An outstation, homeland or homeland community is a very small, often remote, permanent community of Aboriginal Australian people connected by kinship, on land that often, but not always, has social, cultural or economic significance to them, as traditional land. The outstation movement or homeland movement refers to the voluntary relocation of Aboriginal people from towns to these locations.

Within the Australian Indigenous context, outstation refers to remote and small groups of First Nations people who relocated for resistance, in the face of assimilation. This occurred predominantly in the 1970s – 1980s and was aimed at providing autonomy for Indigenous people opposing conformance. Oftentimes, these relocations were supported by government and overall wellbeing improvements for those who had relocated were able to be seen, demonstrating the importance of self-autonomy and a cultural connection to country. What started as a few small breakaway groups led into much larger outstation settlements. Many of these communities are now thriving as responsibility of the land and community has returned to traditional owners and cultural connections have improved. Outstations have also been referred to as homelands.

A movement arose in the 1970s and continued through the 1980s which saw the creation of very small, remote settlements of Aboriginal people who relocated themselves from the towns and settlements where they had been settled by the government's policy of assimilation. It was "a move towards reclaiming autonomy and self-sufficiency". Also known as "homelands", the term "outstation" was adopted as it "suggests a dependent relationship between the outstation and the main homestead, but with a degree of separation". Outstations were created by Aboriginal people who "sought... autonomy in deciding the meaning of their life independently of projects promoted by the state and market", and could be seen as a sign of remote Aboriginal Australians' attempt at self-determination. The underlying similarity among outstations is that the residents are living there by choice, sometimes because they wish to protect sacred sites and to retain connections to ancestral lands and ancestors, or because they wish to live off the land, or to escape social dysfunction prevalent in larger towns and communities (as later described in the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991).

Government support for outstations has ebbed and flowed over time. During the 1970s and 1980s several groups moved from towns, missions and former Aboriginal reserves to smaller settlements on their traditional lands. Governments were supportive of the moves, seeing benefits in health and well-being, maintenance of culture and the preservation of connection to country, known to be of great significance to Aboriginal people. The policy of decentralisation came with moves towards self-determination and land rights, after it was realised that the earlier policies of assimilation had failed. For about 30 years, the Commonwealth government assumed responsibility for the outstations, despite a lack of underlying policy, and they grew in number, particularly in the Northern Territory.

There is a large diversity among the outstations: most comprise small family groups; a few have more than 100 people. Some are only seasonally or rarely occupied, and in most there is much movement of people between the outstations and larger centres. Some have or had thriving local economies based on arts centres, employment as Indigenous rangers, and harvesting plants and animals from nature, while others are dependent on welfare income.

Terminology has varied over time and by region. In a 2009 policy statement on homelands by the Northern Territory Government, it said:

Homelands is the preferred name for some, but not all, regions of the Territory. Outstations/homelands will be used as a generic description. Outstations or homelands will continue to be used interchangeably as appropriate to each location.

NT continues to use the term Homeland Learning Centres for a particular type of educational facility provided to the small communities.