Oceanic mythologies are those of the indigenous peoples of Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific islands, including those populated by Micronesians, Melanesians, and Polynesians. The most complex mythologies are those of the Australians and the Polynesians.

The Australian natives are generally called Australian Aborigines. Of all the peoples of the world, the Aborigines can claim the longest connection to a particular land after the migration of humans out of Africa. DNA indicates direct connections with the first wave of humans leaving Africa, and although estimates vary, it seems likely that the Aborigines have been in Australia for at least 40,000 years and that, until the arrival of Europeans beginning in the seventh century, their gene pool remained essentially pure.