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The Australian Frontier Wars: The History of the Conflicts Between Indigenous Groups and Colonists across Australia
“It is quite time that our children were taught a little more about their country, for shame’s sake.” – Henry Lawson, Australian poet
A land of almost 3 million square miles has lain since time immemorial on the southern flank of the planet, so isolated that it remained entirely outside of European knowledge until 1770. However, the first human footprints on this vast territory were felt 70,000 years earlier, as people began to cross the periodic land bridges and the short sea crossings from Southeast Asia.
The history of the indigenous inhabitants of Australia, known in contemporary anthropology as the “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia,” is a complex and continually evolving field of study, and it has been colored by politics. For generations after the arrival of whites in Australia, the Aboriginal people were disregarded and marginalized, largely because they offered little in the way of a labor resource, and they occupied land required for European settlement.
At the same time, it is a misconception that indigenous Australians meekly accepted the invasion of their country by the British, for they did not. They certainly resisted, but as far as colonial wars during that era went, the frontier conflicts of Australia did not warrant a great deal of attention. Indigenous Australians were hardly a warlike people, and without central organization, or political cohesion beyond scattered family groups, they succumbed to the orchestrated advance of white settlement with passionate, but futile resistance. In many instances, aggressive clashes between the two groups simply gave the white colonists reasonable cause to inflict a style of genocide on the Aborigines that stood in the way of progress.
In any case, their fate had largely been sealed by the first European sneeze in the Terra Australis, which preceded the importation of the two signature mediums of social destruction. The first was a collection of alien diseases, chief among smallpox, but also cholera, influenza, measles, tuberculosis, syphilis and the common cold. The second was alcohol. Smallpox alone killed more than 50% of the Aboriginal population, and once the fabric of indigenous society had crumbled, alcohol provided emotional relief, but relegated huge numbers of Aborigines to the margins of a robust and emerging colonial society.
A land of almost 3 million square miles has lain since time immemorial on the southern flank of the planet, so isolated that it remained entirely outside of European knowledge until 1770. However, the first human footprints on this vast territory were felt 70,000 years earlier, as people began to cross the periodic land bridges and the short sea crossings from Southeast Asia.
The history of the indigenous inhabitants of Australia, known in contemporary anthropology as the “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia,” is a complex and continually evolving field of study, and it has been colored by politics. For generations after the arrival of whites in Australia, the Aboriginal people were disregarded and marginalized, largely because they offered little in the way of a labor resource, and they occupied land required for European settlement.
At the same time, it is a misconception that indigenous Australians meekly accepted the invasion of their country by the British, for they did not. They certainly resisted, but as far as colonial wars during that era went, the frontier conflicts of Australia did not warrant a great deal of attention. Indigenous Australians were hardly a warlike people, and without central organization, or political cohesion beyond scattered family groups, they succumbed to the orchestrated advance of white settlement with passionate, but futile resistance. In many instances, aggressive clashes between the two groups simply gave the white colonists reasonable cause to inflict a style of genocide on the Aborigines that stood in the way of progress.
In any case, their fate had largely been sealed by the first European sneeze in the Terra Australis, which preceded the importation of the two signature mediums of social destruction. The first was a collection of alien diseases, chief among smallpox, but also cholera, influenza, measles, tuberculosis, syphilis and the common cold. The second was alcohol. Smallpox alone killed more than 50% of the Aboriginal population, and once the fabric of indigenous society had crumbled, alcohol provided emotional relief, but relegated huge numbers of Aborigines to the margins of a robust and emerging colonial society.
111 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 14, 2023
11 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 10, 2024
As a non Aboriginal Australian, I found this extremely disturbing, not to say disappointing. This is supposed to be a history of the Australian Frontier Wars. I listened to it as a download from Audible, who I felt confident curated their offerings.
After listening to this offering, I've researched Charles River Editors and found an enormous amount of online criticisms regarding this company. They apparently provide history which is merely a mish mash of Wikipedia or similar type entries. They are not considered authoritative in any way and will not be accepted as citations by educational institutions or journals.
