Library Guides: Ancient Australia: Contact & Conflict

Source: William Bradley (1789)

The arrival of European colonisers in 1788 forever changed the ways in which Indigenous people lived. Europeans forced Indigenous people off of Country, removing them from their homes and sacred places and often killing Indigenous people in the process. They introduced foreign species of plants and animals which destroyed ecosystems that had been carefully managed by Indigenous peoples, destroying important sources of food for Indigenous people. They introduced foreign diseases which resulted in the deaths of numerous Indigenous people. And they tried to impose their way of life on Indigenous people, interrupting a chain of culture and knowledge that stretched for thousands of years through the forced removal of Indigenous children, the massacre of whole clans of Indigenous people, and by punishing Indigenous people for using their own language and practising their own culture. But through all these changes, Indigenous people resisted and fought back. Read through the resources below to learn more about contact and conflict between European colonists and Indigenous Australians, and how Indigenous Australians resisted colonisation.

Indigenous and European contact in Australia (Kids Britannica, n.d.)
In 1788 boats carrying British citizens landed on the shores of Australia. That expedition, called the First Fleet, was the beginning of the British colonization of Australia. This occupation by outside forces had an extreme effect on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their native land, their lifestyle, and their population. Read through this article to learn more.
First contact: a contemporary Aboriginal perspective (Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2009, February 15)
Gadigal Elder Allen Madden imagines how his ancestors might have responded to the arrival of European settlers in Warrane, or Sydney Cove.
First Contact (My Place, n.d.)
This episode of My Place is told from the point of view of a young boy with the First Fleet and his interactions with an Indigenous girl. The following episode shows the same events but from the girl's perspective. Watch both episodes to get an understanding of what contact might have been like.
First Australians – Episode 1, They Have Come to Stay (Australian Screen, 2008)
On 25 January 1788 the First Fleet enters Sydney Harbour. Narrator Rachel Perkins and historian Professor Marcia Langton of the Yiman-Bidjara Nation convey the Indigenous point of view of this event. Emeritus Scholar Inga Clendinnen describes attempts by the Aboriginal people and the British soldiers to meet on peaceful terms.
Colonisation (Australians Together, n.d.)
The colonisation of Australia had a devastating impact on Indigenous people, who have lived on this land for thousands of years. Read through this website to learn more.
Stan Grant: It is a 'damaging myth' that Captain Cook discovered Australia (ABC, 2017, August 23)
In this article, Stan Grant discusses the myth of discovery and how colonisation impacts Indigenous Australians.
Terra Nullius (Rule of Law, n.d.)
This fact sheet from Rule of Law discusses the European legal concept of Terra Nullius and how it was used to justify taking over Indigenous land.
Frontier Wars (Deadly Story, n.d.)
The Frontier Wars refer to all the massacres, wars and instances of resistances beginning from the arrival of colonists in 1788. Officially the Wars are said to have ended as late as 1934 however many acts of violence and oppression against the Indigenous community continue today, as does their resilience. Read through this website to learn more.
The Frontier Wars (Common Ground, n.d.)
The Frontier Wars began in 1788 and lasted until the 1930s. The Frontier Wars are defined as a series of conflicts and events that happened in the first 140 years of settlement in Australia. First Nations people were involved in conflicts and battles to defend their country and Europeans carried out massacres to expand the British colony. Read through this website to learn more.
What are the Frontier Wars? (NITV, 2017, April 17)
The Frontier Wars refer to conflicts between Europeans and Aboriginal people including battles, acts of resistance and open massacres from 1788 to the 1930s. This website talks about some of the more famous conflicts throughout this period.
Colonial frontier massacres in Australia, 1788-1930 map (University of Newcastle, n.d.)
This interactive map shows the recorded sites of frontier massacre of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people across Australia from 1788 to 1930.
The ‘frontier wars’: Undoing the myth of the peaceful settlement of Australia (Monash University, 2021, April 23)
This article looks at how Australia has historically ignored the violence done to Indigenous people during the colonisation of Australia, and how that violence is now being recognised by the government and wider Australian society.
Living with the locals: Six extraordinary first contact stories of friendship and survival (ABC, 2018, April 6)
Not all stories of first contact between European settlers and Indigenous Australians were fraught with violence and mistrust. Whether lost or escaped, marooned or shipwrecked, exiled or on the run, many Europeans found themselves living with the locals, immersed in their cultures and languages. Some of these relationships were lasting and deep; many were compassionate and peaceful during a time of incredible upheaval. Read through this article to learn more about these early first contact stories.

