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1788 saw the First Fleet of the British land on the shores of Australia. In this timeline, the Aborigines are far more organized and have built themselves a formidable Aboriginal Collective and manage to hold off the British. This development sees more and more powerful armies dispatched to Australia in an attempt to claim the island.
The PoD of this timeline is a tribesman by the name of Mandu, who was responsible for the construction of the first Aboriginal Union.
The Aborigines were mainly armed with more traditional weaponry, although over time they began to accumulate and even develop captured weapons from the British.
It is the superior number of Aboriginal warriors combined with their knowledge of the land and resources that allows them to contend with the technologically superior British. However, as time progresses and the world becomes a much more open place there are several further developments such as intervention from other countries.
Timeline[]
1788 - Battle of Camp Cove
1788 - Battle of Botany Bay
1790 - Battle of Sydney Cove
1794 - Second Battle of Sydney Cove
1799 - Collective Invasion of New Zealand
1799 - Battle of Auckland
1800 - Battle of Cloudy Bay
1800 - Final Unification of Australia and reformation of Collective
1800 - Collective Occupation of Tasmania
1809 - Battle of Rockhampton
1809 - Second Battle of Rockhampton
1827 - France invade Australia
1827 - Battle of Brisbane beach
1828 - Second Battle of Brisbane beach
1828 - French expelled from Australia
1831 - Collective expand into Indonesia
1835 - Indonesia is conquered by the Republic
1836 - First British riots
1841 - Republic and Japanese alliance
Battle of Camp Cove[]
The first battle in the conflict between the Aboriginal Collective and the British. It took place from the 26th of January 1788 to the 29th of January, and resulted in a victory over the British colonists, leaving only nineteen survivors, but also many dead tribesmen.
On the 26th, the First Fleet landed on the shores of Camp Cove, having travelled upwards from the infertile lands of Botany bay. While unloading their cargo and passengers, they were spotted by a group of Collective scouts, who instantly saw this to be an invasion of their land (owing to a previous landing by William Dampier, an invasion from other beings had been prophesized for the past century). The scouts quickly returned to the nearest tribe and warned them of the invasion. Within hours, a small army was assembled.
Using their knowledge of the land to their advantage, they crept up on the 'invaders' until they were just eighty metres away, and then charged straight at them. Although unsuspecting, the British reacted quickly, using their technologically superior rifles to shoot down most of the attacking force. Desperate, the Collective retreated.
The force had become more wary following the first attack, and sure enough, the very next day the enemy struck again. This time, however, both sides were better prepared, and the second strike became almost a perfect repeat of the previous day's massacre - only with more fatalities.
There was no action on the 28th, as at this point the Collective were preparing a new battle plan. Warriors were moving in from all around, and at last, by the end of the day, they were ready. That night, the troops readied themselves, and struck at dawn in the morning.
At this point, the Collective now had numbers that were massively superior to the British. Their enemies had advanced farther inland, this being their most significant mistake. The tribesmen formed a ring around their enemies, advancing closer and closer in before finally breaking into a charge. Using their number to intimidate the British, the native warriors closed in on the colonists before finally wreaking havoc on them everything they had with them. This spelled the first victory for the Collective and promised a powerful resistance to the colonists' plans.
Battle of Botany Bay[]
Distracted with the arrival of the First Fleet, the Collective failed to man an initial defence against the oncoming French fleet that landed in Botany Bay shortly after the British. The French officers were a little more cautious with their landing, keeping their ships together and only unloading their resources when they were confident that the area was safe. As a result, they were not discovered for days after the Battle of Camp Cove.
Eventually, however, the army of the collective passed the area on its way back from the Camp Cove battle and noticed the growing force of French colonists. The force was weak from their previous skirmish, so they did not attack, but instead moved quickly away so as not to be seen.
It took the Collective nearly a month to reassemble their army, during which time the French grew, building farms and housing along the coast. When the army arrived, it was immediately decided that as their opponents didn't know that they were there, they would be able to launch an effective surprise attack by completely surrounding them. The army formed a tight circle, and began moving in.
The French riflemen only realised that they were being attacked when a group of colonists ran from a burning house (set alight by the attackers). They immediately stood to attention, but the army was already moving in from all sides.
