Witness to frontier violence: an aboriginal boy before the Supreme Court

Article

Connors, Libby. 2011. "Witness to frontier violence: an aboriginal boy before the Supreme Court." Australian Historical Studies. 42 (2), pp. 230-243. https://doi.org/10.1080/1031461X.2010.529920

Authors
Article Title	Witness to frontier violence: an aboriginal boy before the Supreme Court
ERA Journal ID	6873
Article Category	Article
Author	Connors, Libby
Journal Title	Australian Historical Studies
Journal Citation	42 (2), pp. 230-243
Number of Pages	14
Year	2011
Publisher	Taylor & Francis
Place of Publication	Melbourne, Australia
ISSN	1031-461X
	1940-5049
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)	https://doi.org/10.1080/1031461X.2010.529920
Abstract	In October 1846 a 10-year-old Aboriginal boy witnessed a large scale Aboriginal attack on a station north of Brisbane. Although he survived the attack, the boy had the terrifying experience of observing the brutal killings of his employer and acting guardian and a female station worker. From the very next day he was called upon to relive the attack for the inquest and between 1846 and 1854 he was a material witness, and in some cases the only witness, in one coronial inquest, three committal hearings and three Supreme Court trials of Indigenous men for attacks on Europeans. This paper reveals how colonial law was effectively manipulated to suit frontier interests in these years.
Keywords	colonial law; frontier history; colonial childhood; Supreme Court history
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020	450107. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history
	489999. Other law and legal studies not elsewhere classified
	430302. Australian history
Public Notes	Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions.
Byline Affiliations	School of Humanities and Communication
Institution of Origin	University of Southern Queensland

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