Origins
Estimates in the anthropological, archeologist and various other sciences are given that the arrival of the Aboriginal peoples to the continent of Australia dates back 75.000 to 50.000 years before the present day. Various studies have been done to define the closest resemblance the Aboriginals have to the wide range of prehistoric migratory peoples, yet conflicting reports still leave this up to debates to this very day, yet it is agreed upon that the ancestors of the Aboriginals had crossed from present day New Guinea to the Sahul continent via a land bridge, or by island hopping from South Asia.
Tradition
Throughout the long years, as the land started to shape itself anew from the Ice Age, and as Australia had become separated from the rest of the world, the Aboriginal peoples started to create their settlements through the continent. Ranging from the temperate regions of the southeast and southwest parts of Australia, to the arid northern territories and the desert midland, the Aboriginals had created settlements along the coast, were nomadic and followed the food sources returning to known land exactly each season year after year, to the bush way of life that is characterized so frequently in Australia even today. Those that had formed settlements, became renowned fisher based tribes, and it is found that they had an economy based the exchange of eels as a source of currency, they had also developed irrigated agriculture based on growing yams, other edible starchy tubers, collection of various berries and hunting of fauna that was once megafauna that had survived due to the island continent isolation, these settlements that dotted the southern landscape were also the most populated.
The nomadic peoples that wandered the midland of Australia were hunter gatherer societies, following the migratory period of various animals and the seasonal growth of plants as well. Bush people of the northern part of Australia were somewhat mixed nomadic and settlement based societies, those closer to the shores had permanent residence relying on fishing for food, while those more inland into the arid region were nomadic, following the seasonal changes for food. Since megafauna and the Aboriginals had coexisted by estimates ranging 17.000 years together, being easy prey for humans as these lumbering marsupials were hunted to extinction with some surviving by a handful of numbers giving way to the oral based mythology of the peoples. Most renowned creatures even in modern times are the Waugai, the Rainbow Serpent and the Bunyip, inspiring tales to frighten children, warn travelers of the dangers of the land or perhaps for a way to explain natural phenomenon among the Aboriginal tribes. Noteworthy was the usage of fire by the Aboriginals to shape the land to their desire, although never fully to a large degree that could change the entire landscape and biodiversity of flora and fauna, it was used to prevent catastrophic bushfires, easy hunting of wildlife, make way for edible foods to grow or simply to clear land for settlement. Since they relied on the land for existence, everyone capable in the tribes worked to acquire food, some even spending upwards to 2/3 of the day or night to achieve their goal, men were proficient hunters, while women were gatherers.
Using throwing sticks to weaken or kill kangaroos, spear chugging for birds and koalas, to the usage of the very famous boomerang as a way for hunting, the ingenuity of the peoples to survive was vast and amazing. Women would forage with weaved baskets to gather berries, yams, starchy tubers armed with walking sticks to hunt for small creatures such as bandicoots, lizards and even insects the likes of honey ants, witchetty grubs and Bogong moths. Aboriginals had also used grinding stones, a mortar and pestle allowing them to make bread out of various seasonal grains and nuts, they had also eaten coconuts, taro and various fruits.
Contact with Europe
Most ingenuous was perhaps the traps the Aboriginals had created to capture sea creatures such as prawns, crabs, snakes and eels, weaving nets to fish out fish by the dozens, it allowed them a diverse diet that sated every need and taste. In 1770 with the arrival of Lieutenant James Cook and his proclamation of claiming the east coast of Australia for the United Kingdom under the name of New South Wales, European contact would be established with the arrival of first settlers in 1788. Isolated from the rest of the world, the natives as is the case in most cases with indigenous peoples became under threat of new diseases brought abroad by the Europeans, like chickenpox, smallpox, influenza and measles. It had devastating effects that even before actually meeting the peoples and recording the events, they were cut in half in terms of population by 50% by smallpox alone. Typical view at the Aboriginals as the common barbaric nomads not associated with land ownership, paved way to expelling from their native and sacred lands where they had settled thousands of years ago, leading to an even further decline in population. Highly controversial are the various conflicts, battles, or wars to a degree ascribed to being genocidal even when used as self defense, and the breeding with the various Aboriginal tribes brought venereal diseases and gave birth to mixed children that would be outcast from the tribes, shunned and looked down upon, furthering the decline of the folk to a degree they would be considered near extinction in the 1900s. Still laws were enacted to allow for fairness and equality between the settlers and the Aboriginals, yet they were still racially and xenophobically threatened until the 2000s. Relaxing the laws allowing them to fight on behalf of Australia during the World Wars, allowing them to vote and contribute to the communities they found themselves into, beginning to withstand the various diseases that plagued their people due to the advancement of medicine and technology, the population has started to slowly be brought to levels less threatening. Yet even to this day, various issues are present in modern day Australia involving the Aboriginals, be it their need of acknowledgement of the wars brought upon them, the diseases that almost killed them, their dependence of alcohol, drugs, opiates and medication wrecking their communities due to the lack of literacy, the forceful Christianization of the peoples, the issues are ever present and ever growing still. Ironically it would be the various missions that had appeared in Australia that were the ones responsible for preserving the natives and their unique cultures.