Australia was, archaeological finds indicate, first populated by humans about 45,000 to 50,000 years ago across a now-vanished land bridge and then remained isolated.

A study of DNA, however, now indicates the Aboriginal population absorbed a fresh wave of people who travelled from India.

Their arrival coincides with the first archaeological evidence of dingos in Australia, suggesting the animals accompanied human settlers in boats.

Researchers were surprised to discover that up to 11 per cent of the DNA of some modern day Aboriginal people originates from Indians.

They calculated that the Indian DNA was absorbed by the Aboriginal population 141 generations ago.

Assuming that each generation is separated on average by 30 years the geneticists were able to conclude that the Indian population arrived on in Australia 4230 years ago.

Dr Irina Pugach, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, said it seemed likely the dingo arrived with human settlers and spread across the land.

"Interestingly this date also coincides with many changes in the archaeological record of Australia, which include a sudden change in plant processing and stone tool technologies, with microliths appearing for the first time, and the first appearance of the dingo in the fossil record,’ she said.

Scientists found strong evidence of a wave of settlers from India reaching Australia 141 generations ago.

By the time the Indian settlers reached Australia the ancient land bridge was under water so they sailed.

Aborignals who took part in the study were found to have up to 11 per cent of their DNA from Indian descent.

‘Since we detect inflow of genes from India into Australia at around the same time, it is likely that these changes were related to this migration.’

Among the technological changes detected through the archaeological record about 4,000 years ago is the appearance of small stone tools – microliths – that were used as the tips of weapons.

The research also overturns the common perception that Australia remained isolated between its original settlement and the arrival of Europeans in the late eighteenth century.

DNA from 344 people was analysed for the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Samples were taken from people in Papua New Guinea, South East Asia, China, the US and Australia’s Northern Territory.

Once it had arrived the dingo proved an adept survivor and spread across Australia.