List of massacres of indigenous Australians
Encyclopedia
This is a list of massacre
s of Aboriginal Australians. For discussion of the historical arguments about these conflicts see the articles on the History Wars
and in particular the section on the 'black armband' view of history, plus the section on impact of European settlement in the article on Indigenous Australians
.
The culmination of this period was the transfer of some 200 survivors, in the 1830s, to Flinders Island
in Bass Strait
by George Augustus Robinson
. In 1839, Governor Franklin, appointed a board to inquire into the conditions at Wybalenna that rejected Robinson's claims regarding living conditions and found the settlement to be a failure. Camp conditions had deteriorated and many of the residents had died of ill health and homesickness. The report was never released and the government continued to promote Wybalenna as a success in the treatment of Aboriginal Australians. Historians have described the Wybalenna settlement as not suitable: the food and living conditions as poor, and allege that many died of malnutrition and disease. The Aboriginal people were free to roam the island and were often absent from the settlement for extended periods of time on hunting trips. However, of the 220 who arrived, most died in the following 14 years from introduced disease. 47 survivors were moved to a settlement at Oyster Cove south of Hobart in 1847. Some of the descendants of the Aboriginal Tasmanians still live on Flinders Island and nearby Cape Barren Island. Some historians such as Henry Reynolds have described the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island, as ‘by far the best equipped, most heavily funded and lavishly staffed of all colonial institutions for Aborigines ’. Josephine Flood notes that they were provided with housing, clothing, rations of food, the services of a doctor and educational facilities. Convicts were assigned to build housing (Henry Reynolds notes that the cottages for Aboriginal people were extremely well built) and do most of the work at the settlement including the growing of food in the vegetable gardens.
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", while Queenie McKenzie depicted another massacre at the Texas Downs Station (1996). Thomas' painting of a massacre at Ruby Plains Station (1985) sold for A$316,000 at a Sotheby's auction in November 2007. A list of indigenous artists who have depicted Kimberley massacres can be found on the Warmun website.
Reynolds property, Allynbrook NSW. Date not known.stated in the 1960s to have been "in living memory".
Massacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
s of Aboriginal Australians. For discussion of the historical arguments about these conflicts see the articles on the History Wars
History wars
The history wars in Australia are an ongoing public debate over the interpretation of the history of the British colonisation of Australia and development of contemporary Australian society...
and in particular the section on the 'black armband' view of history, plus the section on impact of European settlement in the article on Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
.
1700s
- 1790 In December, Governor Arthur Phillip issued an order for "a party...of two captains, two subalterns and forty privates, with a proper number of non-commissioned officers from the garrison...to bring in six of those natives who reside near the head of Botany BayBotany BayBotany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...
; or, if that number shall be found impracticable, to put that number to death". This was largely in response to the spearing by PemulwuyPemulwuyPemulwuy was an Aboriginal Australian man born around 1750 in the area of Botany Bay in New South Wales. He is noted for his resistance to the European settlement of Australia which began with the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. He is believed to have been a member of the Bidjigal clan of...
of the Governor's gamekeeper, McEntire, and his subsequent death. McEntire was suspected of violence towards Aboriginal people and TenchWatkin TenchLieutenant-General Watkin Tench was a British Marine officer who is best known for publishing two books describing his experiences in the First Fleet, which established the first settlement in Australia in 1788...
writes he was "the person of whom BaneelonBennelongWoollarawarre Bennelong was a senior man of the Eora, an Aboriginal people of the Port Jackson area, at the time of the first British settlement in Australia, in 1788...
had, on former occasions, shown so much dread and hatred." And, "from the aversion uniformly shown by all the natives to this unhappy man, he had long been suspected by us of having in his excursions shot and injured them". On his deathbed, McEntire "began...to accuse himself of the commission of crimes of the deepest dye", but "declared that he had never fired but once on a native, and then had not killed but severely wounded him in his own defence." Tench wrote of this denial, "Notwithstanding his deathbed confession, most people doubted the truth of the relation, from his general character and other circumstances."
1800s
- The Black WarBlack WarThe Black War is a term used to describe a period of conflict between British colonists and Tasmanian Aborigines in the early nineteenth century...
refers to a period of intermittent conflict between the BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
colonists, whalers and sealers including those of the American sealing fleet and Aborigines in Van Diemen's LandVan Diemen's LandVan Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania...
(now TasmaniaTasmaniaTasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
) in the early years of the 19th century. As the Aborigines probably killed more settlers than their own casualties, it is hard to countenance the conflict being described as a genocideGenocideGenocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
resulting in the elimination of the full-blood Tasmanian Aboriginal population, ; there are presently nearly 20,000 individuals claiming Tasmanian Aboriginal background.
The culmination of this period was the transfer of some 200 survivors, in the 1830s, to Flinders Island
Flinders Island
Flinders Island may refer to:In Australia:* Flinders Island , in the Furneaux Group, is the largest and best known* Flinders Island * Flinders Island , in the Investigator Group* Flinders Island...
in Bass Strait
Bass Strait
Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
by George Augustus Robinson
George Augustus Robinson
George Augustus Robinson was a builder and untrained preacher. He was the Chief Protector of Aborigines in Port Phillip District from 1839 to 1849...
