Aboriginal Australians

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This article is about a specific class of people in Australian law. For more general information, see Indigenous Australians.
Aboriginal Australians
Windradyne, Aust. Aboriginal warrior from the Wiradjuri.jpg
Namatjira govt house sydney.jpg
David Unaipon.jpg
David Gulpilil.jpg
Trugannini 1866.jpg
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu in Nov 2012.jpg
Wendell Sailor.jpg
Robert Tudawali at Darwin's Bagot Reserve 1960.jpg
Yagan Statue Head.jpg
Jessica Mauboy (7171299484).jpg
Douglas nicholls.jpg
Oodgeroo Noonuccal 1975.jpg
Notable Aboriginal Australians
Total population
670,000 (2011)[1]
3% of Australia's population
Regions with significant populations
 Northern Territory 29.8%
 Queensland 4.2%
 Western Australia 3.8%
 New South Wales 2.9%
 South Australia 2.3%
 Victoria 0.9%
Related ethnic groups
see List of Indigenous Australian group names, Tasmanian Aborigines
Aboriginal dwellings in Hermannsburg, Northern Territory, 1923. Image: Herbert Basedow.

Aboriginal Australians, also referred to as Aborigines, are legally defined as people who are members "of the Aboriginal race of Australia" (indigenous to the Australian continent—mainland Australia or to the island of Tasmania).[2][3][4][5]

Legal and administrative definitions[edit]



The Constitution of Australia, in its original form as of 1901, referred to Aborigines twice but without definition. Section 51(xxvi) gave the Commonwealth parliament power to legislate with respect to "the people of any race" throughout the Commonwealth, except for people of "the aboriginal race". The purpose of this provision was to give the Commonwealth power to regulate non-white immigrant workers, who would follow work opportunities interstate.[7] The only other reference, Section 127, provided simply that "aboriginal natives shall not be counted" in reckoning the size of the population of the Commonwealth or any part of it.

After both of these references were removed by the 1967 referendum, the Australian Constitution had no references to Aboriginals. Since that time, there have been a number of proposals to amend the constitution to specifically mention Indigenous Australians.[8][9]



While Deane's three-part definition reaches beyond the biological criterion to individual's self-identification, it has been criticised as continuing to accept the biological criterion as primary.[6] It has been found difficult to apply, both in each of its parts and as to the relations among the parts; biological "descent" has been a fall-back criterion.[11]

Definitions from Aboriginal Australians[edit]






Definitions from academia[edit]






In a genetic study in 2011, researchers found evidence, in DNA samples taken from strands of Aboriginal people's hair, that the ancestors of the Aboriginal population split off from the ancestors of the European and Asian populations between 62,000 and 75,000 years ago—roughly 24,000 years before the European and Asian populations split off from each other. These Aboriginal ancestors migrated into South Asia and then into Australia, where they stayed, with the result that, outside of Africa, the Aboriginal peoples have occupied the same territory continuously longer than any other human populations. These findings suggest that modern Aboriginal peoples are the direct descendants of migrants who arrived around 50,000 years ago.[16] This finding is supported by earlier archaeological finds of human remains near Lake Mungo that date to 45,000 years ago. The same genetic study of 2011 found evidence that Aboriginal peoples carry some of the genes associated with the Denisovan peoples of Asia; the study suggests that there is an increase in allele sharing between the Denisovans and the Aboriginal Australians genome compared to other Eurasians and Africans. This makes Aboriginal Australians one of the oldest living populations in the world and possibly the oldest outside of Africa.[17] The Papuans have more sharing alleles than Aboriginal peoples. The data suggest that modern and archaic humans interbred in Asia before the migration to Australia.[18]

Groups of Aboriginal Australians[edit]

Dispersing across the Australian continent over time, the ancient peoples expanded and differentiated into hundreds of distinct groups, each with its own language and culture.[19] More than 400 distinct Australian Aboriginal peoples have been identified across the continent, distinguished by unique names designating their ancestral languages, dialects, or distinctive speech patterns.[20] Historically, these groups lived in three main cultural areas, known as the Northern, Southern, and Central cultural areas. The Northern and Southern areas, having richer natural marine and woodland resources, were more densely populated than the less resource-rich Central area.[19]

Names used by Australian Aboriginal people[edit]


See also[edit]


  2. ^ ComLaw, Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act of 1976 "'Aboriginal' means a person who is a member of the Aboriginal race of Australia"
  3. ^ ComLaw, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2005 "Aboriginal person means a person of the Aboriginal race of Australia"
  4. ^ Blandy, Sarah, and David Sibley. "Law, boundaries and the production of space." Social & Legal Studies 19.3 (2010): 275–284. "Aboriginal Australians are a legally defined group"
  5. ^ Malbon, Justin. "Extinguishment of Native Title-The Australian Aborigines as Slaves and Citizens, The." Griffith L. Rev. 12 (2003): 310. Aborigines have been "assigned a separate legally defined status"
  8. ^ Gooda, Mick. "Indigenous inclusion is good for our constitution"Sydney Morning Herald. Published 9 July 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  9. ^ Karvelas, Patricia. "Strong constitution needed for national consensus on Aboriginal recognition", The Australian. Published 5 February 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  10. ^ Deane J in Commonwealth v Tasmania (Tasmanian Dam Case) (1983) 158 CLR 1 at 273–274.
  12. ^ Fesl, Eve D.: "'Aborigine' and 'Aboriginal,'" (1986) 1(20) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 10 Accessed 19 August 2011.
  14. ^ a b "First public lecture focuses on racist language", Charles Darwin University newsroom (12 May 2008) Accessed 13 May 2008.
  16. ^ Rasmussen, Morten; and others (7 October 2011—published online 22 September 2011). "An Aboriginal Australian Genome Reveals Separate Human Dispersals into Asia". Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 334 (6052): 94–98. doi:10.1126/science.1211177. 
  19. ^ a b Lourandos, Harry (1997) New Perspectives in Australian Prehistory, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom. ISBN 0-521-35946-5.

External links[edit]

Media related to Aboriginal Australians at Wikimedia Commons