The Australian Wars

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History Documentary hosted by Rachel Perkins, published by BBC in 2023 - English narration

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The forgotten story of the bloody conquest of Australia. Personal perspectives on the battles between colonial settlers and First Nations people - and the echoes they leave today.

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Intertribal conflict was a familiar fixture for Australia's First Nations people, but nothing could prepare them for the conflict with the British and European arrivals over land and livelihood.

Rachel Perkins examines these first encounters following the British arrival in 1788.

The British Empire's presence in Sydney began as a small, contained, fortified venture in Sydney Harbour. New South Wales's first governor, Arthur Phillip, was tasked with forming friendly alliances with locals. But with the lack of a treaty between occupying forces, a scarcity of resources to feed the growing population and neighbouring tribes not willing to surrender their land, conflict ensued. Successive governors ruled by force. The tactics of terror and intimidation, including some instances of the abuse of children and women, became one of the triggers of war.

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In the 1820s, the colonist population doubled in Tasmania, and so too did the death count as settlers came into conflict with Tasmanian Indigenous people resisting their arrival.

Despite detailed public records of the extensive conflict in Tasmania - there are no public memorials to those who died. Governor Arthur Phillip's military background led the new approach to securing the Empire's interests, including armed fortification of the 'settled districts.' But as the population grew, these areas expanded into prime hunting grounds of the First Nations groups who lived there.

The 1828 killing of a white woman by unknown warriors saw a fierce escalation in tensions and the introduction of martial law by Governor Arthur, enforced by armed parties of colonists and soldiers. Arthur also authorised a propaganda campaign highlighting supposed equality between black and white populations under the law. That equality was not the experience of warriors such as Tongerlongeter, or of the population of Tasmania, who fought down to almost the last person, before accepting the terms of an armistice.

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The abolition of slavery in the 1830s was a defining moment for the British Empire. Buoyed by their success, the abolitionists looked to the plight of Indigenous people. Their aim: to ensure the foundation of South Australia was done differently and access to land negotiated with First Nations people. But London was literally on the other side of the planet, and on the ground, no such arrangements or treaties were made as settler interests prevailed.

Rachel Perkins follows the frontier conflict as it expands across the continent as the British administration gives way to state parliaments and the federated Commonwealth.

In Queensland, the new government established its own Native Police to help clear the way for the settlers. Designed to move with the frontier, they gradually made their way north. Over 50 years of its existence, it is estimated the Native Police may have killed perhaps 72,000 Indigenous people. Further north and west, the settlement pattern is repeated. Vast pastoral stations are carved out across Indigenous territories, and a process of 'quietening the blacks' begins - a process that First Nations people refer to as the 'killing times'.