Competition and Conflict of the forgotten Frontier: Western Van Diemen's Land 1822-33

This article explores the impact of Macquarie Harbour penal station on the Aboriginal population of Western Van Diemen’s Land in the period 1822–33. It questions some of the assumptions that have been made in the recent literature about the level of contact between Europeans and Aboriginal bands along this coast prior to George Augustus Robinson’s ‘friendly mission’ of 1830–34. In particular it disputes the claim that the relatively low numbers of people encountered by Robinson were indicative of pre-contact population levels and surveys the factors that led to increasing levels of violence.