How did the first humans reach Australia?

The first humans likely reached Australia around 65,000 years ago, according to many estimates, after a long journey that had taken them from early human history in Africa to the shores of a distant and new continent.  

They had travelled through Asia over many thousands of years in stages, and they crossed rough ground and got used to new conditions as the world's climate changed.  

The final part of their journey involved at least one sea crossing, and they probably had made it in simple boats or rafts that had suited short trips between islands.  

They probably had used, at least in part, their knowledge of the stars and ocean currents to reach their final goal.  

Once they had arrived on the northern coasts of Australia, they had become the first humans known to have stepped onto the continent.  

However, the land that they found was very different to the modern Australia we know today.  

Instead, it was a larger landmass that researchers often call Sahul.

Sahul is the name for the land that joined what are now Australia and New Guinea, with Tasmania attached, into one landmass during periods of lower sea levels.  

This large, ancient landmass had existed through much of the Pleistocene period, which included ice ages that caused large amounts of water to freeze in glaciers and ice caps.  

As a result, sea levels dropped at times, which uncovered land bridges that let plants and animals, then people, travel between areas.  

Early humans could often travel more easily between areas that are now divided by water.

The different environments of Sahul included tropical rainforests and dry deserts, and they offered many potential homes for the people who would begin to live there.  

The plants and animals of Sahul were also special because many species seem to have developed separately from the rest of the world, such as the kangaroo and the Tasmanian devil.  

However, as the ice ages ended and the world warmed up, the glaciers and ice caps melted, and the extra water raised sea levels.  

This change in climate probably caused floods that covered the land bridges that had connected those areas, and it separated Australia and New Guinea, with Tasmania separated, into different land areas.

After they had arrived, these early Australians began to explore and settle gradually in different parts of the continent, often along sources of water that were steady.  

They moved along rivers and coastlines in many cases, and they had slowly made their way into the centre of the land over time.  

As they moved, they had become used to each new environment. In many coastal areas, they became skilled fishers who used nets and spears to catch fish. In many wooded areas, they hunted kangaroos and other animals and gathered fruits and nuts.  

In many dry deserts, they had worked out how to find water and food in such a difficult place.

As these early Australians had settled in different areas, they created their own cultures and languages, with traditions that were passed on within each community.  

They shared stories that explained the land and its animals, along with the stars that helped them make sense of their world and their role in it.  

In many communities, Dreamtime stories like these were stories that had often told how the world was made and how people should live in balance with nature.  

One well-known Dreamtime story in many regions is about the powerful Rainbow Serpent that formed the mountains and waterways, such as rivers and lakes, and another is about Tiddalik the frog that drank all the water in the world and caused a drought until he was made to laugh and let the water out again.

The journey and settlement of the First Nations Australians are an impressive story of exploration and adaptation that supported survival.  

Over thousands of years, they greatly affected the culture and history of Australia, and they left behind art and stories, and many of their traditions that still matter to people today.