The movement for genuine and long overdue truth telling about Australian history has gained considerable momentum in recent years. The Frontier Wars in particular has emerged as one of, if not the most significant untold stories which it is now broadly agreed must be included in any such process.
The Australian Frontier Wars were fought from 1788 to the 1930s between the First Nations people of this land and an invading coalition of white settlers, militia, police, and colonial soldiers. Respected Australian historian Professor Henry Reynolds has estimated that in total the conflict claimed between 20,000 to 30,000 Aboriginal lives and the lives of between 2,000 and 2,500 Europeans. Recent research suggests this number could be even higher with Raymond Evans and Robert Ørsted–Jensen from the University of Queensland suggesting that the number of casualties could be at least 60,000 in Queensland alone. This was undoubtedly a defining conflict in the history of this country.
However, despite the undeniable significance of the Frontier wars to our shared history, there has been little to no official recognition of these conflicts.
In the absence of such leadership, a growing number of communities are now taking it upon themselves to commemorate their own local histories. Notable examples include Myall Creek, Appin, Coniston, One Tree Hill and Elliston where annual ceremonies are held and monuments now stand to somberly and respectfully remember the blood spilt in the Frontier wars.
Although these local commemorations are undoubtably promising and encouraging, the truth telling process remains limited due to the lack of political will at Federal, State and Local levels of government to remember our first war in any meaningful way. The ongoing refusal of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra to acknowledge the Frontier Wars is emblematic of this.
Despite a general consensus amongst military historians that the Frontier Wars indeed demonstrated all the characteristics of a war and should be categorized as such, there remains a distinct lack of political leadership on this issue.
'These institutions are all examples of how nations can confront often brutal and shameful histories courageously and once established often become a source of pride and strength as a demonstration of a more mature and honest society.'
This is in contrast to an increasing and long overdue recognition of the contributions made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and women to the war efforts of the Commonwealth. My own grandfather who served in World War 2 with