Deciding quickly that this was a fight that they could not win, they ran back to the ships, few of them stopping to hold off the advancing tribesmen. Those that did were quickly shot by slingers. The sheer number of the tribesmen overwhelmed the French colonists. The defenders had no choice but to move back on to the ships and sail away, leaving around a quarter of their people behind to the merciless Collective.
But the French were not done. They were determined not to lose everything that they had built up over the previous month, and just hours later they returned to the shore. This time they were ready, gunning down the drowsy guards. But they had no idea of how huge the Collective was, and, believing that they only had a single tribe to contend with, they ran inland.
It was at this point that the tribesmens' immaculate defences were put into action. Another series of finely crafted traps were gradually executed, stopping the soldiers in their tracks. The turned and tried to gun the tribesmen down as quickly as they could, but they were overwhelmed by sheer number.
The leaders of the expedition boarded a single ship again and attempted to sail away, but several of the tribesmen were swimmers, good enough to catch the ship. If the wind had been better then undoubtedly the ship would have escaped and probably returned to France, but they were boarded before they got the chance. The ship was attacked, the survivors murdered, and the resources looted. There was only twenty survivors overall.
Arrivals[]
The British had, of course, received no word from the colonists, so they made no effort to modify their plans based upon the disaster in Australia. The Lady Juliana, sometimes treated as a member of the Second Fleet, travelled ahead of the rest of the Second Fleet. When it arrived at the coast of Australia, it was greeted with a series of powerful attacks that destroyed nearly the entire crew. However, it managed to turn itself around. At this stage it tried to return to Britain, but the ship was too badly damaged and it sank only nine miles through the journey. Also travelling ahead was the storeship Justinian. It too was intercepted at Australia, but unlike the Lady Juliana was unable to turn and escape. This ship was carrying vital provisions to the supposed colony at Sydney Cove, but instead these were taken by the Collective.
Battle of Sydney Cove[]
The Battle of Sydney Cove, or the Massacre of Sydney Cove, was the second major confrontation between the British and the Aboriginal Collective.
Two years after the unknown calamity at Camp Cove, the Second Fleet set sail from Great Britain. Upon their arrival in June, the Aborigines had massively furthered their militarization attempts. Now, along the coastline, watchmen stood guard for any sign of another invasion.
Almost the moment they landed the Second Fleet were greeted with hordes of attacking tribesmen. One ship did not even land, but managed to turn itself before it reached the shore. Two ships were obliterated. One other was boarded but the skill of the riflemen on board dispatched them with few casualties. The surviving ship immediately set sail for Britain, and after six months and nineteen days it arrived back at home.
Second Battle of Sydney Cove[]
Upon receiving the news of the Aborigines' unification, the British government immediately begin organizing a military to take the island by force. Within just over three years, they assembled a powerful force of twenty eight ships, armed to the teeth with riflemen.
Faced with their most difficult challenge yet, it is considered remarkable how successful the defensive force of the Collective was. They had already expected a powerful force to arrive. To protect against this, the Collective had constructed a number of slings that could be launched at the enemy. The wielders of these were trained to the highest standard. Also they constructed huge quantities of blow darts, and once again their owners were trained to the highest standards.
Another crucial weapon that was used against the enemy was a gigantic assortment of traps. As the British invaders charged, many were caught in an establishment of nets that had been lying around. Despite this, under the orders of their leaders they were told to 'run on'; this was the most significant mistake. As they ran, nearly the entire army was slaughtered by the darts and slings, and those that weren't were ambushed by spearmen.
This time, nine ships were able to turn and head back to Britain, but only three hundred men of the original four thousand survived.
Invasion of New Zealand[]
In 1799, armed with huge stocks of weaponry abandoned by the fleeing British, the Collective began to perceive expansion on a new level. Using the ships that their invaders had left behind, they had scouted around large areas of the island, and had discovered New Zealand in the process. They had briefly met with the native Maori, but had come to the conclusion that they were inferior in their beliefs. After several months, they decided to add it to their empire.
The British had originally decided to colonize New Zealand, but with the situation in Australia that was no longer possible. Instead the islands were left untouched by European influence. Using three British ships and a number of their own, the Army of the Collective sailed to New Zealand in 1799.
The Collective landed on one of the most northern points, naming it Crescent Bay in their merged language. They moved swiftly, destroying the structures of the native people and harming and even killing many of them, any who gave even the slightest of resistance.
