Aboriginal Australians or Aborigines, original inhabitants of Australia and their descendants. The term Aboriginal does not include the Torres Strait Islanders, a much smaller indigenous population in Australia whose homelands are the islands off the tip of the Cape York Peninsula in far northeastern Australia.
Archaeological evidence suggests that Aboriginal people have lived in Australia for at least 50,000 years. They have inhabited every region of the island continent. Today they live in all states and mainland territories of Australia, with the highest population concentrations in the states of Queensland and New South Wales. In 2001 the Aboriginal population of Australia numbered approximately 427,000, or about 2.2 percent of the total population.
Aboriginal people traditionally lived as hunter-gatherers in small family groups, hunting, fishing, and collecting a variety of plant foods. Most groups were nomadic or seminomadic and built simple brush or bark shelters. Hundreds of culturally distinct Aboriginal groups were spread across the Australian continent. They occupied a wide range of environments, from the savanna woodlands of the north to the harsh desert outback and temperate woodlands of the south. Like indigenous peoples elsewhere in the world, they developed an intimate understanding of the environment in which they lived. This connection to the land, and to its animals and plants, permeated every aspect of Aboriginal culture.
Europeans began settling in Australia in 1788. Their impact on the indigenous population was devastating. Many Aboriginal people died from epidemics of European diseases or from fighting to retain control of their land. Only those inhabiting the most remote areas of the continent were able to continue their traditional way of life. By the early 1900s many Aboriginal people were reduced to an impoverished, sedentary life, either on their own lands at the fringe of urban areas or on government-established reserves. Many also grew dependent on European society, which had little sympathy for them. Government assimilation policies, which sought to absorb Aboriginal people into white society, further eroded their culture.
Members of the Stolen Generations listen as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologises in federal Parliament. (Wednesday February 13, 12:55 PM)
Australia has formally apologised to the stolen generations with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd reading a speech in Federal Parliament this morning.
The apology was read at 9am to the minute, as the first action of the second sitting day of the 42nd Parliament of Australia.
Both Mr Rudd and Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin received a standing ovation as they entered the Great Hall before the Prime Minister delivered the speech.
The reading of the 361-word apology was completed by 9.30am and was watched by hundreds of parliamentarians, former prime ministers and representatives of the indigenous community.
Former prime ministers Paul Keating, Bob Hawke, Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser and Sir William Deane were all seated on the floor of the Parliament as well as 17 people representing the stolen generation.
Removing a stain from the soul of Australia
In another address directly after reading the apology, Mr Rudd spoke of removing a "stain from the soul of Australia".
"The time has come, well and truly come ... for all Australians, those who are indigenous and those who are not to come together, truly reconcile and together build a truly great nation."
The Prime Minister also discussed the first-hand accounts in the Keating government-sponsored report Bringing Them Home
Canada has apologised to its native people.
The prime minister, Stephen Harper, rose in the Canadian parliament and apologised for the abuses suffered by native people who attended residential schools from the late 1800s to the 1970s.
Prime Minister Harper said it was a sad chapter in Canada's history, and today he added "we recognize that the policy of assimilation was wrong, caused great harm, and has no place in our country".
The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine - himself a former residential school student - also spoke, saying the occasion testified nothing less than the accomplishment of the impossible.
Up to 150,000 native children were forced to attend the schools to be assimilated into white culture.
Thousands were physically, sexually and emotionally abused.
Across the country, native people watched the events, some applauded, and there were tears.
But for many former students, there was silence
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