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The Australian Wars: The truth about the bloody battles fought to establish a nation
Not yet published
Expected 12 May 26For the first time, The Australian Wars brings what for too long has been considered the historical past into connection with its reverberations in the present.
It is estimated up to 100,000 people died in the frontier wars that raged across Australia for more than 150 years. This is equivalent to the combined total of all Australians killed in foreign battles to date. But there are few memorials marking these first, domestic wars.
The Australian Wars was conceived by Rachel Perkins following her award-winning documentary series produced by Blackfella Films for SBS and edited along with Stephen Gapps, Mina Murray and Henry Reynolds. This is the first book to tell the story of the continental sweep of massacres, guerilla warfare, resistance and the contests of firearms and traditional Aboriginal weaponry as Indigenous nations resisted colonial occupation of their lands, territory by territory. At stake was the sovereignty of an entire country.
Black and white writers tell the stories of these battles across three crucial time periods, and all the states and territories. It notes the lands that were unconquered, as well as the role of disease, weapons and tactics, and the story of women on the frontier.
This history is still alive in those descendants who carry the stories of their ancestors. The Australian Wars brings what for too long has been considered the historical past into the present so that we might know the truth of the origins of this nation.
It is estimated up to 100,000 people died in the frontier wars that raged across Australia for more than 150 years. This is equivalent to the combined total of all Australians killed in foreign battles to date. But there are few memorials marking these first, domestic wars.
The Australian Wars was conceived by Rachel Perkins following her award-winning documentary series produced by Blackfella Films for SBS and edited along with Stephen Gapps, Mina Murray and Henry Reynolds. This is the first book to tell the story of the continental sweep of massacres, guerilla warfare, resistance and the contests of firearms and traditional Aboriginal weaponry as Indigenous nations resisted colonial occupation of their lands, territory by territory. At stake was the sovereignty of an entire country.
Black and white writers tell the stories of these battles across three crucial time periods, and all the states and territories. It notes the lands that were unconquered, as well as the role of disease, weapons and tactics, and the story of women on the frontier.
This history is still alive in those descendants who carry the stories of their ancestors. The Australian Wars brings what for too long has been considered the historical past into the present so that we might know the truth of the origins of this nation.
- GenresHistory
416 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication May 12, 2026
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October 9, 2025
The Australian Wars were fought over 150 years, from 1790 to 1934. One hundred thousand people died, and the death toll was asymmetrical, with up to fifty Aboriginal deaths for every white death. This toll exceeds that of all foreign wars in which post-Federation Australia has participated combined. Yet a third of the country remains “unsure” of this history. Dare I say, many more would dispute the aforementioned numbers. This book is the first to provide a continental overview of the Australian Wars: wars of vanquish, wars of genocide.
The book follows Rachel Perkins’ documentary series of the same name and is edited alongside Stephen Gapps, Mina Murray, and Henry Reynolds. Both First Nations and non–First Nations writers depict our harrowing history. Some chapters are entwined with personal stories from Indigenous authors who are descendants of survivors; others remain largely academic. The book is chronologically arranged in three parts. Each part marks a distinct period in the wars and focuses on the primary geographic areas of warfare during that time.
The history relies on oral evidence, the traditional form of knowledge transfer among First Nations people, and primary sources. Practically all of the latter come from white people, with the consequent biases this may entail. To balance such perspectives, each chapter is preceded by a several-page introduction from a First Nations person of the region being examined—for example, Richard Franklin, a Gunditjmara man from Victoria. These preludes connect the past with the enduring present, a powerful literary device.
The “Frontier Wars” has long been the preferred term to describe the conflict analysed in this book. However, in both Perkins’ and Reynolds’ view, the term inadvertently downplays the true scale of Australia’s wars. Across the Tasman, there were the New Zealand Wars, a series of conflicts between Māori and Pākehā for control of all of New Zealand. They defined what New Zealand would become. It was the same in Australia, “not because of how they were fought, but because of what they were fought about: a way of life and sovereignty of a whole continent.”
Māori warriors of this period are widely considered noble patriots. So too are those who fought on the side of the British Empire. Both sides are duly commemorated at Auckland’s War Memorial Museum. There is also Te Pūtake o te Riri (National Day of Commemoration), which includes honours for those who fought on both sides of the New Zealand Wars. Comparable recognition is absent in Australia. First Nations patriotic courage is barely alluded to at our National War Memorial. By explicitly describing frontier conflict as the Australian Wars, such omissions become glaring.
The Australian Wars were characterised by Aboriginal guerrilla tactics and brutal reprisals from settlers and colonial forces. While land was the central prize, violence flared when Aboriginal women were taken, livestock killed, or cultural boundaries crossed. In the earliest phase of colonisation, the British Army led campaigns against Aboriginal resistance. Over time, conflict increasingly involved settlers and squatters, and later the Native Police: Aboriginal men recruited, armed, and commanded by white officers to suppress their own people.
