Myall Creek Massacre Memorial sign, Gomeroi Country, New South Wales, Australia. Photograph: 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. For some background about this situation, see for example, Cameo Dalley and Ashley Barnwell, Memory in Place: locating colonial histories and commemoration, ANU Press, 2023. This book is available in. hard copy and as an e-book from the National Library of Australia’s Trove: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3282976008/view
Types of memorials
While memorials are often statues or monuments, they can come in many different forms such as avenues, books, films, gardens, graves, paintings, plaques, poetry, roads, song, or sites. Some memorials only commemorate First Nations peoples who inhabited certain places before the arrival of colonists in 1788, but do not necessarily honour those who gave their lives in the defence of homelands from 1788 onwards. Examples follow of types of memorials, some of which do commemorate those who gave their lives defending Country. Some memorials listed also commemorate non-First Nations people who died in conflicts, that have taken place on Australian soil, between colonists and First Nations.
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.
Multuggerah Way, Toowoomba is a viaduct named after the famed Aboriginal warrior who fought against and repelled colonists in the area in 1843. 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 are 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. A William Ferguson Memorial Statue, erected at Dubbo, New South Wales, was unveiled on 6 May 2019: NITV Staff Writer, ‘A permanent memorial will honour a tireless campaigner for social justice for Indigenous Australians’, NITV News:
https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2019/05/06/hometown-unveils-statue-indigenous-rights-activist-william-ferguson#:~:text=A%20bronze%20statue%20of%20Aboriginal%20rights%20
activist%20William,lobbing%20efforts%20led%20by%20his%20descendants%20
and%20supporters.
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: 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, 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.
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: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/19/dig-finds-evidence-of-aboriginal-habitation-up-to-80000-years-ago)
Captain Cook takes formal possession of New South Wales, 22 August 1770,
from the painting by JA Gilfellan, c. 1859, Wikimedia Commons
NB This depiction of Captain James Cook of HMB Endeavour reputedly taking “possession” of New South Wales on 22 August 1770, as recorded in his diary, is not straightforward. Cook’s claim has been shown to be doubtful according to research published in 2019 by the Naval Historical Society of Australia in “Possession Island”: https://navyhistory.au/possession-island/
In 1770 there were no British colonies in Australia. It was not until January 1788 that the first colony, called New South Wales, was established at Port Jackson, now Sydney, for convicts from England’s overflowing gaols. You can find out more about Australia’s colonial the history and its effects on First Nations under Resources and related dropdown menus.
In 2020, the National Museum of Australia held an exhibition, Endeavour Voyage: The Untold Stories of Cook and the First Australians, that presented Elders’ understanding of what really happened on 22 August 1770 at “Possession Island” part of the lands of the Kaurareg, Gudang Yadahkenu, Ankamuthi and other clan groups that lie in the Torres Strait and seas between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea. Tuined, or Possession Island in English, is also known by names such as Bedanug, Thunadha, Bedhan Lag, or Tuidin to the various clan groups.
Kaurareg First Nations Elder and Tribal historian, Waubin Richard Aken, maintains Cook’s claim that he landed on Tuined on 22 August 1770 is dubious. Aken’s views are included in the Australian Museum’s Unsettled exhibition held in Sydney in 2023.
For a detailed explanation see: Australian Museum: https://australian.museum/learn/first-nations/unsettled/recognising-invasions/captain-cook-taking-possession/, 16 November 2023.
These revelations help throw into doubt the very existence of the nation “Australia” — a geographic name given to “the Great South Land” long before federation of the Australian colonies in 1901.
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: 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: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cooper-william-5773 and Bain Attwood’s book, William Cooper: An Aboriginal Life Story, The Miegunyah Press, 2021. One of Cooper’s many campaigns was against the government recruiting First Nations people to serve in forces for the British empire that had stolen Aboriginal lands.
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: 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. Entries are added to this list, first created in 2015, as more information becomes available. Please contact the author about any memorials or monuments, already existing or proposed, that are not included in the list below.
- AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY (ACT)
- NEW SOUTH WALES (NSW)
- NORTHERN TERRITORY (NT)
- 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
For Our Country Memorial
Sculpture Gardens, Australian War Memorial, Limestone and Fairbairn Avenues, Canberra, ACT
In 2018, the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ACT commissioned a memorial that recognises and commemorates the military service and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their legacy. Designed by artist Daniel Boyd (Kudjala/Gangalu/Kuku Yalanji/Waka Waka/Gubbi Gubbi/Wangerriburra/Bandjalung) in collaboration with Edition Office architects, the memorial was dedicated by Dr Jackie Huggins (Bidjara/Birri Gubba Juru).
The Aboriginal Memorial (Poles Memorial)
National Gallery of Australia, Parkes Place, Parkes, ACT
More information: National Gallery of Australia, Burial Ceremonies. The NGA also a video about The Aboriginal Memorial.
