The prehistory of Australia is the time between when humans first arrived on the continent and when Europeans began living there in 1788. This period is studied because there are no written records from this time. Most evidence suggests humans lived in Australia between 50,000 and 65,000 years ago. This time is called prehistory instead of history because it is not known from written documents. Some people believe that stories passed down by Indigenous people should be considered as important as written records.
Humans first arrived in Australia when ancestors of today’s Aboriginal Australians traveled from what is now Southeast Asia. These early people used land bridges and short sea crossings. Scientists are not sure how many groups of people moved to Australia over time. The oldest known human site in Australia is the Madjedbebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land. The oldest human bones found in Australia are from Lake Mungo in New South Wales, and they are about 41,000 years old.
When Europeans first arrived in Australia, estimates suggest there were between 300,000 and 1 million Aboriginal people. A more recent study suggests there may have been over 3 million people living in the area now called Australia. These people lived as hunter-gatherers with many different ways of living and working. There were about 600 groups and 250 languages with many dialects. Some groups used fire to manage land, farmed fish, and built homes that stayed in one place for a long time. Whether some groups practiced agriculture is still debated.
The Torres Strait Islander people began living on their islands about 4,000 years ago. They are culturally and linguistically different from Aboriginal people on the mainland. They were skilled sailors and relied on fishing, hunting, and growing plants. Some islands developed agriculture, and villages appeared by the 1300s.
Arrival
Scientists have different opinions about when the first humans arrived in Australia. Most experts think it was between 50,000 and 65,000 years ago. Recent DNA studies show that people outside of sub-Saharan Africa, including modern Aboriginal Australians, have Neanderthal DNA. This DNA was likely added when early humans in Europe mixed with Neanderthals between 51,500 and 43,500 years ago. If this is true, it means the ancestors of today’s Sahul populations (which includes Australia and New Guinea) arrived after about 50,000 years ago. This makes it less likely that people who arrived around 65,000 years ago contributed to the modern gene pool. However, it is still possible that earlier human groups lived in Australia but are not related to today’s Aboriginal populations.
Archaeologists debate how the first humans reached Australia. This happened during the end of the Pleistocene epoch, when sea levels were much lower than today. Long periods of cold weather during the Pleistocene caused sea levels in Australasia to drop more than 100 meters. People likely arrived by sea during a time when New Guinea and Tasmania were connected to Australia. At that time, the coastline of Australia extended further into the Timor Sea, and Australia and New Guinea formed a single landmass called Sahul, linked by a land bridge across the Arafura Sea, Gulf of Carpentaria, and Torres Strait. Even though the sea was a major obstacle, it is thought that early humans reached Australia by traveling between islands. Two main routes have been suggested: one through an island chain between Sulawesi and New Guinea, and another through Timor to northwestern Australia. Some scientists, like Rupert Gerritsen, have proposed that tsunamis might have accidentally carried people to Australia. However, all theories agree that early humans had to travel by sea, making them some of the world’s earliest mariners.
In the 2013 book First Footprints: The Epic Story of the First Australians, Scott Cane suggests that the first wave of humans may have been influenced by the eruption of the Toba volcano. If they arrived around 70,000 years ago, they might have crossed from Timor when sea levels were low. If they arrived later, around 50,000 years ago, a more likely route would have been through the Moluccas to New Guinea. However, because the areas where people first landed are now under about 50 meters of water, it is unlikely that the exact timing of arrival will ever be known for sure.
The earliest widely accepted time for humans arriving in Australia is at least 48,000 years ago. Many sites from this time have been studied. In Arnhem Land, Madjedbebe (formerly Malakunanja II) has fossils and a rock shelter dated to about 65,000 years ago, though a 2020 study questions the accuracy of this dating. Mitochondrial DNA research shows that Aboriginal people reached Eyre Peninsula in South Australia between 49,000 and 45,000 years ago, coming from both the east and the west.
Radiocarbon dating shows that humans lived in and around Sydney for at least 30,000 years. In Parramatta, Western Sydney, evidence of charcoal, stone tools, and possible ancient campfires was found. Near Penrith, stone tools in Cranebrook Terraces gravel sediments date back 45,000 to 50,000 years ago, suggesting humans settled in Sydney earlier than previously thought.
