJB Plomley, 1976b. ''Friendly mission: the Tasmanian journals of George Augustus Robinson 1829–34. Kingsgrove. pp. xiv–xv.''</ref> Palawa kani is an in-progress constructed language, built from a composite of surviving words from various Tasmanian Aboriginal languages.<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 July 2019 |title=T16: Palawa kani |url=https://collection.aiatsis.gov.au/austlang/language/T16}}</ref>
=== Indigenous sign languages === {{Main|Australian Aboriginal sign languages}}
Traditional Indigenous languages often incorporated sign systems to aid communication with the hearing impaired, to complement verbal communication, and to replace verbal communication when the spoken language was forbidden for cultural reasons. Many of these sign systems are still in use.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Murphy |first=Fiona |date=19 June 2021 |title=Aboriginal sign languages have been used for thousands of years |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-19/australian-indigenous-sign-languages/100185504 |access-date=8 May 2023 |website=ABC News online}}</ref>
==Groups and sub-groups== {{see also|List of Australian Aboriginal group names}} {{multiple image | perrow = 2 | total_width = 400 | image1 = Map Victoria Aboriginal tribes (colourmap).jpg | image2 = Aboriginal Tasmania Map.png | image3 = Traditional lands of the Australian aboriginal tribes around Cairns.png | image4 = Traditional Lands of Australian Aboriginal tribes near Darwin, Australia.png | footer = Clockwise from upper left: traditional lands Victoria, Tasmania, Darwin, Cairns }}
Dispersing across the Australian continent over time, the ancient people expanded and differentiated into distinct groups, each with its own language and culture.<ref name="Lourandos">Lourandos, Harry. ''New Perspectives in Australian Prehistory'', Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom (1997) {{ISBN|0-521-35946-5}}</ref> More than 400 distinct Australian Aboriginal peoples have been identified, distinguished by names designating their ancestral languages, dialects, or distinctive speech patterns.<ref>Horton, David (1994) ''The Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History, Society, and Culture'', Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra. {{ISBN|0-85575-234-3}}.</ref> According to noted anthropologist, archaeologist and sociologist Harry Lourandos, historically, these groups lived in three main cultural areas, the Northern, Southern and Central cultural areas. The Northern and Southern areas, having richer natural marine and woodland resources, were more densely populated than the Central area.<ref name="Lourandos" /> [[File:Bathurst Island men.jpg|thumb|right|Men from Bathurst Island, 1939]]
===Geographically-based names=== There are various other names from Australian Aboriginal languages commonly used to identify groups based on geography, known as demonyms, including: * Anangu in northern South Australia, and neighbouring parts of Western Australia and Northern Territory * Goorie (variant pronunciation and spelling of Koori) in South East Queensland and some parts of northern New South Wales * Koori (or Koorie) in New South Wales and Victoria (Aboriginal Victorians) * Murri in Central and Northern Queensland, sometimes referring to all Aboriginal Queenslanders * Nunga in southern South Australia * Noongar in southern Western Australia * Palawah (or Pallawah) in Tasmania * Tiwi on Tiwi Islands off Arnhem Land (NT)
===A few examples of sub-groups=== Other group names are based on the language group or specific dialect spoken. These also coincide with geographical regions of varying sizes. A few examples are: * Anindilyakwa on Groote Eylandt (off Arnhem Land), NT * Arrernte in central Australia<ref name="Read-1982">{{Cite journal |last1=Read |first1=Peter |last2=Broome |first2=Richard |date=1982 |title=Aboriginal Australians |journal=Labour History |issue=43 |pages=125–126 |doi=10.2307/27508560 |issn=0023-6942 |jstor=27508560}}</ref> * Bininj in Western Arnhem Land (NT)<ref>{{cite web |last=Garde |first=Murray |title=bininj |url=https://www.njamed.com/#bininj |website=Bininj Kunwok Dictionary |publisher=Bininj Kunwok Regional Language Centre |access-date=20 June 2019}}</ref> * Gunggari in south-west Queensland<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gunggaripeople.weebly.com/general-reference.html|title=General Reference|website=Life and Times of the Gunggari People, QLD (Pathfinder)|access-date=29 November 2016}}</ref> * Muruwari people in New South Wales * Luritja (Kukatja), an Anangu sub-group based on language * Ngunnawal in the Australian Capital Territory and surrounding areas of New South Wales * Pitjantjatjara, an Anangu sub-group based on language * Wangai in the Western Australian Goldfields * Warlpiri (Yapa) in western central Northern Territory * Yamatji in central Western Australia * Yolngu in eastern Arnhem Land (NT)
