Poster issued in Van Diemen's Land during the Black War depicting Lieutenant-Governor Davey's policy of friendship and equal justice for settlers and Aborigines.

The Black War refers to a period of conflict between the British colonists and Tasmanian Aborigines in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) in the early years of the 1800s. The conflict has gained a notorious reputation as a genocide resulting in the almost complete obliteration of the Tasmanian Aboriginal population, though there are presently many thousands of individuals descended of Tasmanian Aborigines. Image File history File links Black_war_poster. ... Image File history File links Black_war_poster. ... 1663 map of Van Diemens Land, showing the parts discovered by Tasman, including Storm Bay, Maria Island and Schouten Island. ... A Lieutenant Governor or Lieutenant-Governor is a government official who is the subordinate or deputy of a Governor or Governor-General. ... The Tasmanian Aboriginals are the indigenous people of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. ... 1663 map of Van Diemens Land, showing the parts discovered by Tasman, including Storm Bay, Maria Island and Schouten Island. ... Capital Hobart Government Constitutional monarchy Governor William Cox Premier Paul Lennon (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 5  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $16,114 (7th)  - Product per capita  $33,243/person (8th) Population (End of September 2006)  - Population  489,600 (6th)  - Density  7. ... Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic or national group. ...

The war was never officially declared and this has led to variations in its dating. Some date the conflict to the very beginning of European settlement on the island in 1803. The conflict was most intense during the 1820s, which is the period most commonly referred to as the Black War. The conflict is generally seen to have ended in the 1830s, after the unsuccessful Black Line and the subsequent relocation of Aborigines to Flinders Island. 1803 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The Black Line is a notorious incident that occurred in 1830 on Tasmania, or Van Diemens Land as it was then known. ... Municipality of Flinders, Tasmania Flinders Island is an island in the Bass Strait, located 20 km from the north-eastern tip of Tasmania, Australia. ...

This conflict is a subject of the Australian history wars, the 2002 publication of The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, Volume One: Van Diemen's Land 1803-1847 by Keith Windschuttle,^[1] questioned the historical evidence used to identify the actual number of Aborigines killed stating that it was exaggerated and challenged what is labelled the "Black armband view of history" of Tasmanian colonisation. His argument has been challenged by a number of authors, for example see "Contra Windschuttle" by S.G. Foster in Quadrant, March 2003, 47:3.^[2] The History wars are an ongoing public debate over the interpretation of the history of the white colonisation of Australia and its influence on responses to the current situation of the original inhabitants of the land. ... Keith Windschuttle (born 1942) is an Australian writer who is the author of several books, including Unemployment (1979) which analyses the economic causes and social consequences of unemployment in Australia, The Media: a New Analysis of the Press, Television, Radio and Advertising in Australia (1984) on the political economy and... Historiography is a term with multiple meanings that has changed with time, place and observer, and is thus resistant to a single encompassing meaning. ... The black armband view of history is a phrase coined by Australian historian Professor Geoffrey Blainey in his 1993 Sir John Latham Memorial Lecture. ...

Literary references

H. G. Wells, in his famous preface to The War of the Worlds, published in 1898, wrote: "We must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals such as the vanished bison and dodo, but also upon its own inferior races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years." Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon and The Island of Doctor Moreau. ... The War of the Worlds (1898), by H. G. Wells, is an early science fiction novel (or novella) which describes an invasion of England by aliens from Mars. ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

See also

• List of massacres of indigenous Australians
• History wars

This is a list of massacres of Indigenous Australians. ... The History wars are an ongoing public debate over the interpretation of the history of the white colonisation of Australia and its influence on responses to the current situation of the original inhabitants of the land. ...

References

1. ^ The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, Volume One: Van Diemen's Land 1803-1847, Keith Windschuttle, 2002, ISBN 1-876492-05-8
2. ^ "Contra Windschuttle", S.G. Foster Quadrant, March 2003, 47:3 [1]

Quadrant is an Australian literary and cultural journal founded in 1956 by Richard Krygier, a Polish-Jewish refugee who had been active in social-democrat politics in Europe, James McAuley, a Catholic poet. ...

External links

• Document of casualties during the Black War