Frontier conflict between indigenous Australians and early Australian settlers is something that has been overlooked by historians until recently, and even still debate arises over the extent to which it occurred. While this was an issue that has a large impact upon the history of our nation, and most can agree there was some form or degree of conflict, the extent to which we can accurately understand these events is limited, due to historiography issues.
The issue of frontier conflict is one that has been repeatedly overlooked by historians in accounts of early Australia, which could be the result of multiple factors. One of these factors may have been the limited information that historians had to account for these events, making it difficult to create an accurate depiction of the events, and hence it being easier and less controversial to omit these events.Some of the relevant information was partial or missing, for example the records of the Queensland Native Police from 1859, which left people to draw their own conclusions about events. There was also the problem of only non traditional sources being available in some cases. While the new Australians recorded their interpretation of events in mediums such as newspapers and journals, much of the indigenous perspective was passed down verbally, and relied heavily upon memory, making it unclear how credible these accounts could be. This may have resulted in a European dominated memory of our history, without the inclusion of what they did not want to be remembered. Furthermore, the bias of some of these sources is unclear. As Keith Windshuttle and Henry Reynolds both concede, there may have been political or personal reasons for making claims that the bias was not as bad, or alternatively, worse, then what it actually was, for example, how strictly can we interpret a comment made in parliament?
Another reason why these events were left out of earlier histories could have been because of the controversy that arises from them, due to the way in which these events challenge the pioneer legend, and because of the questions it raises as to current indigenous issues. As Reynolds writes in his “The other side of the Frontier”, the acknowledgement of this conflict and the perspective of the other side taints both the pioneer legend and the concept of a clean federation, by both bringing into question the morality and respectfulness of the actions of our founding “heroes”, and by suggesting that in the first 70 years of settlement in Queensland almost 10,000 indigenous people were killed in conflict with white Australians, and almost 20,000 were killed in the years prior to federation. Additionally, this issue has proved to be controversial for the future of Australian inter-cultural relations, even now that it is being discussed. Bain Attwood and S.G. Foster claim that a lack of moral engagement and acknowledgement of the past will result in an “us” and “them” mentality today. Not acknowledging the past and moving forward accordingly impact upon the development, progress and land ownership rights of indigenous people.
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| This image shows an example of the frontier conflict, with Indigenous people making an attack of the hut of a settler, while European Australians fire guns towards them. |
"Attack on a settler's hut", 1870, James Bonwick.
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