In 2021, an estimated 33% of Indigenous Australians (292,100 people) live in New South Wales and 28% (246,300 people) in Queensland (Figure 2). The Northern Territory has the highest proportion of Indigenous residents among its population – an estimated 31% (79,600 people) in 2021 (Figure 2).
Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park, NT
The literal and spiritual heart of Australia, Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park encompasses an area centred on Uluru and Kata Tjuta, two immense sandstone formations rising out of the red sand of the Central Australian desert.
Our Ancestors understood that caring for Country allowed Country to care for them. Aboriginal Peoples have a deep connection with land and water with Country, which is central to their spiritual identity, and have maintained this connection despite the devastating impacts of colonisation and forced removal.
One city, however, stands out. Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, has probably the highest percentage of aboriginal people of any city: almost 90% of Greenland's population of 58,000 is Inuit, and least eight in 10 live in urban settlements.
Of all the countries included in the report, China has the highest number of Indigenous, with an estimated population of 125.3 million. It's worth noting that the Chinese government does not officially acknowledge the existence of Indigenous peoples.
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.
Country is the term often used by Aboriginal peoples to describe the lands, waterways and seas to which they are connected. The term contains complex ideas about law, place, custom, language, spiritual belief, cultural practice, material sustenance, family and identity.
The land is a link between all aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's existence - spirituality, culture, language, family, law and identity. Each person is entrusted with the cultural knowledge and responsibility to care for the land they identify with through kinship systems.
The largest populations live in the western suburbs and the NSW Central Coast. Among Sydney's local council areas, Penrith has the biggest Indigenous population, with 9500 people, or 4.8 per cent of the total identifying as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
Amaroo - Aboriginal meaning "beautiful place" - Australian Photography.
The area is also known locally as Mparntwe to its original inhabitants, the Arrernte, who have lived in the Central Australian desert in and around what is now Alice Springs for tens of thousands of years. Alice Springs had an urban population of 25,912 in August 2021.
There is no one Aboriginal word that all Aborigines use for Australia; however, today they call Australia, ""Australia"" because that is what it is called today. There are more than 250 aboriginal tribes in Australia. Most of them didn't have a word for ""Australia""; they just named places around them.
Between 2014–15 and 2018–19, after adjusting for inflation, the median gross weekly personal income for Indigenous Australians aged 18 and over fell by 5.6%, from $518 to $489 (Figure 1).
Some people use 'Nunga' in general reference to Indigenous peoples who reside in and around the area of Adelaide. Many Indigenous South Australians prefer people not to presume the right to use their word 'Nunga'.
And if you are talking about both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, it's best to say either 'Indigenous Australians' or 'Indigenous people'. Without a capital “a”, “aboriginal” can refer to an Indigenous person from anywhere in the world.
Aboriginal origins
Humans are thought to have migrated to Northern Australia from Asia using primitive boats. A current theory holds that those early migrants themselves came out of Africa about 70,000 years ago, which would make Aboriginal Australians the oldest population of humans living outside Africa.
Today, the term 'Indigenous Australian' is used to encompass both Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people. However many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people do not like to be referred to as 'Indigenous' as the term is considered too generic.
While Indigenous Australians have inhabited the continent for tens of thousands of years, and traded with nearby islanders, the first documented landing on Australia by a European was in 1606. The Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the western side of Cape York Peninsula and charted about 300 km of coastline.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the first peoples of Australia, meaning they were here for thousands of years prior to colonisation.
Aboriginal peoples
Genetic studies appear to support an arrival date of 50–70,000 years ago. The earliest anatomically modern human remains found in Australia (and outside of Africa) are those of Mungo Man; they have been dated at 42,000 years old.
Between 11,000 and 14,000 Aboriginal people died, compared with only 399 to 440 colonisers. The tallies of the dead are not the only measure of what took place, according to Dr Bill Pascoe, a digital humanities specialist and key researcher on the project. “We are always using conservative estimates,” Pascoe said.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' rights and interests in land are formally recognised over around 50 per cent of Australia's land mass. Connection to land is of central importance to First Nations Australians.
Australia is home to the oldest continuing living culture in the entire world. The richness and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures in Australia is something we should all take pride in as a nation.