Related resource: a tool kit, developed in 2021 by the National Indigenous Australians Agency and supported by its North Coast and New England teams, New South Wales, National Indigenous Australians Agency, A Grave Responsibility to Honour Our Ancestors: A National Guide to Identify and Protect Unmarked Graves and Cemeteries, September 2021: https://www.cemeteries.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-01/A-Grave-Responsibility-to-Honour-Our-Ancestors.pdf
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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Richmond_Hill
Blackman’s Point, Port Macquarie, NSW
Recognised as an important massacre site and declared an Aboriginal Place.
Read more: “Blackman’s Point Massacre Site declared an Aboriginal Place in New South Wales”:
“Aunty Rhonda grew up hearing about the massacres at Blackman’s Point. Now this history has been. recognised.”
https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/aunty-rhonda-grew-up-hearing-about-the-massacres-at-blackmans-point-now-the-govt-has-recognised-its-history/s5ylrmgaw
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:
Monument Australia website:
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/21079-east-ballina-massacre-site
Richmond River Massacre–Massacres–East Ballina Massacre
https://www.liquisearch.com/richmond_river_massacre/massacres/east_ballina_massacre
Hospital Creek Massacre monument and site
Hospital Creek, Goodooga Road, 15 kms from Brewarrina, NSW
State Library of New South Wales, Gather website, Connecting Aboriginal communities with collections and stories from the State Library of New South Wales: https://gather.sl.nsw.gov.au/digital-heritage/hospital-creek-massacre-site-hospital-creek-where-largest-massacre-area-some-300
Monument Australia website:
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/20518-hospital-creek-massacre
National Library of Australia’s Trove: https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/151756415
Mount Dispersion Massacre Site
Tapalin Mail Route Road, between Mildura and Robinvale, Mount Dispersion, NSW
A cairn recording a violent incident between surveyor, Major Thomas Mitchell’s party and Aboriginal people in May 1836 is located on Tapalin Mail Route Road, Midway between Mildura and Robinvale, Mount Dispersion, New South Wales.
The New South Wales Government declared the actual site of the massacre, in which at least seven Aboriginal people were killed, as an Aboriginal Place on 27 April 2020 in the lead-up to the 184th anniversary of the killings. Read updated post that includes the government declaration here:
Mount Dispersion: a Declared Aboriginal Place
Read more about the history of Mount Dispersion here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Dispersion,_New_South_Wales
Myall Creek Massacre Memorial
Myall Creek, Delungra Road, 20 km north of Bingara, NSW
Links here:
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
Allyn River Road, Mount Razorback, 10.3 kms north-west of Gresford, NSW
This plaque honours Aboriginal and European people who gave their lives in Australian frontier conflicts.
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:
Monument Australia:
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/indigenous/display/20263-windradyne-
Grave of Windradyne, Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_of_Windradyne
NORTHERN TERRITORY (NT)
Brooks Soak: See Yurrkuru below.
Coniston Massacre monuments:
Baxters Well, East of Willowra, NT
Link here: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/80056-coniston-massacre
See also Remembering the Coniston Massacre: https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/213508/0
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
Yurrkuru (Brooks Soak)
Mount Denison Road, NW of Alice Springs, NT
Link here: https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/881367/0
QUEENSLAND (QLD)
Frontier Wars Installation
Beulah Community, Lindsay Road, Buderim, QLD
Brisbane Magistrates Court
Roma Street, Brisbane, QLD
Witnessing to Silence, a sculpture by Badtjala artist, Dr Fiona Foley, represents the history of frontier conflict between colonists and First Nations peoples in Queensland. The installation, a first is a memorial to First Nations people massacred in Queensland during the colonial period.
