The misunderstood villains: Aboriginal residents, native police, and white settlers in queensland’s society (1848-1905)

During the land occupation by white settlers under the British Government in Australia during the mid-19th century, the conflict between the Aborigines and white settlers reached its peak. This conflict that was generally caused by differences of property ownership and the way of lives made both Aborigines and white settlers hostile to each other, and many victims met their death as a result. As white settlers could not match the Aborigines who had lived there for a long time, white settlers sought an alternative solution by establishing a native police troop. Native police is an aboriginal police corps, and they were recruited and led by white police officer during mid-19th century Australia. The corps’ main purpose was to impede any attacks upon white settlers. This corps was found in every colonial states of Australia and was known for its longevity and cruelty in Queensland. The aborigines often attacked, killed, and even massacred the white settlers there. However, the white settlers also showed their hospitality towards them. This chapter points out the tactics of imperial power towards their colonies. British goverment tactics has been implemented in most of their colonies, such as Australia and India. They adopted tactics of theRoman Empire that were used hundred of years ago. Other imperial countries also adopted this tactic to their colonies in between the 18th and 19th century. Prior research have shown the cruelty of the corps when they were in patrol, and they often kill many Aborigines. However, this research focuses on the complexity of both sides. It looks at bothpoint of views to understand their motives for committing such murderous actions. Based on documents, archives, newspapers and secondary resources from the Australian Government, this research was structured with historiographical methodology followed by Heuristic, Verification, Interpretation, and Historiography. The preferences were found from Australia’s National Library official websites, University of Indonesia Library and some private collections.