As AliEli said, compulsory superannuation has only been around since the early 90s, and the rates were a lot lower in the early days.
The single aged pension is currently around $23 000pa. A single person can have a paid off home they live in, plus around $250 000 in other assets and still receive the full aged pension. If you are a renter there are extra payments you can receive on top of the pension, to help you pay your rent. Plus pensioners receive free emergency medical care (as all Australians do), reduced price medication, and often reduced rates to visit the doctor (at many places there is no charge at all to see the doctor if you are on the Aged Pension).
Australia is in a bit of a transition period between workers retiring onto the aged pension (if they don't have enough of their own savings/assets) and people retiring onto their superannuation.