Frontier Justice: a History of the Gulf Country to 1900 (2005)

The Gulf country was a harsh and in places impassable wilderness. To explorers, it promised discovery, and to bold adventurers like the overlanders and pastoralists, a new start. For prospectors, it was a gateway to the riches of the Kimberley goldfields. To the 2,500 Aboriginal inhabitants, it was their physical and spiritual home. From the 1870s, with the opening of the Coast Track, cattlemen eager to lay claim to vast tracts of station land brought cattle in massive numbers and destruction to precious lagoons and fragile terrain. Black and white conflict escalated into unfettered violence and retaliation that would extend into the next century, displacing, and in some areas destroying, the original inhabitants.