The 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. The interpretation of events at Waterloo Creek became part of the ongoing public debate in Australia during the late 1990s known as 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...

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It was at the end of a two-month expedition by a detachment sent from Sydney to track down the Namoi, Weraerai and Kamilaroi

Kamilaroi

The 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 who had killed five stockmen in separate incidents on recently established pastoral runs on the upper Gwydir River

Gwydir River

The 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...

 area of New South Wales

New South Wales

New 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...

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