Archaeological evidence shows humans lived near the upper Swan River in Western Australia about 40,000 years ago. A 2018 study using archaeobotany found human activity at Karnatukul (Serpent’s Glen) in the Little Sandy Desert around 50,000 years ago, which is 20,000 years earlier than previously believed. This site has had continuous human use since that time.
Tasmania, which was once connected to the mainland by a land bridge, was inhabited at least 40,000 years ago. The oldest known site there is Wareen Cave, dated to this time.
A 2021 study by researchers at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage mapped likely migration routes as people moved across Australia to its southern regions, which were once part of the mainland. The study used data from
Advent of fire farming and megafauna extinctions
Archaeological findings from ash layers in the Coral Sea show that fire was an important part of the Australian landscape over 100,000 years ago. Evidence suggests that people intentionally used fire to shape the environment as early as 46,000 years ago. One possible reason was to drive animals, encourage new plant growth to attract wildlife, and clear thick forests. In The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines made Australia, Bill Gammage explains that dense forests became more open, with fire-resistant plants like eucalyptus, acacia, banksia, casuarina, and grasses becoming more common.
The changes in wildlife were also significant. Large animals, called megafauna, and many smaller species disappeared. About 60 different vertebrates went extinct, including the giant marsupial Diprotodon, large flightless birds, carnivorous kangaroos, a five-meter snake (Wonambi naracoortensis), a five-meter lizard, and Meiolania. Scientists are unsure what caused these extinctions. Possible reasons include fire, hunting, climate change, or a mix of these factors. Some believe human activity played a role, as the loss of large herbivores led to faster fuel buildup, causing hotter fires. However, evidence shows that Aboriginal people used controlled fires to reduce fuel and prevent large wildfires.
Aboriginal people faced major environmental changes. Around 30,000 years ago, sea levels dropped, and temperatures in southeastern Australia fell by up to 9 degrees Celsius. The interior of Australia became drier. About 20,000 years ago, New Guinea and Tasmania were connected to the mainland, which was more than a quarter larger than today.
Around 19,000 years ago, temperatures and sea levels began to rise. Tasmania separated from the mainland about 14,000 years ago. Between 8,000 and 6,000 years ago, many islands in the Torres Strait and along Australia’s coast formed. Josephine Flood notes that rising sea levels and land loss may have influenced stronger group boundaries, clan identities, and the development of myths like the Rainbow Serpent.
Warmer climates led to new tools. Small stone tools with sharp edges appeared 15,000 to 19,000 years ago. Wooden javelins and boomerangs date back to 10,000 years ago. Stone spear points are from 5,000 to 7,000 years ago. Spear throwers likely appeared less than 6,500 years ago.
Sea levels stabilized around 6,500 years ago. Warmer weather and new coastlines changed Aboriginal societies. Coastal communities formed near reefs, estuaries, and flooded river valleys. People used advanced tools for fishing, processing plants, and modifying landscapes. In western Victoria, elaborate fish and eel traps with channels up to three kilometers long were used about 6,500 years ago. Semi-permanent wooden huts on mounds also appeared, showing more organized use of wetland resources.
Aboriginal Tasmanians became isolated from the mainland about 14,000 years ago. This led to fewer tools compared to mainland groups, including no hafted axes, grinding tools, or boomerangs. By 3,700 years ago, they stopped eating fish and using bone tools. Coastal Tasmanians shifted to eating abalone and crayfish, and more people moved inland. They built boats from reeds and bark to travel up to 10 kilometers offshore to hunt seals and muttonbirds.
Culture and technology
About 4,000 years ago, the first people began living on the Torres Strait Islands. By 2,500 years ago, more islands were occupied, and a unique culture connected to the sea developed there. Some islands started growing crops, and by 700 years ago, villages were built.
On the Australian mainland, people used tools and ideas from other groups. The dingo was brought to Australia around 4,000 years ago. About 1,200 years ago, shell hooks appeared, likely from the Torres Strait or Polynesian sailors. From the mid-1660s, fishing boats from Indonesia visited northern Australia to collect trepang. This led to trade and relationships that influenced Aboriginal art, ceremonies, and stories. Aboriginal people adopted canoes made from trees and metal harpoons from Indonesians, helping them hunt sea animals more effectively.