===Difficulties defining groups=== However, these lists are neither exhaustive nor definitive, and there are overlaps. Different approaches have been taken by non-Aboriginal scholars in trying to understand and define Aboriginal culture and societies, some focusing on the micro-level (tribe, clan, etc.), and others on shared languages and cultural practices spread over large regions defined by ecological factors. Anthropologists have encountered many difficulties in trying to define what constitutes an Aboriginal people/community/group/tribe, let alone naming them. Knowledge of pre-colonial Aboriginal cultures and societal groupings is still largely dependent on the observers' interpretations, which were filtered through colonial ways of viewing societies.<ref>{{cite book|title=Colonialism and its Aftermath: A history of Aboriginal South Australia|chapter-url=https://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product.php?productid=1385|publisher=Wakefield Press|isbn=978-1-74305-499-4|date=2017|editor1-first=Peggy|editor1-last=Brock|editor2-first=Tom|editor2-last=Gara|chapter=Chapter 1: Structures of Aboriginal life at the time of colonisation|first=Paul|last=Monaghan|pages=10, 12|archive-date=21 October 2022|access-date=9 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221021032937/https://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product.php?productid=1385}}</ref>
Some Aboriginal peoples identify as one of several saltwater, freshwater, rainforest or desert peoples.
==Aboriginal identity== {{Main|Australian Aboriginal identity}}
=== Terminology === The term ''Aboriginal Australians'' includes many distinct peoples who have developed across Australia for over 50,000 years.<ref name="ClarksonJacobs2017">{{cite journal |last1=Clarkson |first1=Chris |last2=Jacobs |first2=Zenobia |last3=Marwick |first3=Ben |last4=Fullagar |first4=Richard |last5=Wallis |first5=Lynley |author-link5=Lynley Wallis |last6=Smith |first6=Mike |last7=Roberts |first7=Richard G. |last8=Hayes |first8=Elspeth |last9=Lowe |first9=Kelsey |last10=Carah |first10=Xavier |last11=Florin |first11=S. Anna |last12=McNeil |first12=Jessica |last13=Cox |first13=Delyth |last14=Arnold |first14=Lee J. |last15=Hua |first15=Quan |year=2017 |title=Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago |journal=Nature |volume=547 |issue=7663 |pages=306–310 |bibcode=2017Natur.547..306C |doi=10.1038/nature22968 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=28726833 |s2cid=205257212 |hdl-access=free |last16=Huntley |first16=Jillian |last17=Brand |first17=Helen E. A. |last18=Manne |first18=Tiina |last19=Fairbairn |first19=Andrew |last20=Shulmeister |first20=James |last21=Lyle |first21=Lindsey |last22=Salinas |first22=Makiah |last23=Page |first23=Mara |last24=Connell |first24=Kate |last25=Park |first25=Gayoung |last26=Norman |first26=Kasih |last27=Murphy |first27=Tessa |last28=Pardoe |first28=Colin| display-authors=2 |hdl=2440/107043|url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/4803 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4N58AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA191|title=Language and Culture in Aboriginal Australia |last1=Walsh |first1=Michael |last2=Yallop |first2=Colin |date=1993 |publisher=Aboriginal Studies Press |isbn=978-0-85575-241-5 |pages=191–193}}</ref> These peoples have a broadly shared, complex, genetic history,<ref name="abc2013">{{cite book |title=An Introduction to Aboriginal Societies |last=Edwards |first=W. H. |publisher=Social Science Press |date=2004 |edition=2nd |page=2 |isbn=978-1-876633-89-9}}</ref><ref name="MacDonald">{{Cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-15/research-shows-ancient-indian-migration-to-australia/4466382|title=Research shows ancient Indian migration to Australia|last=MacDonald|first=Anna|work=ABC News|date=15 January 2013}}</ref> but it is only in the last two hundred years that they have been defined and have started to self-identify as a single group socio-politically.<ref name="Fesl">{{cite journal |url= http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AboriginalLawB/1986/39.html |title='Aborigine' and 'Aboriginal' |last=Fesl |first=Eve D. |journal=Aboriginal Law Bulletin |year=1986 |author-link=Eve Fesl}} (1986) 1(20) ''Aboriginal Law Bulletin'' 10 Accessed 19 August 2011</ref><ref name="age2">{{cite news |url= http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/dont-call-me-indigenous-lowitja/2008/05/01/1209235051400.html |title=Don't call me indigenous: Lowitja |date=1 May 2008 |work=The Age |access-date=12 April 2010 |agency=Australian Associated Press |location=Melbourne}}</ref> While some preferred the term ''Aborigine'' to ''Aboriginal'' in the past, as the latter was seen to have more directly discriminatory legal origins,<ref name="Fesl"/> use of the term ''Aborigine'' has declined in recent decades, as many consider the term an offensive and racist hangover from Australia's colonial era.