Frontier War Stories: An Essential Australian History Podcast

Frontier War Stories is a podcast about the Australian Frontier Wars, the 140 years of conflict and resistance between Aboriginal peoples and colonists that followed invasion. It is created, written and hosted by Boe Spearim, a Gamilaraay and Kooma man and radio host based in Brisbane. For teachers, students and anyone who wants to understand how Australia was taken, it is one of the best places to start.

The podcast is free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean and other podcast apps.

What It Covers

Each episode, Boe talks with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal historians, researchers, authors and community members about the books, archives and oral histories that document the Frontier Wars. The series covers the period from the first clashes of the late 1700s to punitive expeditions as late as the 1930s, and shows that conflict was widespread and sustained across the continent, not a series of isolated incidents.

Episodes include:

The Appin Massacre with Peter Jones of Winga Myamly, on the 1816 massacre of Dharawal people south-west of Sydney.
Myall Creek, on the 1838 massacre and the memorial that now marks it.
Lyndall Ryan, the historian behind the University of Newcastle's Colonial Frontier Massacres map.
Kristyn Harman of the University of Tasmania, author of Aboriginal Convicts.
Joseph Toscano, on Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, Tasmanian Aboriginal resistance fighters hanged in Melbourne in 1842.
Fred Cahir, on Wadawurrung resistance to squatters and gold seekers in Victoria.
Libby Connors, on the Brisbane resistance leader Dundalli.
Rachel Perkins, on her SBS series The Australian Wars.

Why It Works in the Classroom

Source-based: Conversations are built on published research, archives and oral history, so episodes work well alongside source analysis and inquiry tasks.
Aboriginal perspectives: Resistance, survival and continuity sit at the centre of the story rather than in the margins.
Clear and direct: The language is accessible without simplifying the history. Older secondary students can listen independently, and teachers can use excerpts for guided listening.
Local: Many episodes focus on a single place or event, so teachers can find history from their own region.

Using It in Lessons

Play an excerpt, then run a class discussion or reflective writing task.
Set an episode as homework, paired with the primary sources it discusses.
Link to civics, geography and English through questions of evidence, memory and how national histories are told.
Use it for teacher professional learning, to build confidence in teaching frontier history.

Some episodes describe massacres and violence in detail. Preview episodes before using them with students, and give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students notice of the content.

Art as a Record of the Frontier Wars

Aboriginal artists have also recorded this history. Rover Thomas painted massacre sites in the East Kimberley, including Bedford Downs Massacre (1985), and many artists today paint the frontier history of their own country. Listening to Frontier War Stories alongside these works shows students that this history is held in community memory as well as in archives.

References and Further Reading

Spearim, Boe. Frontier War Stories. Podcast, available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Ryan, Lyndall, et al. Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788–1930. University of Newcastle.
Reynolds, Henry. The Other Side of the Frontier. UNSW Press, 2006 (first published 1981).
Reynolds, Henry. Forgotten War. NewSouth Publishing, 2013.
Harman, Kristyn. Aboriginal Convicts: Australian, Khoisan and Māori Exiles. UNSW Press, 2012.
Connors, Libby. Warrior: A Legendary Leader's Dramatic Life and Violent Death on the Colonial Frontier. Allen & Unwin, 2015.
Perkins, Rachel (dir.). The Australian Wars. SBS, 2022.