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Conspiracy of Silence: Queensland's frontier killing times
'This is an important, well researched book: challenging, compelling and controversial. It is a must read for anyone interested in Australian history.' - Henry Reynolds
The Queensland frontier was more violent than any other Australian colony. From the first penal settlement at Moreton Bay in 1824, as white pastoralists moved into new parts of country, violence invariably followed. Many tens of thousands of Aboriginals were killed on the Queensland frontier. Europeans were killed too, but in much smaller numbers.
The cover-up began from the start: the authorities in Sydney and Brisbane didn't want to know, the Native Police did their deadly work without hindrance, and the pastoralists had every reason to keep it to themselves. Even today, what we know about the killing times is swept aside again and again in favour of the pioneer myth.
Conspiracy of Silence is the first systematic account of frontier violence in Queensland. Following in the tracks of the pastoralists as they moved into new lands across the state in the nineteenth century, Timothy Bottoms identifies massacres, poisonings and other incidents, including many that no-one has documented in print before. He explores the colonial mindset and explains how the brutal dispossession of Aboriginal landowners continued over decades.
'... a road-map back into what seems, from a modern perspective, to be a barely conceivable past.' - From the foreword by Raymond Evans
The Queensland frontier was more violent than any other Australian colony. From the first penal settlement at Moreton Bay in 1824, as white pastoralists moved into new parts of country, violence invariably followed. Many tens of thousands of Aboriginals were killed on the Queensland frontier. Europeans were killed too, but in much smaller numbers.
The cover-up began from the start: the authorities in Sydney and Brisbane didn't want to know, the Native Police did their deadly work without hindrance, and the pastoralists had every reason to keep it to themselves. Even today, what we know about the killing times is swept aside again and again in favour of the pioneer myth.
Conspiracy of Silence is the first systematic account of frontier violence in Queensland. Following in the tracks of the pastoralists as they moved into new lands across the state in the nineteenth century, Timothy Bottoms identifies massacres, poisonings and other incidents, including many that no-one has documented in print before. He explores the colonial mindset and explains how the brutal dispossession of Aboriginal landowners continued over decades.
'... a road-map back into what seems, from a modern perspective, to be a barely conceivable past.' - From the foreword by Raymond Evans
298 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2013
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97 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 21, 2015
A very important book that details the frontier wars between White settlers and Aboriginals in Queensland. The book is rich in source material and avoids exaggeration - or denial - of a history often compartmentalized in books or even denied.
The book is important because while modern Australians are not responsible for what happened, we are responsible to acknowledge it.
Australias aboriginal history has been labelled a "blemish" but as Raymond Evans notes in the forward, it is more a protracted flaming acne.
The book is important because while modern Australians are not responsible for what happened, we are responsible to acknowledge it.
Australias aboriginal history has been labelled a "blemish" but as Raymond Evans notes in the forward, it is more a protracted flaming acne.
September 18, 2018
The book starts with Raymond Evans, who writes the fore word, comparing a genocide to a bad bout of acne and then declines even further.
People need to read the truth rather than rely on the gibberish propounded by Evans and his protégés.
http://thewildgeese.irish/profiles/bl...
People need to read the truth rather than rely on the gibberish propounded by Evans and his protégés.
http://thewildgeese.irish/profiles/bl...
August 3, 2013
Why say 'kill when you can get away with saying 'disperse'? This is a very unpleasant read indeed, but I'm glad I have. It's better to know than not know. If you're interested in learning more about Queensland and Australian history, add this book to your reading list.
October 6, 2017
A very disturbing read and certainly not the history of Queensland I have grown up with. An important book for any Australian to read, left me questioning what had to have happened in the past for me to be here now.
September 18, 2018
A very poorly researched book that lacks both scholarship or critical analysis.
http://thewildgeese.irish/profiles/bl...
http://thewildgeese.irish/profiles/bl...
July 6, 2024
Horrific, extremely detailed, important book about the killing times in Queensland. It is shameful that we deny the persistent, unrelenting slaughter with impunity, of the original inhabitants of this country. This was carried out by pastoralists and native police. At first the violence was recognised, then obscured. It helps explains the unfortunate attitude of Queenslanders and our recent referendum outcome. This significant book helps us face the truth of the past.
Originating from PhD research the chapters documenting the atrocities are objective, but at times overly complex and convoluted. However, the concluding chapters bring all the work together, as well as opinions. Appalling legacy.
Originating from PhD research the chapters documenting the atrocities are objective, but at times overly complex and convoluted. However, the concluding chapters bring all the work together, as well as opinions. Appalling legacy.
January 8, 2022
I didn't think I would be shocked by what happened on the Queensland Frontier. I already knew that there were murders associated colonisation. But I was wrong. The extent of the killings, the reasons for them, the violence and blood thirsty nature of them, plus the silence surrounding them was eye opening. The subject matter of the book was well organised but as it covered so many different people and places I did find it difficult at times to keep track of where and who was involved in an event.