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2015/08/why-saying-aborigine-isnt-ok-8-facts-about-indigenous-people-in-australia/ |title=Why saying 'Aborigine' isn't OK: 8 facts about Indigenous people in Australia |first=Tammy |last=Solonec |work=Amnesty.org |date=9 August 2015 |publisher=Amnesty International |access-date=5 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Why do media organisations like News Corp, Reuters and The New York Times still use words like 'Aborigines'?|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2018/02/23/why-do-media-organisations-news-corp-reuters-and-new-york-times-still-use-words|access-date=19 July 2021|website=NITV|date=5 March 2018|language=en}}</ref>
The definition of the term ''Aboriginal'' has changed over time and place, with family lineage, self-identification and community acceptance all being of varying importance.<ref name="AECG Inc">{{cite web| url=http://www.sectorconnect.org.au/assets/pdf/resources/resourcepg/Aboriginal/Aboriginality_and_Identity_Report_(November_2011).pdf |title=Aboriginality and Identity: Perspectives, Practices and Policies|date=2011|publisher=New South Wales AECG Inc|access-date=1 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005024319/http://www.sectorconnect.org.au/assets/pdf/resources/resourcepg/Aboriginal/Aboriginality_and_Identity_Report_(November_2011).pdf|archive-date=5 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Blandy|first1=Sarah|last2=Sibley|first2=David|date=2010|title=Law, boundaries and the production of space|journal=Social & Legal Studies|volume=19|issue=3|pages=275–284|doi=10.1177/0964663910372178|s2cid=145479418}} "Aboriginal Australians are a legally defined group" (p. 280).</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Malbon|first=Justin|date=2003|title=The Extinguishment of Native Title{{mdash}}The Australian Aborigines as Slaves and Citizens|journal=Griffith Law Review|volume=12|issue=2|pages=310–335|doi=10.1080/10383441.2003.10854523|s2cid=147150152}} Aboriginal Australians have been "assigned a separate legally defined status" (p 322).</ref>
The term ''Indigenous Australians'' refers to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and the term is conventionally only used when both groups are included in the topic being addressed, or by self-identification by a person as Indigenous. (Torres Strait Islanders are ethnically and culturally distinct,<ref>{{cite web |title= About the Torres Strait |url= http://www.torres.qld.gov.au/about-the-torres-strait1 |website= Torres Strait Shire Council |access-date= 21 October 2019 |archive-date= 21 October 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191021043151/http://www.torres.qld.gov.au/about-the-torres-strait1 }}</ref> despite extensive cultural exchange with some of the Aboriginal groups,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/indg_overview.html|title=Australia Now – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples|date=8 October 2006|access-date=8 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008120749/http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/indg_overview.html|archive-date=8 October 2006}}</ref> and the Torres Strait Islands are mostly part of Queensland but have a separate governmental status.) Some Aboriginal people object to being labelled ''Indigenous'', as an artificial and denialist term, because some non-Aboriginal people have referred to themselves as indigenous because they were born in Australia.<ref name="age2"/>
=== Culture and beliefs === {{main|Australian Aboriginal culture}}
As of 2021, 51% of Indigenous people stated that they held a secular or other spiritual belief or no religious affiliation; 41% were affiliated to Christianity; and 1% were affiliated to a traditional Aboriginal religion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=2021 Census of Population and Housing, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Profile, Table I01 |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/community-profiles/2021/AUS |access-date=19 October 2025 |website=Australian Bureau of Statistics}}</ref>
