The Aborigines - with the longest cultural history in the world - were the first human inhabitants of Australia, having likely migrated from Asia some 60,000 years ago. With origins dating back to the last Ice Age, the Aborigines were nomadic hunter-gatherers who roamed from place to place.
When Europeans began travelling to Australia in the 18th century, they found approximately 750,000 Aborigines living in a fashion not unlike people from the Stone Age. They used spears and boomerangs to hunt animals and also gather fruits, nuts and yams for food. Each tribe had its own territory, traditions, religions and language, including a belief in the "Dreamtime" which is the centrepiece of aboriginal culture.
For Australia's Aborigines, "Dreamtime" was a time before history when the earth was flat and the spirits travelled the country creating features of the landscape. How these landscapes were formed by the spirits, usually in the shape of animals, is the basis of aboriginal folklore - with rituals that are still practised today. Indeed, even now, each tribe has the responsibility of preserving a particular aspect of this belief.
