10. Indigenous Resistance

It is important to emphasise, as Behrendt does, that: “Although the colonists eventually prevailed, Aboriginal people around Australia resisted incursions onto the land, often tenaciously, with violent and tragic outcomes.” [7]

Indigenous Australians didn’t passively accept the invasion of their land, they resisted vigorously, and sometimes violently. It was not only their physical survival that was threatened; their cultural and spiritual survival was also at stake, as sacred sites were desecrated and connection to Country disrupted. In response, they sometimes employed guerrilla tactics, including raiding farms, killing stock, burning buildings, and even killing settlers.

Pemulwuy was an Aboriginal warrior from the Bidjigal clan of the Dharug nation, and a leader of the resistance movement to the south and west of Sydney Cove. These conflicts became known as the Hawkesbury and Nepean wars.

Pemulwuy and his son, Tedbury, led raids on cattle stations, killing livestock and burning crops and buildings. The purpose of these raids was sometimes to obtain food, however they were often in retaliation for atrocities committed against Indigenous people, particularly the women. In response, Governor King ordered the shooting on site of any Aboriginal person in the Parramatta region, and a reward was announced for Pemulwuy’s death or capture. 

Pemulwuy survived two bullet wounds, but was eventually killed in June 1802 after being shot by two settlers. He was decapitated, and his head was shipped to England. His son, Tedbury, continued the resistance. [8]

Windradyne was another significant leader of the Aboriginal resistance to white colonisation in the Bathurst region of New South Wales, where several violent clashes between Aboriginal people and white settlers prompted Governor Brisbane to place the district under martial law in August 1824. A reward of 500 acres was offered for Wyndradyne’s capture due to his involvement in incidents resulting in the death of several white settlers. However, Wyndradyne avoided capture, and was formally pardoned when he appeared at the Governor’s annual feast in an apparent move to negotiate. He died on the 21st March 1829 due to wounds suffered during a tribal fight. [9]

Yagan was a Noongar (or Nyoongar) warrior, and led the Aboriginal resistance in the Perth region, Western Australia, until colonists killed him in 1833. His head was severed, preserved, and sent to England. The conflict in the area continued after Yagan’s death; in 1834, Governor Stirling led an attack known as the Battle of Pinjarra. Unofficial reports hold that a whole clan of Aboriginal people was extinguished.

In 1997, Yagan’s skull was finally returned to the Noongar people. [10]

In some areas, such as Arnhem Land, Aboriginal resistance succeeded in stalling the spread of the frontier. However, as Behrendt notes, “in the end, the squatters had the law and the firepower on their side.” [11] Indigenous people, their populations severely depleted by disease, dispossession and violence, drifted to the town fringes, cattle stations and Christian missions.

Despite this outcome, Indigenous people continue to demonstrate incredible resilience today as they fight for recognition of their dispossession and ongoing rights to land.