Australian Indigenous people have beliefs unique to each mob (tribe) and have a strong connection to the land.<ref name="Behind-the-dots-of-Aboriginal-Art">{{Cite web|title=Behind the dots of Aboriginal Art|url=https://www.aboriginal-art-australia.com/aboriginal-art-library/aboriginal-dot-art-behind-the-dots/|access-date=25 November 2021|language=en-AU}}</ref><ref name="Tonkinson-2011">{{Citation|last=Tonkinson|first=Robert|title=Landscape, Transformations, and Immutability in an Aboriginal Australian Culture|date=2011|work=Cultural Memories|volume=4|pages=329–345|series=Knowledge and Space|place=Dordrecht|publisher=Springer Netherlands|doi=10.1007/978-90-481-8945-8_18|isbn=978-90-481-8944-1}}</ref> Contemporary Indigenous Australian beliefs are a complex mixture, varying by region and individual across the continent.<ref name="Cox-2016">{{Cite book|title=Religion and non-religion among Australian Aboriginal peoples|date=2016| last=Cox | first=James Leland|isbn=978-1-4724-4383-0|location=London|oclc=951371681| publisher=Routledge}}</ref> They are shaped by traditional beliefs, the disruption of colonisation, religions brought to the continent by Europeans, and contemporary issues.<ref name="Cox-2016" /><ref name="Harvey-2019">{{Cite journal|last1=Harvey|first1=Arlene|last2=Russell-Mundine|first2=Gabrielle|date=18 August 2019|title=Decolonising the curriculum: using graduate qualities to embed Indigenous knowledges at the academic cultural interface|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/13562517.2018.1508131|journal=Teaching in Higher Education|volume=24|issue=6|pages=789–808|doi=10.1080/13562517.2018.1508131|s2cid=149824646|issn=1356-2517|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Fraser-2012">{{Cite journal|last=Fraser|first=Jenny|date=25 January 2012|title=The digital dreamtime: A shining light in the culture war|url=https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/te-kaharoa/index.php/tekaharoa/article/view/77|journal=Te Kaharoa|language=en|volume=5|issue=1|doi=10.24135/tekaharoa.v5i1.77|issn=1178-6035|doi-access=free}}</ref> Traditional cultural beliefs are passed down and shared by dancing, stories, songlines and art—especially Papunya Tula (dot painting)—collectively telling the story of creation known as The Dreamtime.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Green|first=Jennifer|date=2012|title=The Altyerre Story-'Suffering Badly by Translation': The Altyerre Story|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1757-6547.2012.00179.x|journal=The Australian Journal of Anthropology|language=en|volume=23|issue=2|pages=158–178|doi=10.1111/j.1757-6547.2012.00179.x|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Behind-the-dots-of-Aboriginal-Art" /> Additionally, traditional healers were also custodians of important Dreaming stories as well as their medical roles (for example the Ngangkari in the Western desert).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Traditional healers of central Australia: Ngangkari|date=2013|publisher=Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjar Yankunytjatjara Women's Council Aboriginal Corporation, Magabala Books Aboriginal Corporation|isbn=978-1-921248-82-5|location=Broome, Western Australia|oclc=819819283}}</ref> Some core structures and themes are shared across the continent with details and additional elements varying between language and cultural groups.<ref name="Cox-2016" /> For example, in The Dreamtime of most regions, a spirit creates the earth then tells the humans to treat the animals and the earth in a way that is respectful to land. In Northern Territory this spirit is commonly said to be a huge snake or snakes that weaved its way through the earth and sky making the mountains and oceans. But in other places the spirits who created the world are known as wandjina rain and water spirits. Major ancestral spirits include the Rainbow Serpent, Baiame, Dirawong and Bunjil. Similarly, the Arrernte people of central Australia believed that humanity originated from great superhuman ancestors who brought the sun, wind and rain as a result of breaking through the surface of the Earth when waking from their slumber.<ref name="Read-1982" />
Many Dreamtime stories are still believed by many Indigenous Australians to this day.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dreaming |url=https://www.deadlystory.com/page/culture/Life_Lore/Dreaming/ |access-date=30 October 2025 |website=www.deadlystory.com}}</ref>
==Health and economic deprivations== {{main|Indigenous health in Australia|Closing the Gap}}
Taken as a whole, Aboriginal Australians, along with Torres Strait Islander people, have a number of health and economic deprivations in comparison with the wider Australian community.<ref name=healthstats2011>{{cite web | title=4704.0 - The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Oct 2010 | website=Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Government | date=17 February 2011 | url=https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/lookup/4704.0Chapter230Oct+2010 | access-date=3 February 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Indigenous Socioeconomics Indicators, Benefits and Expenditure | website=Parliament of Australia | date=7 August 2001 | url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/online/abindicators | access-date=3 February 2020}}</ref>
