Aborigines are the native people of Australia. According to the 2010 Census, 2.8 million Australians identified themselves as Aboriginal Australians on their census form. These are descendants from what are known as either mainland or island Aborigines – groups of indigenous people who lived in Australia before European settlers arrived in 1788.

The first use of the term ‘Aborigine’ was recorded in 1789 to refer to the indigenous people of New South Wales. Other names used were Aboriginal people, Aborigines, and blackfellas.

The population of Indigenous Australians is not increasing as fast as Australia’s overall population. This has created a situation where Indigenous Australians are now less than 3% of the population.

Their flag, the Aboriginal Flag, was designed by artist Harold Thomas in 1971.

The 2011 Census revealed that most of Australia’s Indigenous population live in New South Wales (29% or 148,783 people) and Queensland (28% or 146,053 people). That’s followed by Victoria (10%), Western Australia (9%), South Australia (8.3%), the Northern Territory (5%), and Tasmania (1.6%).

The Australian Bureau of Statistics points out great diversity within the Indigenous population, with almost 400 people groups identified in the Census. These groups are distinguished by their unique culture, language, or geographic region.

How many Aboriginal languages are there?

There are more than 100 languages indigenous to Australia’s Indigenous peoples.

The Ethnologue is an online catalog of the world’s known living languages, ranked in order of several speakers. The top 10 Aboriginal languages are listed below:

1. Kala Lagaw Ya (spoken in northwestern Australia) – 40,000 speakers
2. Kriol (with many dialects across Northern Australia) – 180,000 speakers
3. Yumplatok (Papua New Guinea border area, Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait Islands) – 10,000 speakers
4. Djinang (Western Kimberley region of Western Australia) – 3,500 speakers
5. Barei (Parrparrak, Northern Territory, and Barkly Tableland region of Queensland) – 2,000 speakers
6. Guugu Yimidhirr (Cape York Peninsula, Australia) – 1,000 speakers
7. Kuuk-Thaayorre (Papua New Guinea border area, Cape York Peninsula, and Torres Strait Islands) – 1,000 speakers
8. Dhuwal (Northern Territory to the northwestern tip of Western Australia) – 500 speakers
9. Burarra (northern Northern Territory around Katherine Region and Daly River Region) – 400 speakers
10. Ngaanyatjarra (southern Western Australia) – 300 speakers