The Australian Wars: The truth about the bloody battles fought to establish a nation

By Perkins Rachel, Stephen Gapps, Mina Murray

For the first time, The Australian Wars brings what for too long has been considered the historical past into connection with its reverberations in the present.

It is estimated that up to 100,000 people died in the frontier wars that raged across Australia for more than 150 years--equivalent to the combined total of all Australians killed in foreign wars to date. Yet few memorials mark these first, domestic conflicts.

The Australian Wars was conceived by Rachel Perkins following her award-winning documentary series produced by Blackfella Films for SBS, and edited along with Stephen Gapps, Mina Murray, and Henry Reynolds. This is the first book to tell the story of the continental sweep of massacres, guerrilla warfare, resistance, and the contests of firearms and traditional Aboriginal weaponry as Indigenous nations resisted colonial occupation of their lands, territory by territory. At stake was the sovereignty of an entire country.

Black and white writers tell the stories of these battles across three crucial time periods, spanning all states and territories. The book notes the lands that remained unconquered, the roles of disease, weaponry, and tactics, and the experiences of women on the frontier.

This history lives on in the descendants who carry the stories of their ancestors. The Australian Wars brings the past into the present so that we might understand the truth of this nation's origins.

Praise for The Australian Wars: "As it peels back the enduring veils of silence and denial about our shared past, The Australian Wars exposes a complex legacy of shame, pride, crime and valor... The authors have delivered a huge favor wrapped in a hard lesson." - Tim Winton "An inspiring, game-changing work of collective truth-telling about our shared history." - Kate Grenville "This book provides the most comprehensive account available of the continental violence against Aboriginal people during colonial settlement and its consequences today." - David Kemp AC "No more denial, no more cant. These wars happened, and we cannot blink them away." - Don Watson "This book ensures that the original people of this nation are not denied the dignity of their resistance." - Kim Beazley "A compelling call to truth-telling and national reckoning... meticulously researched and deeply moving." - The Hon Ken Wyatt AC

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1761471589
• ISBN13: 9781761471582
• Release Date: April 2026
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin
• Length: 416 Pages