Even with these exchanges, Aboriginal society stayed the same in many ways. Family groups formed bands and clans of about 25 people, each with a specific area for hunting and gathering. Clans were part of larger groups called tribes, linked to certain languages and lands. When Europeans arrived, there were about 600 tribes and 250 languages with different dialects.
Aboriginal society had no leaders or government. Elders, who had learned traditions over many years, made decisions through agreement. Men usually hunted large animals, while women gathered food like plants, fish, and shellfish. Food was shared within and between groups.
Aboriginal groups moved seasonally within a defined area. They could visit other groups’ lands if they had marriage or family connections or if invited for events like ceremonies or to share food. People believed the land was shaped by ancestors, and their territory provided both physical and spiritual support.
In Aboriginal beliefs, the Dreaming is a sacred time when spirit beings created the world. This time set rules for society and ceremonies to keep life and land connected.
Some Aboriginal groups practiced farming in limited ways, but this is debated. In western Victoria, people built fish traps and lived in temporary shelters during certain seasons. They still moved regularly for other food. In dry areas, they grew millet and stored seeds. In tropical regions, they replanted yams. Some experts say these practices were resource management, not farming. Others describe people in the Murray Valley as "complex hunter-gatherers."
Rules about family roles were strict. Responsibilities to relatives and in-laws were important. Many groups divided into two groups called moieties, with marriage rules based on which group a person belonged to.
Male initiation often happened at puberty and included rituals like cutting the penis or removing teeth. Female initiation involved purification through smoke or water, and sometimes scars or joint removal.
Abortion and infanticide were used to control population or deal with health issues that could harm the group. Some groups practiced eating human remains in rare cases, like after funerals. There is no proof that eating people for food, as described by colonists, was common.
In a 1999 lecture, Australian historian Inga Clendinnen discussed these topics.
Contact outside Australia
Aboriginal people have no memory of living outside Australia. However, people living along northern Australia’s coastline, in areas such as the Kimberley, Arnhem Land, Gulf of Carpentaria, and Cape York, met with visitors for thousands of years. People and goods were exchanged between Australia and New Guinea until the land bridge between the two areas was flooded by rising sea levels about 8,000 years ago.
Even after the land bridge was flooded, trade and communication continued across the newly formed Torres Strait. The 150 km-wide channel of the Torres Strait remained easy to navigate because the islands and reefs in the area provided stopping points. The islands were settled by seafaring Melanesian cultures, such as the Torres Strait Islanders, more than 2,500 years ago. These cultures continued to interact with Aboriginal people in northeast Australia through this route.
For hundreds of years, Indonesian "Bajau" fishermen from the Spice Islands, such as Banda, fished near Australia’s coast. Macassan traders from Sulawesi also visited northern Australia regularly to fish for trepang, a type of edible sea cucumber, which they traded with the Chinese starting at least in the early 1800s.
There was a lot of cultural exchange between these groups. Evidence includes Aboriginal rock and bark paintings, the use of new tools like dug-out canoes, and the introduction of items such as tobacco and tobacco pipes. Aboriginal languages also include words from Macassan traders, such as "Balanda" for "white person." Some Aboriginal communities have descendants of Malay people, and some Malay people have descendants of Aboriginal people, due to intermarriage and migration.
Myths from Arnhem Land describe the Baijini people, who were said to have lived in Australia before the arrival of Macassan traders. The Baijini were known for catching trepang and growing rice. Modern researchers have suggested different explanations for the Baijini, including that they may have been early visitors from Southeast Asia, such as the Bajau, or that the myths reflect experiences of Yolŋu people who traveled to Sulawesi with Macassans and returned.
In 1944, a few copper coins with Arabic writing were found on a beach in Jensen Bay on Marchinbar Island, part of the Wessel Islands in the Northern Territory. These coins were later identified as coming from the Kilwa Sultanate in East Africa. Only one such coin had previously been found outside East Africa, in Oman. The coins show the name of a ruler from Kilwa, but it is unclear if the ruler lived in the 10th or 14th century. This discovery has interested historians who believe people may have reached Australia or its islands before the first widely accepted arrival by Dutch sailor Willem Janszoon in 1606.