Aboriginal Military Resistance
Indigenous Warriors And The Struggle Against Invasion, Colonial Oppression, Aboriginal Genocide And Aboriginal Holocaust Denial
Jul 17, 2006
War Declared
Indigenous resistance to European Invasion began on 19 April 1770. That first act of physical defiance was small, but marked the beginning of a war that has never ended, with no cessation of hostilities on either side, and no treaties signed. Strangely enough, that first act of aggression was from a young boy, who gamely stepped up and hurled a rock at the invaders.
The first official act of war by the invaders was, by their own definition, a terrorist act. The Governor stated his intent to "instil an universal terror" in the traditional owners by hunting down ten random Aborigines and publicly beheading them. This is not something we were taught at school about Governer Phillip and the first colony!
War Casualty and Collateral Damage Estimates
The most conservative estimates by Aboriginal holocaust deniers of the ensuing military engagements, massacres and "punitive expeditions" are at least in the tens of thousands. But those of us who have done the maths, adding up all the language groups and accounts of numbers by early "settlers", find the figure to be more like at least two million. But that doesn't take into account the massive plague of european disease that swept across the continent before even the first population estimates were made, or even the first shot fired. Oral history accounts refer to up to a third of our people dying from the initial outbreak of flu and pox.
But even estimates of three million are not really mathematically valid - as they count the deaths as though it were a static population, all dying off in one fell swoop. But these deaths took place over a century and a half with guns, and then continued more insidiously with genocidal government policy. Arguably, the killing continues today - even if you only consider the proliferation of Aboriginal deaths in custody, which still outnumber those of South Africa's Apartheid regime. So my estimate is more like three or four million deaths in the invasion war, and counting. (I suppose conservative estimates don't take into account women and children, who are regarded by the west as "collateral damage" rather than casualties.)
A Silenced Military History
But are we helpless victims? Hell no! Some of our warriors were so respected by their European adversaries that they were nicknamed after great European Generals, like "Bonaparte (Boney)" and "Pompey".
Massive battles, rivalling America's "Wounded Knee" were fought at Parramatta, Bathurst, The Hawkesbury, Pinjarra, Battle Hill and in many other places. Most people just haven't heard about them because they have been censored from our history. Will our children learn about our great Aboriginal resistance fighters, some of whom made Garibaldi (the father of western guerrilla warfare) look like a Sunday schooler? Will they learn of Pemulway, who organised guerrilla attacks and major battles over a twelve year period before he was betrayed? This man was the William Wallace of Australia - but who knows of him? Will our children learn of other legendary champions in the Aboriginal war against Europe, such as Calyute, Weeip, Yagan, Windradyne, Jandamarra and Dundalli? Or are these heroes destined to pass out of all memory to serve the invaders' myth of "peaceful settlement"?
Australians remember and honour the 691 Australians who died in the Vietnam War. They celebrate it every year on Anzac Day. But what about the 200 (at least) Kalkadoon warriors who died in the final battle of the "Hundred Year War" at Battle Mountain, and the 900 who died in the battles leading up to that one in the same place? What about the thousands upon thousands of others who fell in battle all over the continent in similar engagements? Will their names be added to the lists of the fallen? We also need to consider the poor forgotten European soldiers who died in this dirty war. It seems a shame that they must be forgotten by their own people, for whom they gave their lives to win a home.
Read also about Aboriginal Passive Resistance.
