So the questions we should really ask are: 1. Who were the first humans to arrive in Australia? Who were the first Non-natives to visit Australia? Who were the first Europeans to see Australia?
Who were the first Europeans to set foot come ashore and walk around in Australia? Who realised that the land they encountered was indeed Terra Australis Incognita? Strictly speaking, the Aborigines were the first humans to discover Australia. But they had no idea where, in the world, they were. Nor had they been looking for the place. They merely happened to stumble upon the land we call Australia today. They probably arrived around 50, years ago.
The ancestors of the Aborigines walked out of Africa around 60, years ago and migrated through India, Malaysia, Borneo, Papua New Guinea, and Timor before they were confronted by an ocean that separated Australia from the rest of the world.
Since humans had not invented canoes and boats at this time, it is uncertain how they crossed the ocean to Australia. It is most likely that they arrived here by accident, carried on drifting debris or even by a tsunami that may have transported them clinging on to flotsam as it swept across the ocean.
So while Europeans were searching for the unknown southern land, the Aborigines had already found Australian and had been living there for over 50, years. There is some evidence that fishermen and traders from Indonesia , India , and China may have visited northern Australia and traded with the local aborigines for thousands of years.
This contact was sporadic and inconsequential. The Dingo , the wild dog of Australia, may have first arrived in Australia about 5, years ago during such a visit. These early visitors never recorded their visits or had any knowledge of the vastness of Australia. They thought it was just another one of the many islands in the area. The Portuguese were the first great European explorers. Having found a way to Asia through the Cape of Good Hope , they travelled far and wide in search of spices that were worth their weight in gold back in Europe.
Portuguese sailors reached the island of Timor just km from Australia in So it is conceivable that they may have sailed along the coastline of Australia around that time. But there is no definite proof that they did. Some Portuguese maps from this time seem to show parts of what appears to be the Australian coastline.
Whilst the Portuguese may have been the first European to see parts of the Australian coastline; they didn't realise that they were sailing past Terra Australis Incognita. Willem Janszoon is credited with being the first Europeans to discover Australia.
On 26 February , Dutch sailing ship the Duyfken , captained by Janszoon, anchored off the Pennefather River in the Gulf of Carpentaria and went ashore.
The publisher's site is no longer current. There are claims of earlier landings by the Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Arabs and Romans, but there is little credible documented evidence.
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this website contains a range of material which may be considered culturally sensitive including the records of people who have passed away. These are based on the shortest possible route and take into consideration the land bridges that would appear during times of low sea levels. However, travel may have also occurred when sea levels were high.
High sea levels would have reduced the amount of usable land and increased the population pressure. During these times it may have been necessary to expand into new areas. Changing sea levels have significantly affected the geography of South-east Asia and Australia and the migration patterns of prehistoric peoples. During times of low sea levels the travelling distance between Timor and Sahul would have been reduced to about 90 kilometres.
Present sea levels are higher than they have been for most of the last million years. When water is locked up in the polar ice caps known as an Ice Age the sea level drops.
When the climate becomes warmer, the ice melts and the sea level rises again. The settlement of Australia is the first unequivocal evidence of a major sea crossing and rates as one of the greatest achievements of early humans. However the motive and circumstances regarding the arrival of the first Australians is a matter for conjecture. It may have been a deliberate attempt to colonise new territory or an accident after being caught in monsoon winds.
The lack of preservation of any ancient boat means archaeologists will probably never know what kind of craft was used for the journey. None of the boats used by Aboriginal people in ancient times are suitable for major voyages. The most likely suggestion has been rafts made of bamboo, a material common in Asia. The earliest accepted dates for human occupation of Australia come from sites in the Northern Territory. Over the last few decades, a significant number of archaeological sites dated at more than 30, years old have been discovered.
By this time all of Australia, including the arid centre and Tasmania, was occupied. The drowning of many coastal sites by rising sea levels has destroyed what would have been the earliest occupation sites. Recently published dates of , years ago for the site of Moyjil in Warrnambool, Victoria, offer intriguing possibilities of much earlier occupation Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria , Much of our knowledge about the earliest people in Australia comes from archaeology.
The physical remains of human activity that have survived in the archaeological record are largely stone tools, rock art and ochre, shell middens and charcoal deposits and human skeletal remains. These all provide information on the tremendous length and complexity of Australian Aboriginal culture. The oldest human fossil remains found in Australia date to around 40, years ago — 20, years after the earliest archaeological evidence of human occupation.
Nothing is known about the physical appearance of the first humans that entered the continent over 60, years ago. What is clear is that Aboriginal people living in Australia between 40, and 10, years ago had much larger bodies and more robust skeletons than they do today and showed a wide range of physical variation.
Stone tools in Australia, as in other parts of the world, changed and developed through time. Some early types, such as wasted blades, core tools, large flake scrapers and split pebble choppers continue to be made and used right up to today.
About years ago, new and specialised tools such as points, backed blades and thumbnail scrapers became common. Significant variation between the tool kits of different regions also appeared.
Prototypes for this technology appeared earlier in Asia, suggesting this innovation was introduced into Australia. The ground stone technique produces tools with a more durable and even edge, although not as sharp as a chipped tool. The oldest ground stone tools appear in Australia about 10, years before they appear in Europe, suggesting that early Australians were more technologically advanced in some of their tool manufacturing techniques than was traditionally thought.
Rock art, including painted and carved forms, plays a significant role in Aboriginal culture and has survived in the archaeological record for over 30, years. In age and abundance Australian Aboriginal rock art is comparable to world-renowned European cave sites such as those at Lascaux in France and Altamira in Spain. It is probable that rock art was part of the culture of the first Australians.
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