Australia, home to over 70 million people and one of the most multi-cultural countries on earth: a nation of modern day immigrants.
But 50,000 years ago it was a different story.
The first people to reach Australia found themselves cut off from the rest of humanity, battling low population numbers and a hostile climate.
Today, ancient fossils and genetic studies are revealing the intimate connections between the first Australians and present-day Aborigines.
70,000–60,000 years ago:
Sea levels between Southeast Asia and Australia are low enough to allow ancient sea-faring Africans to cross into Australia.
42,000 years ago:
Australia’s earliest known modern human is laid to rest, his body covered in red ocher—a pigment that’s been continually mined at Wilgie Mia for 30,000 years.
35,000 years ago:
An Australian invention, the oldest grindstone in the world, was discovered in 2010 at Narwala Gabarnmung—its purpose to sharpen stone blades.
