Coercion and Pacification on the Frontier: Glass Beads from Nineteenth-Century Native Mounted Police Sites in Queensland, Australia

The Native Mounted Police (NMP) were a paramilitary organisation that operated across Queensland, Australia, during the nineteenth century. Archaeologically they are represented by numerous camp sites occupied for varying durations, from just a few weeks to several decades. Living in these camps were White officers and the Aboriginal troopers serving under them, accompanied by the female partners of the troopers and sometimes of the officer(s), and their children. The investigation and analysis of glass beads recovered archaeologically from the Burke River (Boulia), Mistake Creek (Belyando) and Lower Laura (Boralga) NMP camps represents the first detailed analysis of such objects in the Queensland context. We interpret these results within their spatial context and suggest that glass beads were given as enticements to the female partners of the NMP troopers and as ‘tokens’ to reward tractable behaviours on the part of local Indigenous people.