. In 1839, Governor Franklin, appointed a board to inquire into the conditions at Wybalenna that rejected Robinson's claims regarding living conditions and found the settlement to be a failure. Camp conditions had deteriorated and many of the residents had died of ill health and homesickness. The report was never released and the government continued to promote Wybalenna as a success in the treatment of Aboriginal Australians. Historians have described the Wybalenna settlement as not suitable: the food and living conditions as poor, and allege that many died of malnutrition and disease. The Aboriginal people were free to roam the island and were often absent from the settlement for extended periods of time on hunting trips. However, of the 220 who arrived, most died in the following 14 years from introduced disease. 47 survivors were moved to a settlement at Oyster Cove south of Hobart in 1847. Some of the descendants of the Aboriginal Tasmanians still live on Flinders Island and nearby Cape Barren Island. Some historians such as Henry Reynolds have described the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island, as ‘by far the best equipped, most heavily funded and lavishly staffed of all colonial institutions for Aborigines ’. Josephine Flood notes that they were provided with housing, clothing, rations of food, the services of a doctor and educational facilities. Convicts were assigned to build housing (Henry Reynolds notes that the cottages for Aboriginal people were extremely well built) and do most of the work at the settlement including the growing of food in the vegetable gardens.
1820s
- 1824 Bathurst massacre: Following the killing of seven Europeans by Aboriginal people around Bathurst, New South WalesBathurst, New South Wales-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
, and a battle between three stockmen and a warband over stolen cattle which left 16 Aborigines dead, Governor Brisbane declared martial law to restore order and was able to report a cessation of hostilities in which 'not one outrage was committed under it, neither was a life sacrificed or even Blood spilt'. Part of the tribe trekked down to Parramatta to attend the Governor's annual Reconciliation Day. - 1828, 10 February - Cape Grim massacreCape Grim massacreThe Cape Grim massacre occurred 10 February 1828 in the North west of Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, when four shepherds with muskets are alleged to have ambushed over 30 Tasmanian Aborigines from the Pennemukeer band from Cape Grim, killing 30 and throwing their bodies over a 60 metre...
, Cape GrimCape GrimCape Grim is the northwestern point of Tasmania, Australia.It is the location of the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station which is operated by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in a joint programme with the CSIRO....
, TasmaniaTasmaniaTasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
. Four shepherds ambushed and killed 30 Pennemukeer Aboriginal people.
1830s
- 1830 Fremantle, Western AustraliaFremantle, Western AustraliaFremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
,: 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 Aboriginal people 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 Aboriginal people were killed and wounded.
- 1833-34 Convincing Ground massacreConvincing Ground massacreWhen Portland, Victoria was established as a whaling station in 1829, there was tension between the local Indigenous Australian tribe, the Kilcarer gundidj clan of the Gunditjmara people and the whalers. In 1833 or 1834 this tension turned into a full fledged conflict in a dispute over a beached...
of GunditjmaraGunditjmaraGunditjmara, or Gundidj for short, are an Indigenous Australian group from western Victoria . Their neighbours to the west were the Buandig people, to the north the Jardwadjali and Djab wurrung peoples, and in the east the Girai wurrung people.The name may also be spelt Gournditch-Mara...
: On the shore near Portland, VictoriaPortland, VictoriaThe city of Portland is the oldest European settlement in what is now the state of Victoria, Australia. It is the main urban centre of the Shire of Glenelg. It is located on Portland Bay.-History:...
was one of the largest recorded massacreMassacreA massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
s in Victoria. Whalers and the local Kilcarer Gunditjmara people disputed rights to a beached whale carcass.
- 1834: Battle of PinjarraBattle of PinjarraThe Battle of Pinjarra or Pinjarra Massacre was a conflict that occurred in Pinjarra, Western Australia between a group of 60 to 80 Australian Aborigines and a detachment of 25 soldiers and policemen led by Governor James Stirling in 1834...
, Western AustraliaWestern AustraliaWestern Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
: Official records state 14 Aboriginal people killed, but other accounts put the figure much higher, at 25 or more.
- 1838 26 January Waterloo Creek massacreWaterloo Creek massacreThe Waterloo Creek Massacre is the title commonly given to a conflict between mounted police and indigenous Australians in January 1838. The events have been subject to much dispute due to conflicting accounts of what took place and specifically the number of fatalities...
, also known as the Slaughterhouse Creek or Australia Day massacre. A SydneySydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
mounted police detachment, despatched by the Lieutenant Governor of New South WalesLieutenant Governor of New South WalesThe Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales is a government position in the state of New South Wales, Australia, acting as a deputy to the Governor of New South Wales....
Colonel Kenneth SnodgrassLieutenant Governor of New South WalesThe Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales is a government position in the state of New South Wales, Australia, acting as a deputy to the Governor of New South Wales....
