The historical record of this conflict up to 1843 is sparse and consists of just a few newspaper reports. This changed with the arrival of Tyers, who told La Trobe: The run-away Convicts, and other bad characters with which the District was infested a few months ago have, I believe been nearly all driven out by the system of surveillance pursued by the Border Police, acting under my instructions.[29]. The next day, while on horseback, he was speared through the neck from behind. The statistical discrepancies likely emerged because Macmillan's group killed Aboriginal people at five different locations in the area. Because to move forward we must acknowledge our past. 5 0 obj Food and drink refreshments will be offered (meat, vegetarian and gluten free options available). [45] Hoddinotts tale thus appears to contain generic elements from the period. Home; News; Entertainment; Sport; Galleries; Competitions; . [51] The latters wife, Lavinia, published a well-known account of their journey. To those who came by jet plane yesterday. This mass murder was committed by early colonists Angus McMillan and the Highland Brigade. One thing is clear from his work: the Kurnai men were warriors. [12] The first reported attack on the squatters came in 1841 when, it was said, 600 Kurnai attacked Macalisters run. He calls them The McMillan Massacres. We acknowledge that in our past, as in most nations, bad things have happened. In an essay on Gippsland from April 1843, Henry Bebb Morris described a mock fight between six Kurnai men using spears, boomerangs and waddies: they are small men, and when in repose would not be remarked for beauty or figure, but under the excitement of the fight they put every muscle into motion, and threw themselves into attitudes which would have graced a Grecian warrior. new domain, Events.com. Film Screening The Warrigal Creek Massacre This country has a hidden history that is not widely acknowledged. This 50-minute documentary directed by Lisa Gye and Andrew Dodd examines a day in 1843 when 150 Indigenous men, women and children were slaughtered on the banks of what is now Warrigal Creek in Gippsland. 148 0 obj <>stream This essay appears in Decembers Quadrant. <>/ExtGState<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 595.4 841.8] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> Its part of our life and its not that I dont stop and think about it. In Chapter 4, he gives another rendition of the Gippslander story, stating the massacre was lead [sic] by McMillan. We were hearing the stories all the time, especially when we were near the places or going past somewhere, my mum would always say, Over that way. Shed point the finger and say, Dont go that way. Intertribal warfare was endemic in the region with raid and counter raid where men, women and children were slaughtered as they slept, and then eaten. 0000002903 00000 n Shepherds worked in pairs, armed, as if in an enemys country, to resist them; and it was 1843 that ended by wholesale destruction, the massacres at Warrigal Creek and Bundalaguah Swamp, where only one aboriginal was left to tell the story of how they died and the history of his race.[61]. In March 1840, twenty Bunurong men from Westernport escaped the supervision of Assistant Protector William Thomas to undertake a raid into Gippsland. endobj <> Robinson was also attempting to do the same, although by a different route. <> Personally, it,s hard to know who to believe, such is my lack of confidence. [14], Conflict with the Kurnai was not restricted to the Europeans. Warrigal Creek Massacre: A Truth-telling Documentary. On the 13th ultimo, Mr. Ronald McAlister was removing his sheep station about two miles from the settlement, when he was attacked by the blacks and murdered; his body was found the following day by a native in his employ. The official reports from Tyers to La Trobe from 1844 to 1845 thus describe the situation in Gippsland where the settlers were being attacked by the Kurnai and their stock was being killed. The Gippslander account mentions the Highland Brigade and a death toll of 100 to 150, but McMillans involvement, Scotsmen, the swearing to God and the Queen, and secrecy, are entirely Gardners creation. One man was killed with thirteen spears, his body was mutilated, and his arms and legs were removedthe Kurnai were cannibals. %%EOF At a quiet bend on a beautiful creek they committed one of the worst acts of indiscriminate killing in the Australian colonies. @7k_|F_j}t'J'fu_}"Y5Xgx{ps:KQb#wOQ:/[]6Hy The newspapers indicate that the murder was not an isolated event and occurred within a wider context of anarchy and violence involving the Kurnai and the convicts. Some of the tale also bears a resemblance to accounts of the Hospital Creek massacre in New South Wales that emerged between 1911 and 1919, in which the survivor was a one-eyed Aborigine. 0001064309 00000 n [17], This story was repeated in several of the colonial newspapers but there does not seem to have been any follow-up reports. To implicate McMillan, Gardner imputed words and meaning into this story that are simply not there, rendering his narrative both perplexing and questionable. Gardner cites this version to confirm that Gippslander was in fact Hoddinott but he does not mention that the two versions contain a number of significant differences. ~]}.>xxs6s;^^`MjEa 5oA/P;uv!MU~86>>iBTju?