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- Aboriginal Australian identity, sometimes known as Aboriginality, is the perception of oneself as Aboriginal Australian, or the recognition by others of that identity. This is often related to the existence of (or the belief of the existence of) ancestors within one's family lines which were directly descended from individuals who lived in the continent of what is now known as "Australia" at a time before the British-led mass immigration programme that occurred post-1788. People can be classified as Aboriginal no matter how minor a part of their family tree is Aboriginal - i.e. an individual can have a vast majority of their ancestry as non-Aboriginal, but still be classified under 21st century definitions as Aboriginal. Aboriginal Australians are one of two Indigenous Australian groups of peoples, the other being Torres Strait Islanders. There has also been discussion about the use of "Indigenous" vs "Aboriginal", or more specific group names (which are many and based on varied criteria), such as Murri or Noongar (demonyms), Kaurna or Yolngu (and subgroups), based on language, or a clan name. Usually preference of the person(s) in question is used, if known. The term "Aboriginal" was coined by white settlers in Australia in the 1830s, after they began to adopt the term "Australian" to define themselves. No real attempt to define the term legally was made until the 1980s, despite use of the term twice in the 1901 Constitution of Australia (before these were removed in 1967). Various administrative and legal definitions were proposed and some remain in use today. Various factors affect Aboriginal people's self-identification as Aboriginal, including a growing pride in culture, solidarity in a shared history of dispossession (including the Stolen Generations), and, among those are fair-skinned, an increased willingness to acknowledge their ancestors, once considered shameful. Aboriginal identity can be politically controversial in contemporary discourse, among both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. Successive censuses have shown those identifying as Indigenous (Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander) at a rate far exceeding the growth of the whole Australian population. (en)
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