What happened
As settlers spread inland to graze sheep, Indigenous peoples lost their land, water, and hunting grounds, and clashes of resistance and reprisal broke out across the country. Leaders such as Pemulwuy led organised resistance.
Background
The conflict ranged from sporadic guerrilla fighting to massacres by settlers and police. Together with introduced diseases, it caused a catastrophic fall in the Indigenous population.
Consequences
Long downplayed in official history, the frontier wars are now increasingly recognised as a central part of Australia’s past and lie at the heart of debates over reconciliation.