“Each poor poisoned wretch”: Distributing death by poison on Queensland’s colonial frontier

05/15/2022.Reading time 29 minutes.

By Lynley Wallis We have written before about why finding evidence for frontier massacres in the archaeological record is extremely difficult. There are several reasons why this is the case, not least because most causes of death are soft tissue injuries that leave little trace upon skeletal remains. This is especially the case for victims […]

Cultures of terror

11/07/2020.Reading time 27 minutes.

By Heather Burke In dealing with all savages you must make yourself feared. George Pearce Serocold (25 December 1857) Frontier conflict in colonies such as Australia was less military and more irregular than the popular conception of warfare, characterised by quick, highly-focused, short-term attacks, non-professional combatants, and a range of changing and temporary alliances between […]

“I am, Sir, &c., Tom Coward”

02/04/2019.Reading time 38 minutes.

By Heather Burke Thomas (Tom) Coward was described as many things throughout his life: a ‘thoroughly good explorer’, an ‘experienced bushman’, ‘remarkable and interesting’, tyrannical, irascible, belligerent and domineering. He is one of the better documented NMP officers, chiefly because in his later years he seems to have told his life story to anyone who […]

Archaeology on the Frontier

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“Each poor poisoned wretch”: Distributing death by poison on Queensland’s colonial frontier

Cultures of terror

“I am, Sir, &c., Tom Coward”