For how many years have Indigenous Australians lived on the continent?

Indigenous Australians have lived on the Australian continent for at least 65,000 years, making them custodians of one of the oldest continuous cultures on Earth. Archaeological evidence at Madjedbebe in the Northern Territory and other sites has progressively pushed back the dating of human occupation, with recent finds supporting the 65,000-year figure widely cited in academic and government sources.

The earliest Aboriginal Australians arrived from south-east Asia during a period of lower sea levels, when Australia and New Guinea formed a single landmass called Sahul. Crossing open water of about 90 kilometres (the shortest stretch between Sahul and the Sunda landmass to the north-west) required ocean-going craft and deliberate planning, making the first Australians among the world's earliest known maritime voyagers.

From the initial coastal settlements, Aboriginal peoples spread across the entire continent and Tasmania, developing distinct languages, ceremonies, technologies, and ecological knowledge adapted to deserts, tropical rainforests, savannahs, alpine country, and coastal environments. By the time of European contact in 1788, an estimated 250 distinct languages and around 800 dialect varieties were spoken across the continent, with Aboriginal populations of about 750,000 organised into hundreds of separate nations.

The 65,000-year figure has practical and political significance. It underpins Aboriginal claims to continuing sovereignty (as expressed in the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, which describes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first sovereign Nations of the continent), supports native title claims under the Native Title Act 1993, shapes school curricula across the country, and frames the national reconciliation process. The Australian Citizenship Pledge does not specifically mention this history, but the broader public culture increasingly recognises the depth of Indigenous occupation through Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country at the start of public events.