Murdering Molvo Part II: Beyond History Written by the Victors

08/13/2020.Reading time 20 minutes.

By Iain Davidson, Heather Burke and Lynley Wallis In a previous post we described a series of events that occurred in western Queensland (Qld) in 1879, involving the killings of four Europeans by Aboriginal people, and the reprisal massacres carried out by the NMP and local settlers that followed. The story we told was reconstructed […]

Murdering Molvo Part I: The Events at Wonomo Waterhole

07/13/2020.Reading time 46 minutes.

By Iain Davidson, Heather Burke, Lance Sullivan and Lynley Wallis The nature of historical knowledge is complex, involving oral history, archaeology and (less often than is generally supposed) written documents, many of which begin with some sort of oral telling. Here we outline the historical knowledge of a particular series of events in northwest Queensland […]

‘It’s the Way it Shatters that Matters’: The Use of Glass by Aboriginal People in NMP Camps

02/18/2019.Reading time 19 minutes.

By Lynley Wallis Most people are well aware (at least in some general manner) of the momentous impact that the arrival of Europeans had on Aboriginal peoples and their ways of life in Australia. What is sometimes less acknowledged are the innovative ways that Aboriginal peoples adapted to the availability of new resources such as […]

Building an Online Database about the Native Mounted Police

12/08/2018.Reading time 21 minutes.

By Lynley Wallis As 2018 draws to a close (though we do have one more Christmas themed blog post to come…) we thought it was time to let you know about another initiative of our Native Mounted Police (NMP) project: an online database that we are hoping (or planning … we’re not sure which is […]

‘To be Seen and Not Heard’: Children and the NMP

08/23/2018.Reading time 14 minutes.

By Lynley Wallis and Heather Burke Given the work with which they were routinely engaged, it is hard to reconcile the idea of a Native Mounted Police camp replete with happy children scampering through the bush, bursting with laughter. But in many cases this must have been a relatively common occurrence since, as we noted […]

‘A Large Comet Appeared in the West’: The Daily Journals of Three NMP Camps

08/08/2018.Reading time 16 minutes.

By Heather Burke Jonathan Richards (2005:1–9) has pointed out the rich veins that can be tapped when searching for Native Mounted Police (NMP) records in the Qld State Archives by burrowing through general file series, such as the Colonial Secretary’s inwards and outwards correspondence, the inquest files of the Justice Department, or the Executive Council […]

Aboriginal Women and the NMP

09/27/2017.Reading time 20 minutes.

The black police … seemed to have full license to kidnap and ravish the women of the first tribe they came across after a depredation had taken place. Frequently I have seen them tie young gins* — yelling and struggling — to the backs of their horses and carry them off after a dispersal, after […]

Archaeology on the Frontier

Category: Aboriginal women