Scientists reveal 93% of Australia's Indigenous population was lost in just 73 years

New research suggests that Australia's Indigenous population before European colonization was far larger than historical estimates have indicated. Scientists now estimate that approximately 2.22 million Indigenous people lived across the continent before the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, potentially up to seven times the number suggested by some earlier calculations.

The findings also reveal the devastating scale of the population decline that followed colonization. According to the researchers, an estimated 93% of Australia's Indigenous population was lost within less than 80 years of European arrival, a much greater decline than previously recognized.

Professor Corey Bradshaw, a Global Ecology Professor at Flinders University and Chief Investigator at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures (CIEHF), contributed to the national research effort. Working alongside Indigenous partners, the team is investigating how Indigenous population numbers have changed throughout Australia's history.