Were Australian aboriginals cannibals

Answer 1

As a race, the Australian Aborigines were not (and are not) cannibals.

However, in 1858, explorer Augustus Gregory found evidence of cannibalism among the indigenous Australians, noting near a campfire in western Australia "bones of a full-grown native that had been cooked". Since then, cannibalism among Australian Aborigines has been documented in further regions of Australia, with the exception of Tasmania. An example of such dicumentation is below:

"There is no doubt that cannibalism existed among them until recent times, and possibly in such dangerous areas as Arnhem Land, in the far north of Northern Territory, may exist to this day. Motives for the eating of human flesh, as elsewhere, are varied, and often closely intertwined. The need for sacrifice; the demands of magic; the desire for revenge; all these are present, as elsewhere; but in the case of the Blackfellows they are perhaps less clearly evolved and crystallized."

Garry Hogg, Cannibalism and Human Sacrifice, p. 179

However, the related website (see link below) shows how many of these so-called documented accounts were in fact based on incidents of cannibalism that actually occurred among the Europeans, and yet were blamed on the Aborigines.

At the same time, this website indicates that some tribes of indigenous Australians practised cannibalism on a regular basis, often as part of their mystical rites.

Answer 2

Previous research showed many Historical accounts . Apparently someone has decided to was much of documented history and rewrite or delete it.