Australia's Massacres Maps

In 2017 the University of Newcastle in Australia released an interactive map of Colonial Frontier Massacres in Central and Eastern Australia 1788-1930. The map is part of the university's efforts to record and document the massacres of native Australians in Australia between the years 1788-1930. For example the map records that on the 1st May 1838 at Slaughterhouse Creek fifteen heavily armed stockmen attacked and killed 300 Kamilaroi aboriginals. The massacre occurred just four months after 50 Kamilaroi people were killed by police at nearby Waterloo Creek.

The Guardian has also released a map of frontier massacres in Australia. The Guardian's The Killing Times covers the same period of Australia's early colonial history. The map plots the locations of mass killings using the University of Newcastle's data alongside data that the Guardian collected itself, using the university's methodology.

The Guardian's map includes a timeline which allows you to filter the massacres shown on the map by date range. You can also filter the map by the number of victims and by perpetrator groups. If you click on a marker on the map you can read details about the selected mass killing beneath the map.

Indigenous Australian artist Judy Watson has created her own interactive map of Australia's mass killings. During her multi-media art exhibitions Watson projects the names of hundreds of massacre sites onto a map of Australia. Next to this video projection is displayed a touch-screen map which shows the locations of massacre sites with links to historical documents associated with these massacres.

You can view this map online at The Name of Places. The Name of Places map plots the sites where indigenous Australians have been killed. These locations are shown on top of a vintage map of Australia. The vintage map was created from data collected by HMS Investigator, the first ship to circumnavigate Australia. The use of this early colonial map directly connects the massacres displayed to Australia's colonial settlers. 

If you click on a marker on the map you can read more about the displayed massacre site, including details about the location and date of the massacre. Where available more information, including the number of victims, is provided alongside bibliographical references and links to other websites.