A scientific study has revealed the first arrival of Indigenous Australians to the continent was deliberately planned using complex technologies, with large groups first arriving over 50,000 years ago.
According to the research, at least 1300 people might have arrived in either a single migration event or smaller with successive waves averaging at least 130 people every 70 years over the course of about 700 years.
Researchers say the groups had sophisticated technology and knowledge of how to build watercraft as well as the remarkable ability at the time to plan, navigate and make multiple complicated, open-ocean voyages to directly transport large numbers of people.