Frontier Wars

Native Americans were successful in convincing one of the world's leading powers not to celebrate Columbus Day, the day that Native Americans argued began the changing of their whole world and the theft of their country ...
One thing that hurts and disappoints First Nations Peoples is the fact that the High Court of Australia in Mabo (No. 2) failed its judicial obligations, when they could not identify any form of legal land tenure that affirmed any type of superior land title authority.

It must be acknowledged that this country was invaded and this is confirmed by the actions of Captain James Cook when he fired at the first group of Aboriginal people he came in contact with. Then the invaders imprisoned us and interned us in detention centres in the guise of looking after our welfare, protecting us from the barbarous acts of the squatocracy and their militias, supported by the police and redcoats, and then had the audacity to try and establish representative government on the land of others, while we were being imprisoned and killed.

When you know who owned the stations on which Aboriginals were killed and the names of the politicians who knowingly allowed it all to happen, you also know the Who's Who of colonial Australia.

It is horrific to read, in fine detail, what was done to hundreds of innocent men, women and children. That is why some people still want this history to remain hidden.

Tony Roberts 'The Monthly Essays' November 2009

'Ghillar' Michael Anderson said the Frontier Wars, in which thousands of Aboriginal men and women died defending their traditional lands against European invaders, was much more than an act of aggression. It was "mass murder" and of "war" which deserves to be remembered. "This is a long way from being called a protest," he told New Matilda. "It is a calling for people never to forget what happened here in Australia." He says for too long, ANZAC Day has been about "white Australia, not about Aboriginal Australians".

While repatriation has been happening in Australia for decades, Mr Sullivan says it is something that can't be truly quantified, nor something that can shed value over time. "That don't mean nothing, being common, it'll still have the same effect as it will for the first time and for the hundredth time." The reality of the task became clear to Mr Quayle when, years ago, he visited the Australian Museum as part of his work with the culture and heritage division in the NSW government. He found his ancestor's remains stacked on shelves and collecting dust in the museum's basement.

In April 1789, a sudden, unusual, epidemic of smallpox was reported amongst the Port Jackson Aboriginal tribes who were actively resisting settlers from the First Fleet.

This outbreak may have killed over 90 per cent of nearby native families and maybe three quarters or half of those between the Hawkesbury River and Port Hacking. It also killed an unknown number at Jervis Bay and west of the Blue Mountains

A First Nations author from Western Queensland has launched her memoir, 'The Power of Bones', which tells of her seven-year struggle to have the bones of her ancestors returned to her people. It's a slow process, trying to pry the remains of First Nations people away from governments, dithering scientists and privileged museum curators, but after much begging, arguing and pressure some are being returned to country a few at a time. The pussyfooting only ceases when the holders have their arms tied behind their backs.

As Europeans moved into new lands in Queensland in the 19th century, violent encounters with local Aboriginals mostly followed. Drawing on extensive original research, Timothy Bottoms tells the story of the most violent frontier in Australian colonial history.

"This is an important, well researched book: challenging, compelling and controversial. It is a must read for anyone interested in Australian history." - Henry Reynolds