, attacked an encampment of KamilaroiKamilaroiThe Kamilaroi or Gamilaraay are an Indigenous Australian people who are from the area between Tamworth and Goondiwindi, and west to Narrabri, Walgett and Lightning Ridge, in northern New South Wales...
people at a place called Waterloo Creek in remote bushland. official reports spoke of between 8 and 50 killed. The missionary Lancelot Threkeld set the number at 120 as part of his campaign to garner support for his Mission. Threkeld also claimed Major James Nunn later boasted they had killed from two to three hundred natives, a statement at odds with his own claim, and both not based on any direct evidence but endorsed by historian Roger Milliss. Other estimates range from 40 to 70, but judge that most of the Kamilaroi were wiped out; as the band involved was only part of the tribe, this is hard to reconcile.
- 1838 11 April, by the Broken River at Benalla. A party of some 18 men, in the employ of George and William Faithful, were searching out new land to the south of Wangaratta for their livestock. According to Judith Bassett, some 20 AboriginesIndigenous AustraliansIndigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
attacked, according to one recent account possibly as a reprisal for the killing of several Aboriginal people at OvensOvensOvens is a small village and Roman Catholic parish adjacent to the town of Ballincollig, County Cork, Ireland. The 2006 Census indicates the population of the village is 1,703 an increase of 62.1% from the 2002 Census.- History :...
earlier by the same stockmen and at least one KooriKooriThe Koori are the indigenous Australians that traditionally occupied modern day New South Wales and Victoria....
and eight EuropeanEuropean ethnic groupsThe ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
s died. It was long known locally as the Faithfull Massacre though Chris Clark argues that 'there is no reason to view this incident as anything other than a battle which the Aborigines won'. Local reprisals ensued resulting in the deaths of up to 100 Aboriginal people. It also seems they were campingCampingCamping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
on a ground reserved for hunting or ceremonies.
- Additional murders of these people occurred at Wangaratta on the Ovens River, at Murchison (led by the native police under Dana and in the company of the young Edward CurrEdward CurrEdward Micklethwaite Curr was an Australian pastoralist and squatter.-Biography:Curr was born in Hobart, Tasmania , the eldest of eleven surviving children of Edward Curr and Elizabeth Curr...
, who could not bring himself to discuss what he witnessed there other than to say he took issue with the official reports). Other incidents were recorded by Mitchelton and Toolamba.
- 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.
- 1838 Myall Creek massacreMyall Creek massacreMyall Creek Massacre involved the killing of up to 30 unarmed Australian Aborigines by European settlers on 10 June 1838 at the Myall Creek near Bingara in northern New South Wales...
- 10 June: 28 people killed at Myall Creek near Inverell, New South WalesInverell, New South WalesInverell is a town in northern New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Macintyre River. It is also the centre of Inverell Shire. Inverell is located on the Gwydir Highway on the western slopes of the Northern Tablelands. It has a temperate climate...
. This was the first Aboriginal massacre for which European settlers were successfully prosecuted. Several colonists had previously been found not guilty by juries despite the weight of evidence and one colonist found guilty had been pardoned when his case was referred to Britain for sentencing. Eleven men were charged with murder but were initially acquitted by a jury. On the orders of the Governor, a new trial was held using the same evidence and seven of the eleven men were found guilty of the murder of one Aboriginal child and hanged. In his book, Blood on the Wattle, journalist Bruce Elder says that the successful prosecutions resulted in pacts of silence becoming a common practice to avoid sufficient evidence becoming available for future prosecutions. Another effect, as one contemporary Sydney newspaper reported, was that poisoning Aboriginal people became more common as "a safer practice". Many massacres were to go unpunished due to these practices, as what is variously called a 'conspiracy' or 'pact' or 'code' of silence fell over the killings of Aboriginal people. - Mid-1838. Gwydir RiverGwydir RiverThe Gwydir River is a large inland river in the northern part of the Australian state of New South Wales which is part of the Murray-Darling Basin. The river has two main tributaries—the Horton River and the Rocky River...
. A war of extirpation, according to local magistrate Edmund Denny Day, was waged all along the Gwydir RiverGwydir RiverThe Gwydir River is a large inland river in the northern part of the Australian state of New South Wales which is part of the Murray-Darling Basin. The river has two main tributaries—the Horton River and the Rocky River...
in mid-1838. 'Aborigines in the district were repeatedly pursued by parties of mounted and armed stockmen, assembled for the purpose, and that great numbers of them had been killed at various spots’.
- 1838 In July 1838 men from the Bowman, Ebden and Yaldwyn stations in search of stolen sheep shot and killed 14 Aboriginal people at a campsite near the confluence of the MurrumbidgeeMurrumbidgee RiverThe Murrumbidgee River is a major river in the state of New South Wales, Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory . A major tributary of the Murray River, the Murrumbidgee flows in a west-northwesterly direction from the foot of Peppercorn Hill in the Fiery Range of the Snowy Mountains,...
and Murray RiverMurray RiverThe Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
s in New South WalesNew South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
.