The army moved south, but by this time, the native people had also begun to build up a resistance, which was stationed in Auckland. However, it included many different tribes, meaning that the resistors were disorganized and violent towards each other.
The Battle of Auckland[]
The two sides came together in the first real battle of the invasion in Auckland, in the northern island of New Zealand. The Collective made camp a few miles away, where they prepared themselves for a battle. After waiting for several days, they finally moved into the enemy defences, with the plan of destroying them.
The invaders' spearmen came in first, to charge down the enemy lines. They were aided by slingers and blow dart bearers behind them. The first defence, a much smaller troop of spearmen and slingers, was slaughtered. In response, many of the other defenders turned and ran before they could be hurt.
As per the battle plan, the initial force retreated to be replaced with two other forces, both containing several spearmen but also around five or six riflemen, the rifles taken from dead British men. They had been trained to shoot with them, and they proved to be incredibly effective.
Using their superior weaponry and number, the collective completely destroyed the defence at Auckland. They gave no mercy to their prisoners, however, murdering every captured man, woman and child as enemies of the deities.
The Battle of Cloudy Bay[]
After their victory, the army were confident of success. The travelled to the southernmost point of the northern island, but at this point they were held up. There were several signs a small harbour type area, but it was unmanned and contained only three boats, enough to transport few people. Historians later suggested this could have been the result of an earlier Unification of New Zealand.
But over hundreds of years the tribesmen had developed quickly, and began to craft axes from stones and broken twigs that lay nearby. These in turn were used to chop down trees. With this wood, they began to create simple boats based on the design of the boats already there.
Overall, nine boats were built. They slowly began to move the army across. They left many behind to garrison the north island, but the rest came, thousands of them. It took over a month. Finally, the journey was complete, and the army advanced.
While the transportation was taking place, the people of New Zealand had secretly been building up an army, taking warriors from across the island. They had planned to attack earlier, but there army had not been big enough, and so they had been forced to wait. Now, however, their forces matched their opponents' army, and as the Collective advanced, the Maori attacked.
Taken by surprise, the Collective were forced back to the beaches, where the majority of the battle took place. There, the invaders regrouped, took battle formation and charged back.
Both sides took heavy casualties, but the Collective, armed with blow darts, slings and rifles, finally managed to destroy their opponent. The Maori were pushed back for hours, trying to hold their ground but being shot from a range that they couldn't hope to reach. The strongest force of the defenders was crushed, leaving New Zealand open to Collective rule.
Unification of Australia[]
The Collective swept through the remainder of New Zealand, meeting with their ships at the bottom of the lower island. The army had roughly halved in size, owing to casualties and men left to garrison the island. Meanwhile, the Collective had been training more men to wield rifles, and with these elites added to the force it would become far more deadly. Nevertheless, a serious problem had come up in North Australia concerning the last region not occupied by the Collective; the tribesmen were fighting back.
The Collective assembled a temporary force to hold off the 'barbarians', as they were called, but they were slowly collapsing. They needed the army, but that was still in New Zealand. Also, several villages were being inspired by the barbarians' resistance, and the possibility of rebellion became serious. The collective was losing its grasp on Australia. It was decided that the invasion of New Zealand had been a mistake, but it was too late for that.
In desperation, the Council called for any riflemen across the country to come to their base. There, they were each tested of skill, until fourteen elites were selected. With these elites, the League of Sky was constructed. It was an organization dedicated to keeping the peace and stamping out any resistance. It was completely independent, and unofficially the Collective's last hope.
The League travelled immediately to the Northern lands. There, they secretly swept into the lands, and attacked key areas. The advancing lines were forced to break to reorganise themselves in their villages, but the League kept moving, and was rarely actually seen. This gave the Collective's armies a chance to advance through their enemies lands.
Meanwhile, in the eyes of the people of the Collective, the League were seen as heroes, and became role models for many children. It seemed that they were unstoppable. They could not be beaten. Very quickly, all ideas of rebellion stopped.
With the help of the League, the armies of the Collective quickly moved in to occupy the remaining regions, garrisoning it with the strongest forces on the island. The location of the League remained unknown.
The Flag of the Republic of Australia
With the successful invasion of the north lands, the collective declared that Australia was at last unified. It was declared the Central Republic, as the leaders of the Collective had believed their island to be the centre of the world.
