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 […]

What’s in a Name?

07/14/2017.Reading time 11 minutes.

By Heather Burke Naming can be a means of identification, classification, control and transformation. For Europeans, the stability of their names—particularly their first names—is taken for granted. Both first and last names provide an anchor for the individual and connect them to family and place. For Aboriginal people names were much less stable but no […]