- May–June 1839 Campaspe Plains massacreCampaspe Plains massacreCampaspe Plains massacre, occurred in 1839 in Central Victoria, Australia as a reprisal raid against Aboriginal resistance to the invasion and occupation of the Dja Dja Wurrung and Daung Wurrung lands...
, Campaspe Creek, Central Victoria, killing Daung WurrungTaungurongThe Taungurong people, also known as the Daung Wurrung, were nine clans who spoke the Daungwurrung language and were part of the Kulin alliance of indigenous Australians. They lived to the north of and were closely associated with the Woiwurrung speaking Wurundjeri people...
and Dja Dja WurrungDja Dja WurrungDja Dja Wurrung, also known as the Jaara people and Loddon River tribe, is a native Aboriginal tribe which occupied the watersheds of the Loddon and Avoca Rivers in the Bendigo region of central Victoria, Australia. They were part of the Kulin alliance of tribes. There were 16 clans, which adhered...
people. - Mid 1839 Murdering Gully massacreMurdering Gully massacreMurdering Gully, formerly known as Puuroyup to the Djargurd Wurrung people, is the site of an 1839 massacre of 35-40 people of the Tarnbeere Gundidj clan of the Djargurd Wurrung in the Camperdown district of Victoria, Australia...
near Camperdown, Victoria wiping out the Tarnbeere Gundidj clan of the Djargurd WurrungDjargurd WurrungThe Djargurd wurrung are Indigenous Australian people who traditionally occupied the territory between Mount Emu Creek and Lake Corangamite, extending to Mount Emu and Cressy in the North, and to Cobden and Swan Marsh in the South in central Victoria and are still represented in the region. The...
people.
- 1830s—1840s Wiradjuri Wars: Clashes between European settlers and WiradjuriWiradjuriThe Wiradjuri are an Indigenous Australian group of central New South Wales.In the 21st century, major Wiradjuri groups live in Condobolin, Peak Hill, Narrandera and Griffith...
were very violent, particularly around the MurrumbidgeeMurrumbidgee RiverThe Murrumbidgee River is a major river in the state of New South Wales, Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory . A major tributary of the Murray River, the Murrumbidgee flows in a west-northwesterly direction from the foot of Peppercorn Hill in the Fiery Range of the Snowy Mountains,...
. 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 ceremony continued at the Murrumbidgee into the 1890s. European settlement had taken hold and the Aboriginal population was in temporary decline.
1840s
- 1840-50 - the Gippsland massacresGippsland massacresThe Aboriginal people of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, known as the Gunai/Kurnai people, fought against the European invasion of their land. The technical superiority of the Europeans' weapons gave the Europeans an absolute advantage...
in which 250-1000 Indigenous Australians were indiscriminately killed. - 1840 8 March. The Whyte brothers massacred, according to various estimates, from 20-30 to 25-51 to 50 JardwadjaliJardwadjaliThe Jardwadjali people are Indigenous Australians who occupy the lands in the upper Wimmera River watershed east to Gariwerd and west to Lake Bringalbert. The towns of Horsham, Cavendish, Coleraine, Asply, Minyip and Donald are within their territory...
men, women, and children on the Konongwootong run near HamiltonHamilton, VictoriaHamilton is a city in western Victoria, Australia. It is located at the intersection of the Glenelg Highway and the Henty Highway...
. Aboriginal tradition puts the death toll as high as 80. - 1841 27 August. The Rufus River massacre, various estimates - between 16-50.
- 1842
- Settlers poisoned 50 Aboriginal people to death in the BrisbaneBrisbaneBrisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
valley in 1842 - On the outskirts of KilcoyKilcoy, QueenslandKilcoy is a small farming town and part of the Somerset Region Local Government Area in South East Queensland, Australia. The township lies on the D'Aguilar Highway, 94 km north west of the state capital, Brisbane, and just to the north of Lake Somerset...
Station owned by MacKenzie, 30-60 people of the Kabi KabiKabiThe Kabi people are an Aboriginal Goori people of Australia, and corresponding language group of the South East Queensland coast, stretching from Brisbane up to Bundaberg. In their language, "Kabi" means "No"....
died from eating flour laced with strychnine or arsenic.
- Settlers poisoned 50 Aboriginal people to death in the Brisbane
- 1843 Warrigal CreekWarrigal Creek-Warrigal Creek massacre:In July 1843 Ronald Macallister was killed by Aboriginies near Port Albert. To avenge his death a party of whites led by a rich squatter attacked a group of Aborigines. It is thought that over 60 people were killed in this action...
massacre, amounting to 100-150 Aboriginal people. - 1846 George Smythe's surveying party shot in cold blood from 7 to 9 Aboriginal people, all but one women and children, at Cape OtwayCape OtwayCape Otway is a cape in south Victoria, Australia on the Great Ocean Road; much of the area is enclosed in the Otway National Park.-History:...
