Debate surrounding the nature of frontier conflict is a relatively new phenomenon. Traditionally historians paid little attention to Aboriginal resistance and frontier violence. Such historiography has been highly political in nature and the manner in which we choose to remember these events has been influenced by how we have chosen to view the nature of Australia’s foundation. A history of violence does not make a very appealing national story and is a past many people have chosen to ignore or simply forget. In fact, part of the nature of frontier conflict made it easy to overlook.
Traditional Aboriginal culture does not contain a written language. Subsequently written records of indigenous histories have only existed since the time of British settlement, recorded from the perspective on the colonisers. These oral histories were easy to dismiss as inaccurate and to ignore the value and significance of. Historians had long preferred to use written primary sources as evidence, meaning Aboriginal perspective was long absent from history. To further compound this problem, prior to British settlers arriving in Australia in 1788, it is estimated that there may have about 250 different Aboriginal languages. In the years following the white colonisation of Australia many of these languages disappeared, and with them undoubtedly countless indigenous histories and stories.
It wasn’t only the nature of the Aboriginal evidence of frontier violence that causes problems when investigating this conflict, there are also significant issues with the evidence from the Europeans. As the Aboriginals were legally citizens of the Crown, the killing of indigenous peoples was considered as murder and punishable by death. As such, instances of frontier violence were often ignore, covered up or recorded inaccurately. Since violence was often between individual landholders it is possible many events simply were not recorded.
One of the first to investigate the Aboriginal response to white settlement was historian Henry Reynolds with his renowned work The Other Side of the Frontier in 1981. Reynolds’ work was ground breaking, considering the situation not just of the Europeans, but also that of the indigenous population. He examined all evidence available, including oral histories and proposed answers to questions that had rarely been considered in the past. Notably, Reynolds estimated a frontier death toll of 20,000 Aboriginal victims. Studies of frontier violence have since been a trend in historiography, with Reynolds receiving both praise for his ideas, and much criticism. It has however largely open up the issue for debate.
Retaliation for killing livestock
Experiences on the frontier and Aboriginal resistance varied. The killing or theft of livestock by the indigenous people was commonly reported. The above illustration depicts an Aboriginal group being persecuted and killed mercilessly - “like dogs” - in retaliation for spearing the settlers’ sheep.
Image credits: '...the revenge of the Whites, as they are hunted down and shot like dogs' at http://www.yale.edu/gsp/colonial/index.html, accessed 27 August, 2009
A different experience of frontier violence
The above illustration shows a different encounter on the frontier, conflict between both the Europeans and the Aboriginals. In particular, note the house on fire in the background -pressumably the result of Aboriginal resistance.
Image credits: 'A Deadly Encounter' at http://www.theage.com.au/.../06/30/1119724752099.html, accessed 24 August, 2009
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