Increase in Average Height of Australian Aborigines

Height measurements of present-day Aborigines at a Commonwealth Government settlement in the central-western part of the Northern Territory of Australia were compared with measurements of Aborigines living in the same region in the 1930's, when they had only occasional contacts with Europeans. Present-day young adults, both men and women, were found to be taller than their counterparts of the 1930's by about 5-5 cm on the average. A likely explanation for the height differences is that the young adults who have lived at the settlement for most or all of their lives have had a better chance of adequate nourishment during their formative years than those of the past, who were living under tribal conditions entirely dependent on the food resources of the local country. Present-day older adults were also taller than those of the 1930's, but not to the same extent.