Police of the Pastoral Frontier. Native Police 1849-59. by Skinner, L. E - 1975

St. Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1975. x, 455pp, index, bibliography, appendices, maps, bw ills. Or green cloth in jacket. Minor foxing to page edges, slight fading to spine.The Native Police Force of trained aborigines was a new concept which combined European weapons and discipline with the highly developed Aboriginal bush skill and cunning. Previously attacking tribes had been able to vanish into the bush but the native troopers were able to track them, often abandoning horses and clothes to do so. Among the accounts in the book is the notorious Hornet Bank massacre, in which eleven people including a widow and her 8 children were killed by the fierce Dawson Creek tribe. It is a story of misunderstanding, bungling, and violent reprisals and it clearly reveals the humanity and inhumanity of administrators, police, settlers, and Aborigines. Very important book in the history of law enforcement in Australia (particularly Queensland) and an early time of Aboriginal participation in European civilisation.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo.