Contents: Portents of disaster p1. Gallant protectors to the rescue: how they fumbled it p7. Armed aboriginals launch guerrilla raids on white settlers p29. Further affrays on the northern rivers in 1840 p41. Racial murders in the Western District 1840-41 p47. Aboriginals cluster around Melbourne and Geelong p65. The tragedy of Robinson's black immigrants p73. What does British law say when one black harms another? p77. Race war in the Western District 1842 p85. Native police organised to control their own people p109. More clashes in the Western District 1843 p115. The protectorate begins to falter p123. Affrays along the Murray 1840-43 p137. Increasing control over the Western and Wimmera districts 1844-45 p143. Failure of the Merri Creek Mission p159. Terror comes to Gippsland p169. Continued decline of the protectorate 1845-48 p179. Failure of the Wesleyan Mission at Buntingdale p199. White woman captured by Gippsland blacks p205. The last stand: battles along the Murray p219. The state of affairs just before the gold rush p241. Legal rights and land rights denied p253. Genocide, with the best intentions p263..