Occupation of Tasmania[]
Upon the army's return to Australia, the reason for their delay became apparent; the ships had first docked in Tasmania, believing it to be their homeland, only to find that it was a very different place. The disorganized local people had proven no match for the organized forces of the Collective, and within weeks the army had taken control of the island.
They garrisoned the island as they had done to New Zealand and left it to return home. When they did, they found that they island had changed, and that they were no longer serving under a collective now, but a Republic.
It was also during this time that the first Trade Routes were set up between Australia and its colonies.
Battle of Rockhampton[]
Back in Britain, the country was filled with unrest. The population was growing at a huge pace, and had reached such a huge amount that it was becoming more and more difficult to rule the country. Also, the crime rate had grown to a level that could not be enforced. The inmates needed to be sent away, where they could not cause any more trouble. The population needed to be contained.
In October 1808, a meeting was called between King George III and his subjects. The British Empire was huge, but with the loss of North America, it was becoming more and more difficult to send people away to other countries. It was decreed that the Empire had to grow, and to do so, it had to control Australia.
By February of the following year, an army had been assembled in Hastings, with a powerful fleet of battleships ready to transport them to Australia. However, because of the huge population, obtaining food in the quantities required for such a journey had taken far longer than they expected, and some of it was already starting to rot. Consequently, it wasn't until April that they could finally set sail.
But the food problem turned out to be just one of a series of catastrophic events. In a violent storm just nine days after leaving Britain, an entire ship was destroyed and all of the others were severely damaged. Stranded in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, they were forced to stop and complete repairs as best they could. These repairs took around five weeks.
When they were finally completed, they continued their journey. The Captain had been badly injured as a result of the storm, and another man had been forced to take charge, but this man was not respected as the Captain was, and failed to keep the ships in order. He was replaced by another man, who also struggled. This continued for a number of weeks until finally the Captain had recovered enough to resume leadership.
After months of travel, the crew finally arrived at the east coast of Australia (or the Central Republic). Before they even landed, they were noticed by Republic scouts who immediately notified their leader. The coastal village was unprepared for an invasion, but it had a small army and a huge assortment of traps with which to defend itself.
The troops landed at a beach, just a few km from the village. Messengers had already been dispatched, but it would be days before an army capable of defeating the British arrived. Even though it was nearly evening, the British infantry stormed into the village, destroying the army that had tried to protect it. This time, they were aware of the traps that the tribesmen would use and had taken measures to guard against them.
With the village under their control, they set up a camp inside the village. The base that they created was incredibly well defended, and was certainly too powerful for the Republic to breach. The British plan was clearly to move slowly through the republic, capturing and maintaining key positions, although the Republic had not yet worked this out. Despite this, the Republic made no attempt to breach this base.
After several weeks, British forces travelled westwards. Upon hearing this, the assembled Republic army formed a base in Rockhampton. They set up a huge network of traps and positioned themselves in strategic locations in an area covering around two sq mi. The plan was to try to intercept the British forces as they advanced inland.
The British armies moved slowly. It took days for the forces to reach Rockhampton, but the Republic forces were still there when the troops arrived. The British made camp in the evening, leaving only four guards - a fatal mistake.
The Republic made its move late in the evening, when most of the soldiers were asleep. Three small groups crept into the village with the larger force moving behind. The groups used blow darts to kill the sentries. Almost upon the camp, the Aboriginal forces charged into the base.
The British retaliation was quick, but the Republic was far stronger. The most effective weapon in the conflict was probably the blow dart, as the Aboriginal army used them to kill countless hundreds of British troops. The British struggled even to arm themselves to fight back against the tribesmen. This meant that this large proportion of the British army was slaughtered before it could even fight back.
Second Battle of Rockhampton[]
With around a third of the British army destroyed by attacking Republic forces, the British fortified their base far more strongly. Instead of expanding, they constructed huge numbers of powerful war machines using only the raw materials they could find. They would occasionally dispatch small troops from the fortification to collect these materials, but because of an unspoken truce, they were not attacked.
After about two months of this stalemate, the Republic made a decision to launch an attack against the British base to avoid any further expansion. An army was prepared around eight miles north of the base, where a suitable camp was made. For the first time, the Republic would be launching an attack against a side instead of defending against one, which was different from anything they had previously attempted. Therefore, for this task, the Republic enlisted the help of the League of Sky.
The League was quick and decisive, targeting and destroying several key positions outside the British base.