Gweagal Shield

During his first voyage of discovery, James Cook's landing at Botany Bay on 29 April 1770 was opposed by two Aboriginal warriors from the Gweagal clan. Cook and his landing party attempted to communicate their desire for water and offered the Aboriginal warriors gifts of nails and beads. The two warriors launched stones and spears at the landing party which responded with small shot from their muskets. One of the warriors was wounded and they both retreated, leaving behind spears and a shield. Joseph Banks collected these items and took them back to England. It is believed that this shield from the British Museum is that shield: evidence of one of the first conflicts between Indigenous Australians and European colonsiers.

lan de la ville de Sydney, 1802 by Jean Baptiste Antoine Cloquet (d. 1828) after Charles Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1846).

Governor Phillip (in the 'Governors' Vocabulary', 1791) included the Gomerigal.Tongara among the 'other Tribes that live near us' and listed the placename 'Long Cove - Go-mo-ra'. This suggests the clan was located at Long Cove, later Cockle Bay or Darling Harbour.

Logically, they would also have occupied Blackwattle Bay (now Glebe), seen on the French plan (38) before land reclamation, as a large body of shallow water, and Blackwattle Creek, near the village of the Brickfields (Chippendale).

Two of the Natives of New Holland advancing to combat from A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, in his Majesty’s Ship, the Endeavour by Sydney Parkinson, edited by and printed for Stanfield Parkinson, London, 1773

This engraving comes from the published version of the papers of Sydney Parkinson, the natural history artist.

The engraving is the best-known image of the confrontation at Botany Bay. It may be based on a lost original drawing by Parkinson, although the engraver may well have added elements of his own interpretation.

Collins Street - Town of Melbourne, Port Philip (1840)

View along Collins Street looking west towards Market Street, from approximately Russell Street. Several sailing ships can be seen in the Pool to the left of Collins Street and a group of Aboriginal people are surveying the scene from the high ground in the foreground of the image. A vegetable garden surrounded by a picket fence can be seen lower right.

Brief notices of the Aborigines of New South Wales, including Port Phillip, in reference to their past history and present condition... - James Dredge

This document demonstrates what early European colonists thought of Indigenous Australians.

Nanberry by Jackie French
Publication Date: 2011
It's 1789, and as the new colony in Sydney Cove is established, Surgeon John White defies convention and adopts Nanberry, an Aboriginal boy, to raise as his son. Nanberry is clever and uses his unique gifts as an interpreter to bridge the two worlds he lives in. With his white brother, Andrew, he witnesses the struggles of the colonists to keep their precarious grip on a hostile wilderness. And yet he is haunted by the memories of the Cadigal warriors who will one day come to claim him as one of their own. This true story follows the brothers as they make their way in the world - one as a sailor, serving in the Royal Navy, the other a hero of the Battle of Waterloo. No less incredible is the enduring love between the gentleman surgeon and the convict girl, saved from the death penalty, to become a great lady in her own right.
Strangers on country by David Hartley, Kirsty Murray & David Leffler
Publication Date: 2020
This book is fiction and non-fiction. The fictional part tells the stories of six white castaways or runaways who were found and cared for by Indigenous groups. There are five pairs of stories. Each pair of stories has one written by an Indigenous author and one by a non-Indigenous author. All five stories are based on historical records. After each story there is a non-fiction section that tells the true story from history.
The mind of a thief by Patti Miller
Publication Date: 2012
A superior memoir by an accomplished writer at the height of her powers. For 40,000|years the Central NSW area of Wellington was Aboriginal Wiradjuri land. Following the arrival of white men, it became a penal settlement, mission station, gold mining town and farming centre with a history of white comfort and black marginalisation.
Heroes, rebels and innovators : inspiring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from history by Karen Wyld & Jaelyn Biumaiwai
Publication Date: 2021
Seven stories about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from history. Each colourful spread in this illustrated book tells a story.
Whose land? eyewitness to Aboriginal-non-Aboriginal relations, 1770-2007 by Nicolas Brasch
Publication Date: 2007
Covers the period from 1770, when Australia's east coast was claimed for the British, to today, when much discussion about Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal relations centre around reconciliation. Specially selected extracts from primary sources dating between 1770 and 2007 bring this period of Australian history to life!