In this third instalment of a series on the nature and incidence of genocides, alleged genocides and massacres carried out by the colonial powers and rulers against the indigenous populations in their colonies will be examined. This subject is, of course, of particular interest to Australians, since the alleged genocide of Australia’s Aborigines by its white settlers has been a matter of great interest and controversy. In considering this question, we quickly run up against a central ambiguity contained in the notion of “genocide”, especially as alleged in the colonial world. Is a sharp, indeed catastrophic reduction in a local…