At https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/aboriginal-hair-sh… … DNA derived from hair samples taken early last century have been analysed for MtDNA and they are said to show they have been in occupation of Australia for 50,000 years. More importantly, they are said to show that individual tribes have been living in same locales for all that time, which is pretty incredible. None of them were driven out by neighbouring tribes, for example, and each recognised their boundaries. The study is published in Nature and reinforces the current mainstream line that Aborigines have been living there for 50,000 years. It is unclear if they may have been living in Australia long before that date as the DNA sequencing may be picking up on a bottleneck situation. A genetic map of Aboriginal Australia has been produced with input by tribal elders etc.
… the 50,000 year figure appears to reflect mainstream thinking. The Aborigines seem quite happy with this number as it provides them with sufficient longevity – much longer tenure by far than Europeans, for example (in Europe). As there was a mass extinction event around 40,000 years ago (in Australia in particular as large animals disappeared at that time) one is left wondering if the Aborigines might be even more venerable. This was suggested several years ago but howled down as it was important, politically, for all humans to have a common origin, Out of Africa (which as now been pushed back to around 70,000 years ago).