‘We are at war with them,’ wrote a Tasmanian settler in 1831. ‘What we call their crime is what in a white man we should call patriotism.’ Australia is dotted with memorials to soldiers who fought in wars overseas. So why are there no official memorials or commemorations of the wars that were fought on Australian soil between Aborigines and white colonists? Why is it more controversial to talk about the frontier wars now than it was one hundred years ago? In Forgotten War, winner of the 2014 Victorian Premier’s Award for non-fiction, influential historian Henry Reynolds makes it clear that there can be no reconciliation without acknowledging the wars fought on our own soil. Reynolds argues the resistance by First Nations warriors to the invasion of their homelands, lasting for more than a hundred years, can now be seen as a significant chapter in the global history of anti-colonial rebellion. To be appreciated and understood in a way that has scarcely begun to dawn on our national consciousness, and admired far more widely than our role as adjunct imperialists fighting with Britain and America.

Henry Reynolds is one of Australia’s most recognised historians. His pioneering work has changed the way we see the intertwining of black and white history in Australia. His books with NewSouth include The Other Side of the Frontier (reissue); What’s Wrong with Anzac? (as co-author); Unnecessary Wars; This Whispering in Our Hearts Revisited; Truth-Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement, winner of Non-Fiction Book Award in the EPAA awards, and most recently Tongerlongeter: First Nations Leader and Tasmanian War Hero (co-author).

Introduction 1 A distressing moment 2 But was it warfare? 3 What kind of warfare? 4 The cost of war 5 What was at stake? 6 Two very different wars 7 One history or two? Acknowledgements Notes Index