Climate, Environment, and Australian Frontier Wars: New South Wales, 1788–1841

From the establishment of the colony of New South Wales at Sydney in 1788, British soldiers and settlers fought a series of wars against Australian Aboriginal warriors to occupy land for farming and grazing. Rainfall in Australia is highly variable due to the influence of five external climate drivers, including the El Niño Southern Oscillation. This article argues there is a strong correlation between the onset of drought in the inland region of south-eastern Australia and the outbreak of armed conflict in the period from 1824 to 1841. This article argues that this approach of comparing climate data and records of conflicts can be extended to other regions and time periods in Australia, and in other regions of the world affected by similar climate drivers.