Frontier

Episode 1

Part One: 1770-1835

Soldier/Administrator David Collins sailed to Sydney with the first fleet expecting a few natives on the sea coast who would run away. The British were confident they could win over the remaining Aborigines with 'amity and kindness' but as violence escalated Collins became the first official to acknowledge that Blacks and Whites were locked in a grim struggle for the land. When Collins was sent to Tasmania to set up a second settlement Tasmania too became embroiled in a "Black War". The fighting ended only after a verbal treaty acknowledged some Aboriginal rights in the land. Yet the government broke its promises and Aborigines were rewarded with exile.