. - 1849 By 1849 clashes between Aboriginal people and settlers occurred on the Balonne and Condamine Rivers of Queensland.
- 1849 Massacre of Muruwari people at Hospital Creek in retribution for a suspected killing of a white stockman.
- 1849 Massacre of Aboriginal people at Butchers Tree near Brewarrina, along the Barwon River, and on the Narran River.
- 1849 Avenue Range Station Massacre (Mount Gambier region of South Australia) - at least 9 indigenous BuandigBuandigThe Buandig people are Indigenous Australians from the Mount Gambier region in western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia.-Traditional Lands:...
Wattatonga clan people allegedly murdered by the station owner James Brown who was subsequently charged with the crime. The case was dropped by the Crown for lack of (European) witnesses. Christina Smith's source from the Wattatonga tribe refers to 11 people killed in this incident by two white men.
1850s-1890s
- 1857 Massacre of the Yeeman. On 26 October 1857, members of the Yeeman tribe attacked the Fraser's Hornet Bank Station in the Dawson River Basin in QueenslandQueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
(the Hornet Bank massacreHornet Bank massacreThe Hornet Bank massacre of eleven Europeans, including eight members of the Fraser family, took place about dawn on 27 October 1857 at a station on the upper Dawson River in central Queensland, Australia...
) killing 11 people in retaliation for the deaths of 12 members shot for spearing some cattle and the deaths of another a group of Yeeman nine months earlier who had been given strychnineStrychnineStrychnine is a highly toxic , colorless crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine causes muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia or sheer exhaustion...
laced Christmas puddings. Following the deaths of his parents and siblings, William Fraser, who had been away on business, began a campaign of extermination that eventually saw the extinction of the Yeeman tribe and language group. Fraser is credited with killing more than 100 members of the tribe with many more killed by sympathetic squatters and policemen. Many of the killings were carried out in public such as the killing of two Yeeman charged with the Fraser murders whom Fraser shot in the courthouse as they were leaving following verdicts of not guilty, the alleged killing of two Aboriginal people in the main street of RockhamptonRockhampton, QueenslandRockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
and the killing of a strapperStrapperA strapper is a British English term for a person holding a position looking after racehorses. The duties range from cleaning out the stables and yards, feeding, grooming and rugging horses, plus saddling horses for track-work and races, hence the name...
at a Toowoomba race meeting. By March 1858 up to 300 Yeeman had been killed. Public and police sympathy for Fraser was so high that he was never arrested for any of the killings and gained a reputation as a folk hero throughout Queensland.
- 1861 Central Highlands of QueenslandQueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
. Between October and November 1861, police and settlers killed an estimated 170 Aboriginal people in what was then known as the Medway Ranges following the killing of the Wills family.
- 1865 The La Grange expeditionLa Grange expeditionThe La Grange expedition was a search expedition carried out in the vicinity of Lagrange Bay in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in 1865. Led by Maitland Brown, the expedition searched for three settlers who had failed to return from an earlier exploring expedition...
was a search expedition carried out in the vicinity of La Grange Bay in the Kimberley region of Western AustraliaKimberley region of Western AustraliaThe Kimberley is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northern part of Western Australia, bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami Deserts, and on the east by the Northern Territory.The region...
led by Maitland BrownMaitland BrownMaitland Brown was an explorer, politician and pastoralist in colonial Western Australia. He is best remembered as the leader of the La Grange expedition, which searched for and recovered the bodies of three white settlers murdered by Indigenous Australians, and subsequently killed a number of...
that led to the death of up to 20 Aboriginal people. The expedition has been celebrated with the Explorers' MonumentExplorers' MonumentThe Explorers' Monument is a monument located on The Esplanade in Fremantle, Western Australia. It is approximately six metres high, and consists of a head and shoulders statue of Maitland Brown, sitting on granite pedestals on a granite base inset with plaques honouring three explorers, Frederick...
in Fremantle, Western AustraliaFremantle, Western AustraliaFremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
.
- 1868 Flying Foam MassacreFlying Foam massacreThe Flying Foam Massacres were a series of confrontations between white settlers and Aboriginal people around Flying Foam Passage on Murujuga , between February and May 1868...
, Dampier ArchipelagoDampier ArchipelagoThe Dampier Archipelago is a group of islands near Dampier, Western Australia. It is named after William Dampier, an English buccaneer and explorer who visited in 1699. Dampier named one of the islands, Rosemary Island.-History:...
, 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 pastoralistsRangelandRangelands are vast natural landscapes in the form of grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas, chaparrals, steppes, and tundras...
Alexander McRae and John Withnell, killed an unknown number of Yaburara. Estimates of the number of dead range from 20 to 150.
- 1874 Barrow Creek Massacre - February (NTNorthern TerritoryThe Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
): Mounted Constable Samuel Gason arrived at Barrow Creek and a police station was opened. Eight days later a group of KaytetyeKaytetyeKaytetye is the name of the Indigenous Australians who live around Barrow Creek and Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. Their neighbours to the east are the Alyawarre, to the south the Anmatyerre, to the west the Warlpiri, and to the north the Warumungu....
men attacked the station, either in retaliation 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. Skull CreekSkull CreekSkull 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....
