Uprising

War in the Colony of New South Wales, 1838-1844

By Stephen Gapps

Published by NewSouth Books

RRP $36.99 in paperback

ISBN 9781742238029

 

A common theme for reviewers of this book is the lament that the breadth of frontier resistance warfare needs to be fully understood and appreciated, yet my perception is that knowledge of this topic remains thin and under-appreciated by the wider Australian public.

Stephen Gapps is doing his best to redress the balance.

His first book on the topic, The Sydney Wars, was the winner of the inaugural Les Carlyon Literary Prize for military history in 2020.

In Uprising he examines the six-year period 1838-1844 – a time when ambitious men were pushing beyond the limits of settlement to occupy more and more Aboriginal land across western New South Wales and stocking it with sheep and cattle.

By 1838, a dramatic fightback began across the entire western frontier of the colony in a vast arc stretching from present-day northern Victoria through to southeast Queensland.

This became known as the Second Wiradyuri War of Resistance.

At the time, it was seen by many contemporaries as a concerted and coordinated ‘uprising’.

Gapps reveals the incredible story of this extensive frontier resistance warfare for the first time in what was a concerted defence of River Country.

It reveals the extent to which Aboriginal clans worked together for a common aim — to protect their land from an invader.

Verdict: A landmark book on a topic too little discussed.

WATCH on YOUTUBE: Into The Weeds interview – Rewriting Australia’s Frontier Wars