warrigal creek massacre documentary

endstream [9], With an overland route opened by McMillan and a rudimentary settlement and port established on the Albert River at Port Albert, squatters began occupying the plains; by the end of 1844, the entire Gippsland squatting district had been occupied. Historical. He was hit in the eye by a slug, captured by the whites, and made to lead the brigade from one camp to another. 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. 0000118101 00000 n 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. This essay appears in Decembers Quadrant. 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. There is now a documentary on the Warrigal Creek Massacre, near Woodside, north of Yarram. Please call Drouin Library for more information 56 251564. He recorded that there were fifty-five Prisoners of the Crown in Gippsland, nine of whom were in government service. 0001000963 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. Searching for information on frontier conflict in old newspapers (film or hard copy) was the proverbial "needle in a haystack" task - time consuming and exhausting with few . She worries Australia is still not ready to listen. [32] Gardners work has been influential and generally unquestioned. Rather than pursuing plaques or western versions of reconciliation, as Irving puts it, the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation and the Bunurong Land Council put their energies into changing the name of their local electorate, which was named after McMillan. y]\lt`(+WT5[y&Z}_~PbEH/XFN4Kz+Vb)44BQ?Zh*Y Eo4/xhJk He was afterwards adopted by one of the party and called Bing Eye. 0000003570 00000 n The region had descended rapidly into crime and violence in the absence of any government authority. He also stated: There are many persons congregated in Alberton, without any visible means of earning a livelihood, a parcel of the most lawless rogues. 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. 91 58 I sometimes feel scared that there seems to be such an ugly resistance to understanding our past, she says. [citation needed] The group of Gaelic-speaking Scotsmen was known as the "Highland Brigade". 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. [37] Again, no proof is offered. The story was written anonymously for a magazine for primary school children eighty-two years after the incident described, without attribution, and by someone who was not there. The next day, while on horseback, he was speared through the neck from behind. The Scottish colonist and pastoralist, Angus McMillan, led a group of around 20 colonists to attack and kill several groups of Aboriginal people across a number of days. [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]. << /ProcSet [ /PDF /Text /ImageB /ImageC /ImageI ] /ColorSpace << /Cs1 7 0 R 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. Home News Warrigal Creek doco at the Memo. He calls them The McMillan Massacres. Their prior absence from the discourse may indicate the level of research in this area. One man was killed with thirteen spears, his body was mutilated, and his arms and legs were removedthe Kurnai were cannibals. The murder of Ranald Macalister may have been the pretext for an attack on the Kurnai at Warrigal Creek or Gammon Creek but this is not borne out by the contemporary historical record. I have seen somewhere that this version of the. He was hit in the eye by a slug, captured by the whites, and made to lead the 'brigade' from one camp to another.". 0000117321 00000 n Dunderdale states: Lachlan Macalister had a long experience in dealing with blackfellows and bushrangers; he had been a captain in the army and an officer of the border police. [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. 0000024533 00000 n The aim of this article is to examine Gardners interpretation of the Warrigal Creek massacre story and his accusations against McMillan. It was well-acknowledged and put on the register of the national estate around the time., The house was built 20 years after the massacre and stands just 20 metres from the site. [4] Howitts pioneering anthropological work is compelling reading and provides a suitable counter to many modern narratives. This provides a contrast to Gardners analysis, which is based largely on a story from a schoolchildrens magazine from 1925. They returned in triumph with flesh from the Kurnai they had killed. [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. We are here to help! In the latter, there is no mention of McMillan at all, the death toll is different (many escaped into the bush), and there is no Bing Eye or Club Footwhich may suggest editorial licence in the original version. To secure your seat go to. [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. Gardner claimsincorrectlythat Thomas was aware of the circumstances of the Warrigal Creek massacre, as he had recorded the details of it on two separate occasions. 0000007199 00000 n One might assume that Balderstone was blissfully unaware of this when she moved to the farm in 1974, but she explains she knew about Warrigal Creek from the beginning. Events.com Browse is curated for you to find and attend events you love. In July 1844 he wrote, I regret however to observe that the depredations of the Aborigines continue and that the small police force at my disposal is inadequate to put a stop to them. He went on to describe how the natives have been very troublesome, killing 90 head of cattle belonging to Mr Sparks, at various times, and many belonging to Mr Jones. Gardner claims his work is partly political and partly moralistic; he disdains objectivity and describes his politics as left. First though, it is necessary to establish the circumstances that led to the European settlement of Gippsland and the resulting conflict with the indigenous Kurnai people, which is the root of the massacre story. 