#Ghnudlnr\;u?pIyo%# if+;J6fLA,4lMMhn]Zrg b_tr>b$3]wG4?mdw # 7Lw/_Mx+47nY;N9Uvs1;. 0000007199 00000 n Bookings free, but essential. [16] The Port Phillip Gazette reported in April 1845: A report has been current that a whole tribe of blacks has been extirpated in the Gipps Land country, by the Western Port or Port Phillip blacks, led on by several of the Mounted Black Police; we understand that an investigation is now going on, and we may add it is one of the most extraordinary affairs we have yet heard about. Historian Peter Gardner, in a review of all accounts of the massacre, wrote that MacMillan and the Highland Brigade aimed to wipe out all the Aboriginal people in the area. So far, this has been lacking. News; Warrigal Creek doco at the Memo. In Chapter 1 of Gippsland Massacres, he states: There was a brigade formed by McMillan, which according to Gippslander, was called the Highland Brigade, and mainly consisted of Scotsmen who swore before God and their Queen not to inform on their fellow desperados, and to maintain complete secrecy of the affair in which they were about to participate. [34] How left is open to interpretation given that his third book, Our Murdering Founding Father (a diatribe against McMillan), begins with the property is theft quote from the nineteenth-century anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. 2 0 obj This land was never ceded. Warrigal Creek Massacre is within the scope of WikiProject Australia, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Australia and Australia-related topics. stream A Scottish colonist, called Angus McMillan, led a group of about 20 settlers who . [citation needed], A witness, Willy Hoddinott, wrote the following in 1925:[3], "The brigade coming up to the blacks camped around the Waterhole at Warrigal Creek surrounded them and fired into them, killing a great number, some escaped into the scrub, others jumped into the waterhole, and, as fast as they put their heads up for breath, they were shot until the water was red with blood. Some themes may be unpalatable, including tribal warfare, the murderous role of the Native Police, and the role of convicts as both slave labour and perpetratorsthey are part of the historical record but not always part of the written history. Bell stated: The historic pen of Victorian settlement would paint with truth the horrors of many a scene of Gipps Land life; it was in 1843 that the aggressions of the blacks were so frequent. The Balderstones house is just steps from a humble waterway where up to 150 Gunaikurnai people were mowed down, turning the water red with blood, A massacre map of the frontier wars interactive. There exists little to no official documentation of the Warrigal Creek Massacre. Light refreshments will be available. [30] Escapees living outside the law would therefore have posed a dire threat to the Kurnai. Part III: Other Versions of the Massacre Story. Wayne, a very valuable and comprehensive article. Bells account and the report of the massacre involving the Native Police in April 1845 can be found by simple searches on Trove. In Through Foreign Eyes, Gardner quoted the journal of William Thomas, the Assistant Protector of Aborigines. The current awareness of the Warrigal Creek massacre stems largely from the writing of the self-published historian Peter Gardner, who contends that his work represents currently accepted history. [7], Many histories of Gippsland have quaint notions of founding fathers, churches and shires, but the reality is that squatters occupied the region in order to capture a share of the filthy lucre of the Van Diemens Land convict economy. 8 /Filter /FlateDecode >> << /Length 17 0 R /Type /XObject /Subtype /Image /Width 293 /Height 146 /Interpolate In the spirit of this year's NAIDOC theme Voice.Treaty.Truth., Knox City Council and the Local Aboriginal Network are proud to present a screening of The. If the problem persists contact Customer Support. Establishing this will entail the evaluation of all historical themes and not rejecting or ignoring evidence because it does not fit a preconceived narrative. The newspapers and Charles Tyerss reports indicate that attacks by the Kurnai continued in 1844 and 1845; they did not end at Warrigal Creek in 1843. Gardners evidence for Angus McMillans involvement in the Warrigal Creek massacre consists of a story written for The Gap school magazine in 1925 by William Hoddinott under the pseudonym of Gippslander. An important part of Australian history, necessary for reconciliation. I knew two blacks, who though wounded came out of the hole alive. ktp33#`r[vhJ hR,t%434qrZQ7z She worries Australia is still not ready to listen. [15]. 0000033752 00000 n 0000115969 00000 n We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet and work. Smith Street and Albert Street, Warragul, 3820, VIC, AU. Viki Sinclair, another member of the group who is descended from a member of McMillans Highland Brigade, says: Its the first time around here that the Aboriginal groups came across with groups like ours to work on something like this and it was something important to tackle and do together. According to Dunderdale, Donald Macalister fired at some Kurnai without any provocation. Is there any aspect of our history that has now not been corrupted by the SJWs? Could you help us please? 