, where the massacre took place, 50 miles south of Barrow Creek, takes its name from the bleached bones found there long after.
- 1876 Goulbolba Hill Massacre, Central QueenslandCentral QueenslandCentral Queensland is an ambiguous geographical division of Queensland that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton and the Capricorn Coast and the area extends west to the Central Highlands at Emerald, north to the Mackay Regional...
: large massacre involving men, women and children. This was the result of settlers pushing Aboriginal people out of their hunting grounds and the Aboriginal people being forced to hunt livestock for food. A party of Native Police, under Frederick Wheeler, who had a reputation for violent repressions, was sent to "disperse" this group of Aboriginal people, who were 'resisting the invasion'. He had also mustered up a force of 100 local whites. Alerted of Wheeler's presence by a native stockman, the district's Aboriginal people holed up in caves on Goulbolba hill. According to eyewitness testimony taken down from a local white in 1899, that day some 300 Aboriginal people, including all the women and children, were shot dead or killed by being herded into the nearby lake for drowning.
- 1880s-90s Arnhem LandArnhem LandThe Arnhem Land Region is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km from the territory capital Darwin. The region has an area of 97,000 km² which also covers the area of Kakadu National...
: Series of skirmishes and "wars" between YolnguYolnguThe Yolngu or Yolŋu are an Indigenous Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Yolngu means “person” in the Yolŋu languages.-Yolŋu law:...
and whites. Several massacres at Florida Station. Richard Trudgen http://www.ards.com.au/whywarriors.htm 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 policeMounted policeMounted police are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. They continue to serve in remote areas and in metropolitan areas where their day-to-day function may be picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and...
and men from the Eastern and African Cold Storage Company and shot.
- 1884 Battle Mountain: 200 KalkadoonKalkadoonKalkadoon, Indigenous Australian tribe living in the Mount Isa region of Queensland. In 1884 they were massacred at "Battle Mountain", in a fight against police....
people killed near Mount Isa, QueenslandMount Isa, Queensland-Culture and sport:The local theatre group, the Mount Isa Theatrical Society, or MITS, often holds plays and musicals, at least once every few months or so....
after a Chinese shepherd had been murdered.
- 1887 Halls Creek Western Australia. Mary DurackMary DurackDame Mary Durack AC DBE was an Australian author and historian. She wrote Kings in Grass Castles and Keep Him My Country.-Childhood:...
suggests there was a conspiracy of silence about the massacres of Djara, Konejandi and Walmadjari peoples about attacks on Aboriginal people 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 bullockOxAn ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...
. Other unconfirmed reports of similar atrocities occurred locally.
- 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.
1900s
- Kimberley region - The Killing Times - 1890-1920: The massacres listed below have been depicted in modern Australian Aboriginal artAustralian Aboriginal artIndigenous Australian art is art made by the Indigenous peoples of Australia and in collaborations between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians . It includes works in a wide range of media including painting on leaves, wood carving, rock carving, sculpture, ceremonial clothing and sandpainting...
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 ThomasRover ThomasRover Thomas Joolama was an Indigenous Australian artist.-Early life:He was born at Gunawaggi in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. At the age of 10 Rover and his family moved to the Kimberley where, as was usual at the time, he began work as a stockman...
have depicted the massacres.
- 1906-7 Canning Stock RouteCanning Stock RouteThe Canning Stock Route is one of the toughest and most remote tracks in the world. It runs to Halls Creek from Wiluna, both in Western Australia. With a total distance of around it is also the longest historic stock route in the world...
: an unrecorded number of Aboriginal men and women were raped and massacred when MarduMartu (Indigenous Australian)Mardu are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Western Desert. Their lands include the Percival Lakes and Pilbara regions in Western Australia...
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, Aboriginal people destroyed some of Canning's wells, and stole from and occasionally killed white travellers. A Royal CommissionRoyal CommissionIn Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
in 1908, exonerated Canning, after an appearance by Kimberley Explorer and Lord Mayor of PerthPerth, Western AustraliaPerth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Alexander ForrestAlexander ForrestAlexander Forrest CMG, was an explorer and surveyor of Western Australia, as well as a politician.-Early life:Forrest was born at Picton, near Bunbury in Western Australia, the son of William and Margaret Forrest...
claimed that all explorers had acted in such a fashion.
- 1915 Mistake Creek Massacre: 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 apparently due to the fact that the killers were riding horses which belonged to him, but the charges were dropped, for lack of evidence that he was personally involved. While there are four versions of the incident in the oral histories they vary only in minor details. The historian Keith WindschuttleKeith WindschuttleKeith Windschuttle is an Australian writer, historian, and ABC board member, who has authored several books from the 1970s onwards. These include Unemployment, , which analysed the economic causes and social consequences of unemployment in Australia and advocated a socialist response; The Media: a...
disputes the version put forward by former Governor-General of AustraliaGovernor-General of AustraliaThe Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
, William DeaneWilliam DeaneSir William Patrick Deane, AC, KBE, QC , Australian judge and the 22nd Governor-General of Australia.-Early life:William Deane was born in Melbourne, Victoria. He was educated at Catholic schools including St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill and at the University of Sydney, where he graduated in...
