Welcome the the Australian Frontier Conflicts (1788–1940s and Beyond) website. It seeks to document the frontier conflicts between European colonists and Australia’s First Peoples. The author of, and contributors to, the Australian Frontier Conflicts website acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and future. We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today and in the future.
WARNING: This website and links to other sources, contain images, names, or voices of deceased people, for example, in text, etchings, databases, audio recordings, film, news media, photographs, podcasts, and printed material.
The information on this website is publicly available. There may be copyright restrictions on some material depicted or referred to on this website, for example, images, articles, books, films, videos still subject to copyright. Please check the Australian Copyright Council’s website at https://www.copyright.org.au for information about copyright in Australia and what publications are affected.
‘Mounted Police and Blacks’ by Godfrey Charles Mundy, 1852.
Depicts the killing of Aboriginals at Slaughterhouse Creek (Waterloo Creek), New South Wales by British troops in 1838. Australian War Memorial ART 50023, www.awm.gov.au/collection/ART50023
Latest News
Note: In 2019 news items related to the Australian Frontier Wars website were posted on Facebook while the website was experiencing technical problems. There is no longer a Facebook page related to this website.
Book reveals those who led massacres in Australia’s north
Dr Robyn Smith's book, Licence to Kill: massacre men of Australia's north, details massacres of First Peoples that took place in Australia's north from 1824 up to the 1980s. Read more about this publication [...]
Myall Creek Massacre Memorial Gathering 2024
One hundred and eighty six years after the massacre of First Peoples at Myall Creek, New South Wales, the annual commemoration ceremony and associated events was held over the June [...]
Premier prepared to apologise to First Nations Victorians for government injustices
Premier of the State of Victoria, Jacinta Allan, appearing before the Yoorrook Justice Commission, in Naarm (Melbourne), has announced that she is prepared to apologise to Victoria's First Nations for past injustices. Read more: Declan [...]
Red Poppies and Bare Ground––Defending Country Memorial Project
David Stephens, Pearls and Irritations, 25 April 2024, republished from Defending Country, 19 April 2024: https://johnmenadue.com/red-poppies-and-bare-ground-why-do-we-discriminate-among-our-war-dead/ Readers of the above article may be interested in the Memorials and Monuments page on the Australian Frontier [...]
Continued call for recognition of frontier wars, Anzac Day, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 25 April 2024
Frontier Wars March, Anzac Parade, Reid, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 25 April 2024. Photo: Jane Morrison The marchers were allowed to walk up Anzac Parade but were not permitted to join the [...]
Four Gweagal spears stolen by Captain Cook and crew in 1770 returned to La Perouse community, New South Wales, 254 years later
Kathryn Diss and Adrian Wilson, 'Emotional moment' as spears taken by Captain Cook are returned to Indigenous community, from ABC Europe correspondent, Kathryn Diss, and Adrian Wilson, in Cambridge, England, 23 April 2024. Read [...]
Compiled by Jane Morrison 2012–2022. Updated 25, 30 October, 23 November 2022.