For some thirty-four years, major punitive expeditions were regularly dispatched against Malakulans, who often opposed, repelled or diluted the effectiveness of these imperial and colonial projects. A majority of the islands in the New Hebrides experienced some form of retributive attack, dating from the first in Tanna in 1858. The colonial response to perceived transgressions by New Hebrideans was relentless, vicious and often random, and Malakula supplies some of the most egregious examples. However, the period of colonial violence is an aspect of Vanuatu history that remains largely forgotten today, never having been explored or written about apart from one or two instances. Instead we have a rather sanitised version of the historic period: Quiros, Bougainville, Cook, sandalwooders, missionaries, traders, settlers, labour trafficking, 1906 (Condominium), WWI and WWII and the lead up to Independence. There is a proud tradition of resistance to colonial intrusion across the archipelago from at least the 1850s yet it remains largely unknown and almost totally lacks a ni-Vanuatu perspective. This is not a hidden aspect of Vanuatu history, it has simply been ignored as the country has been presented with and accepted the colonisers’ version of the nation’s history. Relentless punitive actions against the indigenous population for some 60 years was seen as justified and necessary. However, if the finer detail is revealed or highlighted it is not a very flattering aspect of the colonial process. Such histories can be complex, disturbing, and often sensitive. However, for modern ni-Vanuatu, knowledge of this largely unwritten chapter of the colonial period also has important potential to deepen understanding of contemporary social issues, such as settlement patterns and land disputes. The substantial detailed evidence of colonial violence is found in many archives across the globe but particularly those now held in Auckland, New Zealand (Western Pacific High Commission Archives, Auckland University Special Collections) and in France (French military archives at Vincennes in Paris and French Overseas Territories archives in Aix-en-Provence). The establishment of the new National University of Vanuatu is very welcome and timely and is potentially a great platform to begin to redress the imbalance in the historical record and national consciousness in relation to colonial violence and its impacts particularly from a ni-Vanuatu perspective.