I will explain just a few of my concerns regarding this history, as I don't plan to write an essay.
It demonstrates little understanding of appropriate nomenclature or respectful language. Consistently referring to Aboriginal people as 'the natives' or 'the Aborigines' is a dead give away for starters. For a white European person to be described as 'going native' was deeply offensive and upsetting and could easily result in the loss of employment and authority. So using this term is highly disrespectful and it has not been used in Australia for many decades. This was written after the Sorry to the Stolen Generation in Federal Parliament in 2008, so there is no excuse.
Suggesting that Europeans of the 18th century saw no problem with desecrating bodies, removing skulls or other parts, and then displaying them in museums or any other, is quite inaccurate. To do this to Christians or Europeans was considered sacrilegious and barbarous. It was the belief at the time (and in many cases into the second part of the 20th Century) that bodies needed to be kept undamaged to have a hope of heaven. Those who weren't going to heaven were going to hell, such as the wicked, the heathens/pagans, or the soul less (such as animals). This belief made the practice absolutely a sign of the contempt/disregard Australian Aboriginal people have been treated with.
The consistent comment that natives were massacred completely understates the horrific nature of these crimes. The women were raped: men, women and children were butchered. Compare this to the account of an attack on a European homestead where it was detailed that a woman and her eight children were murdered. Furthermore, when it comes to multiple murders of Aboriginal families by strychnine, NOT discussing that strychnine was a rat poison that resulted in protracted and horrific deaths completely sanitizes the reality. Especially when the murderers were pretending to be kind and generous while handing out food.
Lastly, not ascertaining the correct pronunciation of the Aboriginal mobs and people you are referring to, is just plain lazy when providing a spoken history. Not only that but even Governor Macquarie's name is mispronounced!
This book should not just not be read, it should be withdrawn by Audible, and so I will be informing them.
After listening to this offering, I've researched Charles River Editors and found an enormous amount of online criticisms regarding this company. They apparently provide history which is merely a mish mash of Wikipedia or similar type entries. They are not considered authoritative in any way and will not be accepted as citations by educational institutions or journals.
I will explain just a few of my concerns regarding this history, as I don't plan to write an essay.
It demonstrates little understanding of appropriate nomenclature or respectful language. Consistently referring to Aboriginal people as 'the natives' or 'the Aborigines' is a dead give away for starters. For a white European person to be described as 'going native' was deeply offensive and upsetting and could easily result in the loss of employment and authority. So using this term is highly disrespectful and it has not been used in Australia for many decades. This was written after the Sorry to the Stolen Generation in Federal Parliament in 2008, so there is no excuse.
Suggesting that Europeans of the 18th century saw no problem with desecrating bodies, removing skulls or other parts, and then displaying them in museums or any other, is quite inaccurate. To do this to Christians or Europeans was considered sacrilegious and barbarous. It was the belief at the time (and in many cases into the second part of the 20th Century) that bodies needed to be kept undamaged to have a hope of heaven. Those who weren't going to heaven were going to hell, such as the wicked, the heathens/pagans, or the soul less (such as animals). This belief made the practice absolutely a sign of the contempt/disregard Australian Aboriginal people have been treated with.
The consistent comment that natives were massacred completely understates the horrific nature of these crimes. The women were raped: men, women and children were butchered. Compare this to the account of an attack on a European homestead where it was detailed that a woman and her eight children were murdered. Furthermore, when it comes to multiple murders of Aboriginal families by strychnine, NOT discussing that strychnine was a rat poison that resulted in protracted and horrific deaths completely sanitizes the reality. Especially when the murderers were pretending to be kind and generous while handing out food.
Lastly, not ascertaining the correct pronunciation of the Aboriginal mobs and people you are referring to, is just plain lazy when providing a spoken history. Not only that but even Governor Macquarie's name is mispronounced!
This book should not just not be read, it should be withdrawn by Audible, and so I will be informing them.
Displaying 1 of 1 review