For help on how to use and navigate this database please visit the “User Guide” page. Users must first be logged in to the database for the search function and the links to work; you can do this by visiting https://database.frontierconflict.org and registering as a new user (it will take about 30 seconds).
Events
One of the least well known aspects of the frontier is the extent and nature of conflict that took place. Quantifying this conflict was no simple task. This database contains over 1800 different conflict events divided into four categories: attacks on stock or property, attacks on Europeans or other non-Indigenous settlers, attacks on Aboriginal people and attacks on NMP detachments. Many of these cannot be mapped with any accuracy and many more could not be mapped at all.
Even a cursory glance at the map shows the scale of ongoing conflict. The earliest events in our database took place when the first Dutch mariners navigated the west coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1623, and the latest in 1911 after the NMP had been disbanded. Although such events lie outside the time frame of our project (1849–1904) the events in the 1600s indicate that even the earliest contacts were underscored with violence, and the latest event—the killing of James Orana McPherson in 1911—was investigated by former NMP officers stationed at a former NMP camp.
For a detailed search of the database for events, please use the icons below.
Search ‘All Events’
Search ‘Attack on Aboriginal People’
Search ‘Attack on Europeans/
Others’
Search ‘Attack on NMP Detachment’
Search ‘Attack on Stock/ Property’