startxref 0000116300 00000 n 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. Coincidentally or not, the Australasian newspaper published stories between 1923 and 1925 with a one-eyed Aboriginal character named Bing-eye; the term club foot was ubiquitous. Smith Street and Albert Street, Warragul, 3820, VIC, AU. 0000118101 00000 n The region had descended rapidly into crime and violence in the absence of any government authority. [17], This story was repeated in several of the colonial newspapers but there does not seem to have been any follow-up reports. George Dunderdale was the Clerk of Courts at Alberton and lived at Tarraville from 1869 to 1889. So far, this has been lacking. Warrigal Creek Massacre Documentary This documentary will be shown at the Regent Theatre in Yarram on 10 July at 7.30pm during Naidoc Week. One was a boy at the time about 12 or 14 years old. This documentary captures a story from Victoria, however there were similar stories as the waves of colonisation swept across the country. 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. Truth-telling about the wrongs of the past is necessary for reconciliation. First, using the information Gardner misinterpreted, rejected or missed in Thomas, Dunderdale and Bell, we must accept the possibility or even the probability that an atrocity took place somewhere. Gardner believes that the lack of primary evidence for massacres such as Warrigal Creek is due to silence and secrecy and this is a recurrent theme in his work. The Van Diemens Land convict economy provided the economic motives for the European settlement of Gippsland, which in turn led to conflict with the Kurnai. They murdered, according to Gippslander, 150 at Warrigal Creek, which would make it one of the largest known massacres of Aborigines in Australian history.[36]. 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. The validity of the will remains a problem. 0000010708 00000 n Gardner concludes that McMillan's group initially killed two family groups at Warrigal Creek waterhole and then a few days later killed another 60 people at the mouth of Warrigal Creek, then killing three other groups at Freshwater Creek, Gammon Creek, and Red Hill. 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. ~]}.>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;. [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. This is a 50 minute documentary and is being held on Wednesday 5 December. Macalister stated that escaped convicts were committing the most revolting crimes the calendar can namesuch as murder, rape, robbery, forgeries, cattle-stealing, and last, though not least, sly grog-selling, the root of all crime. From 1840, increased numbers of convicts were sent to Van Diemens Land after the cessation of transportation to New South Wales. At a quiet bend on a beautiful creek they committed one of the worst acts of indiscriminate killing in the Australian colonies. Buntines Bruthen Creek run was several miles and several squatting runs to the west of Warrigal Creek. Please enable JavaScript to experience Vimeo in all of its glory. 148 0 obj <>stream e8 m-T>6R'WrqPWUVe)0'Yn1UF]2|SOWS)^h|6xy. Events.com Browse is curated to help you find and attend events you love. Once again, Gardner corrected historical material when it did not agree with his Warrigal Creek narrative. Establishing the factual basis of this will require in-depth research to uncover any written evidence before Bells account from 1874, as well as archaeological evidence at locations such as Bruthen Creek and Bundalaguah Swamp. At a quiet bend on a beautiful creek they committed one of the worst acts of indiscriminate killing in the Australian colonies. 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. 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. A second version of Hoddinotts story was published in the Gippsland Times and Bairnsdale Advertiser in 1940. The return did not include ex-convicts.[28]. However, he has not included a much earlier reference to the massacre. 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. 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. [11] The violent response from the Kurnai was the same as that meted out to their tribal enemies when defending their territory. Our land of migrants, from the very first in their canoes or who even walked here. 0000002733 00000 n [8], Michael Connor: The Massacre Maps shoddy research, In order to export livestock, the squatters needed a port and grazing land in Gippsland, as it was the closest part of the mainland to Van Diemens Land. Fri., 27 May 20225:00 pm 8:30 pm AEST, Siteworks Workroom 233 Saxon StreetBrunswick, VIC 3056. While the murder was well documented in contemporary newspaper accounts, the reports also indicate that by mid-1843, Gippsland was in a state of disarray. To those who came by jet plane yesterday. 