Did Aboriginal Australians Use Animals for Transportation?

Aboriginal Australians did not domesticate animals for riding or hauling. The continent's native fauna—such as kangaroos, wallabies, and emus—were hunted for food and materials, but none were suitable for domestication as beasts of burden or mounts.

Traditional transportation relied on walking, canoes, and rafts along waterways. The introduction of horses, camels, and other domesticated animals came only with European settlement in the late 18th century.

This absence of rideable animals shaped Indigenous trade networks, mobility patterns, and cultural practices across the diverse landscapes of Australia for tens of thousands of years.