The "Black War" in Arnhem Land: Missionaries and the Yolngu 1908-1940

Abstract

In the 1930s Australia was stunned by a series of seemingly inexplicable murders of non –aboriginal people perpetrated by the Arnhem Land Yulngu. After eight deaths in two years, newspapers were calling it the ‘Black War’. Missionaries, police and the media were equally convinced they knew the reasons for the killings. Following the arrest and trials of the alleged killers, non-Aboriginal Australia was forced to debate the issue of their occupation of the continent. In the process, issues of Aboriginal rights to justice and defense of their land were raised. But what were the reasons for the ‘Black War’? What was the situation in Arnhem Land in the period preceding the killings? The ‘Black War’ in Arnhem Land looks at the Federal Government Policy and missionary settlement of Arnhem Land and analyses the events of the 1930’s in the context of Australian race relations in the period leading up to World War II.

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