0000000016 00000 n Those who came in chains, those who fled famine, those who fled or survived genocide and war and its consequences. Launch date: Wednesday 4 AprilStratford Courthouse TheatreFree entry but bookings essentialRegister via Eventbrite http://bit.ly/2sTmWsCAbout the filmWhen 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.At a quiet bend on a beautiful creek they committed one of the worst acts of indiscriminate killing in the Australian colonies.Drawing on official archives and oral histories that have never died, this is the story of The Warrigal Creek Massacre.Because to move forward we must acknowledge our past.Produced and directed by Andrew Dodd and Lisa Gye.Production and research by Danielle Bowen, Jonathan Boadle, Jakeb Fair, Alex Owsianka, Don Sheil and Ben Winnell.Supported by Swinburne University. Ranald Macalister was the nephew of Lachlan Macalister and the fifth European to be murdered by the Kurnai. He has attached his own assertions to his source material without distinguishing between them, and these assertions are made without proof or explanation. [56] These accounts nonetheless provide evidence of the otherwise unrecorded conflict between the Europeans and the Kurnai at places such as Bruthen Creek. Our history group (Morwell U3A) are having trouble trying to track this documentary down. Production and research by Danielle Bowen, Jonathan Boadle, Jakeb Fair, Alex Owsianka, Don Sheil and Ben Winnell. Create events for free. The Warrigal Creek Massacre is a 50-minute documentary, a passion project produced on a shoe-string budget, which looks unflinchingly at a horrifying episode of Victorian history - one of the worst acts of indiscriminate killing of Indigenous Australians in the early colonies. Perhaps the most apt way to name these outrageous and brutal occurrences is that they be called after the man who organised and perpetrated them: Angus McMillan. the Warrigal Creek massacre - possibly even a participant in it 10. endobj Bells account and the report of the massacre involving the Native Police in April 1845 can be found by simple searches on Trove. One thing is clear from his work: the Kurnai men were warriors. 0000116989 00000 n Because to move forward we must acknowledge our past. It really hadnt happened before and it just was not even acknowledged or recognised.. My late husbands family had owned the property since the late 1880s and my father-in-law was a very passionate historian, she says. Gardner is dismissive, claiming that Some parts of this account are definitely wrong on the basis that Dunderdale referred to Macalister of Nuntin. These passages represent the sum total of Gardners evidence against McMillan (left), but he does not explain how the story implicates McMillan. [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. Is there any aspect of our history that has now not been corrupted by the SJWs? [10] Caldow (2012) p.25; Caldow W (2010) The early livestock trade between Gippsland and Van Diemens Land: insights from Patrick Coady Buckleys journal of 1844. 0000024560 00000 n Gardner accepted Hoddinotts Gippslander story literally and uncritically, stating that it is completely reliable due to its vividness and detail. 0000020785 00000 n In the revised edition of Gippsland Massacres, Gardner reinvented the account, claiming the bones were carried away from the [Warrigal] Creek by the cartload. [6] It's an atrocity which historians found fitting the criteria of 'genocidal massacre.' [3] It is about the importance of truth- telling. During this time he collected information for stories that were published in the magazine Austral Light. We are yet to have a complete understanding of Gippsland in the 1840s. A documentary was made in 2018 and a federal electorate was renamed that year to remove the legacy of Angus McMillan, the alleged instigator, who is otherwise remembered as an explorer, squatter, MP and Protector of Aborigines. 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. 0000885516 00000 n 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]. Host virtual events and webinars to increase engagement and generate leads. 12/02/2019. << /Length 17 0 R /Type /XObject /Subtype /Image /Width 293 /Height 146 /Interpolate 2 0 obj << /Length 5 0 R /Filter /FlateDecode >> Second, Hatcher arrived in Gippsland several months after Tyers, so it was just a tad late to be a cover-up. Robinson was also attempting to do the same, although by a different route. 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. [2] His work has indeed permeated academic and public discourse, but it contains many unproven assertions that undermine his main premise, that McMillan was responsible for the massacre. [43] The fallacy of this secrecy argument is that it is contradicted by Gardners own evidence from William Thomas from 1845 and other versions of the massacre story that pre-date Gippslander by more than fifty years (see below). Gardner cites other versions of the death of Macalister and the massacre to build his narrative, all based on Gippslander or otherwise post-Dunderdale. This documentary tells the story of the Warrigal Creek massacre of 1843 in Gippsland, Victoria, where as many as 150 Gunai Kurnai children, women and . Oh how I wished I had written down the stories my grandmother used to regale us with. The arrival of the Europeans changed the dynamics of this conflict with the introduction of firearms and the formation of the Native Police. Runaways from the settlers, and others have located themselves in some vacated huts on the Tara River, rendering it dangerous for passengers to approach this neighbourhood Your Excellency cannot for the sake of humanity, good government, well-being, and the safety of this district, much longer withhold from us the protection of those laws which we have a right to demand at your Excellencys hands [21]. 3 0 obj Within a period of two years, it appears that Gippsland became a haven for escapees. The second piece of evidence from Thomas is the record of his conversation with the Gippsland squatter Henry Meyrick in January 1847. lizabeth Balderstone leads a lifestyle that many city dwellers fantasise about, on a farm in Victorias Gippsland, surrounded by friendly sheep, with a humble little creek just 60 metres from her house. Gardner claims his work is partly political and partly moralistic; he disdains objectivity and describes his politics as left. 0000029696 00000 n Personally, it,s hard to know who to believe, such is my lack of confidence. [30] Escapees living outside the law would therefore have posed a dire threat to the Kurnai. [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. It is free to attend this event, but bookings are essential. 