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**AUSTRALIA**

**Aboriginal Traditional Society**



HOME HISTORY POPULATION & LAND DIET CULTURE

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. Indigenous Australians are distinguished as either Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders, who currently together make up about 2.7% of Australia's population.

The Torres Strait Islanders are indigenous to the Torres Strait Islands, which are at the northern-most tip of Queensland near Papua New Guinea. The term "Aboriginal" has traditionally been applied to indigenous inhabitants of mainland Australia, Tasmania, and some of the other adjacent islands.

The earliest definite human remains found to date are that of Mungo Man, which have been dated at about 40,000 years old, but the time of arrival of the ancestors of Indigenous Australians is a matter of debate among researchers, with estimates dating back as far as 125,000 years ago.

There is great diversity among different Indigenous communities and societies in Australia, each with its own unique mixture of cultures, customs and languages. In present day Australia these groups are further divided into local communities.

Although there were over 250–300 spoken languages with 600 dialects at the start of European settlement, fewer than 200 of these remain in use – and all but 20 are considered to be endangered.[5] Aboriginal people today mostly speak English, with Aboriginal phrases and words being added to create Australian Aboriginal English.

The population of Indigenous Australians at the time of permanent European settlement has been estimated at between 318,000 and 750,000,[6] with the distribution being similar to that of the current Australian population, with the majority living in the south-east, centred along the Murray River.

__ Indigenous Australians __
Though Indigenous Australians are seen as being broadly related as part of what has been called the Australoid race, there are significant differences in social, cultural and linguistic customs between the various Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups. The word aboriginal was used in Australia to describe its Indigenous peoples as early as 1789. It soon became capitalised and employed as the common name to refer to all Indigenous Australians.

__ Aboriginal Australians __
The word Aboriginal has been in use in English since at least the 17th century to mean "first or earliest known, indigenous," the adjectival form; however the latter is often also employed to stand as a noun. "Aboriginal(s)" in this sense, i.e. as a noun, has acquired negative connotations in some sectors of the community, who regard it as insensitive, and even offensive.The more acceptable and correct expression is "Aboriginal Australians" or "Aboriginal people," though even this is sometimes regarded as an expression to be avoided because of its historical associations with colonialism. "Indigenous Australians" has found increasing acceptance, particularly since the 1980s.

The broad term Aboriginal Australians includes many regional groups that often identify under names from local Indigenous languages. These include:

Koori (or Koorie) in New South Wales and Victoria (Victorian Aboriginal people) Ngunnawal in the Australian Capital Territory and surrounding areas of New South Wales Murri in Queensland Murrdi in Southwest and Central Queensland Nyungar in southern Western Australia Yamatji in central Western Australia Wangai in the Western Australian Goldfields Nunga in southern South Australia Anangu in northern South Australia, and neighbouring parts of Western Australia and Northern Territory Yapa in western central Northern Territory Yolngu in eastern Arnhem Land (NT) Tiwi on Tiwi Islands off Arnhem Land. They number around 2,500. Anindilyakwa on Groote Eylandt off Arnhem Land Palawah (or Pallawah) in Tasmania. These larger groups may be further subdivided; for example, Anangu (meaning a person from Australia's central desert region) recognises localised subdivisions such as Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Ngaanyatjarra, Luritja and Antikirinya.[5] It is estimated that, prior to the arrival of British settlers, the population of Indigenous Australians was approximately 318,000–750,000 across the continent.

White colonisation from 1788 shattered the Aborigines' sole occupation of Australia. The Aboriginal people, settlers in the continent for at least 30,000 years, found their land being wrenched away from them. The process was sometimes violent, and white settlers made little effort to justi fy what they were doing. when they bothered to give reasons, they talked about Australia being an empty continent, about Aborigines apparently not owning land, and about whites having a superior culture which ought to be spread among uncivilised peoples. But whites made little effort to find out what Aboriginal life was really like. Instead, Aboriginal life was quickly branded as primitive: features of it were soon described as quaint or hostile, and Aborigines were often simply condemned as a people of boomerangs, 'corroborees' and spears.