This article is part of the series History of Australia

Prehistory

Before 1788

1788-1850

1851-1900

1901-1945

Since 1945

Timeline

The prehistory of Australia is the period between the first human habitation of the Australian continent and the first definitive sighting of Australia by Europeans in 1606, which may be taken as the beginning of the recent history of Australia. This period is estimated to have lasted between 40,000 and 70,000 years.^[1] Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The history of Australia began when people first migrated to the Australian continent from the north, at least 40,000-45,000 years ago. ... The first definite sighting of Australia by European explorers was in 1606. ... // Following the loss of the American Colonies, Britain needed to find alternative destinations that could take the population of its overcrowded prisons. ... The history of Australia from 1851 - 1900 continues Australias colonial history, the discovery of gold in 1851 which led to increased economic and political independence from Britain and a great debate about federation. ... The history of Australia from 1901 - 1945 begins with the federation of the colonies to create the Commonwealth of Australia. ... The history of Australia since 1945 has seen a move away from Britain in political, social and cultural terms to engagement with the United States and Asia. ... This is a timeline of Australian history. ... The European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe. ... Events January 27 - The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins ending in their execution on January 31 May 17 - Supporters of Vasili Shusky invade the Kremlin and kill Premier Dmitri December 26 - Shakespeares King Lear performed in court Storm buries a village of St Ismails near...

This era is referred to as prehistory rather than history because there are no written records of human events in Australia which pre-date this contact. Stonehenge, England, erected by Neolithic peoples ca. ... This article is about the study of time in human terms. ...

Arrival

See also Settlement of Australia

The minimum widely-accepted timeframe for the arrival of humans in Australia is placed at least 40,000 years ago. Many sites dating from this time period have been excavated. Archaeological evidence indicates human habitation at the upper Swan River, Western Australia by about 40,000 years ago; Tasmania (at that time connected via a land bridge) was reached at least 30,000 years ago.^[2][3] Others have claimed that some sites date back up to 60,000 years, but these claims are not universally accepted.^[4] Palynological evidence from South Eastern Australia suggests an increase in fire activity dating from around 120,000 years ago. This has been interpreted as representing human activity, but the dating of the evidence has been strongly challenged.^[5] Map of early human migrations according to mitochondrial population genetics In paleoanthropology, the recent single-origin hypothesis (RSOH, or Out-of-Africa model, or Replacement Hypothesis) is one of two accounts of the origin of anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens. ... Landsat 7 imagery of the Swan River and surrounds The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. ... Slogan or Nickname: The Apple Isle; Holiday Isle Motto(s): Ubertas et Fidelitas (Fertility and Faithfulness) Other Australian states and territories Capital Hobart Government Constitutional monarchy Governor William Cox Premier Paul Lennon (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 5  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $16,114... Pollen under microscope Palynology is the science that studies contemporary and fossil palynomorphs, including pollen, spores, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, chitinozoans and scolecodonts, together with particulate organic matter (POM) and kerogen found in sedimentary rocks and sediments. ...