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. stream The timing of this record is important because it was made after two of the three searches for a white woman allegedly held captive by the Kurnai. qgAHrgAX8]eAVi a"0Uc|sQ d$uIOrE&n2"c,%$qHFWpTWn>!bB):I\PhE17 The Geelong Advertiser reported the murder: It is reported that Mr. McAllister was decoyed from his station by a party of blacks on pretext of having found a flock of sheep that had been missing, and that having got him to a spot favourable for their murderous purpose, they set upon him with their waddies, and despatched him under circumstances of the utmost barbarity.[20]. [11] Sydney Morning Herald 6 September 1843, p.2, [13] Port Phillip Patriot 23 December 1841, p. 3, [15] Fels, Marie Hansen (2010) I Succeeded Once: The Aboriginal Protectorate on the Mornington Peninsula 1839-1840 , ANU E-Press, pp 249-271, [16] See also: George Henry Haydon (1846) Five Years Experience in Australia Felix pp151-152 (on-line edition), [17] Port Phillip Gazette 30 April 1845 p.2, [18] Gardner, P D (2005) The Myth of Tribal Warfare On-line essay, [20] Geelong Advertiser 5 August 1843, p.2, [21] Sydney Morning Herald 6 September 1843, p.2. In October that year, ninety-seven Kurnai warriors made a revenge raid into Bunurong territory. [4] Howitts pioneering anthropological work is compelling reading and provides a suitable counter to many modern narratives. The Warrigal Creek Massacre - the documentary There have now been two packed-out screenings of this documentary at Stratford. 0000020971 00000 n His reports correlate with the newspaper accounts in describing the violent state of Gippsland. Power your marketing strategy with perfectly branded videos to drive better ROI. Part III: Other Versions of the Massacre Story. An important part of Australian history, necessary for reconciliation. 1 0 obj GLaWAC has been given permission to screen the Warrigal Creek Massacre film at our office at Forestec. This provides a contrast to Gardners analysis, which is based largely on a story from a schoolchildrens magazine from 1925. Both expeditions left Melbourne in April 1844; after battling through the bush for weeks, the two parties encountered each other near Alberton. 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. The historical record of this conflict up to 1843 is sparse and consists of just a few newspaper reports. The Kurnai people were the indigenous inhabitants of Gippsland when the first Europeans arrived. ?6m-^a_DD/UJ[ It also suggests that the squatters were unprepared for the resistance they faced. Bookings free, but essential. Their submission was denied; McMillan was renamed the Monash electorate instead. The mainland squatters wanted a share of this market and the Van Diemens Land butchers with Commissariat contracts needed to obtain livestock at the lowest price possible. Lachlan Macalisters demand of Gipps to provide protection for the settlers gives the impression that the settlers were on the defensive against both the Kurnai and the convicts. The themes in this page may cause distress. 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]. 0000016727 00000 n Purchase tickets, 0001064365 00000 n McMillan is not implicated in any of the material cited as evidence against him. Following the screening, VMIAC will facilitate a discussion about the film and its importance in understanding the effects of colonisation and inter-generational trauma and resilience for First Nations peoples. stream 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. 4 0 obj [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. 29 May 2018. The region had descended rapidly into crime and violence in the absence of any government authority. Drawing on official archives and oral histories that have never died, this is the story of The Warrigal Creek Massacre. There exists little to no official documentation of the Warrigal Creek Massacre. Balderstones home was built 20 years after the massacre which happened just steps from the front door. Beyond this, the subject needs a complete reassessment and the instilling of some academic rigour. 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. He also claimed this appeared to be part of a cover-up due to the arrival of Tyers or Robinson. 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. These stories contain the earliest known account of a massacre as revenge for the death of Macalister. 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. As Bell indicates the early 1840s certainly were . Convicts under the control of the penal system in the Port Phillip District and elsewhere were notorious for their crimes against the Aborigines. Considering that Gardner has political motives and a disdain for objectivity, his work should perhaps be seen as a political campaign rather than as history. One was a boy at the time about 12 or 14 years old. [55] The murder of Macalister may have marked a turning point in which the Europeans went on the offensive. Your email address will not be published. 0000020559 00000 n Warrigal Creek Massacre is within the scope of WikiProject Australia, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Australia and Australia-related topics. 2151 In July 1843 Angus McMillan and a group of his countrymen known as the Highland Brigade shot between 60 and 150 Gunaikurnai people in retribution for the murder of Ronald Macalister, the nephew of a wealthy pastoralist, Lachlan Macalister, who owned a local station called Nuntin. 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.