Understanding the Frontier Wars is central to understanding Australian history, yet for generations this history was minimised or excluded from mainstream education. One of the most valuable resources available to educators, students, and the wider public is the podcast Frontier War Stories.
Thoughtful, evidence-based, and accessible, the series works equally well as a classroom resource and as general listening for Australians who want a deeper understanding of the country’s past.
Frontier War Stories is available on major podcast platforms. Listeners can search for the series on their preferred podcast app, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast services.
Who is behind the podcast
Frontier War Stories is created and hosted by Boe Spearim, a Gamilaraay and Kooma man. The podcast is dedicated to truth-telling about a side of Australian history that has long been absent from mainstream history books and public narratives.
In each episode, Spearim speaks with First Nations and non-Indigenous historians, researchers, Elders, artists, and community members. Conversations draw on archival research, published scholarship, books, and oral histories to document the first 140 years of conflict and resistance following European invasion.
What Frontier War Stories covers
The podcast examines frontier conflict across the continent, showing that violence and resistance were not isolated events but widespread and sustained over many decades. Episodes explore specific massacres, regional conflicts, resistance leaders, policing forces, and the long-term impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal nations.
Importantly, Frontier War Stories avoids simplifying this history. Instead, it situates events within their local and historical contexts, helping listeners understand how frontier conflict differed from place to place while remaining central to the formation of modern Australia.
Why Frontier War Stories works in educational settings
Research-led and evidence-based
Episodes are grounded in documented sources rather than opinion. This makes the podcast well suited to classroom use and aligns with inquiry-based approaches to teaching history.
Centres Aboriginal perspectives
Aboriginal resistance, survival, and continuity are treated as central to the story, not as side notes. This helps students engage with Aboriginal history as living history, with ongoing cultural and political relevance.
Accessible without being simplistic
The language is clear and direct, making complex historical material understandable while maintaining its gravity. Older students can engage with episodes independently, while teachers can easily scaffold listening for guided learning.
Using the podcast in the classroom
Frontier War Stories can be used flexibly across a range of learning contexts. Individual episodes can form the basis for structured class discussion, source comparison, or guided inquiry, encouraging students to think critically about historical evidence and how national histories are constructed and remembered.
- Listening excerpts followed by discussion or reflective writing
- Homework listening paired with source analysis tasks
- Cross-curricular links with civics, geography, and English
- Teacher professional learning to support confident teaching of frontier history
An established audio archive
With a large catalogue released over several years, Frontier War Stories now stands as a substantial audio archive. The breadth of episodes allows educators and students to return to the series repeatedly, drawing on it as a reference point for understanding frontier conflict and Aboriginal resistance across different regions and periods.
Rather than being tied to current events, the podcast functions as a stable and reusable historical resource, making it particularly well suited to educational settings.
Why all Australians should listen
Frontier War Stories is not only for classrooms. It is essential listening for anyone interested in Australian history, public memory, and how the nation understands its past. The podcast challenges long-held myths while remaining grounded in evidence, offering listeners a clearer and more honest picture of how Australia was shaped.
For educators, students, and the broader public alike, Frontier War Stories is a powerful reminder that this history matters, and that understanding it is key to understanding Australia today.
