The conflict known as the Black War was one of the most violent and consequential frontier wars in Australian history. Fought in Van Diemen’s Land (modern-day Tasmania) between the mid-1820s and 1832 it pitted British colonial settlers, soldiers and authorities against the island’s Aboriginal peoples. The war resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Aboriginal Tasmanians and more than two hundred colonists and soldiers, and it culminated in the destruction of Aboriginal society as it had existed for tens of thousands of years. While the term “war” was not consistently used by contemporaries, the scale, organization and sustained violence justify its use by modern historians. The article examines the Black War from both perspectives: that of the British colonial society attempting to establish control over land and resources, and that of the Aboriginal Tasmanians defending their country, kin, and way of life.