This installation is also depicted in the cover photo of the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland’s publication, Aboriginal people in Queensland: a brief human rights history, 2017:
https://www.qhrc.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/10606/Aboriginal-timeline-FINAL-updated-25-July-2018.pdf
Butchulla Monument
Esplanade, Pialba, QLD
Dedicated in 1988, this monument honours Aboriginal people from the Wide Bay Area of Queensland’s Fraser Coast. Read more: https://www.frasercoast.qld.gov.au/directory-record/36144/butchulla-monument
Butchulla War Memorial
Bazaar and Sussex Streets, Queens Park, Maryborough, QLD
A first-of-its-kind warrior memorial was opened at Maryborough, Queensland on 22 April 2023. Read more in Lucy Loram’s story on ABC Wide Bay: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-23/butchulla-memorial-for-first-australians-killed-in-frontier-wars/102256224
Monument Australia listing: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/frontier/display/121432-butchulla-warrior-memorial
Hornet Bank
Fraser Family Memorial, Hornet Bank Road, Hornet Bank Station, Taroom, QLD
Links here:
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/92622-hornet-bank-massacre
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
 |
Closeup of plaques showing damage |
More information at: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/culture/indigenous/display/91231-kalkadoon-and-mitakoodi-people
See also Paul Daley’s article ‘As the toll of Australia’s brutality keeps climbing, truth-telling is long overdue: The myth of benign, peaceful settlement persists today–even as historians reveal a far more sinister picture’, The Guardian, 4 March 2019, link on Kooriweb: http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/news/2000s/2019/guardian4mar2019b.pdf
Kalkadoon/Kalkatunga Memorial
Battle Mountain (Mount Remarkable), 20 kms south-west of Kajabbi, QLD
Plaque image: www.timetoast.com
About 200 First Nations people died in this battle with colonists in 1884. Former Secretary of the Australian Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Dr Charles Nelson Perrurle Perkins AO (1936–2000), of Arrernte and Kalkadoon descent, and Kalkadoon Elder George Thorpe, opened the memorial in 1984.
More information:
The Kalkadoon Native Title Aboriginal Corporation has more information on the Kalkadoon people and the 1884 battle:
https://www.kalkadoonpbc.com.au/about-us/who-we-are
Monument Australia:
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/91742-kalkadoon—kalkatunga-memorial
Wikipedia entry on Kalkatungu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalkatungu
Mary Watson’s Monument
Charlotte Street, Cooktown, QLD
Monument Australia:
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/91193-mary-watson
Queensland Heritage Register:
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=600421
Multuggerah memorial plaque
Duggan Park, Leslie Street, Toowoomba, QLD
Monument Australia: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/92754-multuggerah
https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/apn-plaque-honours-aborigina/2728/
https://driveinland.com.au/experience-aboriginal-culture-and-heritage-in-the-toowoomba-region/
Multuggerah Way, Toowoomba, QLD
Image courtesy of Ray Kerkhove
Information about the campaign to name a Toowoomba viaduct Multuggerah Way can be found on the Toowoomba Social Justice Commission’s website. See page on The Friends of Multuggerah and The Battle of Meewah (One Tree Hill): https://www.socialjusticetoowoomba.com/multuggerah-way-campaign
Bill Gould’s Lookout
Tobruk Memorial Drive, Picnic Point, Toowoomba, QLD
Annual commemorations of the Battle of Meewah (One Tree Hill) have been held in Toowoomba since about 2017, excluding 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions. (Watch the video of the 2020 Battle of Meewah commemoration ceremony on the Videos page). The 2021 ceremony, with the theme Righting the Wrongs and Truth Telling, was held on 13 September 2021 at Bill Gould’s Lookout, with views across to One Tree Hill (Table Mountain) where Multuggerah led his people against colonists from 12–13 September 1843. Read more about the annual ceremonies held to mark the Battle of Meewah: https://www.socialjusticetoowoomba.com/multuggerah-way-campaign
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: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/51020-maria-monument
Waterloo Bay, Elliston memorial
Little Bay Clifftop Drive, Waterloo Bay, Elliston, SA
Links: 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: https://www.smh.com.au/national/once-were-warriors-20140204-31zmu.html
Dan Butler, ‘The power of Truganini: reclaiming a hero’s story’, NITV News, 28 September 2022: https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/the-point/article/it-makes-my-heart-warm-campaigner-welcomes-support-for-frontier-war-memorial/e7e9o4v8m
Apart from this plaque commemorating Truganini, Tasmania does not have any memorials commemorating people who died in the frontier conflicts that took place in Van Diemen’s Land. However, steps to change this situation are being made. Read more: Sarah Maunder, ‘It makes my heart warm: Campaigner welcomes support for Frontier War memorial,’ The Point, NITV, 31 March 2021: https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/the-point/article/it-makes-my-heart-warm-campaigner-welcomes-support-for-frontier-war-memorial/e7e9o4v8m
Adam Holmes, ‘Tasmanian Frontier War memorial taking steps forward as Reconciliation Tasmania looks to talks,’ The Examiner, 2 July 2021: https://www.examiner.com.au/story/7161821/tasmianian-frontier-wars-memorial-taking-steps-forward/
In the second episode of her three-part documentary, The Australian Wars, Rachel Perkins updates the story of the fight for a Tasmanian memorial commemorating the frontier conflicts. The series began on SBS on 21 September 2022. Watch the series here: https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/the-australian-wars
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 Memorial and Walk
Yarra Flats Billabongs, Melba Highway, Yarra Glen, VIC
Battle of Yering monument
Yarra Flats Billabongs, Melba Highway, Yarra Glen, VIC
Links: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/30552-battle-of-yering
Post by Neil Follett, Weekend Notes, Melbourne, 2 March 2019: https://www.weekendnotes.com/the-battle-of-yering-memorial-walk/
Dan ‘the Cook’ Dempsey memorial stone
24 Forest Road, Orbost, East Gippsland, VIC
Links: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/33011-dan-dempsey
https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/14036
Faithfull Massacre memorial
Kent Street, Lake Benalla, Benalla, VIC
https://www.tomorrowtoday.com.au/?file=current_projects&smid=12
Konongwootong Quiet Place
Konongwootong Reservoir, Konongwootong, about 11 km north of Coleraine, VIC
https://www.standard.net.au/story/2404927/reservoir-ceremony-remembers-aboriginal-massacre/
Manna Gums Frontier Wars Memorial Avenue
Malmsbury–Daylesford Road, Daylesford, Victoria
The first of its kind in Australia, this Avenue of Honour was opened on 16 July 2021 at the conclusion of NAIDOC Week, the theme for which was “Heal Country”. The memorial provides an opportunity to honour the loss of lives, sacrifice and suffering of First Peoples during frontier conflicts in Australia. Healing Country and Healing People are inseparable. Acknowledgment of the suffering of Aboriginal people is a first step along the road to acceptance of Australia’s history and people working together for a better future for all.
