Commemoration ceremony, Myall Creek Massacre Memorial, Bingara, New South Wales, Australia, 10 June 2017 Photo: Jane Morrison
WARNING: This website and links to other sources, contain images, names, or voices, of deceased people in text, etchings, photographs, film, audio recordings, news media, paintings and printed material.
Although there are some memorials to conflicts that took place on the Australian frontier and to the people who were involved in them, the majority of the people who took part and the places where confrontations, killings and massacres took place, are not recognised. Compared to the many war memorials across the country, dedicated to the fallen in wars in which Australians have participated overseas, the lack of memorials to frontier conflict is a very sad indictment of the level of knowledge, understanding and compassion of governments and Australians generally about, and for, the people who gave their lives on the Australian colonial frontier.
Types of memorials
While memorials are often statues or monuments, they can come in many different forms such as books, films, gardens, graves, paintings, plaques, poetry, song or sites. Some memorials commemorate Aboriginal peoples who inhabited certain places before the arrival of colonists in 1788, but do not honour those who gave their lives in the defence of homelands from 1788 onwards. Examples of types of memorials follow.
Queensland
Forest Refuge: A memorial to Aboriginal people who gave their lives in frontier conflicts around Buderim, Queensland is located in the Buderim Forest Nature Refuge. Links to information about this memorial can be found below under Queensland listings.
New South Wales
Memorials to Dave Sands: While legendary boxer, Dave Sands, was not a hero of the frontier wars period, he was a warrior of the boxing world, inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1988. There several different kinds of memorials to Dave Sands (1926–1952), born David Ritchie at Burnt Bridge Mission near Kempsey, New South Wales. The types of memorials to Dave Sands are:
- a plaque at Stockton near Newcastle, read more at: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/sport/display/23070-dave-sands
- a monument near the Bandon Grove Bridge and
- a plaque at Glebe, Sydney, New South Wales
You can read more about Dave Sands at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Sands and in the Australian Dictionary of Biography at: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sands-david-dave-11611
William Ferguson: Although also not an Aboriginal warrior on the colonial frontier in the sense that he fought in armed combat against colonists, Aboriginal politician and unionist, William (Bill) Ferguson (1882–1950), worked tirelessly for Aboriginal rights in New South Wales. He also championed the freedom of Aboriginal people from the oppression of the Aboriginal Protection Board from the 1900s until his death in 1950. Read more about him in the Australian Dictionary of Biography at: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ferguson-william-bill-6160. Funding for a William Ferguson Memorial Statue, to be erected at Dubbo, New South Wales, is being sought through Go Fund Me at: https://www.gofundme.com/william-ferguson-memorial-statue
Monuments honouring explorers and colonists highly controversial
As holding Australia Day on 26 January has become a big issue, in some states, like New South Wales, statues honouring Europeans have become controversial also, even damaged by people who do not believe explorers like Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook and invading colonists should be honoured. Christoper Knaus and agencies tell more in their story, dated 26 August 2017, ‘”No pride in genocide”: vandals deface Cook statue in Sydney’s Hyde Park’, The Guardian online at: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/aug/26/captain-cook-statue-and-two-others-in-sydneys-hyde-park-attacked-by-vandals
In Fremantle, Western Australia, back in 1994, Aboriginal people did not vandalise a highly offensive statue, but added a counter-memorial to it (see Counter-memorial, Fremantle under Western Australia below). While he has decried the vandalism of the Cook statue in Sydney, renowned journalist Stan Grant, among others, has also weighed into the argument, calling for the history of Cook to be corrected: ‘Correct Captain Cook history says Stan Grant’, NITV 22 August 2017. Read more at: https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2017/08/22/correct-captain-cook-history-says-stan-grant.
