Papuan synonyms

Previous to the existence of the strait, and across its site, there poured into Australia a wealth of Papuan forms. Along the Pacific slope of the Queensland Cordillera these found in soil and climate a congenial home.

Again, while they differ physically from neighbouring races, while there is practically nothing in common between them and the Malays, the Polynesians, or the Papuan Melanesians, they agree in type so closely among themselves that they must be regarded as forming one race.

For the Tasmanians in many ways closely approximated to the Papuan type.

How did the Tasmanians with their Papuan affinities get so far south on a continent inhabited by a race so differing from Papuans?

Why should a Papuan type be found in what was certainly once a portion of the Australian continent?