It is with profound sadness that we mark the passing on the 30th of April, 2024 of our leader,
Emerita Professor Lyndall Ryan AM, FAHA,
without whose scholarship, academic endeavour and dogged determination this project would never have come to fruition.
Vale Lyndall Ryan (14 April 1943 - 30 April 2024)
There will be no further updates to massacre data on this website.
There will be updates to webpages and the bibliography in the coming months.
The makers of this website respectfully acknowledge the Pambalong Clan of the Awabakal Nation, the traditional custodians of the land where this website is hosted and where most of its development was done. We would also like to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations and Peoples, particularly the traditional custodians of all the places marked on the map. We extend our respect to Elders – past, present and future.
This site contains information about acts of violence that may be distressing. There are no images of people on this website.
From the moment the British invaded Australia in 1788 they encountered active resistance from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander owners and custodians of the lands and waters. In the frontier wars which continued into the 1920s frontier massacres were a defining strategy to contain and eradicate that resistance. As a result thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, women and children were killed. This site presents a map, timelines, and information about frontier massacres in Australia between 1788 when British colonisation began until 1930. Only frontier massacres for which sufficient evidence could be found are included. The map includes information about frontier massacres of non-Aboriginal people such as colonists and others in Australia in the same period.
To fully understand the information presented here please read the Introduction. This project is presented not as a conclusion but as a beginning. It is intended to reliably inform anyone researching, telling or listening to the history of Australia. Every effort has been made to provide the most accurate information possible, including the use of reputable secondary sources and published oral histories. All frontier massacre sites shown on the map include the sources that were used. There have been ongoing corrections, changes and additions as more information became available and research improved our knowledge. Many people have contributed information using the contact form which was checked and validated before any changes were made.
Following the generation of data on massacres, research into drivers and intergenerational impacts of frontier violence continues with the Historical Frontier Violence project, led by A/Prof Julie Moschion and Dr Cain Polidano and funded via the ARC Discovery Project scheme (ARC DP220101336).
The project was initially funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council, PROJECT ID: DP140100399.
