The video item below is a piece of English language content from Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera is a Qatari state-funded broadcaster based in Doha, Qatar, owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network.
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands.
Aboriginal Australians comprise many distinct peoples who have developed across Australia for over 50,000 years. These peoples have a broadly shared, though complex, genetic history, but it is only in the last two hundred years that they have been defined and started to self-identify as a single group.
The term Indigenous Australians refers to Aboriginal Australians as well as Torres Strait Islanders.
Before extensive European settlement, there were over 250 Aboriginal languages. In the 2016 Australian Census, Indigenous Australians comprised 3.3% of Australia’s population, with 91% of these identifying as Aboriginal only, 5% Torres Strait Islander, and 4% both.