according to the 1996 census there are around 350 000 people who identified themselves as aboriginal or being of indigenous origin. this is al large increase on previous census figures, a reflection of the fact that these days people are far more willing to declare their indigenous origins. they are concentrated in northern and central australia.
according to the latest archaeological findings, australian aboriginal (which literally means "indigenous") society has a continuous cultural history going back at least 50000 years. although mystery shrouds many aspects of australian prehistory, it is almost certain that the first humans came here across the sea from south-east asia.
when the british first settled sydney cove, it is believed there were about 300 000 aboriginal people in australia and around 250 different languages, many as distinct from each other as english is from chinese. many years the aboriginal were driven from their land by force, and many more succumbed to exotic diseases such as smallpox, measles, venereal disease, influenza, whooping cough, pneumonia and tuberculosis. the delicate balance between aboriginal people and nature was broken; because the european invaders cut down the forests and introduced numerous feral and domestic animals- by 1860 there were 20 million sheep in australia. the foreign animals destroyed water holes and ruined the habitats that had sustained mammals, reptiles and vegetable foods for tens of thousands of years.
starving aborigines speared sheep and cattle and then suffered reprisal raids that often left many dead. for the first 100 years of "settlement" only very few europeans were prosecuted for killing aboriginal people, although the practice was widespread. in many parts of australia, aboriginal people defended their lands with desperate guerrilla tactics. until the 1850s, when europeans had to rely on inaccurate and unreliable flintlock rifles, aboriginal people sometimes had the benefit of superior numbers, weapons and tactics. however, with the introduction of breach loading repeater rifles in the 1870s, armed resistance was quickly crushed. full-blood aborigines in tasmania were wiped out, and aboriginal society elsewhere in australia suffered terribly. by the 1880s only relatively small groups in the far outback were still unscathed by the european invasion.