Indigenous Australians

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Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, and/or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of present day Australia prior to British colonisation.^[3][4] They consist of two distinct groups, which include many ethnic groups: 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, located in Melanesia.

812,728 people self-identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in the 2021 Australian Census, representing 3.2% of the total population of Australia. Of these Indigenous Australians, 91.4% identified as Aboriginal; 4.2% identified as Torres Strait Islander; while 4.4% identified with both groups.^[5] However, the Government has stated that as of 30 June 2021, there are 983,700 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, representing 3.8% of the total population of Australia, as the "final 2021 Census-based estimated resident population". Of these, 91.7% identified as Aboriginal; 4.0% identified as Torres Strait Islander; 4.3% identified with both groups.^[6]

The term Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples or the person's specific cultural group, is often preferred, though the terms First Nations of Australia, First Peoples of Australia and First Australians are also increasingly common.^[7][a] Since 1995, the Australian Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag have been official flags of Australia.

The time of arrival of the first human beings in Australia is a matter of debate and ongoing investigation. The earliest conclusively human remains found in Australia are those of Mungo Man LM3 and Mungo Lady, which have been dated to around 40,000 years ago,^[10] although Indigenous Australians have most likely been living in Australia for upwards of 65,000 years.^[11] Isolated for millennia by rising sea water after the last Ice Age, Australian Aboriginal peoples developed a variety of regional cultures and languages, invented distinct artistic and religious traditions, and affected the environment of the continent in a number of ways through hunting, fire-stick farming, and possibly the introduction of the dog. Technologies for warfare and hunting like the boomerang and spear were constructed of natural materials, as were musical instruments like the didgeridoo.

Although there are a number of cultural commonalities among Indigenous Australians, there is also a great diversity among different communities.^[12] The 2022 Australian census recorded 167 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages used at home by some 76,978 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.^[5] At the time of European colonisation, it is estimated that there were over 250 Aboriginal languages. It is now estimated that all but 13 remaining Indigenous languages are considered endangered.^[13][14] Aboriginal people today mostly speak English, with Aboriginal phrases and words being added to create Australian Aboriginal English (which also has a tangible influence of Indigenous languages in the phonology and grammatical structure). Around three quarters of Australian place names are of Aboriginal origin.^[15]

The Indigenous population prior to European settlement was small, with estimates ranging widely from 318,000^[16] to more than 3,000,000^[17] in total.

Given geographic and habitat conditions, they were distributed in a pattern similar to that of the current Australian population. The majority were living in the south-east, centred along the Murray River.^[18]

The First Fleet of British settlers arrived with instructions to "live in amity and kindness" with the Aboriginal population.^[19] Nevertheless, a population collapse, principally from new infectious diseases, followed European colonisation.^[20][21] A smallpox epidemic spread for three years after the arrival of Europeans. Massacres, frontier armed conflicts and competition over resources with European settlers also contributed to the decline of the Aboriginal peoples.^[22][23]

From the 19th to the mid-20th century, government policy removed many mixed heritage children from Aboriginal communities, with the intent to assimilate them to what had become the majority white culture. Such policy was judged "genocidal" in the Bringing Them Home report (1997) published by the government in the late 20th century, as it reviewed human rights abuses during colonisation.^[24][25]

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