Archaeology on the Frontier

This blog is about research relating to frontier conflict and especially the Native Mounted Police in Queensland

Uniform Buttons of the Native Mounted Police in Queensland, 1852–1904

09/03/2020.Reading time 26 minutes.

By Nic Grguric The stranger turned round and revealed a rather prepossessing face, and I noticed a row of glittering buttons, which at once proclaimed the native police officer (Queenslander, 25 January 1879, p.109). A considerable assemblage of uniform buttons were recovered from the archaeological fieldwork carried out at six Native Mounted Police (NMP) sites […]

Willing Volunteers? Recruiting Aboriginal Boys and Men to the NMP Part II

05/13/2018.Reading time 8 minutes.

By Lynley Wallis, Heather Burke, Bryce Barker and Noelene Cole In an earlier post we considered some of the mechanisms through which Aboriginal boys and men may have been enticed, or forced, to join the NMP. In this post, we consider what is perhaps the most perplexing type of “recruitment” of these men: that of […]