This is a list of some massacres of Aboriginal Australians by christians and jews
kangarooistan
This is a list of some massacres of Aboriginal Australians. For
discussion of the historical arguments around these conflicts see the
articles on the History Wars and the Black armband view of history,
plus the section on impact of European settlement in the article on
Indigenous Australians .
Contents
[hide]
[edit] 1800s
* The Black War refers to a period of intermittent conflict
between the British colonists and Aborigines in Van Diemen's Land (now
Tasmania) in the early years of the 1800s. The conflict has been
described as a genocide resulting in the decimation of the full-blood
Tasmanian Aboriginal population, though there are presently many
thousands of individuals with degrees of Tasmanian Aboriginal
background. The culmination of this period was the forcible removal of
the survivors, in the 1830s, to Flinders Island in Bass Strait. The
specially built settlement was not suitable, with terrible living
conditions and many died from disease introduced by Europeans. Later
they were moved to a settlement at Oyster Cove south of Hobart. Some
of the descendants of the Tasmanian Aborigines still live on Flinders
Island and nearby Cape Barren Island. [1]
[edit] 1820s
* 1824 Bathurst massacre: Following the killing of seven Europeans
by Aboriginal people around Bathurst, New South Wales, martial law was
declared and around 100 Aboriginal people killed. [2] [3]
[edit] 1830s
* 1830 Fremantle, Western Australia,: The first official
'punishment raid' on Aboriginal people in Western Australia, led by
Captain Irwin took place in May 1830. A detachment of soldiers led by
Irwin attacked an Aboriginal encampment north of Fremantle in the
belief that it contained men who had 'broken into and plundered the
house of a man called Paton' and killed some poultry. Paton had called
together a number of settlers who, armed with muskets, set after the
Aborigines and came upon them not far from the home. 'The tall savage
who appeared the Chief showed unequivocal gestures of defiance and
contempt' and was accordingly shot. Irwin stated, "This daring and
hostile conduct of the natives induced me to seize the opportunity to
make them sensible to our superiority, by showing how severely we
could retaliate their aggression." In actions that followed over the
next few days, more Aborigines were killed and wounded. [4] [5]
* 1833-34 Convincing Ground massacre (Gunditjmara): On the shore
near Portland, Victoria was one of the largest recorded massacres in
Victoria. Whalers and the local Kilcarer Gunditjmara people disputed
rights to a beached whale carcass. [6]
* 1834: Battle of Pinjarra, Western Australia: Official records
state 14 Aboriginal people killed, but other accounts put the figure
much higher [7] [8]
* 1838 Myall Creek massacre - 10th June: 28 people killed at Myall
Creek near Inverell, New South Wales. This was the first Aboriginal
massacre for which European settlers were tried. Eleven men were
charged with murder but acquitted. A new trial was held and the seven
men charged with the murder of one Aboriginal child. They were found
guilty and hanged.
* 1838 Waterloo Creek massacre: A Sydney mounted police detachment
attacked an encampment of Kamilaroi people at a place called Waterloo
Creek in remote bushland. [9]
* 1838 Benalla (Benalta run - musk duck): Grantville Stapylton
named the river 'Broken'. In April of that year a party of some 18
men, in the employ of George Faithful and William Faithfull, were
searching out new land to the south of Wangaratta. Then, in the
vicinity of, or possibly on, the present townsite of Benalla, it is
alleged that a large number of Aborigines attacked the party's camp.
At least one Koori and somewhere between eight and thirteen Europeans
died in what became known as the Faithfull Massacre. Local reprisals
lasted a number of years, resulting in the deaths of up to 100
Aborigines. The reason for the attack is unclear although some sources
claim that the men took shots at local Aborigines and generally
provoked them. It also seems they were camping on a hunting ground
This "hunting ground" would have been a ceremonial ground probably
called a 'Kangaroo ground'. Hunting grounds were all over so not
something that would instigate an attack. The colonial government
decided to "open up" the lands south of Yass after the Faithful
Massacre and bring them under British rule. This was as much to try
and protect the Aboriginal people from reprisals as to open up new
lands for the colonists. The Aboriginal people were (supposedly)
protected under British law.
* 1830s - 1840s Wiradjuri Wars: Clashes between European settlers
and Wiradjuri were very violent, particularly around the Murrumbidgee.
The loss of fishing grounds and significant sites and the killing of
Aboriginal people was retaliated through attacks with spears on cattle
and stockmen. In the 1850s there were still corroborees around Mudgee
but there were fewer clashes. Known cermeony continued at the
Murrumbidgee into the 1890s. European settlement had taken hold and
the Aboriginal population was in temporary decline.
