The twitter-verse has erupted with ire and righteous indignation at UNSW’s declaration that invasion is a more appropriate term for the first white settlement of Australia. Let us be frank. White settlement was a calamity for indigenous people. Is it right though to apply the term invasion to that event? Doing so certainly placates the indigenous view of their experience but is it good history? Was invasion the British intent? The fact of the matter is that at the highest level it was. The doctrine Terra Nullius was adopted with the single intention of circumventing international law and conventions of the time to purposely deny aboriginal people any rights and claims to their lands. It is an uncomfortable truth that white Australia must accept. It is not a case of being responsible for the sins of our fathers but empathy is required. It is appropriate to acknowledge the anger and hurt done to indigenous people and the damage done to indigenous culture. At the same time it is important that we do not forget the social, political and military imperatives that drove white occupation. Invasion was not a concept that necessarily occupied the minds of the thousands of white settlers that subsequently emigrated to Australia. History is a complex discipline and simplified single narratives rarely do it justice.