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European hunger for resources, particularly land, led to the denial of Indigenous sovereignty and culture with the expansion of European colonialism. This was the most important ecological, economic, and political upheaval to affect the modern world. Records created during this violent rush of land-hunting and flag-planting can help us to understand how Western empires carved up "new" worlds into tributary states and discrete spheres. In Australia, persistent Indigenous resistance to European rule led to the establishment of the Native Police – an armed, mobile paramilitary force – consisting of Aboriginal troopers led by European officers. The sole purpose of the Native Police was to crush this resistance. Drawing upon historical documents and maps from the European invasion and annexation of territory, this article discusses the "names of places" project, which involves the mapping of colonial massacres and frontier violence in Queensland, Australia, including the mapping of the actions of the Native Police in the northeastern part of the Australian continent. In particular, we interrogate surviving records, currently held at the Queensland State Archives, which illustrate the actions, the composition, and the movements of this colonial formation. Mapping colonial violence forces readers to acknowledge that empires and modern nations are often built on the bones of the dispossessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]