History of New South Wales - Ancient History

Ancient History

The first people to occupy the area now known as New South Wales were Australian Aborigines. Their presence in Australia began around 40,000–60,000 years ago with the arrival of the first of their ancestors by boat from what is now Indonesia. Their descendants moved south and, though never large in numbers, occupied all areas of Australia, including the future New South Wales.

Mungo Man and other remains have been found at the dried up Lake Mungo in New South Wales, some 3000 km south of the North Coast of Australia, and have been dated to approximately 40,000 years ago. These early humans appear to have been buried with ceremonial accompaniment and have been found close to stone tools and the bones of now extinct mega fauna (such as giant kangaroos and wombats). These are the earliest human remains yet found in Australia, though precise dating is difficult and debated. They nevertheless appear to confirm that New South Wales was populated some tens of thousands of years before the arrival of the British First Fleet at a time when the climate was far wetter and humans were conducting some of their earliest religious and artistic practices. Examples of Aboriginal stone tools and Aboriginal art (often recording the stories of the Dreamtime religion) can be found throughout New South Wales: even within the metropolis of modern Sydney, as in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.