Black War

The Black War refers to the period of conflict between British colonists and Tasmanian Aborigines in the early nineteenth century. Although historians vary on their definition of when the conflict began and ended, it is best understood as the officially sanctioned time of declared martial law by the colonial government between 1828 and 1832.

The term Black War is also sometimes used to refer to other, later conflicts between European colonists and Aboriginal Australians on mainland Australia.

Mass killings of Tasmanian Aborigines were reported as having occurred as part of the Black War in Van Diemen's Land. The accuracy of some of these reports was questioned in the 1830s by the British Government's Commission of Inquiry, headed by Archdeacon (later Bishop) William Broughton and in the 20th century by historians, such as N. J. B. Plomley in the 1960s. The controversy continued into the new millennium after historian Keith Windschuttle in 2002 questioned the accuracy of accounts of massacres and high fatalities, arousing intense controversy in Australia.

In combination with epidemic impacts of introduced Eurasian infectious diseases, to which the Tasmanian Aborigines had no immunity, the conflict had such impact on the Tasmanian Aboriginal population that they were reported to have been exterminated.

Small remnant groups' surviving the Black War were relocated to Bass Strait Islands. Their descendants continue today. Much of their languages, local ecological knowledge, and original cultures are now lost to Tasmania, perhaps with the exception of archaeological records plus historical records made at the time.