Introduction to the Frontier Conflicts Timeline From the arrival of the First Fleet in January 1788, Aboriginal people were forced to defend their lands, resources and cultures against an invading tide of British colonists. The language map below shows that far from being Terra nullius–an uninhabited land belonging to no-one–Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples occupied the whole Australian continent and its major islands like Tasmania (Van Diemen’s Land). Introduction *Aboriginal sovereignty over Australia has never been ceded by the First Peoples. The nation-state of ‘Australia’ exists, based originally on the doctrine of Terra Nullius, and British occupation or ‘settlement’ of the continent. This legal fiction was, however, overturned in the High Court’s 1992 Mabo judgment that accepted the British assertion of sovereignty in 1788 when Governor Phillip and the First Fleet arrived at Port Jackson to found a new penal colony. There are lingering questions about the legality of the British occupation of Australia about which there is growing, but controversial, disquiet among First Peoples and their supporters. For ongoing research and opinion on this subject see the Sovereign Union–First Nations Asserting Sovereignty website at: https://nationalunitygovernment.org Australia Day, controversial to a growing number of Australians, is marked by a public holiday on 26 January, the anniversary of the day the British First Fleet arrived at Port Jackson in 1788. Many thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and their supporters view this day as ‘Invasion Day’ or ‘the Day of Mourning’, as it signifies the beginning of the progressive invasion and colonisation of the Australian continent, the island of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and the inhabitated islands of the Torres Strait. From the first day in the colonisation process, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have defended their land and ancient cultures that date back up to 80,000 years––the oldest living cultures on earth. The struggle continues today through the Land Rights,  Sovereignty and Treaty movements. Click here to see a map of Australian Frontier Conflicts. Death and injury toll No attempt has been made on this website to quantify the death and injury toll during the frontier conflict period–that would be beyond the … Continue reading Introduction to the Frontier Conflicts Timeline