Migration was achieved during the closing stages of the Pleistocene, when sea levels were much lower than they are today. Repeated episodes of extended glaciation during the Pleistocene epoch, resulted in decreases of sea levels by more than 100 metres in Australasia.^[6] The continental coastline extended much further out into the Timor Sea, and Australia and New Guinea formed a single landmass (known as Sahul), connected by an extensive land bridge across the Arafura Sea, Gulf of Carpentaria and Torres Strait. Nevertheless, the sea still presented a major obstacle so it is theorised that these ancestral peoples reached Australia by island hopping.^[7] Two routes have been proposed. One follows an island chain between Sulawesi and New Guinea and the other reaches North Western Australia via Timor.^[8] For considerations of sea level change, in particular rise associated with possible global warming, see sea level rise. ... A glaciation (a created composite term meaning Glacial Period, referring to the Period or Era of, as well as the process of High Glacial Activity), often called an ice age, is a geological phenomenon in which massive ice sheets form in the Arctic and Antarctic and advance toward the equator. ... The Pleistocene epoch (IPA: ) on the geologic timescale is the period from 1,808,000 to 11,550 years BP. The Pleistocene epoch had been intended to cover the worlds recent period of repeated glaciations. ... A division of geologic time less than a period and greater than an age. ... The Timor Sea (Indonesian: Laut Timor; Portugeuse: Mar Timor) is an arm of the Indian Ocean situated between the island of Timor, now split between the states of Indonesia and East Timor, and the Northern Territory of Australia. ... Australia-New Guinea, also called Sahul or Meganesia, is made up of the continent of Australia and the islands of New Guinea and Tasmania. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Arafura Sea is the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea. ... The Gulf of Carpentaria from a 1859 Dutch map The Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and Indonesia). ... Torres Strait and islands The Torres Strait - Cape York Peninsula is at the bottom; several of the Torres Strait Islands can be seen strung out towards Papua New Guinea to the north. ... Sulawesi (formerly more commonly known as Celebes, IPA: a Portuguese-originated form of the name) is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. ... Timor is an island at the south end of the Malay Archipelago, divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, part of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara with the surface of 11,883 sq mi (30,777 km²). The name is a variant of timur...

The sharing of animal and plant species between Australia-New Guinea and nearby Indonesian islands is another consequence of the early land bridges, which closed when sea levels rose with the end of the last glacial period. The sea level stabilised to near its present levels about 6000 years ago, flooding the land bridge between Australia and New Guinea. Australia-New Guinea, also called Sahul or Meganesia, is made up of the continent of Australia and the islands of New Guinea and Tasmania. ... For considerations of sea level change, in particular rise associated with possible global warming, see sea level rise. ... The 4th millennium BC saw major changes in human culture. ...

In the tradition of Indigenous Australians, the history of the continent begins with what is translated as the Dreamtime, the creation myth that tells of the origins of its peoples, animals and geography. Dreamtime traditions were — and continue to be — recorded in songlines and stories throughout Australia. Languages Several hundred Indigenous Australian languages (many extinct or nearly so), Australian English, Australian Aboriginal English, Torres Strait Creole, Kriol Religions Primarily Christian, with minorities of other religions including various forms of Traditional belief systems based around the Dreamtime Related ethnic groups see List of Indigenous Australian group names Indigenous... opens chapter nine of The Dreaming Universe (1994) entitled The Dreamtime with a quote from The Last Wave, a film by Peter Weir: Aboriginals believe in two forms of time. ... Creation beliefs and stories describe how the universe, the Earth, life, and/or humanity came into being. ... Songlines - the British based world music magazine featuring the greatest artists in the current music scene on the web at [Songlines http://www. ...

Archaeological evidence (in the form of charcoal) indicate that fire, already a growing part of the Australian landscape, became much more frequent as hunter-gatherers used it as a tool to drive game, to produce a green flush of new growth to attract animals, and to open up impenetrable forest. Densely grown areas became more open sclerophyll forest, open forest became grassland. Fire-tolerant species became predominant: in particular, Sheoaks, eucalypts, acacia, and grasses. For other uses, see Fire (disambiguation). ... Arid, largely treeless areas aside, most Australian bushland is sclerophyll forest. ... Selected species Casuarina cunninghamiana Casuarina equisetifolia Casuarina glauca Casuarina is a genus of shrubs and trees in the Family Casuarinaceae, native to Australia and islands of the Pacific. ... Species About 600, see text Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of trees (rarely shrubs), the members of which dominate the tree flora of Australia. ... For other uses, see Acacia (disambiguation). ...

