Indigenous Australians are members of groups that existed in Australia and surrounding islands prior to European colonisation. The phrase is therefore somewhat broad in scope, including such ethnically diverse groups as Tiwi people,Noongar people, and Torres Strait Islanders, and does not generally imply a close relationship or common origin of all included groups.

 

Most scholars date the arrival of humans in Australia at 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, with a possible range of up to 125,000 years ago. Genetic studies appear to support an arrival date of about 44,000 years ago. It is generally believed that Aboriginal people are the descendants of a single migration into the continent, split from the first modern human populations to leave Africa, 64,000 to 75,000 years ago.