not been shown to be related to any languages outside Australia. In the late
18th century, there were anywhere between 350 and 750 distinct groupings and a
similar number of languages and dialects
At the time of first European contact, it is estimated that a minimum of 315,000
and as many as 1 million people lived in Australia. Recent archaeological
evidence suggests that the land could have sustained a population of 750,000[11].
the regions of heaviest Indigenous population were the same temperate coastal
regions that are currently the most heavily populated
While Torres Strait Island populations were agriculturalists who supplemented
their diet through the acquisition of wild foods the remainder of Indigenous
Australians were hunter-gatherers. Indigenous Australians along
the coast and rivers were also expert fishermen. Some Aborigines and Torres
Strait Islanders relied on the dingo as a
companion animal, using it to assist with hunting and for warmth on cold nights.
Torres Strait Islanders
Indigenous Australians did practise agriculture.
sugar cane, taro and sweet potato as well as husbanding pigs
To enable men and women to find suitable partners, many groups would come
together for annual gatherings (commonly known as corroborees) at which goods were traded, news
exchanged, and marriages arranged amid appropriate ceremonies. This practice
both reinforced clan relationships and prevented inbreeding in a society based on small semi-nomadic
groups.
mainland Australia no animal other than the dingo
Indigenous diet included a wide variety of foods, such kangaroo, emu, wombats, goanna, snakes, birds, many insects such as honey ants and witchetty grubs. Many
varieties of plant foods such as taro, nuts,
fruits and berries were also eaten.
A primary tool used in hunting was the spear, launched by a woomera or spear-thrower in some locales. Boomerangs were also used by some
mainland Indigenous peoples. The non-returnable boomerang (known more correctly
as a Throwing Stick),
more powerful than the returning kind, could be used to injure or even kill a
kangaroo.
Permanent villages were the norm for most Torres Strait Island communities. In
some areas mainland Indigenous Australians also lived in semi-permanent
villages, most usually in less arid areas where fishing could provide for a more
settled existence. Most Indigenous communities were semi-nomadic, moving
in a regular cycle over a defined territory,
Many Indigenous communities also have a very complex kinship structure and in some
places strict rules about marriage. In traditional societies, men are required
to marry women of a specific moiety
In contrast Australian Aborigines did not cultivate any crops and lacked any
domestic food animals
The Indigenous Australians lived through great climatic changes and adapted
successfully to their changing physical environment