ABSTRACT
Much of the history of the interaction between police and Indigenous people is poorly documented. The use of the police in the frontier period was largely devoid of either judicial or public review. Similarly, the administrative functions of the police in enforcing the regulations established within protection legislation almost by definition did not involve scrutiny by the court. The specific conditions in each colony at the time of colonisation impacted on the development of the police. The process of colonisation and dispossession occurred at different times in different parts of the continent. Colonial police participated in the war against Indigenous people and were directly engaged in violent repression and colonial expansion. In many areas police were not maintaining law and order within the confines of the criminal law, but rather were extending the reach of British jurisdiction over resisting Indigenous communities.
