The Aborigines are dark-skinned people belonging to the Australoid race. These nomadic people came to Australia about 60,000 years ago. The Aborigines lived in small groups and each group had its own language,beliefs and territory. The main occupations of the Aborigines was hunting and gathering. The Aborigines did not have a written language and their songs ,chants and stories were considered to be 'oral literature'
The Aborigines first saw European settlers when Captain James Cook landed at the Botany Bay in 1770. The Aborigines thought that the fair-skinned European settlers were the spirits of their dead ancestors. The vast differences in their cultures, lead to a lot of conflicts between the Aborigines and the Europeans. With the increase in the number of white settlers, the Aborigines found themselves being pushed to the interior and infertile parts of the land. In accordance with the ideas of racial superiority, many Europeans believed that the Aborigines must not be treated as their equals.
In recent years, much progress has been made to right the werongs of the past and the Australian Government is trying to return the lands to their traditional owners. The Aborigines have who are considered to be the single most disadvantaged group in Australia, have finally got their rights after years of suffering and deprivation
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