[edit] 1840s
* 1840-1850 Gippsland massacres of the Gunai people in East
Gippsland, Victoria, Australia in response to their resistance to
European settlement on their land. The real death toll is unclear as
few records exist or were made at the time. From available evidence
(letters and diaries), it appears[10]:
o 1840 - Nuntin- unknown number killed by Angus McMillan's
men
o 1840 - Boney Point - "Angus McMillan and his men took a
heavy toll of Aboriginal lives"
o 1841 - Butchers Creek - 30-35 shot by Angus McMillan's men
o 1841 - Maffra - unknown number shot by Angus McMillan's
men
o 1842 - Skull Creek - unknown number killed
o 1842 - Bruthen Creek - "hundreds killed"
o 1843 - Warrigal Creek - between 60 and 180 shot by Angus
McMillan and his men
o 1844 - Maffra - unknown number killed
o 1846 - South Gippsland - 14 killed
o 1846 - Snowy River - 8 killed by Captain Dana and the
Aboriginal Police
o 1846-47 - Central Gippsland - 50 or more shot by armed
party hunting for a white woman supposedly held by Aborigines; no such
woman was ever found.
o 1850 - East Gippsland - 15-20 killed
o 1850 - Murrindal - 16 poisoned
* 1841 Wonnerup Massacre: George Layman was speared by a Wardandi
(from Wardan = Ocean) man, Gaywer, at Wonnerup House, Capel, Western
Australia when he refused to release an Aboriginal woman held at the
house. This led to the Wonnerup Massacre where white settlers rode
abreast through the tuart forest killing over 250 people on their
tribal land. The dead are reputed to be buried at Ludlow Forest,
currently being mined for mineral sands by Cable Sands. [11]
* 1841 Rufus River Massacre - August: 35 Maraura people killed in
a two-day conflict with a number of police and volunteers from
Adelaide after sheep and cattle were stolen and several months of
violent tension.
* 1842 Deen Maar - Eumerella Wars took place over 20 years in the
mid-1800s. The remains of people involved in the conflict are at Deen
Maar.
* 1846 Blanket Bay, Cape Otway, Victoria - July: Rape and killing
of numerous local Katabanut (king parrot) people during an expedition
of Native Police dispatched by Captain Foster Fyans.
[edit] 1850s-1890s
* 1864 Richmond River massacre - January: 100 people killed at
Richmond River, New South Wales.
* 1865 The La Grange expedition was a search expedition carried
out in the vicinity of La Grange Bay in the Kimberley region of
Western Australia led by Maitland Brown that led to the death of up to
20 Aboriginal people. The expedition has been celebrated with the
Explorers' Monument in Fremantle, Western Australia.
* 1868 Flying Foam massacre, Dampier Archipelago, Western
Australia. Following the killing of two police and two settlers by
local Yaburara people, two parties of settlers from the Roebourne
area, led by prominent pastoralists Alexander McRae and John Withnell,
killed an unknown number of Yaburara. Estimates of the number of dead
range from 20 to 150.[12]
* 1874 Barrow Creek Massacre - February (NT): Mounted Constable
Samuel Gason arrived at Barrow Creek and a police station was opened.
Eight days later a group of Kaytetye men attacked the station, either
in retaltiation for treatment of Kaytetye women, the closing off of
their only water source, or both. Two white men were killed and one
wounded. Samuel Gason mounted a large police hunt against the Kaytetye
resulting in the killing of many Aboriginal men, women and children -
some say up to 90. [13] Skull Creek takes its name from the bleached
bones found there long after [14].
* 1880s-90s Arnhem Land: Series of skirmishes and "wars" between
Yolngu and whites. Several massacres at Florida Station [2]. Richard
Trudgen[3] also writes of several massacres in this area, including an
incident where Yolngu were fed poisoned horsemeat after they killed
and ate some cattle (under their law, it was their land and they had
an inalienable right to eat animals on their land). Many people died
as a result of that incident. Trudgen also talks of a massacre ten
years later after some Yolngu took a small amount of barbed wire from
a huge roll to build fishing spears. Men, women and children were
chased by mounted police and men from the Eastern and African Cold
Storage Company and shot.
* 1884 Battle Mountain: 200 Kalkadoon people killed near Mount
Isa, Queensland after a Chinese shepherd had been murdered.
* 1887 Halls Creek Western Australia. Mary Durack suggests there
was a conspiracy of silence about the massacres of Djara, Konejandi
and Walmadjari peoples about attacks on Aborigines by white gold-
miners, Aboriginal reprisals and consequent massacres at this time.
