Some archaeologists have pointed to unusual rock art in Kimberley, Western Australia as evidence for another race of humans living there

It dispels claims another earlier culture may have

They are the oldest population of humans living outside Africa and now researchers have confirmed that Aborigines really were the first people to inhabit Australia.

For decades anthropologists have debated whether the Australian continent was home to an earlier race of humans based on unusual rock paintings discovered in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

The Bradshaw rock art, as they are known, are advanced paintings depicting figures with unusual body shapes, tassels and hair that are unlike any other rock art found in Australia.

Rock art from Kimberley in Western Australia, like the figures shown in the image above, known as the Bradshaw paintings, have been used by some archaeologists as evidence that Australia was inhabited by a race of humans before the Aborigines. New evidence now suggests they were created Aboriginal artists

This led some archaeologists to conclude they may have been painted by a group of people who arrived in Indonesia before the ancestors of modern day Aborigines.

However, Dr Michael Westaway, a biological anthropologist from Griffith University, in Queensland, has said the latest scientific evidence has shown that the Aborigines were the continents original inhabitants.

This means the paintings were in fact created by Aboriginal artists.

ABORIGINES HAVE WORLD'S OLDEST ORAL HISTORY Traditional stories passed down through generations by Australian Aborigines may be among the oldest accurate oral histories in the world. Researchers believe these stories could constitute some of the oldest accurate oral histories in the world, passing through some 300 generations. They are using them to map how the continent may have looked around 10,000 years ago. Oral folklore tells how the Great Barrier Reef once formed part of the coastline of north east Queensland, while Port Phillip Bay in Victoria was once a rich place for hunting kangaroo and opossum. Researchers have found other stories from all over the continent that mirror how the landscape dramatically changed towards the end of the last ice age. They say at this time sea levels rose as a result of the melting of the huge ice caps that covered much of the northern hemisphere around 10,500 years ago. Advertisement

He said recent DNA evidence has shown that modern Aboriginal Australians are descended from the first modern humans that walked out of Africa nearly 75,000 years ago.

He claims Aborigines probably arrived in Australia at least 50,000 years ago.

In an interview with ABC Sydney, he said: ‘The DNA evidence is extraordinary. We know that they moved out of Africa over 60,000 years ago.

‘We have this remarkable trail that has been recovered for the genomic sequence of the first Australians.

’Many decades ago there were many hypotheses around but that hasn't really stood against any of the evidence.’

The genetic studies, which were conducted by a team led by evolutionary biologist Eske Willerslev, director of the Centre for Ancient Genetics at the University of Copenhagen, were published in 2011.

They support growing archaeological evidence that the Australian Aborigines are one of the oldest cultures to exist on the planet.

Human remains found around Lake Mungo in New South Wales appear to match those of modern populations but date back some 42,000 years.

A rock shelter found in Arnhem Land in the northern territory of Australia near to Darwin also provides evidence that Aborigines were living there 55,000 years ago.

The Wandjina paintings shown above are more commonly found in the Kimberley region close to the Bradshaw rock art. These are though to be around 5,000 years old and more typical of Aboriginal art in Australia

Dr Westaway said: ‘The morphology of Mungo Man is very similar to the first Australians of today.

‘We have some of the earliest evidence of first Australians in Arnhem Land 55,000 years ago.’

The Bradshaw rock paintings, which were named after Joseph Bradshaw who found them in 1891, triggered theories of an earlier human culture in Australia due to their difference from other Aboriginal rock art in the Kimberley region.

The paintings show figures shaped like ‘clothes pegs’ wearing elaborate costumes. The paintings are so delicate in some cases that individual strands of hair have been drawn on.

The artworks led to theories that they may have been created by people who travelled to Australia from Indonesia around 70,000 years ago following the eruption of Mount Toba.

Aboriginies, like the family shown in the image above, are thought to be the oldest continuous culture to exist outside Africa and recent findings suggest they have been on the continent for around 55,000 years

Research on the Bradshaw paintings has suggested the art is around 20,000 years old.

Other artworks found in the Kimberley region, known as Wandjina, are thought to be only 5,000 years old.

However, the oldest rock art discovered in Australia, like in Western Australia's Pilbara region, and the Olary district of South Australia, are estimated to be around 40,000 years old.