Gippsland massacres facts for kids
The Gippsland massacres were a series of terrible events where many Gunai Kurnai people were killed. The Gunai Kurnai are an Aboriginal Australian people who lived in East Gippsland, Victoria. These killings were done by European settlers and the Aboriginal Police during a time known as the Australian frontier wars. This was a period when European settlers were moving onto Aboriginal lands.
A Difficult History
People who committed these acts often kept them secret. They were afraid of being punished, possibly even with the death penalty, under the laws of the time. This had happened before, like after the Myall Creek massacre. Many rivers, roads, and islands in Gippsland still have the names of some of these people. For example, a Scottish pastoralist (a person who owns a large farm for sheep or cattle) named Angus McMillan was involved in many of the massacres in Gippsland. He acted in revenge after a fellow pastoralist was killed by Gunai Kurnai people.
A squatter (someone who settled on land without owning it) named Henry Meyrick wrote a letter in 1846. He described how Aboriginal people were treated. He said they were hunted down. He also mentioned that men, women, and children were killed. He noted that these actions were kept very secret because the punishment could be hanging. Meyrick himself said he would shoot an Aboriginal person harming his sheep. But he would not attack a camp without reason. He believed that many Aboriginal people had been killed, possibly more than 450.
The list of massacres below comes from records kept by settlers, like letters and diaries. It does not fully include the knowledge and history of the Gunai Kurnai people themselves.
- 1840 - Nuntin - many people died from Angus McMillan's men
- 1840 - Boney Point - "Angus McMillan and his men caused many Aboriginal deaths"
- 1841 - Butchers Creek (now Boxes Creek, Metung) - 30-35 people shot by Angus McMillan's men
- 1841 - Maffra - many people died from Angus McMillan's men
- 1842 - Skull Creek - many people died
- 1842 - Bruthen Creek - "hundreds died"
- 1843 - Warrigal Creek - up to 150 people shot by Angus McMillan and his men
- 1844 - Maffra - many people died
- 1846 - South Gippsland - 14 people died
- 1846 - Snowy River - 8 people died from Captain Dana and the Aboriginal Police
- 1846-47 - Central Gippsland - 50 or more people shot by an armed group. They were looking for a white woman supposedly held by Aboriginal people. No such woman was ever found.
- 1850 - East Gippsland - 15-20 people died
- 1850 - Murrindal - 16 people died from poison
- 1850 - Brodribb River - 15-20 people died
In 2020, the Wellington Shire Council (a local government group) voted on whether to remove monuments celebrating Angus McMillan. The vote was close, 5 to 4, against removing them. This happened even though McMillan was linked to these terrible events.
See also
- List of massacres in Australia
- List of massacres of Indigenous Australians
