Matthew Moorhouse (1813 – 29 March 1876) was an English

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

in Australia, pastoralist, politician, and

Protector of Aborigines The role of Protector of Aborigines was first established in South Australia in 1836. The role became established in other parts of Australia pursuant to a recommendation contained in the ''Report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Abori ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. He was in charge of the armed party that murdered 30-40

Maraura The Maraura or Marrawarra people are an Aboriginal group whose traditional lands are located in Far West New South Wales and South Australia, Australia. Language The Maraura spoke the southernmost dialect of Paakantyi. A wordlist of the langu ...

people, which may have included women and children, now known as the

Rufus River massacre The Rufus River Massacre was a massacre of 30–40 Aboriginal people that took place in 1841 along the Rufus River, in the Central Murray region, after three consecutive ambushes with " overlanders" (stock drovers) on the recently opened overl ...

Early life and arrival in Australia

Moorhouse studied medicine and obtained the degree of

M.R.C.S. Membership of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (MRCS) is a postgraduate diploma for surgeons in the UK and Ireland. Obtaining this qualification allows a doctor to become a member of one of the four surgical colleges in the UK and Ireland, namel ...

in 1836. He was practising medicine in

Hanley, Staffordshire Hanley is one of the Federation of Stoke-on-Trent, six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke ...

, when the Crown appointed him

from 20 June 1839, a position he held until 1856. He arrived in South Australia in June 1839, along with the Rev.

Ridgway William Newland Rev. Ridgway William Newland (c. 1788 – 8 March 1864), frequently spelled "Ridgeway", was an English Congregationalist minister who with his large family emigrated to the young colony of South Australia, where he had a considerable influence in ...

, on ''Sir Charles Forbes''.

Career

Piltawodli

As Protector, he lived at

Piltawodli The Adelaide Park Lands are the figure-eight of land spanning both banks of the River Torrens between Hackney and Thebarton and separating the City of Adelaide area (which includes both Adelaide city centre and North Adelaide) from the surro ...

mission and camp for some years, working closely with the German Christian mission, missionaries, Christian Teichelmann and Clamor Schürmann (and later German Australians#German missionaries, Samuel Klose), who learned and taught in the Kaurna language. There is only one remaining page of Moorhouse's diary, containing several Kaurna songlines not recorded elsewhere, but much information about the Kaurna people has been gleaned from his reports and official correspondence. In July 1845, the whole site, including the school, was dismantled on the orders of Governor George Grey, who thought it best to Stolen Generations, take the children away from their parents, and a new "Native School" run by the government, which taught only in English, was established near what is now Kintore Avenue, Adelaide, Kintore Avenue, and designated "The Location". The Aboriginal students proved to be every bit as bright and teachable as their white contemporaries, but their number remained small and Moorhouse re-purposed the schoolhouse as temporary accommodation for the Irish orphan girls who arrived in June 1849. The Native School closed in 1851, and became the nucleus of the Adelaide Destitute Asylum, Destitute Asylum. The remaining children were taken to Poonindie Mission at Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula).

The Rufus River Massacre

In 1841, there was a dispute between European Drover (Australian), overlanders and the Mataura people, a sub–group of the Barkindji. The overlanders had been engaging in sexual relations with Barkindji women without giving the Barkindji the food and clothing that was promised in return. Moorhouse led a group of armed settlers to the Rufus River near Wentworth, New South Wales, Wentworth following a report that about 150 Barkindji warriors appeared to be readying to attack. The settlers opened fire on the Barkindji before they were within spear-throwing range, claiming at least 35 killed and 16 injured, though Aboriginal oral tradition suggests this is a conservative figure. Moorhouse's official account which was sent to the Governor of South Australia, George Grey claims that "the result was, to the natives, the death of nearly 30, about 10 wounded, and four (one adult male, one boy, and two females) taken prisoners". Most of the wounded would be expected to die from their wounds, because Aboriginal medicine was ill-equipped to deal with gunshot wounds.Rufus River Massacre: *", Wentworth Shire Council, retrieved 26 September 2018
"Rufus River Massacre", Culture Victoria
retrieved 25 September 2018

, retrieved 19 February 2014 *Coulthard-Clark C. (2001), "Rufus River", ''Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles'' (Allen & Unwin) *Foster R., Nettelbeck A. (2011), ''Out of the Silence''
p. 32-39
(Wakefield Press (Australia), Wakefield Press) * * *Heather Burke, Burke H., Roberts A., Morrison M., Sullivan V., The River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation (2016),
The space of conflict: Aboriginal/European interactions and frontier violence on the western Central Murray, South Australia, 1830–41
, ''Aboriginal History'', 40: 145-179 *Alexander Tolmer, Tolmer A. (1882),
Reminiscences of an Adventurous and Chequered Career at Home and at the Antipodes—Vol. I
', chap. 20 (London: Sampson Low, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington).
The Rufus River Massacre
, Sovereign Union of First Nations and Peoples in Australia
Fatal Affray With The Natives In South Australia: Report of Mr. Moorhouse to His Excellency the Governor
, ''Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser'', 14 October 1841, p. 2 - via Trove. The report of Protector Moorhouse was largely supported by James Collins Hawker.

Parliamentary career

In January 1855 Moorhouse had the duties of comptroller of the Adelaide Destitute Asylum, Destitute Poor Establishment, and superintendent of the Female Immigrant Depot added to his responsibilities as Protector of Aborigines. He retired on 31 March 1856, and went to England, where he lectured on South Australia and promoted migration. He then visited North America, where he travelled extensively by railroad and investigated various systems of education. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly for the Electoral district of City of Adelaide, City of Adelaide (13 March 1860 – 9 November 1862). In 1860 and for 10 days in October 1861, he was commissioner of Crown lands and immigration in the first George Waterhouse (politician), Waterhouse ministry.

Later life

He became a successful pastoralist in the Mid North, northern district for several years, only practising medicine in emergencies. Moorhouse purchased shares in properties near Riverton, South Australia, Riverton and Saddleworth, South Australia, Saddleworth, but soon sold out and with Joseph Fisher (Australian politician), Joseph Fisher and others bought near the Hummocks. Moorhouse managed the station until Robert Barr Smith bought it in 1870. Moorhouse died after a short illness on his station ''Bartagunyah '' near Melrose, South Australia on 29 March 1876, leaving a widow, two sons and a daughter.

References

Sources

* * * "Four Reports from the Protector of the Aborigines in South Australia", ''Accounts and Papers 1843''
Volume 3
(London: William Clowes Ltd., William Clowes and Sons), p. 320–328. *. *Steiner, Marie (2003), "Matthew Moorhouse: A controversial colonist", ''Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia'', 31: 55–68.