John Durack was speared, which led to a local massacre in the
Kimberley.
* 1890 Speewah Massacre, Qld: Early settler, John Atherton, took
revenge on the Djabugay by sending in native troopers to avenge the
killing of a bullock. Other unconfirmed reports of similar atrocities
occurred locally. [15]
* 1890-1920 Kimberley region - The Killing Times - East
Kimberleys: About half of the Kimberley Aboriginal people massacred as
a result of a number of reprisals for cattle spearing, and payback
killings of European settlers.
[edit] 1900s
* Kimberley region - The Killing Times - 1890-1920: The massacres
listed below have been depicted in modern Australian Aboriginal art
from the Warmun/Turkey Creek community who were members of the tribes
affected. Oral history of the massacres were passed down and artists
such as the late Rover Thomas have depicted the massacres.
* 1906-7 Canning Stock Route: an unrecorded number of Aboriginal
men and women were raped and massacred when Mardu people were captured
and tortured to serve as 'guides' and reveal the sources of water in
the area after being 'run down' by men on horseback, restrained by
heavy chains 24 hours a day, and tied to trees at night. In
retaliation for this treatment, plus the party's interference with
traditional wells, and the theft of cultural artefacts, Aborigines
destroyed some of Canning's wells, and stole from and occasionally
killed white travellers. A Royal Commission in 1908, exonerated
Canning, after an appearance by Kimberley Explorer and Lord Mayor of
Perth, Alexander Forrest claimed that all explorers had acted in such
a fashion. [16]
* 1920s Mistake Creek: Seven Kija people were alleged to have been
killed by men under the control of a Constable Rhatigan, at Mistake
Creek, East Kimberley. The massacre is supposed to be in reprisal for
allegedly killing Rhatigan's cow, however the cow is claimed to have
been found alive after the massacre had already taken place. Rhatigan
was arrested for wilful murder, but the charges were dropped, for lack
of evidence. [17] The historian Keith Windschuttle disputes the
version put forward by former Governor-General of Australia, William
Deane, in November 2002. Windschuttle found the massacre took place on
March 30, 1915, not in the 1930s, and was not a reprisal attack by
whites over a cow, but "an internal feud between Aboriginal station
hands" over a woman. "No Europeans were responsible. There was no
dispute over a stolen cow, and it had nothing to do with theories
about terra nullius or of Aborigines being subhuman."[18]. However,
members of the Gija tribe, from the Warmun (Turkey Creek) community
have depicted the massacre in their artworks (see Warmun Art).
[edit] 1920s
The strong, local indigenous oral history surrounding the massacres
around the Kimberley region have been depicted in paintings by Warmun
artists such as the late Rover Thomas and his wife, Queenie McKenzie.
Rover Thomas' paintings of the Bedford Downs (1985) and Mistake Creek
(1990) massacres are part of his series on the "Killing Times", [19]
[20] while Queenie McKenzie depicted another massacre at the Texas
Downs Station (1996). [21] Thomas' painting of a massacre at Ruby
Plains Station (1985) sold for AU$316,000 at a Sotheby's auction in
November 2007. [22] A list of indigenous artists who have depicted
Kimberley massacres can be found on the Warmun website [23]
* 1924 Bedford Downs massacre: a group of Kija or Gija men were
jailed for spearing a bullock. On release from jail they had to walk
the 200 kilometers back to Bedford Downs, where they were set to work
to cut the wood that was later used to burn their bodies. Once the
work was finished they were fed Strychnine, and the bodies were
burned. [24] This massacre has been depicted in artworks by members of
the Gija tribe. It has been questioned whether this alleged massacre
actually occurred or if it is merely a myth or local legend with no
foundation in fact. An article published by Rod Moran (a Western
Australian journalist) argues that there is no evidence for such a
massacre and that it is much more likely to be an invention.[25]
* 1926 Forrest River massacre in the East Kimberleys: in May 1926,
Fred Hay, a pastoralist, was speared and killed by an Aboriginal man,
Lumbia. A police patrol led by Constables James St Jack and Denis
Regan left Wyndham on June 1, to hunt for the killer, and in the first
week of July, Lumbia, the accused man, was brought into Wyndham. In
the months that followed rumours circulated of a massacre by the
police party. The Rev. Ernest Gribble of Forrest River Mission (later
Oombulgurri) alleged that 30 people had been killed by the police
party. A Royal Commission, conducted by G. T. Wood sent an evidence-
gathering party and heard evidence regarding Gribble's allegations.
