Of course, the Aboriginal people were, whether with simple or complex mixed ancestry, here before Europeans, Chinese, Atlanteans or Tierra del Fuegans. This is a pointless and a sterile argument. Maori people have been in New Zealand for barely eight hundred years (they had been there for barely four hundred years, according to their own legends, when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed), and yet are clearly the prior occupants of New Zealand.

Have Aboriginal people been in Australia for at least eight hundred years ? Of course. Did any one group invade the territory of another in fifty thousand years ? Yes, of course, just like anywhere else in the world: traditional society everywhere was pretty brutal. For all that, were they the prior occupants of the continent ? Of course.

End of.

Joe

Foxy did that years ago... you need to stop posting links that back me up them eh.
You need to stop being in denial and do some research yourself.
You cant say Aborigines were the First people and put that lie in the Constitution.

Dear T800.,

You can choose to ignore the evidence.
The facts speak for themselves:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-07/dna-confirms-aboriginal-people-as-the-first-Australians/7481360

I am merely quoting the scientific evidence available.

As someone who has been living remote with aboriginal people for nearly 50 years I have to say I'm appalled by the innacuracies, emotive rhetoric and downright lies presented as " aboriginal history" by mainstream sources. Even simple beliefs, such as the one that aboriginal people were classed as flora and fauna are never challenged, nor researched, except by a few, who are howled down as racist bigots.
How people can really put their faith in generations of passed down stories in comparison to first hand witness accounts is beyond me. And even then, if the stories contradict popular belief they are dismissed as inaccurate.
I have read first hand accounts of settlements of missions and nowhere is there any mention of forced removals or violent confrontations. Missionary couples or priests slaved in horrific conditions to build a simple dwelling and grow food, which in turn attracted local blacks, who were drawn by promises of tobacco, sugar, tea and flour.
I was lucky enough to have a father in law who was raised in one of Australia's most remote , and most recent mission, where blacks had their first contact with whites in 1910.
His stories confirm the accounts written by those first missionaries, however locals don't like reference to this as it does not fit the popular narrative of enforced enslavement and violent treatment.
I can only hope the future brings enough historical scholars with the courage to write an accurate account of settlement so future generations have access to the facts, not just an idealised rendition of some supposed utopian existence that was destroyed by evil intended Europeans.

"Though baptized and blessed and bibled,
We are still tabood and libelled
You devout salvation sellers
Make us equal not fringe dwellers."
(Kath Walker).

Obviously Kath Walker did not know or understand her Bible, as it teaches ALL men are already equal they just need knowledge of that truth, and that is the position why Christian mission grew in all cultures around the World.