ONE TO WATCH
Forgotten conflict
The Australian Wars / BBC Four, starts Tuesday 7 November
One of the pervading myths of the British colonisation of Australia is that it was a matter of settlers spreading out across a vast and empty continent. In truth, what have come to be known as the Australian Frontier Wars raged for more than a century after the British established a penal colony in what's now New South Wales, in January 1788.
While the leader of the First Fleet, a flotilla of 11 British ships that made the long journey south, and colony governor, Captain Arthur Phillip, was instructed to “live in amity and kindness” with local people, there was tension from the off. Skirmishes resulted in casualties on both sides.
Deep into the first half of the 20th century, the violence would continue. While precise figures
