Frontier Conflict and Aboriginal Deaths: How do we weigh the evidence?

Abstract

In an earlier volume of this journal Alan Atkinson reviewed KeithWindschuttle's controversial book "The Fabrication of AboriginalHistory, Volume One, Van Diemen's Land 1803-1847". Windschuttle's intention is to contest and refute the 'major claims of the prevailing consensus' which he identifies, by quotation from Henry Reynolds, as the claims that "violence was ever present along the ragged line of early interaction" and that "invasion and conquest prepared the way for settlement". By using direct quotation and categorising those quotations as the embodiment of the consensus he intends to overturn, Windschuttle unambiguously identifies the interpretation of historical events he believes to be flawed. It is deeply ironic then that underneath the polemics that characterise this book lies an account of violent interaction accompanying exploration and settlement which, far from refuting Reynolds' very general statements, in fact confirms them. The cumulative rhetoric of the narrative, its vigorously polemical tone and the preoccupation with recorded deaths is obviously designed to persuade the reader that Windschuttle is right, but it also serves to divert attention from the larger purpose claimed for the book and for the others in the projected series.