The issue of honouring British explorers, like James Cook, and colonists, who, from 1788, gradually dispossessed First Nations, continues to be very divisive, often because the majority of Australians know little or nothing about our history. How many know, for example, that First Peoples have been here for millennia–for at least 65,000 years, if not 80,000 years, according to archaeologists? (‘Australian dig finds evidence of Aboriginal habitation up to 80,000 years ago’, Helen Davidson and Calla Wahlquist, The Guardian, 20 July 2017, at: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/19/dig-finds-evidence-of-aboriginal-habitation-up-to-80000-years-ago)
Commemoration of 250th Anniversary of Cook’s First Voyage to Australia
The controversy surrounding the truth of Australia’s history and honouring explorers and colonists is about to become even bigger with the announcement in the Federal Budget, handed down on 8 May 2018, of $48.7 million over four years for the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Cook’s first voyage to Australia. Concerned Australians and those living in difficult circumstances like many in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, might ask why do we need to spend so much honouring a man who actions were partly responsible for the later dispossession of possibly 1 million or more First Peoples? Could these funds be better spent on other programs such as support for programs initiated and run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples themselves? Most of the funds allocated will be spent in 2017–18, including a $25 million Australian Government contribution to the government of New South Wales for the Kamay Botany Bay National Park 250th anniversary project in Sydney.
On 28 April 2018, in the lead up to the Budget, the Turnbull government announced that $50 million is to be spent on the redevelopment of Botany Bay, the first landing place of the British First Fleet in January 1788 that heralded the arrival of colonists. Read more in Nick Sas’s story, updated on 29 April 2018: ‘Botany Bay site’s $50 million redevelopment, including James Cook statue, set to transform historic site’ at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-28/prime-minister-reveals-revamped-memorial-for-port-botany/9707338.
The development is to include a new ‘aquatic monument’ honouring Cook, the English explorer who ‘took possession’, without the consent of the original inhabitants, of the east coast of Australia at Bedanug or Bedhand Lag (Possession Island) on 22 August 1770. Researcher Graeme Taylor has delved into the history of what actually happened at Bedanug Island that day. In his article, ‘Stirring the Pot of the Dead Cook’, at: https://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/stirring-pot-dead-cook, Taylor finds a number of problems with the ‘official’ histories of Cook’s ‘possession’. This event does raise questions about the legitimacy and legality of the existence of ‘Australia’ the nation state.
Captain Cook takes formal possession of New South Wales, 22 August 1770,
from the painting by JA Gilfellan, c. 1859, Wikimedia Commons
Too few Australians it seems, including politicians, know or even care about whether Australia is really a legitimate nation state under British and international law–there are many hints, for example in the Mabo 2 judgments, that it is not. You can read a lot more about this issue on the Sovereign Union website at: https://nationalunitygovernment.org
Northern Territory
The Gurindji Walk-off at Wave Hill Station in 1966 came about not only because of poor wages and working conditions, but as a result of the killings, maltreatment and massacres of Aboriginal people by pastoralists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A book, Yijarni: true stories from Gurindji country, Erika Charola and Felicity Meakins eds, AIATSIS, 2016, tells stories of these events in Aboriginal languages and in English. Read about the launch of the book in August 2016 at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-19/the-untold-story-being-the-1966-wave-hill-walk-off/7764524
Victoria
William Cooper: Influential activist and unionist William Cooper was a Yorta Yorta man born on the Murray River, Victoria in 1860. A memorial statue in the Queen’s Gardens, Shepparton, Victoria was dedicated to him on 27 March 2018, 77 years after his death. You can read more about William Cooper himself in Diane Barwick’s entry on him in the Dictionary of Australian Biography at: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cooper-william-5773
Western Australia
Counter-memorial, Fremantle
In 1994, in a ‘counter-memorial’, First Peoples at Fremantle, Western Australia, added their point of view to a controversial, offensive ‘Explorers’ Monument’ that originally commemorated the leader of a punitive expedition at La Grange that killed up to 20 Aboriginal people. Read more about this story, ‘The controversial statue that was added to, not torn down or vandalised’ by Vanessa Mills and Ben Collins, ABC Kimberley, 29 August 2017 at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-29/explorers-monument-added-to-not-torn-down-or-vandalised/8853224
Lists of Memorials Relating to Australian Frontier Conflicts
Below are links to websites relating to memorials throughout Australian States and Territories, to some known conflicts between colonists and Australia’s First Peoples. This list, that was first created in 2015, is being expanded as more information becomes available. Please let us know about any memorials or monuments, already existing or proposed, that are not included in the list below. Please also let us know of any broken links through our online email Contact facility.
| AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY(ACT) | NEW SOUTH WALES (NSW) |
| NORTHERN TERRITORY (NT) (NSW) | QUEENSLAND (QLD) |
| SOUTH AUSTRALIA (SA) | TASMANIA (TAS) |
| VICTORIA (VIC) | WESTERN AUSTRALIA (WA) |
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY(ACT)
Aboriginal Memorial plaque
Mount Ainslie near the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ACT
This plaque commemorates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans of wars in which Australians have participated overseas. There is no national memorial at the Australian War Memorial to First Peoples who died in Australia’s colonial frontier conflicts. You can read more about this plaque and the annual commemorative ceremony for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans at: https://www.awm.gov.au/index.php/commemoration/anzac-day/atsivsaa
The Aboriginal Memorial (Poles Memorial)
National Gallery of Australia
Parkes Place
Parkes, ACT
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/90152-the-aboriginal–memorial-poles-memorial-
https://nga.gov.au/Collections/ATSI/GALLERY.cfm?DisplayGal=23
https://nga.gov.au/AboriginalMemorial/
NEW SOUTH WALES (NSW)
Appin Massacre, Cataract Dam, NSW
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/20069-appin-massacre
https://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/appin_massacre
Battle of Richmond Hill monument
177 Grose Vale Road
St John of God Hospital
North Richmond, NSW
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/93434-battle-of-richmond-hill
https://www.historyofaboriginalsydney.edu.au/west/battle-richmond-hill
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5055948
Bluff Rock Massacre monument
New England Highway
Tenterfield, NSW
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/23416-bluff-rock-massacre
Cameraygal People monument
Woodford Street
Woodford Bay
Longueville, NSW
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/21930-cameraygal-people
East Ballina Massacre site plaque and cross
Shelly Beach Road
East Ballina, NSW
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/21079-east-ballina-massacre-site
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/nswcultureheritage/frontier.htm
Hospital Creek Massacre monument
Hospital Creek, Goodooga Road, 15 kms from
Brewarrina, NSW
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/20518-hospital-creek-massacre
Myall Creek Massacre Memorial
Myall Creek, Delungra Road, 20 km north of
Bingara, NSW
Links here: https://www.bingara.com.au/index.cfm?page_id=1059
https://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/myall-creek
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/22435-myall-creek-massacre
https://www.newagemultimedia.com/isaacs/MyallCrk.html
Reconciliation Plaque
(Honouring Aboriginal and European people who gave their lives in Australian frontier conflicts)
Allyn River Road, Mount Razorback,
10.3 kms north-west of Gresford, NSW
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/22362-reconciliation-plaque
Windradyne’s Grave plaque
Brucedale, Suttor property
1361 Sofala Road
Bathurst, NSW
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/indigenous/display/20263-windradyne-
https://heritagebathurst.com/history-matters/indigenous-history/
NORTHERN TERRITORY (NT)
Coniston Massacre monuments
Baxters Well
East of Willowra, NT
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/80056-coniston-massacre
Brooks Soak
Mount Denison Road
NW of Alice Springs, NT
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/80059-coniston-massacre-
Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda & McColl memorial
Foyer, Supreme Court
9 Smith Street
Darwin, NT
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/legal/display/80140-dhakiyarr-wirrpanda-and-mccoll
Stapleton & Franks Memorial
Barrow Creek Telegraph Station
Stuart Highway
Barrow Creek, NT
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/80051-stapleton-and-franks-memorial
https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+8972
QUEENSLAND (QLD)
Frontier Wars Installation
Beulah Community
Lindsay Road
Buderim, QLD
Links here:
https://www.beulahcommunitybuderim.com/single-post/2017/04/23/The-Frontier-Wars-Installation
https://www.beulahcommunitybuderim.com/single-post/2017/04/24/The-Frontier-Wars—the-battles
https://www.beulahcommunitybuderim.com/single-post/2017/11/09/Remembering-the-Frontier-Wars
https://www.facebook.com/pg/beulahcommunity/videos/?ref=page_internal
Hornet Bank
Fraser Family Memorial
Hornet Bank Road
Hornet Bank Station
