Aboriginal History Trivia Quiz

Answer: They migrated from Africa to southern Asia and then further south to Oceania.

Humans migrated from Africa to Asia around 60,000 years ago. From there, they travelled south through Asia and down to Papua New Guinea and Australia roughly 50,000 years ago. A 55,000-year-old rock shelter is one of the oldest known examples of early human settlement in the Northern Territory.

At the time, sea levels were lower so there were more land bridges between Asia and Australia, but the early settlers would still have had to use watercraft to cross some areas.

Answer: The Mungo Lady and the Mungo Man

The Mungo Lady and the Mungo Man were both ritually buried around 40,000 years ago in a dried up lake bed. The Mungo Lady was cremated first and then her bones were crushed. She was then burned again and buried. When she was discovered in the 20th century, the Mungo Lady was the oldest known ritual burial in Australia.

The Mungo Man was found nearby. He was also ritually buried, but in a different way. He was buried on his back with his hands crossed in his lap. His body was also covered in red ochre, which had been brought from hundreds of kilometres away.

The traditions of burial and cremation continued for thousands of years. When British settlers arrived in New South Wales, they noted that the Aboriginal people mainly buried or cremated their dead.

Answer: Yes

When the first British settlers arrived in Australia, they claimed the land in the name of the King. They argued that it was 'terra nullius', meaning that it belonged to no one. In part, that was because the Aboriginal people didn't use fences to mark boundaries; instead, they used natural boundaries such as rivers.

While groups of Aboriginal people did own land and maintained small agricultural plots, they would sometimes move from place to place in order to cope with seasonal changes and to ensure that they did not over-hunt or over-collect.

Answer: Diseases like smallpox

James Cook and his crew first landed in Australia in 1770. In 1788, colonists began arriving, bringing a variety of European diseases with them. The Indigenous Australians had no natural resistance against things like measles and influenza. The introduction of smallpox was particularly disastrous.

In the Sydney Basin, more than half of the Aboriginal population had died from small pox in less than a year.

Answer: The Gippsland Massacres

The Gippsland region is near Melbourne. A British settlement was set up there in 1830, taking hunting and ceremonial lands that belonged to the Kurnai. For a decade beginning in 1840, the Kurnai people were systematically slaughtered by the settlers. At least 300 Indigenous Australians were killed, but the number could be as high as 1000.

The Kurnai attempted to fight back using guerilla tactics, but their weapons were ineffective compared to the settlers' technology.

Answer: Cricket

The first Australian cricket team was made of Jardwadjali, Gunditjmara and Wotjobaluk men from the Western District of Victoria. England cricketer, Charles Lawrence, was their captain and coach. The national team - who made headlines in Australia and England - played English amateur teams in a total of 47 matches. The event is still considered a landmark in cricket and race relations.

Answer: Indigenous children who were taken from their families

In the 20th century, various government policies meant that children with Indigenous heritage were taken into the care of the state. Many were housed in institutions, but some were adopted by white families. They were forced to assimilate into the white community: their names were changed and they were forbidden to speak their native languages.

In the six decades between 1910 and 1970, 10 to 33 percent of Indigenous Australian children were forcibly separated from their families as a result of the assimilation policy.

Answer: Jack Patten

Jack Patten (1905-1957) campaigned for citizen rights for people of Indigenous descent, and for "full equality with white Australians." He formed political groups, gave speeches, and founded the first Aboriginal newspaper. At the time, Aboriginal people received unequal pay.

Some were treated like slaves, only being paid in rations for necessities like food and had restrictions on where they could live and work. One of the many political acts that Jack Patten was involved in was a strike at Cummeragunja Mission in New South Wales in 1939. 200 workers walked out, relocated to Victoria, and never returned home.

Answer: 1962

An amendment to the Commonwealth Electoral Act allowed all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (the indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands in Queensland) to vote in federal elections. Previously, some - but not all - Aboriginal people were allowed to vote in state or federal elections.

In South Australia, for example, all adult women (including Indigenous women) were allowed to vote in state elections in 1895. Other states, however, had regulations that specifically excluded Indigenous people from voting.

Answer: They were believed to be the last uncontacted Indigenous people in Australia.

The Pintupi were an Aboriginal tribe living in the Gibson desert in Western Australia. During the 1950s, Blue Streak Missile tests were being carried out in the area, so the nomadic people living there, like the Pintupi, were taken to settlements. One family was overlooked, however.

The Pintupi Nine, a family of two sisters and their seven children, remained in the desert (a two-day drive away from Alice Springs) with no contact from anyone else for decades. It wasn't until 1984 that they saw another human being.

When other members of the Pintupi tribe relocated back to their homeland, they came across the Pintui Nine and introduced them to modern society.