Aboriginal Australian Geography
A brief look at the population, climate, and landscapes of Aboriginal Australian people.
Aboriginal Australians are the majority indigenous people of Australia, an island continent and nation of the South Pacific. For tens of thousands of years, Aboriginal groups have lived across the continent and its numerous islands. Modern Australia covers 2,966,153 square miles or 7,682,300 square kilometers. The Torres Strait Islands off the northern coast are home to a separate indigenous people known as the Torres Strait Islanders.
As of 2016, indigenous people make up about 3.3 percent of Australia’s total population, or 798,400 people (including Torres Strait Islanders). Their population has slowly increased in recent decades. Today, the highest concentrations of Aboriginal people are found in the Northern Territory, though many now reside in and around cities.
Australia’s diverse landscapes shaped the lives of its native peoples over thousands of years. Its northern climate is warm and tropical, seeing annual rainy seasons from November to April. The interior mostly consists of flat, arid deserts and scrubland. Along the southern coast, the climate is more temperate and home to eucalyptus forests.
Perhaps the most notable landmarks of the continent are Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef. Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a massive sandstone rock formation jutting out of the northern Australian landscape. It dominates a region rich in wildlife, caves, and water features and has been an especially sacred site for local Aboriginal Australian communities for thousands of years. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest known coral reef in the world, located off Australia’s northwest coast. The reef system is home to nearly 3,000 smaller reefs and almost 1,000 islands, providing habitats for thousands of aquatic species. However, the reef is currently under threat from issues like climate change, invasive species, pollution, and overfishing.
The most widespread tree species of Australia belong to the Eucalyptus family, covering about 75 percent of its forested lands. Acacia trees are also common. The remote continent’s wildlife is similarly unique; many species of its native animals are not found anywhere else, particularly its diverse marsupial population. Most famous of these is the kangaroo. Other notable wildlife include the koala, platypus, dingo, wombat, dugong, emu, crocodile, and birds such as the kookaburra. Invasive populations of animals like rabbits, horses, camels, cats, and fire ants have all proven disruptive to local ecosystems in the last two centuries.
Australia, from the CIA World Factbook.
Further Reading:
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References
Bourke, Colin, Eleanor Bourke, and Bill Edwards, eds. Aboriginal Australia: An Introductory Reader in Aboriginal Studies. University of Queensland Press. 1994.
Broome, Richard. Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788. Allen & Unwin. 2010. “Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, June 2016.” Australian Bureau of Statistics, ABS, www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3238.0.55.001.
Clarke, Francis Gordon. The History of Australia. Greenwood Press. 2002.
“The World Factbook: Australia.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 6 June 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/as.html.
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