The Bathurst War

Dr Stephen Gapps' recent book Gudyarra (war) is the story of the occupation of Wiradyuri Country and the resistance warfare conducted by Wiradyuri people between 1822 and 1824 around the Bathurst region. 

In early August 1824, the editor of the Sydney Gazette newspaper reported that after recent raids, attacks and conflict that had seen at least a dozen stockworkers killed and hundreds of sheep and cattle killed, taken or dispersed, 'the strength and wealth of the Colony is ... exposed to destruction.' The combination of hundreds of Wiradyuri warriors into fighting forces across a huge region of Central Western NSW meant all the outstations were either abandoned or their stockmen were 'cowering in their huts'. 

In this talk, Stephen will discuss how effective Wiradyuri resistance warfare really was; how the British regarded it as a war at the time, and how we have failed to truly comprehend and commemorate the Bathurst War, the First Wiradyuri War of Resistance. 

Dr Stephen Gapps is a historian working to bring The Australian Wars (Frontier Wars) to greater recognition. Stephen is currently at Artefact Heritage Services, is a Conjoint Lecturer at the University of Newcastle and President of the History Council of NSW. He was until recently a Senior Curator at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

His book, The Sydney Wars: Conflict in the early colony 1788–1817 was the inaugural winner of the Les Carlyon Award for military history in 2020. In 2021, Gudyarra: The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance, the Bathurst War 1822–1824 was published by New South Wales Books and shortlisted in the 2022 NSW Premier's History Awards. 

Header image: Overlooking Swallow Creek, west of Bathurst. In 1824, the Government Stock Station at Swallow Creek had been abandoned and attacked twice by Wiradyuri warriors. Image courtesy of Stephen Gapps