The changes to the fauna were even more dramatic: the megafauna, species significantly larger than humans, disappeared, and many of the smaller species were wiped out too. All told, about 60 different vertebrates were exterminated, including the Diprotodon family (very large marsupial herbivores that looked rather like hippos), several large flightless birds, carnivorous kangaroos, a five metre lizard and a tortoise the size of a small car. The direct cause of the mass extinctions is uncertain: it may have been fire, hunting, climate change or a combination of all, but most are of the view that it was human intervention of one kind or another increased the risks of extinction. (The once popular climate change explanation is no longer favoured. See Genyornis.) With no large herbivores to keep the understorey vegetation down and rapidly recycle soil nutrients with their dung, fuel build-up became more rapid and fires burned hotter, further changing the landscape. It has been suggested that Charismatic megafauna be merged into this article or section. ... Species Diprotodon opatum Diprotodon minor Diprotodon loderi Diprotodon annextans Cast of a Diprotodon skeleton at Queensland Museum. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 450,000 years For current global climate change, see Global warming. ... Binomial name Genyornis newtoni Stirling & Zietz, 1896 Genyornis (Genyornis newtoni) was a genus of large, flightless bird that lived in Australia until about 50,000 years ago. ...

It is unknown how many populations settled in Australia prior to European colonization. Both "trihybrid" and single-origin hypotheses have received extensive discussion^[9]; however, the issue has become politicized, with the assumption of a single origin tied in to ethnic solidarity, and multiple entry used to justify white seizure of Aboriginal lands. There is little objective data to settle the issue one way or the other. Human genomic differences are being studied to find possible answers, but there is still insufficient evidence to distinguish a "wave invasion model" from a "single settlement" one. Some Y chromosomal studies indicate a recent influx of Y chromosomes from the Indian subcontinent.^[10] The Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) was started by Stanford Universitys Morrison Institute and a collaboration of scientists around the world. ...

The period from 18,000 to 15,000 years ago saw increased aridity of the continent with lower temperatures and less rainfall than currently prevails. At the end of the Pleistocene, roughly 13,000 years ago, the Torres Strait connection, the Bassian Plain between modern-day Victoria and Tasmania, and the link from Kangaroo Island began disappearing under the rising sea. The end of the ice age was quite abrupt according to Aboriginal legends which talk of fish falling from the sky and tsunamis. Elsewhere, however, a gradual rising of the seas was recorded. Torres Strait and islands The Torres Strait - Cape York Peninsula is at the bottom; several of the Torres Strait Islands can be seen strung out towards Papua New Guinea to the north. ... VIC redirects here. ... Slogan or Nickname: The Apple Isle; Holiday Isle Motto(s): Ubertas et Fidelitas (Fertility and Faithfulness) Other Australian states and territories Capital Hobart Government Constitutional monarchy Governor William Cox Premier Paul Lennon (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 5  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $16,114... Kangaroo Island is Australias third largest island - after Tasmania and Melville Island. ... For other uses, see Tsunami (disambiguation). ...

From that time on, the Tasmanian Aborigines were geographically isolated. By 9,000 years ago populations on small islands in Bass Strait, as well as Kangaroo Island, had failed to survive. The Tasmanian Aboriginals are the indigenous people of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. ... Map of Australia with Bass Strait marked in light blue Bass Strait (IPA: ) is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland (Victoria in particular). ... Kangaroo Island is Australias third largest island - after Tasmania and Melville Island. ...

Linguistic and genetic evidence shows that there has been long-term contact between Australians in the far north and the Austronesian peoples of modern-day New Guinea and the islands, but that this appears to have been mostly trade with a little intermarriage, as opposed to direct colonisation. Macassan praus are also recorded in the Aboriginal stories from Broome to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and there were some semi-permanent settlements established, and cases of Aboriginal settlers finding a home in Indonesia. Makassar, (Macassar, Mangkasar) is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, in Indonesia, on the island of Sulawesi. ... Broome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, 2200 km north of Perth. ... The Gulf of Carpentaria from a 1859 Dutch map The Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and Indonesia). ...