Manna Gums memorial avenue sign, Hepburn Shire Council, Victoria
Massacre Hill memorial
5 kilometres west of Peterborough, VIC
Link: 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: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/32608-mount-dispersion-cairn
Mount Dispersion Plaque
Aboriginal Keeping Place Museum, Shepparton, VIC
Link: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/33404-mount-dispersion-plaque
Memorial to Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyhenner
Cnr of Victoria and Franklin Streets, Melbourne (Naarm), VIC
Melbourne City Council commissioned a commemorative marker to Maulboyhenner and Tunnerminnerwait in early 2016. Standing by Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyhenner, by Brook Andrew and Trent Walter, the memorial was opened in September 2016. It was 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
Read more about Tunnermininnerwait and Maulboyhenner on the City of Melbourne’s website:
https://www.melbourne.voc.gov.au/tunnerminnerwait-and-maulboyheener
Wombeetch Puyuum grave and memorial to Aborigines
Camperdown Cemetery, Cemetery Road, Camperdown, VIC
Read more about this memorial on Monument Australia’s website: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/indigenous/display/30611-wombeetch-puyuum-
See also: ‘Wombeetch Puyun, a unique friendship and the push to recognise a monument erected in his honour,’ Matt Neal, ABC Southwest, 10 July 2022: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-10/wombeetch-puyuun-james-dawson-camperdown-cemetery-memorial/101083712
WESTERN AUSTRALIA (WA)
Butterabby Graves
Mingenew Road, 15km S of Mullewa, WA
Link: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/60850-butterabby-graves
Chipper’s Leap monument
Padbury Road, Greenmount Hill, Greenmount, WA
Link: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/60560-chipper%60s-leap
Flying Foam Massacre monument
Burrup Peninsula, Dampier, WA
Link: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/60363-flying-foam-massacre
Injudinah Massacre plaque
Explorers Memorial, The Esplanade, Fremantle, WA
Link: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/60490-injudinah–massacre
Kakenarup Memorial
15 kms from Ravensthorpe, WA
Memorial to those who died around Cocanarup in the early years of colonisation.
Links: http://www.ravensthorpehistory.org.au/documents/kuke.html
Tara de Landgrafft, ‘Memorial launch prompts reconciliation between farming and Indigenous communities in regional Western Australia,’ ABC WA Country Hour, Friday 22 May 2015, https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2015-05-22/kukenarup-memorial-opened-in-ravensthorpe/6490332
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2015-05-22/kukenarup-memorial-opened-in-ravensthorpe/6490332
Michael Tobin grave
Canning Stock Route near Well 40, Tobin Lake, WA
Link: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/108861-michael-tobin
Mistake Creek Massacre monument
Warmun (Turkey Creek), WA
Link: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/93363-mistake-creek-massacre
Mowla Bluff Massacre monument
Geegully Creek, Mowla Bluff, WA
Link: 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: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/61063-pinjarra-massacre-site
Sturt Creek massacre site memorial
Kimberleys, WA
Link here to the story about the Sturt Creek massacre and the memorial that 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: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/indigenous/display/93059-yagan-memorial-park
Yagan Square, Perth, WA
Yagan Square, opened in Western Australia’s capital, Perth on 3 March 2018, is often 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: 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. Updated 15 January 2022, 11 March 2022, 15 April 2022, 10 July 2022, 28 September 2022, 1, 8, 28 October 2022, 8 November 2022, 20 December 2022, 31 May 2023, 11 September 2023, 5, 17, 26, 28 April 2024, 8 December 2024, 20 March 2025, 27 March 2025.