Ethnic Cleansing of Aborigines and Maori

AD – MPE: 0.26

ND – MPE: 0.02

On his website “Necrometrics” White cites estimates, which claim that 0.02 million Aborigines were directly killed during the ethnic cleansing by Australian government forces and settlers. But Raymond Evans and Robert Ørsted-Jensen document in their 2014 study “‘I Cannot Say the Numbers that Were Killed’: Assessing Violent Mortality on the Queensland Frontier” that almost 0.07 million Aborigines were killed directly in Queensland alone.

White also cites estimates that 0.24 to 0.9 million Aborigines perished during the conquest of their lands. Most of them were killed by infectious diseases. It isn’t clear how many died by coming into contact with Europeans and how many died as a direct result of the loss of hunting grounds, forced resettlement and impoverishment.

The colonial power Britain was a democratic frontrunner from 1769 to 1818 and from 1837 onwards. The Guardian published an in-depth online article in March 2019 called “Killing Times: the Massacres of Aboriginal People Australia must Confront” by Lorena Allam and Nick Evershed, which contains an interactive timeline of massacres of Aborigines and Europeans. It clearly shows that the vast majority of victims were killed when Britain was an advanced democracy.

White cites one estimate, which claims that 0.2 million Maori perished during the conquest of their lands in New Zealand. Most were killed after 1837.

Australia and New Zealand have been advanced democracies since their independence from Britain.

Plausible estimates for the number of people killed by democratic pioneers range from 0.1 to 0.5 million. I choose 0.26 as the most plausible estimate. Plausible estimates for the number of civilians killed by nondemocratic forces range from 0.01 to 0.03 million. I choose 0.02 as the most plausible estimate.