God, Guns and Government on the Central Australian Frontier

Book excerpt: Was Mounted Constable William Willshire really the cold-blooded killer of 'literally thousands' of Aboriginal people in Central Australia? Or was he the first white man to write a love poem to an Aboriginal woman? Was he both? Did the Finke River missionaries imprison and beat their recalcitrant converts, or did they mark out a future path for a people abandoned by South Australian society? Did the mission connive at the murder of the men who opposed them? Did they really convert anyone to Lutheran Christianity? And what did the people and governments of South Australia know and care about their northern frontier? Could a policeman be hanged for murder? This book goes beyond the stereotypes to answer these questions. It brings back to life some remarkable people.