Aboriginal Australians comprise many distinct peoples who have developed across Australia for over 50,000 years. . Studies regarding the genetic make-up of Aboriginal groups has suggested that they have genetic inheritance from ancient Asian but have been isolated from Southeast Asia for a very long time.
In the past, Aboriginal Australians lived over large sections of the continental shelf and were isolated on many of the smaller offshore islands and Tasmania when the land was inundated at the start of the Holocene inter-glacial period, about 11,700 years ago. Before extensive European settlement, there were over 250 Aboriginal languages
