“Australian Aborigines are those people regarded as indigenous to the Australian continent. In the High Court of Australia, Australian Aborigines have been specifically identified as a group of people who share, in common, biological ancestry back to the original occupants of the continent.

Justice Deane of the High Court famously described and defined an Australian Aboriginal person as “a person of Aboriginal descent, albeit mixed, who identifies himself as such and who is recognised by the Aboriginal community as an Aboriginal”.

The history of Indigenous Australians is thought to have spanned 40 000 to 45 000 years, although some estimates have put the figure at up to 70 000 years before European settlement. For most of this time, the Indigenous Australians lived as nomads and as hunter-gatherers with a strong dependence on the land and their agriculture for survival.

The path of Australian Aboriginal history changed radically after the 18th- and 19th-century settlement of the British: Indigenous people were displaced from their ways of life, were forced to submit to European rule, and were later encouraged to assimilate into Western culture. Since the 1960s, reconciliation has been the pursuit of European Australian – Indigenous Australian relations”. – Wikipedia

An aborigine or indigenous Australian with a boomerang lying beside him. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa 1870

An Aboriginal camp in Lake Way, Westerrn Australia. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa 1900

An Aboriginal family seated in the car used by the Australian explorer, Francis Birtles, to travel from Darwin to Adelaide. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa 1925

Two Australian Aborigines holding boomerangs, circa 1935. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

An Aborigine woman searches for shellfish to store in her woven dilly bag in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia, circa 1950. (Photo by Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A young Aborigine spears a fish while his friends hunt for turtles in the Northern Territory of Australia, circa 1950. (Photo by Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

An Aborigine boy with the bony nose or rostrum of a sawfish in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia, circa 1950. (Photo by Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A young Aborigine drinks gravy from the hollowed-out shell of a turtle in the Northern Territory of Australia, circa 1950. (Photo by Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A young Aborigine woman weaves grass into a circular mat in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia, circa 1950. (Photo by Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Aboriginal boys in Arhem Land with large sea-shells called balers which they sell locally. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). 1st January 1950

Aboriginal Australians at a spear-throwing contest in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory. Woomeras are used in order to throw the 10-foot spears more effectively. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1950

Aboriginal boys standing by macrozamia palms in Australia. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1950

An Australian Aborigine painting the torso of a young boy, using their traditional red and yellow ochre, white pipeclay and charcoal derived paints and sticks for application. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1950

Aboriginal women washing their hair with sand at Arnhem land in the Northern Territory of Australia. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). 1st January 1950

An Aboriginal women at Arnhem land in Australia's Northern territory carriying her child on her shoulders through the desert. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). 1st January 1950

Two Aboriginal girls from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territories, with a doll. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1950

A yard long pipe being smoked by an Aborigine from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territories. The pipe, which is decorated with a geometrical design, is community property. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1950

An Aborigine shelters under a woven mat, circa 1955. (Photo by Richard Harrington/Three Lions/Getty Images)

Young aboriginal men from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Australia making magic-ritual sticks which are decorated with feathers. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

A group of Aborigine school girls eating at a communal table. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

These young Aborigine girls had been given bras to wear, but had found them uncomfortable and threw them away. (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images). 1957

A group of Australian aborigine children at Fitzroy Crossing. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). Circa 1975