, in November 2002. Despite the existence of a record of a claim by an Aboriginal person that Rhatigan was involved contained in the official Turkey Creek police station files from 1915 documenting the massacre, thus supporting the Aboriginal oral history, Windschuttle claims that the police inquest ultimately cleared Rhatigan (eyewitnesses reported that Rhatigan was not present) and that the massacre 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.". Members of the Gija tribe, from the Warmun (Turkey Creek) community have depicted the massacre in their artworks (see Warmun Art).
- 1918 Bentinck Island: Part of the Mornington IslandMornington IslandMornington Island is the northern most of 22 islands that form the Wellesley Islands group. The island is located in the Gulf of Carpentaria at and is part of the Gulf Country region in the Australian state of Queensland. The Manowar and Rocky Islands Important Bird Area lies about 40 km to...
group, Bentinck Island was home to the Kaiadilt clan of just over 100 people. In 1911 a man by the name of McKenzie (other names unknown) was given a government lease for nearby Sweers Island that also covered the eastern portion of the much larger Bentinck Island. Arriving on Bentinck with an Aboriginal woman and a flock of sheep, he built a hut near the Kurumbali estuary. Although the Kaiadilt avoided contact and refrained from approaching McKenzie's property he is alleged to have often explored the island, shooting any males he found while raping the women. In 1918 McKenzie organised a hunt with an unknown number of settlers from the mainland and beginning from the northern tip of the island herded the Indigenous inhabitants to the beach on its southern shore. The majority of the Kaiadilt fled into the sea where those that were not shot from the shore drowned. Those that tried to escape along the beach were hunted down and shot with the exception of a small number who reached nearby mangroves where the settlers' horses could not follow. Several young women were raped on the beach, then held prisoner in McKenzie's hut for three days before being released. As the Kaiadilt remained isolated throughout much of the 20th century the massacre remained unknown to the authorities until researchers recorded accounts given by survivors in the 1980s.
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 ThomasRover Thomas
Rover Thomas Joolama was an Indigenous Australian artist.-Early life:He was born at Gunawaggi in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. At the age of 10 Rover and his family moved to the Kimberley where, as was usual at the time, he began work as a stockman...
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", while Queenie McKenzie depicted another massacre at the Texas Downs Station (1996). Thomas' painting of a massacre at Ruby Plains Station (1985) sold for A$316,000 at a Sotheby's auction in November 2007. A list of indigenous artists who have depicted Kimberley massacres can be found on the Warmun website.
- 1924 Bedford Downs massacre: a group of Gija and Worla men were tried in WyndhamWyndham, Western AustraliaWyndham is the oldest and northernmost town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, located on the Great Northern Highway, northeast of Perth. It was established in 1885 as a result of a gold rush at Halls Creek, and it is now a port and service centre for the east Kimberley with a...
for spearing a milking cow on the Bedford Downs station. Released from the court they were given dog tags to wear and told to walk the 200 kilometres back to Bedford Downs. On arrival 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 food laced with StrychnineStrychnineStrychnine is a highly toxic , colorless crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine causes muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia or sheer exhaustion...
by white station hands and their writhing bodies were then either shot or they were clubbed to death, The bodies were subsequently burned by the local police. This massacre has been depicted in artworks by members of the Gija tribe, the identities of the alleged perpetrators passed down and the events re-enacted in a traditional corroboreeCorroboreeA corroboree is a ceremonial meeting of Australian Aborigines. The word was coined by the European settlers of Australia in imitation of the Aboriginal word caribberie. At a corroboree Aborigines interact with the Dreamtime through dance, music and costume. Many ceremonies act out events from the...
that has been performed since the massacre allegedly occurred. It has been questioned by Rod Moran (a Western Australian journalist) whether this massacre actually occurred or if it is merely a myth or local legend with no foundation in fact. In a magazine article, he argues that there is no evidence for such a massacre and that it is much more likely to be an invention. According to Moran, he bases his argument on the implausibility of the claim that the men were 'marked for death' with a ticket or tag that they declined to remove even when warned to do so, that it is improbable, because of the number of perpetrators allegedly involved, that word of such an alleged massacre would not have 'leaked out' until over sixty years later, on a lack of written contemporary documentation and that the Europeans and survivors that are mentioned are not named. The written accounts became widely known after oral histories collected for the 1989 East Kimberley Impact Assessment Project (EKIAP) were published in 1999. As is customary for Indigenous reports, the EKIAP did not name anyone who was dead. Moran was unaware that several of the original written accounts did name not only the eyewitnesses and survivors but also the killers and other whites who were present but did not participate.
