title: Healthier times?: revisiting Indigenous Australian health history.
abstract: The perception that Indigenous Australians were primitive hunters and gatherers who lived in a nomadic 'Stone Age' culture resonates through most narratives found on Indigenous people in pre-colonial times. This narrative is better placed in the realm of myth; I contest claims that the life expectancy of Indigenous Australians was only forty years in pre-colonial times, by providing suggestive evidence that there is a strong probability that longevity favoured Indigenous Australians in comparison to many poorer sectors of the European population living in slum habitats. As well, I will challenge notions that Indigenous Australians were more violent than supposedly 'civilised' nations. Finally I express the hope that future researchers will revisit archival sources to develop a more nuanced perspective on the past.
authors.affiliation: University of Newcastle.
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Blyton
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D018595:Colonialism / Q000266:history; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy / Q000266:history*; D011203:Poverty / Q000266:history; D011287:Prejudice