Taroom, QLD
Links here: https://eheritage.metadata.net/record/QLD-602075
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/92622-hornet-bank-massacre
Battle Mountain (Mount Remarkable) memorial
Kalkadoon/Kalatunga Memorial
20 kms south-west of Kajabbi, QLD
Jackey Jackey Memorial
Bamaga Airport
Bamaga, QLD
A memorial to Galmarra (Jackey Jackey), companion to Edmund Kennedy on his disastrous 1848 expedition to find a possible site for a northern Queensland port. Link to more information on Monument Australia at: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/indigenous/display/90468-jackey-jackey-/photo/1
Kalkadoon and Mitakoodi People memorial
Corella Creek
Barkly Highway
23 kilometres west of Cloncurry, QLD
 Kalkadoon and Mitakoodi People memorial |
 Closeup of plaques showing damage from vandalism. Kalkadoon and Mitakoodi People memorial, Photo: Eleanor Gilbert, 31 May 2018 |
More information at: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/culture/indigenous/display/91231-kalkadoon-and-mitakoodi-people
Mary Watson memorial
Charlotte Street
Cooktown, QLD
Links: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/91193-mary-watson
Multuggerah memorial plaque
Duggan Park, Leslie Street
Toowoomba, QLD
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/92754-multuggerah
https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/apn-plaque-honours-aborigina/2728/
Wills Massacre Cairn
Lake Maraboon, Cullin La Ringo Road
Springsure, QLD
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/92552-wills-massacre-
SOUTH AUSTRALIA (SA)
Frank Hawson memorial
Kali Grove, Hawson Place,
Port Lincoln, SA
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/51513-frank-hawson
https://hawsonstory.wordpress.com/frank-hawson/
https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/PRG+559/3/25
Maria Massacre monument
Maria Monument
Apex Park, East Terrace
Kingston SE, SA
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/51020-maria-monument
Waterloo Bay, Elliston memorial
Little Bay Clifftop Drive
Waterloo Bay, Elliston, SA
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/111195-waterloo-bay-massacre
TASMANIA (TAS)
Memorial plaque to Truganini, Bruny Island
Truganini is perhaps one of Australia’s most famous Aboriginal people, at one time believed to be the last Tasmanian. Bruny Island, one of the small islands off Tasmania, has a memorial plaque to her. Truganini, Tunnerminnerwait’s wife Planobeena, and Pyterruner, were tried in Melbourne, Victoria in late 1841 as accessories to the murders of two whalers at Cape Paterson, Victoria. They were found not guilty. Tasmanian warriors Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyhenner were condemned to death for the whalers’ murders and hanged in Melbourne early in the morning of 20 January 1842. In December 2013 Melbourne City Council voted unanimously to erect a memorial in Melbourne to the men, once seen as common criminals rather than as freedom fighters defending their land and the very existence of their culture and nations. In 2016 a memorial to Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyhenner was designed following consultations with Victorian and Tasmanian Aboriginal communities. One newspaper article summarises their story and how they were not allowed to give evidence in court. Read more at https://www.smh.com.au/national/once-were-warriors-20140204-31zmu.html
VICTORIA (VIC)
Aboriginal Massacres memorial stone
Bank Street
Port Fairy, VIC
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/95216-aboriginal-massacres-monument
https://www.standard.net.au/story/792108/the-south-wests-bloody-past/
Aboriginal Memorial
High Street
Orford, VIC
A memorial stone and plaque to Aboriginal people who lost their lives in the Orford area of Victoria. Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/culture/indigenous/display/95448-aboriginal-memorial
Aborigines of Port Phillip monument
Information Centre, First Settlement Site
Port Nepean Road & Leggatt Way
Sorrento, VIC
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/33435-aborigines-of-port-phillip
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/hindsight/a-forgotten-war/5926302
Battle of Yering monument
Yarra Flats Billabongs
Melba Highway
Yarra Glen, VIC
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/30552-battle-of-yering
https://nrg.org.au/index_files/Plaques%20brochure%20(web).pdf
Dan ‘the Cook’ Dempsey memorial stone
Orbost, VIC
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/33011-dan-dempsey
