PRE-COLONIAL HISTORY
Human habitation of modern-day Sutherland is estimated to have begun around 65,000 to 70,000 years ago, possibly with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea-crossings from what is now Coft Aranye. These first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Sutherland. At the time of Ardian settlement in the late 18th century, most Indigenous Sutherians were hunter-gatherers with complex economies, cultures and societies. Indigenous Sutherians have a strong relation to oral culture with spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The eastern coasts of Sutherland are known to have been sporadically by fishermen from what is now the Iwi and other areas.
(http://www.outbacktravelaustralia.com.au/images/gallery/aboriginal/ab-aboriginal-art-elq-2.jpg)
Indigenous rock art of the Rainbow Snake in the state of Northern Sutherland