The Royal Commission found that 11 people had been massacred and the
bodies burned. In May 1927, St Jack and Regan were charged with the
murder of Boondung, one of the 11. However, at a preliminary hearing,
Magistrate Kidson found there was insufficient evidence to proceed to
trial. Subsequent attacks on the credibility of Gribble led to his
departure from the region. [26] In 1999, journalist Rod Moran,
published a book Massacre Myth which reviewed the evidence and found
that the massacre was a fabrication by Gribble.[citation needed] No
eyewitnesses or survivors were ever found. Gribble had a history of
making false claims about mistreatment of Aborigines and was known to
have had a history of mental illness. The evidence-gathering party
found no graves. All of the bones found either could not be identified
as human or were animal bones. Of the people listed as missing by
Gribble, Moran was able to account for all but one as not being killed
in the massacre, from mission and police records. One woman had been
killed by her husband before the Hay killing and another was listed
twice.
* 1928 Coniston massacre: A WW1 veteran shot 32 Aborigines at
Coniston in the Northern Territory after a white dingo trapper and
station owner were attacked by Aborigines. A survivor of the massacre,
Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri, later became part of the first generation
of Papunya painting men. Billy Stockman was saved by his mother who
put him in a coolamon [see 'The Tjulkurra': Billy Stockman
Tjapaltjarri, ISBN 1-876622-37-7] A court of inquiry said the European
action was 'justified'. [27] [28]
[edit] After 1930
* 1932-34 Caledon Bay crisis: In 1932, five Japanese poachers, two
white men, and a policeman were killed by Yolngu people in retaliation
for rapes. A "punitive expedition" from Darwin was proposed, just as
had happened at the Coniston massacre four years earlier, but this was
averted, and the matter was settled in the courts. This event is
marked as a significant turning point in the history of the treatment
of Aboriginal people.
[edit] References
1. ^ Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission
'Bringing Them Home' website
2. ^ Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission
'Bringing Them Home' website
3. ^ National Trust account of the 1824 Bathurst war
4. ^ Study guide to "My Place" by Sally Morgan
5. ^ Tom Stannage, (1979), The People of Perth: a social history of
Western Australia's Capital City, p. 27
6. ^ Clark, Ian D. (1998). Convincing Ground. Scars in the
Landscape: A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria, 1883 -
1859. Museum Victoria. Retrieved on 2007-05-18. "... and the whalers
having used their guns beat them off and hence called the spot the
Convincing Ground."
7. ^ Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission
'Bringing Them Home' website
8. ^ Fairfax Walkabout Australian travel guide on the Pinjarra
9. ^ Australian Broadcasting Corporation Frontier Education history
website
10. ^ Gardner, P.D. (2001), Gippsland massacres: the destruction of
the Kurnai tribes, 1800-1860. Ngarak Press, Ensay, Victoria ISBN
1-875254-31-5
11. ^ Indigenous history at Save the Tuarts
12. ^ http://pals.dia.wa.gov.au/timelines.aspx
13. ^ http://www.clc.org.au/media/publications/landalive/barrow.asp
14. ^ http://www.connectingthecontinent.com/ctcwebsite/stories/story5.htm
15. ^ http://www.kuranda.org/?p=53
16. ^ Remote Area Tours - History
17. ^ Deane, William. "Decrying the memories of Mistake Creek is yet
further injustice", Opinion, Sydney Morning Herald, 2002-11-27.
Retrieved on 2006-06-17.
18. ^ Devine, Miranda. "Truce, and truth, in history wars", Opinion,
Sydney Morning Herald, 2006-04-20. Retrieved on 2006-06-17.
19. ^ Rover Thomas: I want to paint, National Gallery of Victoria
20. ^ Rover Thomas Education Kit: I want to paint, Art Gallery of
NSW
21. ^ Massacre and the Rover Thomas Story, Texas Downs Country,
Museum Victoria
22. ^ Perkin, Corrie (2007) $316,000 for Rover's massacre, The
Australian, November 26
23. ^ Warmun Centre Artists
24. ^ ABC 7:30 report
25. ^ [1]
26. ^ Quadrant Magazine
27. ^ Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission
'Bringing Them Home' website
28. ^ Australian Broadcasting Corporation Frontier Education history
website
[edit] External links
* History Wars Special in the Sydney Morning Herald
* Who plays Stalin in our History Wars? Stuart Macintyre
[edit] See also
* Gippsland massacres
* Cullin-La-Ringo massacre
* Skull Creek
kangarooistan
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_of_Indigenous_Australians
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gippsland_massacres
The blacks are very quiet here now, poor wretches. No wild
beast of the forest was ever hunted down with such unsparing
perseverance as they are. Men, women and children are shot whenever
they can be met with ... I have protested against it at every station I
have been in Gippsland, in the strongest language, but these things
are kept very secret as the penalty would certainly be hanging ... For
myself, if I caught a black actually killing my sheep, I would shoot
him with as little remorse as I would a wild dog, but no consideration
on earth would induce me to ride into a camp and fire on them
indiscriminately, as is the custom whenever the smoke is seen. They
[the Aborigines] will very shortly be extinct. It is impossible to say
how many have been shot, but I am convinced that not less than 450
have been murdered altogether.[2]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_Creek
Skull Creek is a common name for a number of creeks and waterways in
Australia. In each case, it is named so due to the killing of
Aboriginal people in the area.
