Author(s): Lyn Stewart

History

Blood Revenge examines the first time that white men in Australia were held to account in a criminal court of New South Wales for killing Aborigines. It happened in 1799, just 11 years after the New South Wales colony began. This book answers the disturbing question: Why were five men found guilty of killing two Aborigines, yet they were never punished? The story lays bare the nature of black-white relations at the colony's Hawkesbury River frontier settlement, when Governor John Hunter tried to carry out his orders and stop the wanton killing of Aborigines. Inevitably, there was a divide between policy and practice. Australian historians who write about black-white relations say that the country will never reach true reconciliation until it is prepared to face the truth of its history. Author Lyn Stewart's own ancestor murdered two Aborigines at the Hawkesbury River settlement over 200 years ago. "My grandfather thought this was something we should not talk about. By delving into this part of my family history, I have learned not only why the murders happened but also about the volatile and uncertain relationships between settlers and Aborigines as the colony's land grants steadily displaced the local people from their traditional lands. It is a history we must understand." The examination a "local" story reveals a much larger picture of the colony as a whole, demonstrating the tension between the Army, the Navy, the judiciary, the colonists, the Governor, and the local Aborigines. *** Librarians: ebook available on ProQuest and EBSCO [Subject: History, Australian Studies, Colonial Studies]