The Australian Wars

I recently watched this extraordinary 3 part documentary series. It is a brutal, fascinating, beautifully made documentary about the early colonisation of Australia and the omission from history and the lack of recognition by the various war memorials, of the frontier wars that occurred between Indigenous Australians and the colonials. This series is very distressing. Like most my age, at school I learned nothing of these wars, which are analogous to the much known wars between the American settlers and the native Americans. The Australian history I was taught was largely British history concerned with just the discovery, settlement, a bit about the convicts and Eureka Stockade - that was it. The main players, the governors of the colonies were portrayed as chivalrous gentlemen, no perpetrators of destruction.

The first episode concentrates on New South Wales, the second episode on Tasmania and the third on Queensland and W. A. and it is the third one that really, really upset me. The atrocities perpetrated on the Indigenous Australians are horrific. I think this is one of the most powerful and important documentary series I've ever seen and it should be compulsory viewing for all Australians. It's approached from an historical academic perspective, with interviews with historians and review of original records, and the previously ignored oral history of the Indigenous Australians. The documentary is made by Rachel Perkins, daughter of Charles Perkins and she does a wonderful job. She has a beautiful voice when narrating and the cinematography and production values are superb.

What happened, and is still happening, to many Indigenous peoples is all to often quite horrific. This program provides much needed history.

The only thing I'm confused about is why almost all the people they are speaking to don't look at all native. I'd be interested to know how much of these people's heritage is native. They keep saying we as if they are native, but they all look 80% white. Wouldn't that make their saying we refer to their Europian heritage. If I were native, i would be very unhappy about these people trying to steal their history. It's almost like when people who never served say they have. Honor thieves.

The European conquest of Australia was a murderous affair, as native peoples were driven from their land and often straightforwadly exterminated. This documentary series tells some of this savage history, and also raises the point that modern day Australia the history that is usaully told is that of the victors. The first episode annoyed me a little, as it seemed to be attempting to overstate its case through a combintaion of legalese and emotion; but as the subsequent episodes laid out the scale of the slaughter, it became harder to resent the anger of the presentation. That doesn't make it a cheerful programme; but nonetheless, it's a necessary one.