Although battles occurred, “massacre” is the more accurate term in most cases. Historians have identified more than 400 massacres, defined as the “unlawful killing of six or more undefended people in one operation.” On the Aboriginal side, leaders such as Yagan and Jandamarra became emblematic of resistance. On the settler side, there were both perpetrators and bystanders, though claims to innocence are difficult to reconcile with the sheer scale of Aboriginal victimhood: people largely defenceless and fighting for their traditional lands.
The book adopts a moral-revisionist historiographical lens, evident from the outset as Perkins foregrounds the injustice of colonial warfare and the erasure of First Nations resistance. It plays a pivotal role in reframing the Australian Wars by highlighting Indigenous agency, patriotism, and the ethical dimensions of colonial violence—violence aimed at dispossession rather than defence. However, by prioritising this framework, the book underplays the warfare-as-politics theoretical nexus and comparative dimensions of Australia’s warfare.
Henry Reynolds used Clausewitzian theory in Forgotten Wars to frame frontier conflicts as “policy by other means.” While compelling, he admits he is not a military historian and lacks the depth for full theoretical analysis. The Australian Wars adopts his thesis of Indigenous dispossession but only briefly and implicitly explores how political aims, strategy, and tactics intersect. A military theorist could have developed this further, showing how guerrilla resistance and colonial reprisals operated as strategic tools rather than improvised responses.
A Clausewitzian lens clarifies how political objectives shaped Indigenous guerrilla tactics and colonial reprisals as strategic instruments of policy. This perspective reveals calculated logic behind irregular warfare, where resistance aligned with goals of sovereignty and survival. Extending Ray Kerkhove’s vignette on military strategy and tactics through this lens would have sharpened the analysis of asymmetric conflict as a deliberate contest of power. It also frames the Australian Wars as expressions of political will, with tactics and organisation aligned to strategic aims.
A chapter at the beginning of the book expanding on the New Zealand Wars comparison would have added valuable context. While I encountered these conflicts during postgraduate study in New Zealand, most Australians are unlikely to share that background. An overview of shared causes, particularly the strategic use of warfare by First Nations peoples and Māori to resist land dispossession, would have strengthened the rationale for using “Australian Wars” instead of “Frontier Wars” and highlighted trans-Tasman parallels in Indigenous resistance to colonial expansion.
Some chapters stand out more than others. The Queensland and Tasmania sections offer compelling insights into Aboriginal resistance tactics against colonisers. Others, however, feel underdeveloped. For example, having read Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance, I expected more depth on how he psychologically and tactically outmanoeuvred Kimberley police. Such detail is what made his story remarkable. Yagan similarly receives only one or two pages of passing coverage—surprising, given his symbolic importance and the nine-metre statue in central Perth.
This leads to my main critique: the book is too short. For a conflict lasting 150 years, 350 pages—especially with numerous images and chapter introductions—feels inadequate. This is striking when compared to David Marr’s Killing for Country (~450 pages, focused on a few individuals in Queensland) and Mary Anne J. Tobin’s Every Mother’s Son is Guilty (~600 pages, focused on the Kimberley). Given the ongoing “history wars,” the book’s brevity somewhat limits its ability to fully engage with and contextualise this contested national history.
My critiques, however, are likely beside the point. For First Nations people, the impact of the Australian Wars is not an intellectual curiosity—it is their reality. Most Australians remain unaware of the full scope of the conflicts that shaped our nation’s founding. This book offers the first continent-wide history of the wars. It demonstrates colonisation as a brutal struggle and frames truth-telling as integral to national healing. The Australian Wars is essential reading for anyone concerned with history, justice, and reconciliation in Australia.
Subscribe for free to receive new posts direct to your inbox here: https://callumscolumn.substack.com/
The book follows Rachel Perkins’ documentary series of the same name and is edited alongside Stephen Gapps, Mina Murray, and Henry Reynolds. Both First Nations and non–First Nations writers depict our harrowing history. Some chapters are entwined with personal stories from Indigenous authors who are descendants of survivors; others remain largely academic. The book is chronologically arranged in three parts. Each part marks a distinct period in the wars and focuses on the primary geographic areas of warfare during that time.
The history relies on oral evidence, the traditional form of knowledge transfer among First Nations people, and primary sources. Practically all of the latter come from white people, with the consequent biases this may entail. To balance such perspectives, each chapter is preceded by a several-page introduction from a First Nations person of the region being examined—for example, Richard Franklin, a Gunditjmara man from Victoria. These preludes connect the past with the enduring present, a powerful literary device.
The “Frontier Wars” has long been the preferred term to describe the conflict analysed in this book. However, in both Perkins’ and Reynolds’ view, the term inadvertently downplays the true scale of Australia’s wars. Across the Tasman, there were the New Zealand Wars, a series of conflicts between Māori and Pākehā for control of all of New Zealand. They defined what New Zealand would become. It was the same in Australia, “not because of how they were fought, but because of what they were fought about: a way of life and sovereignty of a whole continent.”
