Linking past to present on the path to reconciliation

The problem

The global movement towards restorative justice to address harms of colonisation has mainly resulted in ‘high-level’ state-driven approaches, including Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, treaty (re)negotiations, public inquiries and national apologies. Arguably, this is because many harms involved race-based government policies. However, relatively little attention has been paid to relationship repair within communities affected by racialised frontier violence between settlers and First Australians.

The research

This project asks whether the legacy of frontier violence is still visible in the communities it occurred. It uses qualitative and quantitative research to understand the lived experience of people in the Shire of Moree (Gomeroi country, NSW), where there were several massacres of Aboriginal people, and quantifies the extent to which frontier violence is associated with racial fracturing across communities nation-wide. The latter involved constructing a new Frontier Wars Dataset (FWD) and comparing outcomes in places frontier violence did and did not occur. Findings to date show a racially divided community, with two very different experiences of community life today, history and how the relationship between past and present is viewed – namely western linear vs Aboriginal deep-time, which is especially significant in terms of truth-telling. The quantitative analysis suggests the racial fracturing in Moree plays out across Australia, with more systemic racism, racial segregation and stronger within-group racial ties today in communities where frontier violence occurred.

The impact

Clearly showing the relationship between frontier violence and contemporary outcomes helps fill an important knowledge gap to build the case for healing communities. The research is ongoing, but early findings have been presented by invitation to the Yoorrook Justice Commission, Department of Social Services and Federal Government Inquiry into Racism, Hate and Violence Directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. The team has presented at several conferences including the AIATSIS 2026 Summit, the Asia-Pacific Economic and Business History Conference and The Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) 2025.

Department: Melbourne Institute and Dilin Duwa
Area: Truth-telling, historical frontier violence, social and economic outcomes, closing the gap