Introduction 1788-1838
In the decades following first contact between the British and Aboriginal people, the colony expanded outwards from what is now Sydney to the Hawkesbury Nepean and beyond. In the early years of the colony the laws of England were applied and enforced, alongside the orders of the Governor of the day. While the royal instructions to Governors were to bring to justice those who ‘wontonly destroyed’ Aboriginal people, the law often failed to do this.
The Frontier Wars refer to conflict and violence between Aboriginal people and the colonists. These conflicts continued over many years as the colony expanded across the continent.
This part of Towards Truth focuses on the government orders relating to the Frontier Wars and the legal system during this period. It highlights examples of the way the government used the law and the military during this period and how attempts to use the legal system to hold perpetrators of violence to account often failed.
The dispossession of Aboriginal people from their lands, including the clearing and farming of those lands, was a significant driver of frontier violence. Towards Truth will document how laws facilitated dispossession in future research.
The frontier
As convicts and settlers cleared land and built settlements, Aboriginal people continued to occupy, visit and use their Country, and there were many, varied encounters between Aboriginal people and settlers. The frontier of the colony did not a have clear border.
Every aspect of Aboriginal peoples’ lives was touched by colonisation. A smallpox epidemic decimated the population of some Aboriginal groups around greater Sydney and food sources changed dramatically as land was taken and cleared. Women were particularly impacted by sexual violence on the frontier.
Law making
Governors in NSW had broad authority to make laws, and the colony’s distance from Britain meant Governors operated with high degree of legal autonomy. The Governor was ‘commander in chief of the armed forces, chief magistrate, and civil authority within the colony’ ().
In the first years of colonisation, the Governor’s orders were mostly communicated orally – for example, orders were read at Church. From 1803, orders were printed in the Sydney Gazette.
The Colonial legal system and the frontier
When the colonists arrived in 1788, they established courts to apply the laws of England to the colony. Initially, the colonists recognised that Aboriginal people operated under a separate system of laws. However, as the lives of Aboriginal people and Europeans became more intertwined, and as violence spread, the question of how the colonial legal system applied to Aboriginal people became a contentious issue.
This meant it was sometimes not clear to people whether Aboriginal people could be prosecuted under the law or whether violence against Aboriginal people would be punished under the law. This led to inconsistencies and often enabled violence to continue with impunity. You can read more about this in SUB0555.
For more information
Many historians and other experts have written extensively about the Frontier Wars and the early years of colonisation. For further information and context, see , , , .