Culture and technology

The last 5000 years were characterised by a general amelioration of the climate and an increase in temperature and rainfall and the development of a sophisticated tribal culture. The main items of trade were songs and dances, along with flint, precious stones, shells, seeds, spears, food items, etc. The Pama-Nyungan language phylum which extends from Cape York to the south west covered all of Australia except for the south east and Arnhem Land. There was also a marked continuity of religious ideas and stories throughout the country, with some songlines crossing from one side of the continent to the other. The initiation of young boys and girls into adult knowledge was marked by ceremony and feasting. Behaviour was governed by strict rules regarding responsibilities to and from uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters as well as in-laws. The kinship systems observed by many communities included a division into moieties, with restrictions on intermarrying dictated by the moiety an individual belonged to. http://www. ... This article is about the sedimentary rock. ... The Pama-Nyungan languages are the most widespread family of Australian languages. ... Categories: Australia geography stubs | Peninsulas | Headlands ... Songlines - the British based world music magazine featuring the greatest artists in the current music scene on the web at [Songlines http://www. ... Australian Aboriginal kinship is the system of law governing social interaction, particularly marriage, in traditional Aboriginal culture. ... Look up moiety in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Political power rested with community elders rather than hereditary chiefs and disputes were settled communally in accordance with an elaborate system of tribal law. Vendettas and feuds were not uncommon but organised warfare was limited or non-existent. This has generally been attributed to the multiple alliances that bound people together through marriage or blood, and shared belief systems about descent from common culture heroes. For other uses, see Law (disambiguation). ... A feud is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often groups of people, especially families or clans. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see War (disambiguation). ...

There was considerable innovation occurring within Aborginal technology in the last 3000 years prior to colonisation. Quartz was used as a substitute for chert and was being worked by indigenous craftsmen. The dingo was brought from southern Asia. Small scale agricultural developments occurred with eel farming in western Victoria and yam planting e.g. in Geraldton^{[citation needed]}. For other uses, see Quartz (disambiguation). ... Chert Chert (IPA: ) is a fine-grained silica-rich cryptocrystalline sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. ... For other uses, see Dingo (disambiguation). ... VIC redirects here. ... Yams at Brixton market For the term yam as used in the United States, see sweet potato. ... Location of Geraldton, Western Australia Geraldton ( ) is a city and port in Western Australia located 424 km north of Perth. ...

It has been estimated that in 1788 there were approximately half a million Australian Aboriginal people (although other estimates have put the figure as high as 1 million or more). These populations formed hundreds of distinct cultural and language groups. Most were hunter-gatherers with rich oral histories and advanced land-management practices (a possible period of ecological destruction of the initial colonisation phase was thousands of years past). In the most fertile and populous areas, they lived in semi-permanent settlements. In the fertile Murray Basin, the gathering and hunting economies to be found elsewhere on the continent had in large part given way to fish farming. Sturt's expedition along the Murray led to a belief that the Aboriginal groups there were practicing agriculture as a result of the presence of large hay-stacks, used as permanent grain stores^[11]. 1788 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Australian Aborigines are the main indigenous people of Australia. ... For other uses, see Murray River (disambiguation). ...

Little interest was shown by white settlers in the bulk of the Aboriginal peoples, and so little is known of their cultures and languages. Diseases that may have been deliberately introduced decimated indigenous populations just prior to the period where most Aborigines came into direct contact with Europeans. When Lt. James Cook claimed Australia for the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1770, the native population may have consisted as many as 500 'tribes' speaking several hundred distinct Australian Aboriginal languages, with many different dialects. This article is about the British explorer. ... For an explanation of terms such as Scotland, Wales, England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom, see British Isles (terminology). ... For the village in Queensland, see 1770, Queensland. ... The Australian Aboriginal languages comprise several language families and isolates native to Australia and a few nearby islands, but by convention excluding Tasmania. ...