Due to the aforementioned disadvantage, Aboriginal Australian communities experience a higher rate of suicide, as compared to non-indigenous communities. These issues stem from a variety of different causes unique to indigenous communities, such as historical trauma,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Elliott-Farrelly|first=Terri|date=January 2004|title=Australian Aboriginal suicide: The need for an Aboriginal suicidology?|journal=Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health|volume=3|issue=3|pages=138–145|doi=10.5172/jamh.3.3.138|s2cid=71578621|issn=1446-7984}}</ref> socioeconomic disadvantage, and decreased access to education and health care.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Marrone|first=Sonia|date=July 2007|title=Understanding barriers to health care: a review of disparities in health care services among indigenous populations|journal=International Journal of Circumpolar Health|volume=66|issue=3|pages=188–198|doi=10.3402/ijch.v66i3.18254|pmid=17655060|s2cid=1720215|issn=2242-3982|doi-access=free}}</ref> Also, this problem largely affects indigenous youth, as many indigenous youth may feel disconnected from their culture.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Isaacs|first1=Anton|last2=Sutton|first2=Keith|date=16 June 2016|title=An Aboriginal youth suicide prevention project in rural Victoria|journal=Advances in Mental Health|volume=14|issue=2|pages=118–125|doi=10.1080/18387357.2016.1198232|s2cid=77905930|issn=1838-7357}}</ref>
To combat the increased suicide rate, many researchers have suggested that the inclusion of more cultural aspects into suicide prevention programs would help to combat mental health issues within the community. Past studies have found that many indigenous leaders and community members, do in fact, want more culturally-aware health care programs.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ridani|first1=Rebecca|last2=Shand|first2=Fiona L.|last3=Christensen|first3=Helen|last4=McKay|first4=Kathryn|last5=Tighe|first5=Joe|last6=Burns|first6=Jane|last7=Hunter|first7=Ernest|date=16 September 2014|title=Suicide Prevention in Australian Aboriginal Communities: A Review of Past and Present Programs|journal=Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior|volume=45|issue=1|pages=111–140|doi=10.1111/sltb.12121|pmid=25227155|issn=0363-0234}}</ref> Similarly, culturally-relative programs targeting indigenous youth have actively challenged suicide ideation among younger indigenous populations, with many social and emotional wellbeing programs using cultural information to provide coping mechanisms and improving mental health.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Skerrett|first1=Delaney Michael|last2=Gibson|first2=Mandy|last3=Darwin|first3=Leilani|last4=Lewis|first4=Suzie|last5=Rallah|first5=Rahm|last6=De Leo|first6=Diego|date=30 March 2017|title=Closing the Gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Youth Suicide: A Social-Emotional Wellbeing Service Innovation Project|journal=Australian Psychologist|volume=53|issue=1|pages=13–22|doi=10.1111/ap.12277|s2cid=151609217|issn=0005-0067|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Murrup-Stewart|first1=Cammi|last2=Searle|first2=Amy K.|last3=Jobson|first3=Laura|last4=Adams|first4=Karen|date=16 November 2018|title=Aboriginal perceptions of social and emotional wellbeing programs: A systematic review of literature assessing social and emotional wellbeing programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians perspectives|journal=Australian Psychologist|volume=54|issue=3|pages=171–186|doi=10.1111/ap.12367|s2cid=150362243|issn=0005-0067}}</ref>
==Viability of remote communities== {{further|Outstation (Aboriginal community)}} [[File:Aboriginal Australian women and children, Maloga, N.S.W.jpg|thumb|Historical image of Aboriginal Australian women and children, Maloga, New South Wales around 1900 (in European dress)]] The outstation movement of the 1970s and 1980s, when Aboriginal people moved to tiny remote settlements on traditional land, brought health benefits,<ref>{{cite journal | last=Morice | first=Rodney D. | title=Woman Dancing Dreaming: Psychosocial Benefits of the Aboriginal Outstation Movement | journal=Medical Journal of Australia | publisher=AMPCo | volume=2 | issue=25–26 | year=1976 | pages=939–942 | issn=0025-729X | doi=10.5694/j.1326-5377.1976.tb115531.x| pmid=1035404 | s2cid=28327004 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/products/report_research_outputs/ganesharajah-2009-indigenous-health-wellbeing-importance-country.pdf|title=Indigenous Health and Wellbeing: The Importance of Country|first=Cynthia|last=Ganesharajah|series=Native Title Research Report Report No. 1/2009|date=April 2009|isbn=978-0-85575-669-7|publisher=AIATSIS. Native Title Research Unit|access-date=17 August 2020}} [https://aiatsis.gov.au/publications/products/indigenous-health-and-wellbeing-importance-country AIATSIS summary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200504162522/https://aiatsis.gov.au/publications/products/indigenous-health-and-wellbeing-importance-country |date=4 May 2020 }}</ref> but funding them proved expensive, training and employment opportunities were not provided in many cases, and support from governments dwindled in the 2000s, particularly in the era of the Howard government.