The most prominent type of conflict present in the secret river is that of cultural/racial conflict. A memorable instance of this type of conflict occurs when the 'blacks' are stealing crops from Thornhills paddocks. William Thornhill doesn't take too kindly to the lack of respect shown and he replies through the use of force. He grabs one woman by the hair, savagely elbows another and kicks the knee of another older lady. He also encourages the others to "be off" by parading around with a shotgun in hand and calling them "thieving black whores". In my opinion racial/cultural conflict is the usually the worst as its the least understood. Different cultures and races have differing views on what is right and what is wrong which is the intigation of many of these racial/cultural conflicts. These differing views are why this type of conflict is usually the worst, as people have so little understanding about other cultures, races and their values.