Indigenous Australia

Burning a Corpse
Funeral pyre of a man who was killed by a falling tree
Engraver: J Neagle
An Account of the English colony in New South Wales from its first settlement in January 1788 to August 1801. Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins, 1798.
Courtesy of The Australian Museum Research Library

Tombs on Maria Island (Off the east coast of Tasmania) Etched by Pillement and Duparc, after Leseur. From Péron, François and Freycinet, Louis. Voyage de découvertes aux Terres Australes: Atlas Historique. Paris, 1824.
Courtesy of The Australian Museum Research Library

Prior to European arrival, Aboriginal mortuary practices varied considerably across Australia. In the Sydney region, British settlers noted that cremation and burial were the most common methods of disposal. New evidence from Lake Mungo in Western New South Wales shows that Indigenous Australians were cremating their dead at least 40,000 years ago.

During the 1801-1802 expedition to Tasmania, Nicolas Baudin noticed that ashes or calcined bones were carefully preserved and carried about by some people. Later accounts describe ashes and relics being kept in little skin pouches, often hung around the neck of close relatives.