Australian frontier wars

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Chronology

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1. Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars

Series of conflicts where British forces, including armed settlers and detachments of the British Army in Australia, fought against Indigenous clans inhabiting the Hawkesbury River region and the surrounding areas to the west of Sydney.

• January 1794: Conflicts where British forces, including armed settlers and detachments of the British Army in Australia, fought against Indigenous clans inhabiting the Hawkesbury River region and the surrounding areas to the west of Sydney.

2. Bathurst War

A war between the Wiradjuri nation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

• February 1824: January – 28 December 1824: a war between the Wiradjuri nation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

3. Black War

Was the period of violent conflict between British colonists and Aboriginal Australians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832.

• January 1825: Mid 1820s -1832: was the period of violent conflict between British colonists and Aboriginal Australians in Tasmania.

4. Australian Frontier Wars in the Northern Territory

Conflicts between the indigenous Australians and the European settlers in the Australian Northern Territory during the colonisation of Australia.

• January 1829: The initial settlement at Fort Dundas on Melville Island was established in 1824 but was abandoned in 1829 due to attacks from the local Tiwi people.
• January 1829: Some fighting also took place near Fort Wellington on the Cobourg Peninsula between its establishment in 1827 and abandonment in 1829.
• January 1847: The third British settlement, Fort Victoria, was also established on the Cobourg Peninsula in 1838 but was abandoned in 1847.

5. Australian Frontier Wars in Western Australia

Conflicts between the indigenous Australians and the European settlers in Western Australia during the colonisation of Australia.

• January 1830: 1830-1850: Open conflict between Noongar and European settlers broke out in Western Australia in the 1830s as the Swan River Colony expanded from Perth. The Pinjarra Massacre, the best known single event, occurred on 28 October 1833. Fighting continued into the 1840s along the Avon River near York.

6. Wars on the plains

Conflicts between the indigenous Australians and the European settlers in Eastern Australia during the colonisation of Australia.

• January 1830: 1830-1843: British settlement spreaded rapidly through inland eastern Australia, leading to widespread conflict.

7. Australian Frontier Wars in Victoria

Conflicts between the indigenous Australians and the European settlers in Victoria during the colonisation of Australia.

• January 1834: 1834 - 1842: Fighting also took place in early pre-separation Victoria after it was settled in 1834.

8. Australian Frontier Wars in Queensland

Conflicts between the indigenous Australians and the European settlers in Queensland during the colonisation of Australia.

• January 1838: 1838-1861: free settlement began in 1838 but a wholesale invasion and settlement only really began with the great rush to take up the surrounding land in the Darling Downs, Logan and Brisbane Valley and South Burnett onwards from 1840, in many cases leading to widespread fighting and heavy loss of life. The conflict later spread north to the Wide Bay and Burnett River and Hervey Bay region, and at one stage the settlement of Maryborough was virtually under siege. Both sides committed atrocities, with settlers poisoning a large number of Indigenous people, for example at Kilcoy on the South Burnett in 1842 and on Whiteside near Brisbane in 1847, and Indigenous warriors killing settlers during the Cullin-La-Ringo massacre on 17 October 1861.