0000017382 00000 n Fawkner blamed them for most of the conflict between the Europeans and the Aborigines. Oh how I wished I had written down the stories my grandmother used to regale us with. E lizabeth Balderstone leads a lifestyle that many city dwellers fantasise about, on a farm in Victoria's Gippsland, surrounded by friendly sheep, with a humble little creek just 60 metres from. Use your same username and password to log in and you'll be Within a period of two years, it appears that Gippsland became a haven for escapees. They did not find any Bunurong so they ransacked a squatters station instead. 0000020971 00000 n Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a77bf3dc11d263ed9065ff8247406b97" );document.getElementById("bc64d4fe72").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 0000010851 00000 n A Mr. Nelsons house was also attacked a few days before, and the blacks, after wounding a man in his employ, decamped with several articles of his property.[19]. [59] McMillans Bushy Park run was on the eastern side of the Avon. Historical. bHn=Y,8M*[+GwXfi1^yn}vSuvA@pN. Second, Gardners narrative is based on the assertion that the massacre and Angus McMillan are synonymous, but he has produced no evidence whatsoever to implicate McMillan. They proposed a different name: Bunjileene-Purrine. 2023 Vimeo.com, Inc. All rights reserved. It is cited in the Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for McMillan, which is in turn cited on the Victorian Parliament website. [58] Apart from the perverse logic of this claim, it is factually incorrect. I think the first thing for Gippsland is to acknowledge that it does have that history, like other places where bad things have happened, where massacres have occurred, where theres some acknowledgement of whats occurred instead of masking it, a Gurnaikurnai elder, Doris Paton, told the film-makers Andrew Dodd and Lisa Gye. Their submission was denied; McMillan was renamed the Monash electorate instead. An excellent and detailed correction of Gardner. The murder of his nephew gave him both a professional and a family interest in chastising the criminals, and he soon organised a party to look for them. Originally reported by Robinson as such, Gardner has interpreted an obscure comment by Robinson to argue that it was actually a massacre by settlers that Robinson was covering up. These passages represent the sum total of Gardners evidence against McMillan (left), but he does not explain how the story implicates McMillan. 29 May 2018. He also claimed this appeared to be part of a cover-up due to the arrival of Tyers or Robinson. trailer In my research for Bitter Harvest, I could find no reference, in original sources, to The Highland Brigade, established, according to the Gardner version of history, to seek out and exterminate blacks. [2], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}374014S 1463957E / 37.67056S 146.66583E / -37.67056; 146.66583, Last edited on 26 February 2023, at 01:43, List of massacres of Indigenous Australians, "Victoria's Deadly & Proud campaign remembers Indigenous victims of Warrigal Creek massacre in South Gippsland", "Living on a massacre site: home truths and trauma at Warrigal Creek", "Victoria to introduce Australia's first truth-telling process to address Indigenous injustices", "Victoria to establish truth and justice process as part of Aboriginal treaty process", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Warrigal_Creek_Massacre&oldid=1141638012, "The Settling of Gippsland - A Regional History", by Patrick Morgan, published by Gippsland Municipalities Association, Traralgon, 1997. Bookings free, but essential. Please try again. When Angus McMillian and the Highland Brigade rode through Gippsland in 1843, they aimed to murder as many Gunai Kurnai children, women and men as they could. An independent expedition from Melbourne to Corner Inlet in the barque Singapore in the same year led to the discovery of the mouths of the Albert and Tarra rivers. The creek is on a farm 40 kilometres south of Sale, and 200 kilometres east of Melbourne, in the South Gippsland area of Victoria, Australia. Gardners work has hints of Marxist reductionism, where the Kurnai are portrayed as living in an Arcadian economy that was destroyed by the expansionary capitalism of the land-hungry squatters. Word of the murder was sent to Lachlan Macalister. [25], Tyers noted that the Kurnai were geographically isolated from all of the neighbouring Aboriginal tribes, none of whom could understand their language, and From this circumstance, the Chief Protector [Robinson] on his visit to Gipps Land last year, was unsuccessful in his attempts to communicate with them. The isolation from the other tribes meant that their fierce and predatory habits have received no check.[26]. I have seen somewhere that this version of the. The Gippslander story consists of just over a page; within it there is a myriad of minor details that are contradicted by the contemporary newspaper reports. I learned a lot I had not previously known, and am still thinking about. Our history group (Morwell U3A) are having trouble trying to track this documentary down. e8 m-T>6R'WrqPWUVe)0'Yn1UF]2|SOWS)^h|6xy. Unfortunately, in Gippsland, his diatribe against McMillan has been conflated with issues such as Reconciliation and Black Lives Matter. 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