<ref name=expch1>{{cite book | editor1-last=Peterson | editor1-first=Nicolas | editor2-last=Myers | editor2-first=Fred | title=Experiments in self-determination: Histories of the outstation movement in Australia| publisher=ANU Press|chapter=1. The origins and history of outstations as Aboriginal life projects |author1-link=Fred Myers |first1=Fred|last1= Myers|first2= Nicolas|last2= Peterson | chapter-url=http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p331981/html/ch01.xhtml|series= Monographs in Anthropology|isbn=978-1-925022-90-2|date=January 2016|page=2 | access-date=17 August 2020}}</ref><ref name=expch10>{{cite book | editor1-last=Peterson | editor1-first=Nicolas | editor2-last=Myers | editor2-first=Fred | title=Experiments in self-determination: Histories of the outstation movement in Australia| publisher=ANU Press | chapter=10. Homelands as outstations of public policy|first=Kingsley|last= Palmer | chapter-url=http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p331981/html/ch10.xhtml|series= Monographs in Anthropology|isbn=978-1-925022-90-2|date=January 2016| access-date=17 August 2020}}</ref><ref name=altman2009>{{cite news| last=Altman | first=Jon | title=No movement on the outstations | website=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=25 May 2009 | url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/no-movement-on-the-outstations-20090525-bkq5.html | access-date=16 August 2020}}</ref>
Indigenous communities in remote Australia are often small, isolated towns with basic facilities, on traditionally owned land. These communities have between 20 and 300 inhabitants and are often closed to outsiders for cultural reasons. The long-term viability and resilience of Aboriginal communities in desert areas has been discussed by scholars and policy-makers. A 2007 report by the CSIRO stressed the importance of taking a demand-driven approach to services in desert settlements, and concluded that "if top-down solutions continue to be imposed without appreciating the fundamental drivers of settlement in desert regions, then those solutions will continue to be partial, and ineffective in the long term."<ref>{{Cite journal | title = The 'viability' and resilience of communities and settlements in desert Australia | last1 = Smith | first1 = M. S. | last2 = Moran | first2 = M. | last3 = Seemann | first3 = K. | journal = The Rangeland Journal | year = 2008 | volume = 30 | issue = 1 | page = 123 | doi = 10.1071/RJ07048| bibcode = 2008RangJ..30..123S }}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Australia|Civilizations}} {{divcol}} * Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA) * Aboriginal cultures of Western Australia * Aboriginal South Australians * Australian Aboriginal culture * Australian Aboriginal kinship * Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology * Climate change in Australia * First Nations Media Australia * Indigenous Australian art * Indigenous Australian music * Indigenous land rights in Australia * List of Aboriginal missions in New South Wales * List of Indigenous Australian firsts * List of Indigenous Australian politicians * List of Indigenous Australians in politics and public service * List of massacres of Indigenous Australians * Lists of Indigenous Australians * National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award * Native title in Australia * Stolen Generations * Supply Nation {{div col end}}
==Notes== {{Reflist|group=note}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{CC-notice|cc=by4|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4819516/|author(s)=Anders Bergström et al.}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} {{Library resources box|by=no|onlinebooks=no|about=yes|wikititle=Aboriginal Australians}} {{External media ||video1={{YouTube|pgiY4t_asd0|Aboriginal people (Mewite people) hunting a kangaroo}} // Archaeology News, 26 November 2024 }} * [https://www.abc.net.au/news/deeptime/ ''Deep Time''], an ABC News Story Lab production that covers many aspects of Aboriginal history, mythology, and places * [https://aiatsis.gov.au/ AIATSIS]—Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies website
{{Ethnic groups in Australia}} {{Indigenous Australians}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Indigenous peoples of Australia Category:Ethnic groups in Australia Category:Indigenous peoples of Oceania