Benjamin Duterrau and his National picture project are at the core of this publication because he was the colonial artist most interested in Tasmania's Aboriginal people, and the only artist who chose to depict, on a substantial scale, their conciliation or pacification by George Augustus Robinson. Tasmanian officials tried to use paintings to show to Aboriginal people 'the cause of the present warfare' and the 'real wishes of the government': 'the desired termination of hostility'.

Tells the story of Australian Aboriginal history and society from its distant beginnings to the present day. From the wisdom and paintings of the Dreamtime to the first contact between Europeans and Indigenous Australians, through to the Uluru Statement, it offers an insight into the life and experiences of the world's oldest surviving culture. The resilience and adaptability of Aboriginal people over millennia is one of the great human stories of all time.

Drawing from documentary and oral evidence, the book describes the ways in which Aborigines responded to the arrival of Europeans. Henry Reynolds' argument that the Aborigines resisted fiercely was highly original when it was first published (1981) and is no less challenging today.

Three articles originally written in 1973, 1977 and 1981, and republished by permission of the author in Honest History. McQueen’s 1973 research used the resources of the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS).

Native Police detachments - mounted Aboriginal troopers led by white officers - would surround Aboriginal camps and fire into them at dawn, killing men, women and children. The bodies were often burned to destroy the evidence. Richards argues that the Native Police were a key part of a 'divide and rule' colonising tactic, that the force's actions were given the implicit approval of government and public servants, and that their killings were covered up and files ‘lost’.

What Can Statistics Tell Us about Frontier Violence? What Estimates have been made about Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Violent Deaths and How Satisfactory are the Methodologies? Do Statistics Provide an Adequate Indication of the Extent of Frontier Conflict? Is it better to ignore them?