History is not static. Our view of it changes as new evidence comes to light.
The Australian Wars and Resistance (AWAR) website is a growing resource of evidence on the Australian (Frontier) Wars. It reflects the remark of David Marr in Killing for Country (2023), 'Australia was fought for in an endless war of little, cruel battles' (page 131).
'We estimate', says the Introduction to the site, 'there are roughly 10,000 events that comprise these wars and resistance movements, involving 100s of named and 1000s of unnamed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, as well as colonists'. The 'Aims' of the site are as follows:
- Identify Australian Wars and resistance movements and the people involved in them, as a basis for answering who, what, where, when, how and why.
- Provide access to reliable information and tools for research and education, and to inform public debate.
- Encourage and conduct collaborative and autonomous regional research, combining Indigenous Knowledge, colonial archives and computational methods.
The map accompanying this post shows 40 areas across Australia where there were periods of intense open violence between colonists and First Nations people on the colonial frontier. There is a list of sites region by region and by time period. Users can click on the map and go to 'More details'.
Information for some areas is more developed than others but clicking on south-west Victoria, for example, brings the user to 'Eumeralla War and Resistance', then to around 30 location markers in Victoria and South Australia leading to information about incidents of violence at the location.
The map is based on data from the Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930 project (ARC DP140100399) and work has continued since. The information is described as provisional and subject to updating. The methodology for producing the map was developed by Dr Bill Pascoe as part of the Historical Frontier Violence project (ARC DP220101336), and is supported by approximately 50 leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and historians.
Picture credit: Australia map screenshot from the AWAR website, showing the 40 areas; used with permission.
More from
General
category