Māori warriors of this period are widely considered noble patriots. So too are those who fought on the side of the British Empire. Both sides are duly commemorated at Auckland’s War Memorial Museum. There is also Te Pūtake o te Riri (National Day of Commemoration), which includes honours for those who fought on both sides of the New Zealand Wars. Comparable recognition is absent in Australia. First Nations patriotic courage is barely alluded to at our National War Memorial. By explicitly describing frontier conflict as the Australian Wars, such omissions become glaring.
The Australian Wars were characterised by Aboriginal guerrilla tactics and brutal reprisals from settlers and colonial forces. While land was the central prize, violence flared when Aboriginal women were taken, livestock killed, or cultural boundaries crossed. In the earliest phase of colonisation, the British Army led campaigns against Aboriginal resistance. Over time, conflict increasingly involved settlers and squatters, and later the Native Police: Aboriginal men recruited, armed, and commanded by white officers to suppress their own people.
Although battles occurred, “massacre” is the more accurate term in most cases. Historians have identified more than 400 massacres, defined as the “unlawful killing of six or more undefended people in one operation.” On the Aboriginal side, leaders such as Yagan and Jandamarra became emblematic of resistance. On the settler side, there were both perpetrators and bystanders, though claims to innocence are difficult to reconcile with the sheer scale of Aboriginal victimhood: people largely defenceless and fighting for their traditional lands.
The book adopts a moral-revisionist historiographical lens, evident from the outset as Perkins foregrounds the injustice of colonial warfare and the erasure of First Nations resistance. It plays a pivotal role in reframing the Australian Wars by highlighting Indigenous agency, patriotism, and the ethical dimensions of colonial violence—violence aimed at dispossession rather than defence. However, by prioritising this framework, the book underplays the warfare-as-politics theoretical nexus and comparative dimensions of Australia’s warfare.
Henry Reynolds used Clausewitzian theory in Forgotten Wars to frame frontier conflicts as “policy by other means.” While compelling, he admits he is not a military historian and lacks the depth for full theoretical analysis. The Australian Wars adopts his thesis of Indigenous dispossession but only briefly and implicitly explores how political aims, strategy, and tactics intersect. A military theorist could have developed this further, showing how guerrilla resistance and colonial reprisals operated as strategic tools rather than improvised responses.
A Clausewitzian lens clarifies how political objectives shaped Indigenous guerrilla tactics and colonial reprisals as strategic instruments of policy. This perspective reveals calculated logic behind irregular warfare, where resistance aligned with goals of sovereignty and survival. Extending Ray Kerkhove’s vignette on military strategy and tactics through this lens would have sharpened the analysis of asymmetric conflict as a deliberate contest of power. It also frames the Australian Wars as expressions of political will, with tactics and organisation aligned to strategic aims.
A chapter at the beginning of the book expanding on the New Zealand Wars comparison would have added valuable context. While I encountered these conflicts during postgraduate study in New Zealand, most Australians are unlikely to share that background. An overview of shared causes, particularly the strategic use of warfare by First Nations peoples and Māori to resist land dispossession, would have strengthened the rationale for using “Australian Wars” instead of “Frontier Wars” and highlighted trans-Tasman parallels in Indigenous resistance to colonial expansion.
Some chapters stand out more than others. The Queensland and Tasmania sections offer compelling insights into Aboriginal resistance tactics against colonisers. Others, however, feel underdeveloped. For example, having read Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance, I expected more depth on how he psychologically and tactically outmanoeuvred Kimberley police. Such detail is what made his story remarkable. Yagan similarly receives only one or two pages of passing coverage—surprising, given his symbolic importance and the nine-metre statue in central Perth.
This leads to my main critique: the book is too short. For a conflict lasting 150 years, 350 pages—especially with numerous images and chapter introductions—feels inadequate. This is striking when compared to David Marr’s Killing for Country (~450 pages, focused on a few individuals in Queensland) and Mary Anne J. Tobin’s Every Mother’s Son is Guilty (~600 pages, focused on the Kimberley). Given the ongoing “history wars,” the book’s brevity somewhat limits its ability to fully engage with and contextualise this contested national history.
My critiques, however, are likely beside the point. For First Nations people, the impact of the Australian Wars is not an intellectual curiosity—it is their reality. Most Australians remain unaware of the full scope of the conflicts that shaped our nation’s founding. This book offers the first continent-wide history of the wars. It demonstrates colonisation as a brutal struggle and frames truth-telling as integral to national healing. The Australian Wars is essential reading for anyone concerned with history, justice, and reconciliation in Australia.
Subscribe for free to receive new posts direct to your inbox here: https://callumscolumn.substack.com/
Review of advance copy
A look at how the aboriginal people were tread by the settlers, they were cheated and kill for on reason at all, greed for the land and didn't care how they got it. Just another stuff up by the British.
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