Aboriginal Australia

Discover the ancient Aboriginal history of Australia

The Aboriginal people of Australia have a rich and ancient culture and history. Archaeologists now suggest that the first Indigenous people arrived in Australia between 120, 000 and 50, 000 years ago, justifying the long claim of Aboriginal people that they have always been here.

Our Aboriginal Australia tours bear witness to this ancient indigenous culture. In the UNESCO World Heritage Listed Willandra Lakes, we visit the spot where Mungo Lady and Mungo Man were found by geologist Jim Bowler, in a discovery that transformed Australia‘s understanding of its history. In Tasmania we explore the southern-most extent of human habitation during the last Ice Age, when the Tasmanian wilderness looked more like Patagonia; while in the Kakadu rock art of the Northern Territory we find vivid depictions of everything from ancient megafauna to European ships.

As we travel through the Australian landscape, we understand that we are moving through a place of great antiquity, where nature is given cultural meaning through the encompassing worldview of the Dreaming. Many of our tours follow paths used by Aboriginal travellers and traders for millennia, exchanging technologies, ideas, goods, and culture over vast territories.

By understanding the long history of the places we visit, each guided tour conceives of the land in new ways. In tourist spots like Wilpena Pound and King’s Park, Perth, we look beyond natural beauty to think of each place as an important cultural centre and gathering place for Aboriginal tribes, inscribed with meaning in Dreamtime stories. Defying the contemporary boundaries of South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia, we think in terms of a Mallee region stretching across the south of the continent, where Aboriginal people lived in abundance in a semi-arid landscape that would later challenge British explorers and settlers.

Our tours also explore the complexity and diversity of Australian Aboriginal culture and society. We visit two important UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape and the Brewarrina Fish Traps, where sophisticated aquaculture systems supported sedentary lifestyles and a culture of abundance. In Arnhem Land, we challenge the ‘tyranny of distance’, exploring the history of trade between Indonesian fishermen and Yolngu people. This exchange linked Australia to a world trade network that reached China, and maybe spanned as far as medieval Africa.

We also have the privilege to witness some of the most extraordinary Aboriginal art at a number of rock art sites, including the intricate X-Ray paintings of Arnhem Land and Kakadu National Park; the mysterious Gwion Gwion and evocative Wandjina of the Kimberley; ancient engravings in the Flinders Ranges; and the elegant stencils of Carnarvon Gorge, in the rainforest of tropical north Queensland.