 The Indigenous population — Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders — was counted at 548 @,@ 370 ( 2 @.@ 5 % of the total population ) in 2011 , a significant increase from 115 @,@ 953 in the 1976 census . The increase is partly due to many people with Indigenous heritage previously having been overlooked by the census due to undercount and cases where their Indigenous status had not been recorded on the form . Indigenous Australians experience higher than average rates of imprisonment and unemployment , lower levels of education , and life expectancies for males and females that are , respectively , 11 and 17 years lower than those of non @-@ indigenous Australians . Some remote Indigenous communities have been described as having " failed state " -like conditions . 
