Mass poisonings of Aboriginal Australians
During the British colonisation of Australia, a system of mass immigration and agriculture was introduced. Several military and paramilitary organisations such as the British Army, Native Police, Border Police and New South Wales Mounted Police were utilised by the immigrants to protect the interests of the new agriculturalists. However, it was often the responsibility of the agriculturalists themselves to take the initiative in enforcing the new land ownership system. At times, firearms were used to intimidate or even kill Aboriginal Australians, who were the Indigenous peoples of the new Australian colonies. Poison concealed in consumables  may also have been used in attempts to discourage food theft - particularly in isolated or vulnerable locations where food supplies were not easily replenished. Whilst Aboriginal raids on new settlers' homes may have led to the consumption of poisonous products which had been mistaken for food, there is some evidence that tainted consumables may have either been knowingly given out to groups of Aboriginal people, or purposely left in accessible places where they were taken away and eaten collectively by the local clans. As a result, numerous incidents of deaths of Aboriginal people due to the consumption of poisonous substances  occurred throughout the decades, and in many different locations. There are many documented cases of poisonings, with some involving investigations by police and government. These poisonings appear to have coincided with the introduction, from the 1820s onwards, of toxic substances used in the sheep farming industry. Chemicals such as arsenic, strychnine , corrosive sublimate, aconitum and prussic acid were allegedly involved. There are no cases of convictions being reported against anyone for deliberate poisoning. In popular culture. "The Secret River", a 2005 novel by Kate Grenville, graphically depicts a quasi-fictional account of a deliberate mass poisoning of Indigenous Australians camped  along the Hawkesbury River. The novel was later adapted into a stage play and also a television mini-series. "Twelve Canoes", a 2008 documentary project and series about the culture and history of the Yolngu people directed by Rolf de Heer, relates details of the Florida Station poisoning that allegedly occurred in Arnhem Land in 1885.