May 11, 2019
The book doesn't flow very well, and stories are repeated. Content is ok, it would be better if there was more context around each story.
I also don't like books that reference other books and not original sources, as context does get misinterpreted by us.
I also don't like books that reference other books and not original sources, as context does get misinterpreted by us.
October 10, 2013
I approached this book with some trepidation due to the subject matter, and that so much had been said and that it is such a contentious issue. I however found that the author had presented an amazing collection of facts and accounts which gave one of the best views on this hidden history of our colonial past. This is a MUST READ for anyone seeking the truth in our Australian colonial history!
I cannot recommend this book highly enough for its account, reference and logical presentation and it would be remarkable if the education dept approved it for listing as reference book. It is an exceptional collection of record and unbiased as I have ever found in any historic account.
A brilliant work by the Author.
Jan Hawkins
http://janhawkins.com.au
This is an unsolicited review completely independent of any resource.
Conspiracy of Silence: Queensland's Frontier Killing Times
I cannot recommend this book highly enough for its account, reference and logical presentation and it would be remarkable if the education dept approved it for listing as reference book. It is an exceptional collection of record and unbiased as I have ever found in any historic account.
A brilliant work by the Author.
Jan Hawkins
http://janhawkins.com.au
This is an unsolicited review completely independent of any resource.
Conspiracy of Silence: Queensland's Frontier Killing Times
October 2, 2023
This is a history of Queensland’s early European settlement that I was never taught. The novel documents an era during the 1800s when pastoralists claimed millions of hectares of Queensland’s interior for cattle and sheep grazing. When Aborigines objected, speared a sheep or approached waterholes they’d used for thousands of years, graziers either demanded the native police “disperse” the Aborigines or killed most of the tribe themselves.
This is a difficult truth, revealing massacre after massacre of thousands of Aborigines perpetrated by white settlers and/or native police while the state government turned a blind eye because many of the government officials had vested interests in the grazier properties.
A must read for those who don’t want to gloss over Australia’s ugly past.
For more of my 5 out of 5 reviews visit https://readandwrite.blog/malleestanley/
For more of my 5 out of 5 reads visit https://readandwrite.blog/malleestanley/
This is a difficult truth, revealing massacre after massacre of thousands of Aborigines perpetrated by white settlers and/or native police while the state government turned a blind eye because many of the government officials had vested interests in the grazier properties.
A must read for those who don’t want to gloss over Australia’s ugly past.
For more of my 5 out of 5 reviews visit https://readandwrite.blog/malleestanley/
For more of my 5 out of 5 reads visit https://readandwrite.blog/malleestanley/
April 1, 2014
written really well but a very very sad story
April 4, 2017
Australia has a black history, and Queensland's history is the blackest of all. Timothy Bottom's meticulously researched book, Conspiracy of Silence, is a difficult book to read. It is devastating to be confronted, page by page, by what is essentially the genocide of Aboriginal peoples in the area of the Australian continent known as Queensland.
Bottoms provides the statistic that, conservatively, the figure of Aboriginal peoples killed in Queensland in the frontier wars is around 48,000. These men, women and children were killed because they were fighting for their own land, land that the Europeans stole from them. There are no words to describe the horror of these atrocities that led to this devastating figure. And yet the majority of Australians know virtually nothing about this recent history. There is a reason for this: Bottoms unpacks how the history of the frontier wars was buried in favour of the pioneer myth. This is a myth that continues to exist today despite the overwhelming amount of first hand, original evidence - letters, newspaper articles, reports - that details attacks including shootings, poisonings, rape, bashings and other horrific violence. The original sources quoted are brutal, as are the handed down stories that Bottoms quotes.
Many passages in the book are distressing to read. I had to put it down many, many times. But if Australia as a country is ever to make real change in "closing the gap" in life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples we must first, as a nation, recognise and accept the reality of this nation's recent brutal past.
An essential read.
Bottoms provides the statistic that, conservatively, the figure of Aboriginal peoples killed in Queensland in the frontier wars is around 48,000. These men, women and children were killed because they were fighting for their own land, land that the Europeans stole from them. There are no words to describe the horror of these atrocities that led to this devastating figure. And yet the majority of Australians know virtually nothing about this recent history. There is a reason for this: Bottoms unpacks how the history of the frontier wars was buried in favour of the pioneer myth. This is a myth that continues to exist today despite the overwhelming amount of first hand, original evidence - letters, newspaper articles, reports - that details attacks including shootings, poisonings, rape, bashings and other horrific violence. The original sources quoted are brutal, as are the handed down stories that Bottoms quotes.
Many passages in the book are distressing to read. I had to put it down many, many times. But if Australia as a country is ever to make real change in "closing the gap" in life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples we must first, as a nation, recognise and accept the reality of this nation's recent brutal past.
An essential read.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews