Australia’s Indigenous population estimated at 2.2m before ‘demographic catastrophe’ of colonisation

Study finds earlier numbers were underestimated, suggesting impact of diseases and massacres were much greater than previously thought

The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia before colonisation was dramatically underestimated, according to new research that suggests many more of them were killed.

Modelling by a national research group puts the population levels before the 1788 first fleet arrived at 2.2 million, compared with early estimates of 250,000 people.

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The post Australia’s Indigenous population estimated at 2.2m before ‘demographic catastrophe’ of colonisation appeared first on World news | The Guardian.

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