Editing Outback (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Indigenous Australians|European exploration of Australia}}

[[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal peoples]] have lived in the Outback for at least 50,000 years<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hamm|first1=Giles|last2=Mitchell|first2=Peter|last3=Arnold|first3=Lee J.|last4=Prideaux|first4=Gavin J.|last5=Questiaux|first5=Daniele|last6=Spooner|first6=Nigel A.|last7=Levchenko|first7=Vladimir A.|last8=Foley|first8=Elizabeth C.|last9=Worthy|first9=Trevor H.|date=2016-11-10|title=Cultural innovation and megafauna interaction in the early settlement of arid Australia|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=539|issue=7628|pages=280–283|doi=10.1038/nature20125|pmid=27806378|bibcode=2016Natur.539..280H|s2cid=4470503|issn=0028-0836}}</ref> and occupied all Outback regions, including the driest deserts, when Europeans first entered central Australia in the 1800s. Many Aboriginal Australians retain strong physical and cultural links to their traditional country and are legally recognised as the Traditional Owners of large parts of the Outback under Commonwealth [[Native title in Australia|Native Title]] legislation.

Early European exploration of inland Australia was sporadic. More focus was on the more accessible and fertile coastal areas. The first party to successfully cross the [[Blue Mountains (Australia)|Blue Mountains]] just outside [[Sydney]] was led by [[Gregory Blaxland]] in 1813, 25 years after the colony was established. People, starting with [[John Oxley]] in 1817, 1818 and 1821, followed by [[Charles Sturt]] from 1829 to 1830, attempted to follow the westward-flowing rivers to find an "inland sea", but these were found to all flow into the [[Murray River]] and [[Darling River]], which turn south.

From 1858 onwards, the so-called [[Afghan cameleers in Australia|"Afghan" cameleers]] and their beasts played an instrumental role in opening up the Outback and helping to build infrastructure.<ref name=australia.gov>{{cite web|url=http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/afghan-cameleers|website=australia.gov.au|title=Afghan cameleers in Australia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140815171331/http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/afghan-cameleers |archive-date=15 August 2014|url-status=dead|date=15 August 2014|access-date=2 June 2019}}</ref>

Over the period 1858 to 1861, [[John McDouall Stuart]] led six expeditions north from [[Adelaide, South Australia]] into the Outback, culminating in successfully reaching the north coast of Australia and returning without the loss of any of the party's members' lives. This contrasts with the ill-fated [[Burke and Wills expedition]] in 1860–61 which was much better funded, but resulted in the deaths of three of the members of the transcontinental party.

The [[Overland Telegraph]] line was constructed in the 1870s<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/overland-telegraph |title=Overland-telegraph &#124; australia.gov.au |access-date=2015-06-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629144111/http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/overland-telegraph |archive-date=29 June 2015 }}</ref> along the route identified by Stuart.

In 1865, the surveyor [[George Goyder]], using changes in vegetation patterns, mapped a [[Goyder's Line|line in South Australia]], north of which he considered rainfall to be too unreliable to support agriculture.

Exploration of the Outback continued in the 1950s when [[Len Beadell]] explored, surveyed and built many roads in support of the [[Nuclear weapons tests in Australia|nuclear weapons tests]] at [[Emu Field]] and [[Maralinga, South Australia|Maralinga]] and rocket testing on the [[Woomera Prohibited Area]]. Mineral exploration continues as new mineral deposits are identified and developed.

2002 was declared the Year of the Outback.<ref name="lad">{{cite journal |last1=Gill |first1=Nicholas |date=January 2005 |title=Life and death in Australian 'heartlands': pastoralism, ecology and rethinking the outback |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0743016704000385 |journal=Journal of Rural Studies |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=39–53 |doi=10.1016/j.jrurstud.2004.08.005 |access-date=28 October 2022 |archive-date=28 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221028074254/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0743016704000385 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> While the early explorers used horses to cross the Outback, the first woman to make the journey riding a horse was [[Anna Hingley]], who rode from [[Broome, Western Australia|Broome]] to [[Cairns]] in 2006.