E45: The Truth About Aboriginal Tribal Violence Pre-1788

Summary

Host John Ruddick argues that Aboriginal life before 1788 involved both social and cultural richness and recurring violence. Drawing heavily on accounts by William Buckley and other Europeans who lived among Aboriginal communities, the episode describes hospitality, shared hunting, humour and elaborate corroborees alongside intergroup fighting and cycles of revenge.

William Buckley’s account

Buckley’s account of his 31 years living with a community near present-day Geelong is central to the episode. He reportedly witnessed about 25 violent deaths. His stories describe disputes over women and broken marriage promises, retaliatory killings between groups, and a nighttime attack in which men, women and children were killed.

The episode says that responsibility for a killing could extend to the perpetrator’s relatives or entire group, sustaining cycles of reprisal. It also stresses that conflict was intermittent and that neighbouring groups often maintained friendly relations.

Colonial expansion and the Bathurst War

The episode connects this discussion to colonial violence. It recounts how rapid land grants and pastoral expansion around Bathurst from 1821 displaced Wiradjuri people and intensified competition for food. By 1824, the conflict had escalated to the Bathurst War.

Ruddick notes that the deaths attributed to the conflict—usually estimated at around 100 Wiradjuri people and 20 colonists—fall below the Correlates of War Project’s formal threshold for war. However, he argues that the sustained guerrilla fighting warrants the traditional name “Bathurst War.”

Records and estimates of violence

Ruddick compares competing records of colonial-era massacres. He cites Lyndall Ryan’s project, which records 438 mass killings during the colonial period:

• 419 of Aboriginal people by colonists
• 13 of colonists by Aboriginal people
• Five of Aboriginal people by other Aboriginal people

He contrasts this with a compilation by Christophe Darmangeat and Jay, which counts roughly 215 conflicts between Aboriginal groups. The episode notes that both collections rely largely on European records and argues that intergroup violence is likely underdocumented because many incidents occurred beyond European observation.

The host advances a broader argument that the absence of private property rights encouraged competition over scarce resources and violence, while property ownership, trade and colonial rule reduced conflict. To illustrate the scale of pre-1788 violence, he makes a speculative calculation estimating 400 massacres of more than six people per year across Australia over 50,000 years. This is presented as a rough inference based on assumed population and group sizes, not as a figure established by historical records.

The episode also argues that public discussion focuses disproportionately on colonial killings and says comparisons should consider the long precolonial period as well.

Early encounters around Sydney

The episode quotes Watkin Tench, who initially viewed Aboriginal people negatively but later credited them with generosity and intelligence. It also describes Bennelong’s relationships with Governor Phillip and his longstanding hostility toward a rival clan. These accounts are used to illustrate both cooperation and conflict among Aboriginal groups.

Macquarie and the Appin massacre

The episode recounts Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s response to violence and property theft on the colony’s expanding frontier. In 1816, he ordered military detachments into the interior to arrest or punish people accused of attacks on settlers.

It describes the Appin massacre, in which Captain James Wallis’s party killed 14 Aboriginal people, including women and children, during a nighttime operation. Wallis reported no injuries to his soldiers, and the troops faced no court-martial.

Macquarie subsequently issued rules restricting Aboriginal movement near settlements and armed gatherings, while also proposing land grants, employment and education. He later reported that violence in the Sydney region had subsided. The episode closes by previewing a fuller account of the Bathurst War.

Presenters and contributors

• John Ruddick — host and narrator
• Sean Masters — producer