Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: the Dreaming, colonisation from 1788, the Stolen Generations, native title and the path to recognition.
Faglig kvalitetssikret av lærere og toppstudenter · Følger læreplanen (LK20) · Sist oppdatert 2026-09-09
Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the indigenous peoples of Australia. Their cultures stretch back more than 60,000 years, often described as the oldest continuous living culture on Earth. Before European arrival there were hundreds of distinct nations, each with its own language and territory.
Central to Aboriginal belief is the Dreaming (or Dreamtime) – the spiritual understanding of how the world was created and how people should live. Knowledge is passed on through stories, art, song and songlines, routes across the land that record law, history and geography.
British colonisation began in 1788. The land was treated as terra nullius («nobody land»), ignoring the people already living there. Aboriginal peoples suffered disease, frontier violence and the loss of their land. From the late 1800s to the 1970s, many Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families in what became known as the Stolen Generations.
The 1967 referendum allowed Aboriginal people to be counted in the census and gave the federal government power to make laws for them. In 1992 the Mabo decision overturned terra nullius and recognised native title. In 2008 the government delivered a national Apology to the Stolen Generations.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples still face gaps in health, education and life expectancy, addressed through programmes like Closing the Gap. The 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart called for a greater say in decisions affecting indigenous people. Their art, music and connection to Country remain a vital part of Australian identity.