From 1824, conflict escalated in Van Diemen’s Land as British settlement and pastoral expansion deepened into Aboriginal lands. Raids and reprisals increased, marking the beginning of the period commonly framed as the Black War (1824–1832) within the wider frontier wars.
In 1828, Arthur issued a Proclamation of Demarcation that attempted to separate colonists and Aboriginal people by establishing a boundary supported by outposts, further restricting Aboriginal movement in contested regions.
On 10 February 1828, Aboriginal people at Cape Grim (Kennaook) were attacked and killed by employees of the Van Diemen’s Land Company, a major episode in the escalating spiral of frontier violence in the colony’s northwest.
On 1 November 1828, Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur declared martial law against Aboriginal people in the settled districts, authorising military action and escalating the conflict into a formalised campaign of suppression.
Also dated 1 November 1828, Arthur’s illustrated “proclamation” (often called Governor Davey’s Proclamation) used pictographs to communicate colonial rules and consequences under martial law to Aboriginal people—an unusual official communication method during the conflict.
In late 1828, Aboriginal leader Eumarrah (Stoney Creek/Tyerrernotepanner) was captured by a colonial “roving party” led by Gilbert Robertson, illustrating the shift toward mobile search-and-capture operations during martial law.
On 3 February 1830, George Augustus Robinson set out from Recherche Bay with Aboriginal guides including Truganini and Woureddy on the first major “Friendly Mission,” aiming to make contact with surviving clans and secure their surrender/removal from contested districts.
On 7 October 1830, Arthur launched the Black Line—a mass mobilisation of settlers, soldiers, police, and convicts arranged in a moving human chain intended to force Aboriginal people from the settled districts toward capture and removal. The operation is widely regarded as a tactical failure but significant in consolidating settler control.
In March 1831, Robinson reached Gun Carriage Island (Furneaux Group) with Aboriginal people already under government control, beginning the offshore confinement system that would expand into larger exile settlements.
Around August 1831, the exile establishment was moved to The Lagoons on Flinders Island, where exposure, poor water supply, and inadequate conditions contributed to severe illness and deaths among exiled Aboriginal Tasmanians.
In December 1831, Robinson’s party located and secured the surrender of key resistance figures and remaining members of the Oyster Bay–Big River groups, an important step in ending large-scale armed resistance in the settled districts.
In January 1832, colonial authorities revoked martial law in the settled districts after more than three years—closely linked to Robinson’s negotiated removals and the diminishing capacity for organised Aboriginal resistance under intense pressure.
After arriving in Hobart on 7 January 1832, surrendered Aboriginal people attached to Robinson’s party were shipped into forced exile on Flinders Island later that month, consolidating the policy of removal from mainland Tasmania.
On 24 March 1832, Eumarrah died in Launceston. His life and capture reflect both Aboriginal resistance leadership in the 1820s and the coercive colonial strategies used to dismantle organised opposition.
Black War in Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania (1824–1832)