- 1926 Forrest River massacreForrest River massacreThe Forrest River massacre, or Oombulgurri massacre, was a massacre of Indigenous Australian people by a law enforcement party in the wake of the killing of a pastoralist, which took place in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in 1926. The massacre was investigated by a Royal Commission in...
in the East KimberleysKimberley region of Western AustraliaThe Kimberley is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northern part of Western Australia, bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami Deserts, and on the east by the Northern Territory.The region...
: in May 1926, Fred Hay, a pastoralist, attacked an Aboriginal man by the name of Lumbia and was speared to death. A police patrol led by Constables James St Jack and Denis Regan left WyndhamWyndham, Western AustraliaWyndham is the oldest and northernmost town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, located on the Great Northern Highway, northeast of Perth. It was established in 1885 as a result of a gold rush at Halls Creek, and it is now a port and service centre for the east Kimberley with a...
on 1 June, to hunt for the killer, and in the first week of July Lumbia, the accused man, was brought into Wyndham. At his preliminary hearing, Lumbia testified that Hay had flogged him 20-30 times with his stockwhip because Hay believed he had butchered one of the station's cattle which he denied. According to a claim made by the Rev Ernest Gribble at the later Royal Commission, Hay had then allegedly raped one of Lumbia's child wives and was speared and killed by Lumbia as he was departing. At his trial Lumbia was not provided with a lawyer but was represented by Aborigines Department Inspector E.C. Mitchell who acted as his advocate. After escaping from the courthouse and being recaptured, Lumbia was chained to a post in the street while the jury continued to hear the prosecution case before finding him guilty in his absence. The prosecutor claimed Hay was murdered while protecting his stock and the alleged rape was not mentioned. Statements by Lumbia and his wives recorded before the trial through an Aboriginal interpreter, Mrs Angelina Noble of Forrest River Mission and produced in court, made no mention of rape. 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 and a Royal Commission, after sending out an evidence-gathering party, 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.
- 1928 Coniston massacreConiston massacreThe Coniston massacre, which took place from 14 August to 18 October 1928 near the Coniston cattle station, Northern Territory, Australia, was the last known massacre of Indigenous Australians. People of the Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye groups were killed...
: A WW1 veteran shot 32 Aboriginal people at ConistonConiston, Northern TerritoryConiston, Northern Territory, Australia is a cattle station in central Australia.Coniston is best known as the site of the Coniston massacre, which was the last known massacre of Indigenous Australians, in August 1928....
in the Northern TerritoryNorthern TerritoryThe Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
after a white dingo trapper and station owner were attacked by Aboriginal people. A survivor of the massacre, Billy Stockman TjapaltjarriBilly Stockman TjapaltjarriBilly Stockman Tjapaltjarri, is one of Australia's best-known artists of the Western Desert Art Movement, or Papunya Tula....
, later became part of the first generation of Papunya painting men. Billy Stockman was saved by his mother who put him in a coolamonCoolamon (vessel)A coolamon is an Indigenous Australian carrying vessel.It is a multi-purpose shallow vessel, or dish with curved sides, ranging in length from 30–70 cm, and similar in shape to a canoe....
A court of inquiry said the European action was ‘justified'.
After 1930
- 1932-34 Caledon Bay crisisCaledon Bay crisisThe Caledon Bay crisis refers to a series of killings at Caledon Bay in the Northern Territory of Australia during 1932–34. These events are widely seen as a turning point in relations between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians....
: In 1932, two white men, and a policeman were killed by YolnguYolnguThe Yolngu or Yolŋu are an Indigenous Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Yolngu means “person” in the Yolŋu languages.-Yolŋu law:...
people in retaliation for alleged rapes. A punitive expeditionPunitive expeditionA punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...
from Darwin was proposed, just as had happened at the Coniston massacreConiston massacreThe Coniston massacre, which took place from 14 August to 18 October 1928 near the Coniston cattle station, Northern Territory, Australia, was the last known massacre of Indigenous Australians. People of the Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye groups were killed...
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.
See also
- Australian frontier warsAustralian frontier warsThe Australian frontier wars were a series of conflicts fought between Indigenous Australians and European settlers. The first fighting took place in May 1788 and the last clashes occurred in the early 1930s. Indigenous fatalities from the fighting have been estimated as at least 20,000 and...
- Gippsland massacresGippsland massacresThe Aboriginal people of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, known as the Gunai/Kurnai people, fought against the European invasion of their land. The technical superiority of the Europeans' weapons gave the Europeans an absolute advantage...
- Skull CreekSkull CreekSkull 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....
- White Australia policyWhite Australia policyThe White Australia policy comprises various historical policies that intentionally restricted "non-white" immigration to Australia. From origins at Federation in 1901, the polices were progressively dismantled between 1949-1973....
External links
- History Wars Special in the Sydney Morning Herald
- Who plays Stalin in our History Wars? Stuart Macintyre
Reynolds property, Allynbrook NSW. Date not known.stated in the 1960s to have been "in living memory".