A comprehensive military history of frontier conflict in Australia. Covering the first 50 years of British occupation, it examines in detail how both sides fought on the frontier and how Aborigines developed a form of warfare differing from tradition.

In 1840, Brisbane was the furthest outpost of settled Australia. Over the next few years, pastoralists poured in. The violence that erupted welded many of the tribal groups into an alliance that, by 1842, was working to halt the advance. The Battle of One Tree Hill tells the story of one of the most audacious stands against this migration.

Aboriginal people managed the land in a far more systematic and scientific fashion than we have ever realised, with an extraordinarily complex system of land management using fire, the life cycles of native plants, and the natural flow of water to ensure plentiful wildlife and plant foods throughout the year.

Between 1825 and 1831 close to 200 Britons and 1000 Aborigines died violently in Tasmania's Black War. It was by far the most intense frontier conflict in Australia's history, yet many Australians know little about it. This book takes a unique approach to this historic event, looking chiefly at the experiences and attitudes of those who took part.

Twenty chapters making the case that Australia is more than Anzac - and always has been. Includes Eualeyai-Kamillaroi historian Larissa Behrendt on ‘Settlement or invasion? The coloniser’s quandary’ and journalist and author Paul Daley on ‘Our most important war: The legacy of frontier conflict’

Fictionalised account of punitive expeditions against Walbiri people led by Constable W.G. Murray and Nugget Morton; criticism of the affair by missionary Athol McGregor and Anne Locke; Darwin trial; recent interviews with Walbiri survivors by M. Hartwig, P. Read and P. Wafer.