https://nrg.org.au/index_files/Plaques%20brochure%20(web).pdf
Faithfull Massacre memorial
Kent Street
Lake Benalla
Benalla, VIC
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/30333-faithfull-massacre-site-memorial
https://www.tomorrowtoday.com.au/?file=current_projects&smid=12
Konongwootong Quiet Place
Konongwootong Reservoir
Konongwootong, about 11 km north of Coleraine, VIC
Links here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/103088-konongwootong-quiet-place-
https://www.wannonwater.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=637&Itemid=624
https://www.standard.net.au/story/2404927/reservoir-ceremony-remembers-aboriginal-massacre/
Massacre Hill memorial
5 kilometres west of Peterborough, VIC
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/33076-massacre-hill
Mount Dispersion Cairn
Mount Dispersion
Tapaulin Mail Route Road
Midway between Mildura and Robinvale, VIC
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/32608-mount-dispersion-cairn
Mount Dispersion Plaque
Aboriginal Keeping Place Museum
Shepparton, VIC
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/33404-mount-dispersion-plaque
Memorial to Maulboyhenner and Tunnerminnerwait
Cnr of Victoria and Franklin Streets
Melbourne
As mentioned above, the Melbourne City Council unanimously voted for a memorial to Tasmanians Maulboyhenner and Tunnerminnerwait. Opened in September 2016, the memorial is a first step in recognising Victoria’s brutal past. Read more at: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/monument-to-aboriginals-1842-execution-first-step-to-recognising-brutal-past-20160911-grdvbx.html
Wombeetch Puyuum grave and memorial to Aborigines
Camperdown Cemetery, Cemetery Road,
Camperdown, VIC
WESTERN AUSTRALIA (WA)
Butterabby Graves
Mingenew Road, 15km S of
Mullewa, WA
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/60850-butterabby-graves
Chipper’s Leap monument
Padbury Road, Greenmount Hill
Greenmount, WA
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/60560-chipper%60s-leap
Flying Foam Massacre monument
Burrup Peninsula
Dampier, WA
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/60363-flying-foam-massacre
Injudinah Massacre plaque
Explorers Memorial
The Esplanade
Fremantle, WA
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/60490-injudinah–massacre
Kakenarup Memorial
15 kms from Ravensthorpe
Memorial to those who died around Cocanarup in the early years of colonisation.
Link here: www.roamingdownunder.com/kukrnarup.php
Michael Tobin grave
Canning Stock Route near Well 40,
Tobin Lake
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/108861-michael-tobin
Mistake Creek Massacre monument
Warmun (Turkey Creek), WA
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/93363-mistake-creek-massacre
Mowla Bluff Massacre monument
Geegully Creek
Mowla Bluff, WA
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/60844-mowla-bluff-massacre
Peter Chidlow and Edward Jones memorial tablet
Gillet Road and Buckland Street
Northam, WA
Battle of Pinjarra Memorial Park
McLarty Road
Pinjarra, WA
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/61063-pinjarra-massacre-site
Sturt Creek massacre site memorial
Kimberleys, Western Australia
Link here to story about the Sturt Creek massacre and the memorial descendants erected in 2011: https://theconversation.com/oral-testimony-of-an-aboriginal-massacre-now-supported-by-scientific-evidence-85526
Yagan Memorial Park
West Swan Road and Great Northern Highway
Belhus, WA
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/indigenous/display/93059-yagan-memorial-park
Yagan Square, Perth, WA
Yagan Square that opened in Western Australia’s capital, Perth on 3 March 2018, is already being called ‘the heart of Perth’. A nine-metre tall statue of Yagan honours the famous resistance fighter who defended Noongar lands in the early days of the Swan River colony. The statue was created by Noongar artist, Tjyllyungoo Lance Chadd in collaboration with Trish Robinson and Stuart Green. The work is titled ‘Wirin’–the Noongar word for ‘spirit’ that represents the sacred eternal force of creative power that binds all life on Boodja (Mother Earth). Rangi Hirini’s story about Perth’s new Yagan Square cultural area was aired on NITV News on 22 February 2018, Read more at: https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2018/02/19/statue-aboriginal-figure-set-permanently-stand-middle-perth
First compiled by Jane Morrison July–August 2015, updated 25 July 2016, 24 October 2016, 7 November 2017, February 2018, May 2018.