Human Rights in Australia - Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the descendants of the mainland's Aboriginal peoples and the Torres Strait Islanders who occupied Australia prior to the arrival of British settlers in 1788. Their ancestors arrived in Australia over 50,000 years ago. Though their continental population was never large, introduced disease and frontier conflict saw a decline in the indigenous population during the colonial period, though numbers have recovered and continued to increase in more recent times. Historically, many indigenous Australians were dispossessed without treaty nor compensation, and certain laws discriminated against them. In modern Australia, racial discrimination is illegal and Indigenous people have access to certain welfare and land entitlements not accessible to non-indigenous Australians. Particularly in remote regions, standards of health and education among indigenous people are often lower than amongst the general population.