How May Years Have Aboriginals Been in Australia
One of the many questions thrown out relative to Aboriginal Australians is how long they have been settling in the country.
And since we’ve been talking about them for quite some time now, we thought why not answer the question from our perspective and historical research and study. So, we travel down the memory lane and find out more about the long existence of aborigines in the country.
Australia’s Rich and Diverse Indigenous History
Various research and study showed that Australia has a rich and diversified history of indigenous settlers. Even before the European invasion, there were about half a thousand of aboriginal nations with an estimated eight hundred dialects.
That is the reason why “the Land Down Under” is notably famous as the home to the world’s oldest civilisation, namely the Torres Strait Islander people and the Aboriginals.
In the Beginning – Australia’s First People
For thousands of years or rather centuries of a long time ago, the Aboriginal people have settled in Australia. The earliest recorded scientific evidence of the history of indigenous occupation in the country antedates more than 600 centuries or 60, 000 years ago.
They made use of earth’s natural resources, and so, they involved themselves in the land cultivations and farming. They also traded as part of their way of living and lived in many and various complex societies.
That said, indigenous or Aboriginal Australians have been on the land since in the beginning.
During the European invasion that began in 1788, there were almost a million of Aboriginals living in Australia. History recorded more than two hundred fifty (250) of indigenous languages used with eight hundred (800) dialectal variations, as mentioned earlier.
Their societal structures comprised of intricately complicated and contrasting lifestyles. Every community has their distinct ways of living their lives. Moreover, while tons of communities preferred to stay in the same areas, there is also a handful of them who practised or observed seasonal occupation or temporary employment.
Hence, some of the Aboriginals had to move throughout the land to gain wealthier resources, and thus, allowing the areas they have dwelled on to rehabilitate or cultivate again.
However, regardless of each nation’s differences, almost the majority of the societies during that time were able to build their community through four core values, and these are spirituality, responsibilities, relationships, and identity.
Spirituality is crucial in the cultural heritage of the Indigenous. Their dreams taught them of their respective roles on Earth, and in accordance, their proper action towards the function they have to take.
As a result, many of the Aboriginals feel that they are one with the land they lived in, and that comes with their immensely deep connection to it, spiritually.
Australia’s Aboriginals Tradition, Religion, and Lifestyle
Generally, Aboriginal Australians were famous as hunter-gatherer people who became extremely well-adapted to the environment.
Their societal complex structures involved living in small family groups and partly drifting. Every family group lived in a defined territory and routinely traversing a specified location following changes of the seasons.
When we say they lived in a complex and diverse society, we mean that each family group had their distinctly unique history and culture. Sometimes, family groups come together for various purposes, which include but not limited to trade, ritual, and social activity.
Historical studies showed that there were an estimated almost half a thousand people gathered together during this event.
Birthright, cultural responsibilities, duties, and shared language are the bases of how one can become a member of a language or family group. Additionally, the relationships within Aboriginal groups determined ahead of time the categories of their responsibilities to the group.
Furthermore, the Aboriginals built their houses in partly permanent structures as a society who usually almost always travels and opts to give more emphasis to the relationships they have in a family, group, and country as a whole, instead of focusing on an agrarian society’s development.
Even more characteristics of semi-nomadic aborigines embody a relatively non-materialistic people. They put greater or higher importance on religious, social, and spiritual activities.
And so, they’re living in a more spiritually controlled environment than physical matters. With that, religion immensely connected to their country.
For this reason, the Aboriginal Australians believed that the actions of their wandering spiritual ancestors had an immense influence on the creation and formation of the physical environment of every local area.
Following the same belief, Australia’s indigenous people significantly believed that the existence of the living and non-living things is the result of the actions of their great-great-forefathers, the Dreaming ancestors.
Australia’s Aboriginals Belonged to the Land
Aboriginal Australians have a more profound sense of the fundamentals of their solid grounds.
As they’re spiritually controlled environment and that they belonged to particular territories, and some are partly wanderers, they had higher perception and responsibility of what their lands meant to them.
That is why we often heard this famous saying that goes like, the land doesn’t belong to us, but we are. It’s a proverb that the Aboriginals have lived.
The lands hold symbolic and spiritual meaning and connection to their physical environment, and their religion taught them of being one with earth or the natural environment.
Significance of Aboriginals Tradition to their Existence in Australia
Perhaps, some of you are wondering why we need to learn and understand the tradition, religion, lifestyle, and the history of the Aboriginal Australians. How is the culture, lifestyle, religion, tradition, or history of the Aboriginals can help us understand their length of existence in Australia?
It is with great importance to unravel the beguiling, complex, and diverse culture of the indigenous people in the country. Upon knowing that, we can trace back the time they first arrived and settled in the country. And so, in the process, we can find out the answer to how long have they’ve been here.
With that, we will have a clearer and better understanding of how long they have lived in Australia and the influence and inspiration that they brought to the modern society, which creates the essential lineage of the country’s history.
So, how long have Aboriginals have been in Australia?
In conclusion, Aboriginals have been settling in the country for about 60,000 to 70,000 years to date.
Read More:
The State of the Aboriginal Community in Australia and its Future
