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Aborigines first arrived in Australia about 40,000 years ago. Over the past 2000 years the population grew dramatically. By the time the first European settlers arrived in Australia in 1788 there were perhaps as many as a million aborigines in Australia and over 200 to 250 different spoken dialects. Before the arrival of the Europeans the only known relationships aborigines had with outsiders was with the Makassans, who fished off Arnhem Land in the northern territory. Well before 1788, Makassan fishermen from the east-Indonesian archipelago, fishing for (trepang) began voyages to Arnhem Land. It is thought that the fishermen of Makassar had been visiting the north coast of Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland from as early as the 16th century. Aboriginal cave paintings also illustrate the traditional Makassan sailing boats. In 1803, Matthew Flinders recorded the sighting of 6 Makassan boats off the east of Arnhem Land. There were also inter-cultural exchanges between the Aboriginal co