* Skull Creek, Victoria, in the Gippsland region was the site of
killings of Kurnai in 1842 during the Gippsland massacres.
* Skull Creek, Northern Territory, near Barrow Creek, was the site
of killings of Kaytetye in 1874, known as the Barrow Creek massacre.
[1]
* Skull Creek, Western Australia, near Laverton, was the site of
killings of Aboriginal people in the nineteenth century.
Don McLeod also tells a story of clashes over soak water at the
time of the gold rushes in Western Australia:
During the time of the Laverton rush, the Blackfellows tried
to keep their meagre water supplies hidden from the knowledge of white
prospectors since their horses and camels quickly exhausted the
limited soaks.
McLeod relates a story told to him by an old prospector by the
name of Long, observing an Aboriginal man and woman:
The man took the throwing stick he was carrying and worked it
into the sand. He then broke off a hollow reed and, placing it in the
hole he had thus developed, lay down on his stomach and appeared to
suck up something through the reed. His companion repeated his
movements before they quietly moved on...
Without delay Long, with the aid of a shovel, proved the
existence of a soak of sweet water, from which he replenished his
supplies...Only a few days later in the same place, another prospector
had the same Blackfellow bailed up, threatening to shoot him unless he
revealed a source of water. This was certainly not an untypical bush
encounter. However, [they were] interrupted by yet another prospector
riding a camel. The Blackfellow took advantage of the confusion and
threw a spear into the bush and escaped.
On the diggings, a hue and cry was raised over this alleged
murderous attack and a party was quickly organised to set out and
teach the Blackfellows a lesson - for daring to protect their water.
Mustering what guns they could, the punitive party went out to what
later became known as Skull Creek, and shot every Blackfellow they
could find. The bodies were buried in shallow graves.[2]
* Skull Springs, Western Australia, near Nullagine, was the site
of a massacre of Aboriginal people in the nineteenth century.
[edit] Skeleton Creek
There are also numerous Skeleton Creeks around Australia:
* Skeleton Creek near Kuranda, Queensland is the site of a
massacre of Djabugay people.[3] Sixteen skulls were placed on poles
after the massacre.[4]
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> 15. ^http://www.kuranda.org/?p=53
simple_...@yahoo.com
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kangarooistan
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_Creek
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truganini
Before she was eighteen, her mother had been killed by whalers, her
first fiance died while saving her from abduction, and, in 1828, her
two sisters, Lowhenunhue and Maggerleede, were abducted and taken to
Kangaroo Island, off South Australia and sold as slaves. She soon
married Woorrady, although he would die when she was still in her
twenties.
, when Truganini was the sole survivor of the Oyster Cove group, she
was again moved to Hobart. She died three years later, having
requested that her ashes be scattered in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel.
She was, however, buried at the former "Female Factory" at Cascades, a
suburb of Hobart. Within two years, her skeleton was exhumed by the
Royal Society of Tasmania and later placed on display. Only in April
of 1976, approaching the centenary of her death, were her remains
finally cremated and scattered according to her wishes.
In 1997 the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, returned Truganini's
necklace and bracelet to Tasmania. Hair and skin were found in the
collection of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2002, and
they were returned to Tasmania for burial.[3]
Although the colonial administration at the time proclaimed that she
was the last-surviving full-blood Tasmanian Aborigine, several other
individuals are known to have out-lived Truganini, and produced
descendants.[citation needed]
[edit]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lanne
Following his death his body was dismembered and used for scientific
purposes. An argument broke out between the Royal College of Surgeons
of England and the Royal Society in Tasmania over who should possess
his remains. A member of the English College of Surgeons, William
Crowther, managed to break into the morgue where Lanne's body was kept
and decapitated the corpse, removed the skin and inserted a skull from
a white body into the black skin. The Tasmanian Royal Society soon
discovered Crowther's work, and decided to thwart any further attempts
to collect "samples" by amputating the hands and feet and discarding
them separately. Lanne was then buried in this state.
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