Mounted Constables Willshire and Wurmbrand have long been associated with a drawn-out and controversial legacy of police brutality against Aboriginal people. As the numerous reports relating to this period of late nineteenth century outback history suggest, conditions in central Australia were incredibly difficult and vexed. These difficulties related not only to climactic conditions, but also to ongoing territorial and cultural conflicts between Aboriginal people and the pastoralists and police officers who had come to occupy their land. Both Willshire and Wurmbrand played prominent roles in the murder of Aboriginal people who were often shot for occupying pastoral lands, or following accusations of cattle-spearing. Willshre and Wurmbrand...