Contact outside Australia

The peoples living along the northern coastline -the Kimberley, Arnhem Land, Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape York - have had encounters with various visitors for many thousands of years. People and traded goods moved freely between Australia and New Guinea up to and even after the eventual flooding of the land bridge by rising sea levels, which was completed about 6000 years ago. However, trade and intercourse between the now-separated lands continued across the newly-formed Torres Strait, whose 150 km-wide channel remained readily navigable with the chain of Torres Strait Islands and reefs affording intermediary stopping points. The islands were settled by different seafaring Melanesian cultures such as the Torres Strait Islanders over 2500 years ago, and cultural interactions continued via this route with the Aboriginal people of northeast Australia. The traditional movement of people between Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia in sailing craft for trade and fishing indicates the possibility of Arab and Chinese traders to the northern islands learning of and then visiting the shores of the southern continent from as early as the 9th century. Early Indian visitors from around the beginning of the Common Era are also sometimes claimed to be the source of the so-called Bradshaw figurines in Kimberly art^{[citation needed]}, although this is also disputed. The Kimberley is one of the nine regions of Western Australia, consisting of the local government areas of Broome, Derby-West Kimberley, Halls Creek and Wyndham-East Kimberley. ... Arnhem Land is an area of 97,000 km² in the north-eastern corner of the Northern Territory, Australia. ... The Gulf of Carpentaria from a 1859 Dutch map The Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and Indonesia). ... This article is about the peninsula located in the Australian state of Queensland; it should not be confused with either Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, or Cape York, Greenland. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Torres Strait and islands The Torres Strait - Cape York Peninsula is at the bottom; several of the Torres Strait Islands can be seen strung out towards Papua New Guinea to the north. ... “km” redirects here. ... The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands which lie in Torres Strait, the waterway separating far northern continental Australias Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. ... Part of a coral reef. ... Melanesia (from Greek black islands) is a region extending from the west Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia. ... The Torres Strait Islander Flag. ... For other uses, see Arab (disambiguation). ... As a means of recording the passage of time the 9th century was the century that lasted from 801 to 900. ... For the railway timetable, see Bradshaw (or its originator, George Bradshaw). ...

Indonesian "Bajini" fishermen from the Spice Islands (e.g. Banda) have fished off the coast of Australia for hundreds of years. Macassan traders from Sulawesi (formerly Celebes) regularly visited the coast of northern Australia to fish for trepang (an edible sea cucumber) to trade with the Chinese since at least the early 1700s (see the main article Macassan contact with Australia). Spice Islands most commonly refers to the Maluku Islands (formerly the Moluccas), which lie on the equator, between Sulawesi (Celebes) and New Guinea in what is now Indonesia. ... The Banda Islands (Indonesian: Kepulauan Banda) are a group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about 140km south of Seram island and about 2000km east of Java, and are part of the Indonesian province of Maluku. ... Makassar, (Macassar, Mangkasar) is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. ... Sulawesi (formerly more commonly known as Celebes, IPA: a Portuguese-originated form of the name) is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. ... Orders Subclass Apodacea Apodida Molpadiida Subclass Aspidochirotacea Aspidochirotida Elasipodida Subclass Dendrochirotacea Dactylochirotida Dendrochirotida Wikispecies has information related to: Holothuroidea The sea cucumber is an echinoderm of the class Holothuroidea, with an elongated body and leathery skin, which is found on the sea floor worldwide. ... Events and trends The Bonneville Slide blocks the Columbia River near the site of present-day Cascade Locks, Oregon with a land bridge 200 feet (60 m) high. ... A Macassan wooden sailing vessel or prau. ...

There was a high degree of cultural exchange, evidenced in Aboriginal rock and bark paintings, the introduction of technologies such as dug-out canoes and items such as tobacco and tobacco pipes, Macassan words in Aboriginal languages (eg. Balanda for white person), and descendants of Malay peoples in Australian Aboriginal communities and vice versa, as a result of intermarriage and migration. Aboriginal hollow log tomb Australian Aboriginal art is art done by Australian Aborigines, covering art that pre-dates European colonisation as well as contemporary art by Aborigines based on traditional culture. ... Shredded tobacco leaf for pipe smoking Tobacco can also be pressed into plugs and sliced into flakes Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the fresh leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. ... The concept of a Malay race was proposed by the German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840). ...

See also

• Australian archaeology

Australian Archaeology is a large sub-field in the discipline of Archaeology. ...

Notes

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• Lourandos, H Continent of Hunter-Gatherers: New Perspectives in Australian Prehistory (Cambridge University Press, 1997)