The last great landmass to be discovered by the European explorers and traders was Australia. Europeans dreamt of finding all the wonderful things Australia had to offer. They didn't know there were people that had been there for tens of thousands of years. Archaeologists are almost positive the first humans went across the ocean from South-East Asia. Heavy-boned people, archaeologists call 'Robust', went to Australia 70,000 years ago. Smaller boned people called 'Gracile' traveled to Australia 50,000 years ago. That far back in time the sea level was 50 meters lower than it is now. This means that there was less water for the aborigines to travel over to get to Australia. At the end of the Ice Age the sea level rose a lot. It formed vast deserts. After the sea level stopped moving all the time, the Aborigines settled and developed a great culture. The Aborigines usually lived in the desert, inland non-desert areas, the coast, and Tasmania. The Aborigines that lived in the desert or inland ate insects, birds, reptiles, and mammals. They also ate lots of fruit. The Aborigines on the coast ate roots, fruits, small animals, reptiles, fish, and shellfish. Aborigines are natives to Australia and Tasmania. They have lived there for about 35,000 to 70,000 years. Their skin and hair are both dark. There are about 500 recorded tribes, some of which are Aranda, Bidjandjadjara, Gurindji, Gunwinggu, Kamilaroi, Murngin, Tiwi, Wailbri, Wurora, and Yir-yoront. Aboriginal tribes didn't usually stay in one place for long, moving to watering places and setting up camp there. Aborigines lived in family groups and clans. Each clan has a place on their land where their spirits return when they die. They have to protect these places so they won't upset their ancestral beings. The men were custodians, tool-makers, and hunters. The women took care of the children and gathered and fixed their food. The Aborigines used the land wisely and knew when to harvest the many plants they ate. Dingoes guarded their homes and helped the men hunt. The Aborigines were also traders. There were trade routes across the country. They traded stones, shells, boomerangs, and ocher, a yellow paint pigment. Along these trade routes they would have exchange ceremonies where they traded, sang songs, and danced. The Aborigines were totally isolated until 1788, when the English arrived. Their traditions included music, singing, dancing, and art. They did paintings on dried tree bark with natural black, brown, yellow, white, and sometimes red colors. The paintings were originally used for tribal ceremonies and then destroyed shortly after the ceremonies were finished. In the 1940's, however, the paintings became popular with art collectors and they became more widely made and distributed, provided that there were enough eucalyptus trees in the area because they needed the bark from the tree to draw on. At the time when Sydney Cove was settled by the British there were 300,000 Aborigines in Australia and about 250 different languages were spoken. Since they didn't have a system of government, no permanent settlement, and no land ownership, the British made them move. Many of the Aborigines got smallpox, measles, venereal disease, influenza, whooping cough, pneumonia, and tuberculosis and died. European invaders cut down forests and brought foreign animals to Australia. By 1860 there were 20 million sheep in Australia. The cattle and sheep destroyed the Aborigines' water holes. White settlers and Aborigines were at war for the land and water. By 1900, traditional Aboriginal society was still in small groups in central and northern Australia. In the early 1900's, laws to protect the Aborigines were passed in every state. They also made restrictions for the Aborigines on owning land, where they could live, and even to whom they could marry. In 1967 the Australians voted Aborigines real citizens. They were given the same rights as everyone else. In 1971, Geoffrey Bardon, who had a close relationship with a local tribe, and one of the few non-Aboriginal people who was allowed to take part in the rituals and ceremonies, began painting a wall mural with his students and some tribe members. This was the first example of shared Aboriginal artwork besides bark paintings. After that, the Australian government realized that Aboriginal artwork was a resource and tried to conserve it. This is how they live today and still try to keep their culture alive.