0000002096 00000 n Fri., 27 May 20225:00 pm 8:30 pm AEST, Siteworks Workroom 233 Saxon StreetBrunswick, VIC 3056. The blacks were found encamped near a waterhole at Gammon Creek, and those who were shot were thrown into it, to the number, it was said, of about sixty, men, women, and children; but this was probably an exaggeration.[57]. Peter Gardner has written three books in which he asserts that Angus McMillan, The Butcher of Gippsland, was responsible for several massacres of Kurnai people. He wrote a number of reports on the state of Gippsland to his superior, Charles La Trobe, the Superintendent of the Port Phillip District. 0000023940 00000 n There exists little to no official documentation of the Warrigal Creek Massacre. <> Macalisters letter to the Sydney Morning Herald in 1843 and a search of Trove and the PROV websites reveal that this statement is incorrect. They proposed a different name: Bunjileene-Purrine. In 1845, Tyers reported on the Aborigines, stating: In the early part of 1843as I have been informed, some of the Corner Inlet tribe were occasionally employed by the few Settlers at Port Albert in carrying fire wood and in other light work for which they generally received payment in flour & cbut since the unprovoked murder of Mr Ronald Macalister by them at Port Albert, about that time, they have not been seen in the neighbourhood. In March 1840, twenty Bunurong men from Westernport escaped the supervision of Assistant Protector William Thomas to undertake a raid into Gippsland. If you would like to participate, visit the project page. These stories contain the earliest known account of a massacre as revenge for the death of Macalister. qgAHrgAX8]eAVi a"0Uc|sQ d$uIOrE&n2"c,%$qHFWpTWn>!bB):I\PhE17 If the problem persists contact Customer Support. However, Thomas, Hatcher and Meyrick did not mention Warrigal Creek as Gardner claimsand they certainly did not mention McMillan. [58] Apart from the perverse logic of this claim, it is factually incorrect. The Warrigal Creek Massacre | About the film 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. Our history group (Morwell U3A) are having trouble trying to track this documentary down. Among the most shocking is the Jack Smith massacre (Warrigal Creek, Victoria) in 1843, where about 150-170 Brataualang people were killed over 5 days in retaliation for the killing of one single personRonald Macalister, the nephew of a local squatter. Oh how I wished I had written down the stories my grandmother used to regale us with. Bass Coast South Gippsland Reconciliation Group members Marg Lynn and Florence Hydon say they have been left completely unsatisfied: Stage one was getting rid of McMillan, of course, but stage two was totally frustrating.. This announcement is all that I know, for a screening at Stratford,. Warrigal Creek is the site of an 1843 massacre in of Gunai/Kurnai people in colonial Victoria, during the Australian frontier wars. The culture of secrecy surrounding the massacres was evident in Willy Hoddinotts account (as an anonymous Gippslander) published in the Gap magazine more than 80 years later: .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}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. e8 m-T>6R'WrqPWUVe)0'Yn1UF]2|SOWS)^h|6xy. They did not find any Bunurong so they ransacked a squatters station instead. At a quiet bend on a beautiful creek they committed one of the worst acts of indiscriminate killing in the Australian colonies. Gunaikurnai people continue to visit the land to pay their respects. One was a boy at the time about 12 or 14 years old. They were feared by their tribal enemies for their ability to attack at nighta skill the Europeans were to encounter.[5]. One was a boy at the time about 12 or 14 years old. I welcome you all to (insert place name). Gardner claims it is a secondary source but it is, at best, folk history that he has embroidered with his own fiction about McMillan. << /Length 17 0 R /Type /XObject /Subtype /Image /Width 293 /Height 146 /Interpolate Elizabeth Balderstone stands next to Warrigal Creek on her farm in Victoria the site of an 1843 massacre. This special screening is being hosted by the Healesville Local Aboriginal Network (LAN), Healesville Indigenous Community Services Association (HICSA), Yarra . I learned a lot I had not previously known, and am still thinking about. Gardner claimed in June 2020 that Meyrick gave a death toll of about 150 for Warrigal Creek, which he did not. 0001064425 00000 n 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. 0000001936 00000 n Word of the murder was sent to Lachlan Macalister. Use your same username and password to log in and you'll be 0000016727 00000 n Probably even as a child I just sensed something its a really spiritual place, she says. Was mutilated, and am still thinking about still thinking about with flesh the., nine of whom were in government service Brigade '' into Gippsland lot I written... For the death of Macalister, VIC 3056 was sent to Lachlan Macalister learned a I! The `` Highland Brigade '' 5 ] ] 2|SOWS ) ^h|6xy history group ( U3A. The Europeans were to encounter. [ 5 ] spears, his was! 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warrigal creek massacre documentary