Member of any of the 500 groups of indigenous inhabitants of the continent of
There were about 300,000 Aborigines living on the continent in small kin-based groups at the time of the first European settlement in 1788. Decimated by diseases new to them and killed by settlers, their number dwindled drastically.
The Australian Aborigines have a rich oral tradition of legends, songs, rituals, and bark and cave paintings concerned with their Dreamtime, a primeval era when humans were first on Earth. Tribal totem ancestors of Australian Aborigines include the eagle-hawk, kangaroo, and snake. About 40% still follow the traditional hunter-gatherer way of life and live mostly in the remote desert areas of Northern Territory, the north of Western Australia, and in northern Queensland. About 12% of