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Aboriginal Australian History Timeline
(At least 65,000 years ago–Present)Genetics and adaptation
Pitjantjatjara cold adaptation study
1958
A study comparing desert-dwelling Pitjantjatjara people with Europeans found different cooling adaptations and reported that the Aboriginal participants could sleep more soundly through a cold desert night.
Image source: Pitjantjatjara
Warlpiri genetic samples collected
2001
Blood samples were collected from some Warlpiri people in the Northern Territory for genetic research. The sample was not representative of all Aboriginal peoples in Australia.
Image source: Warlpiri language
Aboriginal hair sample analyzed
2011
Morten Rasmussen and colleagues extracted genetic data from an early-twentieth-century lock of Aboriginal hair, concluding that Aboriginal ancestors probably migrated through South Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia into Australia, where they remained.
Large-scale Aboriginal genotyping study
2013
The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology conducted a study using large-scale genotyping data from Aboriginal Australians, New Guineans, island Southeast Asians and Indians.
Thyroxine regulation mutation identified
2014
A Cambridge study found a beneficial mutation in two genes regulating thyroxine, a hormone involved in metabolism, that helps regulate body temperature in response to fever.
Image source: Indigenous Australians
Bergström study examines South Asian gene flow
2016
A 2016 Current Biology study by Anders Bergström and colleagues examined evidence concerning possible South Asian genetic connections and the population history of Aboriginal Australians.
Study concludes indigenous origins for technological change
2016
The 2016 study concluded that its findings did not disprove Holocene gene flow or non-genetic South Asian influences, but that the overall evidence was consistent with no gene flow and pointed to indigenous origins for technological and linguistic changes.
Dingo cited as evidence of external contact
2016
The 2016 analysis identified the appearance of the dingo as strong evidence for external contacts, while distinguishing that contact from evidence of substantial human gene flow.
Image source: Dingo
Eastern and Western Eurasian lineages diverge
2017
A 2017 analysis reported that the bifurcation of Eastern and Western Eurasians dates to at least 45,000 years ago and placed Indigenous Australians within the Eastern Eurasian clade.
Bergström thesis finds long-term genetic independence
2018
Anders Bergström's 2018 doctoral thesis suggested that, apart from relatively recent admixture, Sahul populations had been genetically independent from the rest of the world since their divergence around 50,000 years ago.
Key Facts
- Aboriginal peoples have maintained some of the world’s oldest continuing cultures, with deep connections to Country, language, kinship, law, and ceremony.
- More than 250 Aboriginal languages and many dialects were spoken before European colonisation, although numerous languages have since been endangered or lost.
- British colonisation began in 1788, bringing dispossession, violence, introduced diseases, frontier conflict, and the seizure of Aboriginal lands.
- The 1967 referendum enabled the Commonwealth to make laws for Aboriginal people and included them in national population counts, becoming a major milestone in the rights movement.
- The 1992 Mabo decision rejected terra nullius in Australian law and recognised native title, while the 1993 Native Title Act established a legal framework for claims.
Source
This Aboriginal Australian History timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.
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