February 11, 2017

The Prehistory of Australia

Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago, possibly with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea-crossings from what is now Southeast Asia. These first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern indigenous Australians. At the time of European settlement in the late 18th century, most indigenous Australians were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and belief in Dreamtime. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturalists and hunter-gatherers. The northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia.