Myall Creek Massacre
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The Myall Creek massacre was the killing of at least twenty-eight unarmed
Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
by twelve colonists on 10 June 1838 at the
Myall Creek The Myall Creek massacre was the killing of at least twenty-eight unarmed Indigenous Australians by twelve colonists on 10 June 1838 at the Myall Creek near the Gwydir River, in northern New South Wales. After two trials, seven of the twelve c ...
near the
Gwydir River Gwydir River (locally wɑe̯də, a major inland perennial river of the Barwon catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes, and Orana districts of New South Wales, Australia. Th ...
, in northern New South Wales. After two trials, seven of the twelve colonists were found guilty of murder and hanged, a verdict which sparked extreme controversy within New South Wales settler society. One—the leader and free settler John Fleming—evaded arrest and was never tried. Four were never retried following the not guilty verdict of the first trial.


Description of the massacre

A group of eleven stockmen, consisting of assigned convicts and former convicts, ten of them white Europeans, the 11th, John Johnstone, a black African, led by John Henry Fleming, who was from ''Mungie Bundie Run'' near Moree, arrived at
Henry Dangar Henry Dangar (1796 - 1861) was a surveyor and explorer of Australia in the early period of British colonisation. He became a successful pastoralist and businessman, and also served as a magistrate and politician. He was born on 18 November 179 ...
's Myall Creek station in
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
on 9 June 1838. They rode up to the station huts beside which were camped a group of approximately thirty-five Aboriginal people. They were part of the Wirraayaraay (also spelled 'Weraerai') group who belonged to the
Kamilaroi The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Aust ...
people. They had been camped at the station for a few weeks after being invited by one of the convict stockmen, Charles Kilmeister (or Kilminister), to come to their station for their safety and protection from the gangs of marauding stockmen who were roaming the district slaughtering any Aboriginal people they could find. These Aboriginal people had previously been camped peacefully at McIntyre's station for a few months. They were therefore well known to the whites. Most of them had been given European names such as Daddy, King Sandy, Joey, Martha and Charley. Some of the children spoke a certain amount of English. When the stockmen rode into their camp they fled into the convict's hut pleading for protection. When asked by the station hut keeper, George Anderson, what they were going to do with the Aboriginal people, John Russell said they were going to "take them over the back of the range and frighten them". The stockmen then entered the hut, tied them to a long tether rope and led them away. They took them to a gully on the side of the ridge about 800 metres to the west of the station huts. There they slaughtered them all except for one woman whom they kept with them for the next couple of days. The approximately 28 people they murdered were largely women, children and old men. Ten younger men were away on a neighbouring station cutting bark. Most of the people were slaughtered with swords as George Anderson, who refused to join the massacre, clearly heard there were just two shots. Unlike Anderson, Charles Kilmeister joined the slaughter. Testimony was later given at trial that the children had been beheaded while the men and women were forced to run as far as they could between the stockyard fence and a line of sword-wielding stockmen who hacked at them as they passed. After the massacre, Fleming and his gang rode off looking to kill the remainder of the group, who they knew had gone to the neighbouring station. They failed to find the other Aboriginal people as they had returned to Myall that night and left after being warned the killers would be returning. On the party's return to Myall two days later, they dismembered and burnt the bodies before resuming the search for the remaining people. The ten people had gone to MacIntyre's station near
Inverell Inverell is a large town in northern New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Macintyre River, close to the Queensland border. It is also the centre of Inverell Shire. Inverell is located on the Gwydir Highway on the western slopes of the No ...
, 40 kilometres to the east, where between 30 and 40 Aboriginal people were reportedly murdered with their bodies being cast onto a large fire. Many suspect this massacre was also committed by the same stockmen. After several days of heavy drinking the party dispersed. When the manager of the station, William Hobbs, returned several days later and discovered the bodies, counting up to twenty-eight of them (as they were beheaded and dismembered he had difficulty determining the exact number) he decided to report the incident but Kilmeister initially talked him out of it. Hobbs discussed it with a neighbouring station overseer, Thomas Foster, who told squatter Frederick Foot who rode to Sydney to report it to the new Governor,
George Gipps Sir George Gipps (23 December 1790 – 28 February 1847) was the Governor of the British colony of New South Wales for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. His governorship oversaw a tumultuous period where the rights to land were bitterly conte ...
. Supported by the Attorney General,
John Plunkett John Hubert Plunkett (June 1802 – 9 May 1869) was Attorney-General of New South Wales, an appointed member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, Legislative Council 1836–41, 1843–56, 1857–58 and 1861–69. He was also elected ...
, Gipps ordered
Police Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...
Edward Denny Day at
Muswellbrook Muswellbrook ( ) is a town in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle. Geologically, Muswellbrook is situated in the northern parts of the Sydney basin, bordering the New Englan ...
to investigate the massacre. They carried out a thorough investigation despite the bodies having been removed from the massacre site where only a few bone fragments remained. He arrested eleven of the twelve perpetrators. The only one to escape was the only free man involved, the leader, John Fleming. Anderson was crucial in identifying the arrested men. He had initially refused to name the men involved but after finding out that the massacre had been planned more than a week earlier to coincide with the absence of Hobbs he agreed to identify the killers to the magistrate.


Trials

Beginning on 15 November 1838, the case was heard before the
Chief Justice of New South Wales The Chief Justice of New South Wales is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of New South Wales. The Chief Justice is both the judicial head of the Supreme Court ...
,
James Dowling Sir James Dowling (25 November 1787 – 27 September 1844) was an English-born Australian jurist in New South Wales, Chief Justice of New South Wales 1837 – 1844. Early life James Dowling was born in London, England, the son of Vincent Dowlin ...
. The accused were represented by three of the colony's foremost
barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
s, William Foster,
William à Beckett Sir William à Beckett (28 July 1806 – 27 June 1869) was a British barrister and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria. Background Born in London, he was the eldest son of William à Beckett, also a solicitor. His younger b ...
and
Richard Windeyer Richard Windeyer (10 August 1806 – 2 December 1847) was a journalist, barrister and Australian politician. Early life Richard Windeyer was born in London, the eldest of nine children of Charles Windeyer, first recognised reporter in the House ...
, paid for by an association of landowners and stockmen from the
Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...
and
Liverpool Plains The Liverpool Plains are an extensive agricultural area covering about of the north-western slopes of New South Wales in Australia. These plains are a region of prime agricultural land bounded to the east by the Great Dividing Range, to the s ...
region including Henry Dangar, the owner of the Myall Creek station. The Black Association, as they called themselves, were led by a local magistrate, who apparently used the influence of his office to gain access to the prisoners in Sydney, where he told them to "stick together and say nothing". Not one of the eleven accused gave evidence against their co-accused at the trial, something that Gipps attributes to the magistrate's role.


First trial

''R. v. Kilmeister (No. 1)''''R v Kilmeister (No 1)'' – The station hutkeeper, George Anderson, the only white witness, was the key witness for the
prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...
, conducted by Plunkett and
Roger Therry Sir Roger Therry (22 April 1800 – 17 May 1874) was an Irish-Australian jurist and member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Biography Therry was born in Cork, County Cork, Ireland and educated at Clongowes College and Trinity Colleg ...
as his
junior counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...
. He told the court how the eleven men had tied the victims together, and led them away. He also said that Edward Foley, one of the perpetrators, had shown him a sword covered with blood. Anderson's testimony was supported by William Hobbs and Magistrate Day, who had conducted the police investigation. The defence's case solely rested on the argument that the bodies could not be identified accurately. Justice Dowling took care to remind the jury that the law made no distinction between the murder of an Aboriginal person and the murder of a European person. The jury, after deliberating for just twenty minutes, found all eleven men not guilty. A letter to the editor of ''
The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' on 8 December 1838 alleged that one of the jurors had said privately that although he considered the men guilty of murder, he could not convict a white man of killing an Aboriginal person: "I look on the blacks as a set of monkeys and the sooner they are exterminated from the face of the earth, the better. I knew the men were guilty of murder but I would never see a white man hanged for killing a black." The letter writer did not hear this said himself, but alleged that he had spoken to a second man who told him he had heard a juror say it. The letter writer went on to say, "I leave you, Sir, and the community to determine on the fitness of this white savage to perform the office of a juryman under any circumstance"."Myall Creek Massacre"
, Parliament of New South Wales ''Hansard'', 8 June 2000


Second trial

''R. v. Kilmeister (No. 2)'' – Attorney-General Plunkett however requested the judge to remand the prisoners in custody awaiting further charges from the same incident. Although all eleven were remanded in custody only seven were to face a second trial. The second trial was held on 27 November but only 28 of the 48 called up for jury service turned up; it later came to light that the Black Association had intimidated many into staying away. The trial restarted on 29 November under Justice Burton. Anderson, who had been the key witness at the first trial, gave an even more lucid account of the massacre at the second trial. He told the court that:
While Master was away, some men came on a Saturday, about 10; I cannot say how many days after master left; they came on horseback, armed with muskets and swords and pistols; all were armed ... the blacks, when they saw the men coming, ran into our hut, and the men then, all of them, got off their horses; I asked what they were going to do with the blacks, and Russel said, "We are going to take them over the back of the range, to frighten them".
Anderson then gave evidence that the Aboriginal people in the hut had cried out to him for assistance. He said two women were left behind at the huts, one "because she was good-looking, they said so," and that there was a young child who had been left behind, who attempted to follow her mother (who was tied up with the others), before Anderson carried her back to the hut. There were also two other young boys who had escaped by hiding in the creek. Anderson also gave evidence about the perpetrators' return and the burning of the bodies.
I ndersonsaw smoke in the same direction they went; this was soon after they went with the firesticks ... Fleming told Kilmeister to go up by-and-by and put the logs of wood together, and be sure that all f the remainswas consumed ... the girls they left, and the two boys, and the child I sent away with 10 black fellows that went away in the morning ... I did not like to keep them, as the men might come back and kill them.
Anderson said that he wanted to speak the whole truth at the second trial. He also said that he did not seek to be rewarded for testifying, rather he asked "only for protection". The trial continued until 2 am on 30 November, when the seven men were found guilty. On 5 December they were sentenced to execution by hanging. The sentence was ratified by the
Executive Council of New South Wales The Executive Council of New South Wales (informally and more commonly, the Cabinet of New South Wales) is the cabinet of that Australian state, consisting of the Ministers, presided over by the governor. Role and history The Executive Council ...
on 7 December, with Gipps later saying in a report that no mitigating circumstances could be shown for any of the defendants, and it could not be said that any of the men were more or less guilty than the rest. The seven men, Charles Kilmeister, James Oates, Edward Foley, John Russell, John Johnstone, William Hawkins and James Parry, were executed early on the morning of 18 December 1838. The four remaining accused, Blake, Toulouse, Palliser and Lamb, were remanded until the next session to allow time for the main witness against them, an Aboriginal boy named Davey, to be prepared in order to take a Bible oath. It has been claimed that according to the missionary,
Lancelot Edward Threlkeld Lancelot Edward Threlkeld (20 October 1788 – 10 October 1859) was an English missionary, primarily based in Australia. He was married twice and survived by sons and daughters from both marriages. Thelkeld is known for his work with Biraban i ...
, Henry Dangar had arranged for Davey "to be put out of the way" and he was never seen again; and with Davey unable to be located, the four were discharged in February 1839. However, Threlkeld made no such statement regarding Dangar. What Threlkeld actually wrote about Davey's whereabouts at the time was:
... for Mr Arndell, who was here last week, states that on his recent return from the Gwyder he was informed by a Gentleman that Davey was put out of the way, but whether with his throat cut, or only hid, could not be ascertained.
Further, when the remaining four accused came before the Court on 14 February 1839, Attorney General Plunkett informed the Court:
... aveyhad been under the tuition of a competent person for two months, but it was now reported to he Attorney Generalthat he was not so far instructed as to be a competent witness, and it was quite uncertain when he would be; and he he Attorney Generaldid not think he should be doing his duty in risking public justice by prosecuting the case without his evidence. ... I cannot proceed with the trial with any hope of success without avey'sevidence ....
In other words, according to Plunkett, in mid-February 1839 Davey was alive and "under tuition", however, Plunkett could not proceed with the case against the remaining accused because of the uncertainty surrounding the time it would take to complete that tuition. It was for this reason that the accused were discharged.


Subsequent events and responses

John Henry Fleming, the leader of the massacre, was never captured. He hid or was protected, either in the Hawkesbury district, on a relative's property inland from Moreton Bay, or in Van Diemen's Land (according to conflicting reports that remain unresolved). He later became a respected farmer, church warden and (ironically) justice of the peace in the Hawkesbury district. John Blake, one of the four men acquitted at the first trial and not subsequently charged, committed suicide in 1852. One of his descendants believes he did so out of a guilty conscience. The Myall Creek case led to significant uproar among sections of the population and the press, sometimes voiced in favour of the perpetrators. ''
The Sydney Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'' was particularly strident, declaring in October 1838 that "the whole gang of black animals are not worth the money the colonists will have to pay for printing the silly documents on which we have already wasted too much time". This was followed by more violent passage in November 1838 that if Aboriginal Australians, referred to as the "filthy, brutal cannibals of New Holland" and "ferocious savages", attempt to destroy property or kill someone, "do to them as you would do to any white robbers or murderers — SHOOT THEM DEAD." Not all newspapers or white settlers took the same view, with ''
The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' publishing a poem by Eliza Hamilton Dunlop, "
The Aboriginal Mother "The Aboriginal Mother" is a poem written by Eliza Hamilton Dunlop, which expresses her lament over the Myall Creek massacre, a mass murder of at least twenty-eight Aboriginal Australians. It was published initially in ''The Australian'' on 13 ...
" on 13 December 1838 about a week after the seven men were found guilty, but several days before they were hanged. The poem expresses Dunlop's sorrow over the massacre and expresses sympathy for the Aboriginals of Australia. Dunlop responded to criticism by the ''Sydney Herald'', arguing on behalf of the poem and explaining why her views were correct. The editorial in
John Dunmore Lang John Dunmore Lang (25 August 1799 – 8 August 1878) was a Scottish-born Australian Presbyterian minister, writer, historian, politician and activist. He was the first prominent advocate of an independent Australian nation and of Australian re ...
's newspaper ''
The Colonist ''The Colonist'' was a weekly English-language tabloid newspaper published in Sydney from 1835 to 1840. History ''The Colonist'' was founded by John Dunmore Lang with a religious and political agenda. First published on 1 January 1835 by Henry ...
'' on 12 December 1838 argued at length that "the murders... are, to a serious extent, chargeable upon us as a ''nation''". The Myall Creek massacre is often cited as the only massacre of its kind in colonial Australia for which white people were subsequently executed. However, there is at least one case prior to Myall Creek. In 1820, two convicts, John Kirby and John Thompson, attempted to escape from the colony but were captured by local Aboriginal people and returned to
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
. A military party accompanied by two constables set out to meet them and Kirby was seen by the party to stab Burragong (alias King Jack) whereupon he was felled by a
waddy A waddy, nulla-nulla or boondi is an Aboriginal Australian hardwood club or hunting stick for use as a weapon or as a throwing stick for hunting animals. ''Waddy'' comes from the Darug people of Port Jackson, Sydney.Peters, Pam, ''The Cambrid ...
. Burragong initially appeared to recover, stating that he was ''murry bujjery'' (much recovered) and collected his reward of a "suit of clothing". However, he later complained of illness and died from his wound ten days after being injured. Kirby and Thompson were both tried for "willful murder". All the European witnesses testified that "no blow was struck by any native" before Kirby attacked Burragong. Thompson was acquitted, but Kirby was found guilty and sentenced to death, with his body to be "dissected and anatomised"., . The earliest known record of a European being executed for the murder of an Aboriginal. The Myall Creek massacre was just the latest of many massacres that took place in that district (the Liverpool Plains) around that time. As elsewhere in the colony, the Aboriginal people at times resisted the expanding invasion of their land by spearing sheep and cattle for food and sometimes attacking the stockmen's huts and killing the white men. In the Liverpool Plains district there had been some cattle speared and huts attacked and two whites murdered (allegedly by Aboriginal people). The squatters complained to Acting Governor Snodgrass, who sent Major James Nunn and about 22 troopers up to the district. Nunn enlisted the assistance of up to 25 local stockmen and together they rode around the district murdering any Aboriginal people they came across. Nunn's campaign culminated in the
Waterloo Creek massacre The Waterloo Creek massacre (also Slaughterhouse Creek massacre) refers to a series of violent clashes between mounted police, civilian vigilantes and Indigenous Gamilaraay peoples, which occurred southwest of Moree, New South Wales, Australi ...
of 1838 at Waterloo Creek. Although no definitive historical records are available, estimates of Aboriginal people murdered range from 40 to over 100. When Nunn returned to Sydney, many of the local squatters and stockmen continued the "drive" against the Aboriginal people, including the Myall Creek massacre. However, because of community outrage, Governor Gipps did not encourage further prosecutions, including for the earlier Waterloo Creek massacre, nor the later McIntyre's Station massacre, both of which apparently involved a greater number of Aboriginal deaths. In his book, ''Blood on the Wattle'', travel journalist Bruce Elder says that the successful prosecutions resulted in pacts of silence becoming a common practice to avoid sufficient evidence becoming available for future prosecutions. Another effect, as two Sydney newspapers reported, was that poisoning Aboriginal people became more common as being "much safer". Many massacres went unpunished due to these practices, as what is variously called a 'conspiracy' or 'pact' or 'code' of silence fell over the killings of Aboriginal people. The Myall Creek massacre and the subsequent trial and hanging of some of the offenders had a profound effect on the "outside" settlers and their dealing with indigenous people throughout all sections the colonial Australian frontiers. The ''Sydney Herald'' and the spokesmen for the settlers in the remote districts of New South Wales and Victoria, frequently leading men such as
William Wentworth William Charles Wentworth (August 179020 March 1872) was an Australian pastoralist, explorer, newspaper editor, lawyer, politician and author, who became one of the wealthiest and most powerful figures of early colonial New South Wales. Throug ...
, typically classified the trial and execution of the offenders as "judicial murder". Similar opinions were voiced years later in
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
, the most populated section of the continent in terms of indigenous people, where it was the subject of numerous statements in the then newly separated parliament. In 1861, there was almost unanimous agreement that the prosecution and hanging in 1838 had been nothing less than '...judicial murder of white men in Sydney', as the government spokesman
Robert Ramsay Mackenzie Sir Robert Ramsay Mackenzie, 10th Baronet (21 July 1811 – 19 September 1873) was a pastoralist and politician in Queensland, Australia. He was Premier of Queensland, Australia from August 1867 to November 1868. Early life Mackenzie was born ...
phrased it in his speech in the Legislative Assembly on 25 July, and that 'white troopers were "useless" as they could not be "acting against the blackfellows as they wished, lest an outcry should be raised against them, and they could be prosecuted for murder." '
Arthur Macalister Arthur Macalister, (18 January 1818 – 23 March 1883) was three times Premier of Queensland, Australia. Early life Macalister was born in Glasgow, Scotland, son of John Macalister, a cabinet maker, and his wife Mary, ''née'' Scoullar. M ...
, spokesman for the opposition (later three times Premier of Queensland) agreed, equally using the term "judicial murder". The notion seemingly almost unanimously agreed to by the first Queensland parliament was that no white man should ever be prosecuted in Queensland for the killing of a black.


Stockyard controversy

Over the years there has been some debate over the exact location of the massacre. An oral tradition developed among stockmen who worked on the Myall Creek station, many years after the massacre actually occurred, that it had happened in a stockyard to which the Wirrayaraay were led by the stockmen. Although this oral tradition is very strongly held by some local descendants of the stockmen and others, there is no primary source evidence from the time to support the idea. All the evidence collected by Police Magistrate Edward Denny Day and provided in evidence at the two trials contradicts the suggestion that it occurred in a stockyard. Witnesses William Hobbs, Thomas Foster, Andrew Burrowes and Edward Denny Day himself describe the massacre site without making any mention of a stockyard. Hobbs stated in evidence to the Supreme Court that the stockyard was close to the huts whereas the massacre site was "about half a mile from my house in a westerly direction". Historians dismiss the stockyard as the location of the massacre as a "bush myth".


Memorial

Lyall Munro Snr Lyall Munro Snr (30 September 1931– 21 May 2020), also known as Uncle Lyall Munro Senior, was an Aboriginal Australian activist, leader, and elder, especially known for his advocacy of Indigenous land rights. He was the husband of Carmine ...
, a descendant of victims of the massacre, worked long and hard towards getting a memorial erected to mark the event. On 10 June 2000, a memorial to the victims of the massacre, north-east of
Bingara Bingara (Aboriginal for 'creek') is a small town on the Gwydir River in Murchison County in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Bingara is currently the administrative centre for the Gwydir Shire that was created in 2003. The ...
at the junction of Whitlow and Bingara-
Delungra Delungra is a small town on the Gwydir Highway, from Inverell and from Bingara in Inverell Shire, New South Wales, Australia. At the , Delungra and the surrounding area had a population of 647. The urban centre had a population of 285. Delun ...
Roads, was unveiled. It consists of a walkway, with seven oval-shaped
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
boulders along the way, to a 14 tonne granite rock and plaque surrounded by a circle of crushed white granite and edged in by stones from all around the state of New South Wales, overlooking the site of the massacre. In 2001, a group of law students from the University of New England had an excursion to the site where they were welcomed by the Blacklock clan who conducted a
smoking ceremony Smoking ceremony is an ancient and contemporary custom among some Aboriginal Australians that involves smouldering native plants to produce smoke. This herbal smoke is believed to have both spiritual and physical cleansing properties, as well as ...
. A ceremony is held each year on 10 June commemorating the victims. The memorial is maintained and funded by the Friends of Myall Creek, an Australian non-profit organisation. The memorial was vandalised in January 2005, with the words "murder", "women" and "children" chiselled off, in an attempt to make it unreadable. The
Myall Creek Massacre and Memorial Site Myall Creek Massacre and Memorial Site is the heritage-listed site of and memorial for the victims of the Myall Creek massacre at Bingara Delungra Road, Myall Creek, Gwydir Shire, New South Wales, Australia. The memorial, which was unveiled in ...
was included on the
Australian National Heritage List The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and ...
on 7 June 2008 and the
New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...
on 12 November 2010. The site was again reported as vandalised on 24 September 2021. There was damage to buildings, sandstone steps and railings. A memorial plaque was also vandalised, but the committee was unsure if this was done by the same perpetrators. Co-chair of the national Friends of Myall Creek committee, Keith Munro, confirmed a racist slogan was also scratched into the ground.


Painting

Sydney artist
Ben Quilty Ben Quilty (born 1973) is an Australian artist and social commentator, who has won a series of painting prizes: the 2014 Prudential Eye Award, 2011 Archibald Prize, and 2009 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. He has been described as one of Au ...
created a painting of the massacre, based on a Rorschach ink blot, a technique he had used in previous paintings, entitled ''Myall Creek Rorschach''. He consulted Gamilaraay elders Aunty Sue Blacklock and Uncle Lyall Munro before commencing his sketches for the work. A TV documentary, ''Quilty: Painting the Shadows'' made by filmmaker Catherine Hunter featuring this work and other work by Quilty, was shown on ABC TV in November 2019.


See also

*
List of massacres in Australia This is a list of massacres and mass murders that have occurred in Australia and its predecessor colonies (some historical numbers may be approximate). Many of the massacres not listed here may instead be found in the list of massacres of Indigen ...
*
List of massacres of Indigenous Australians Numerous clashes involving Indigenous people (on the continent "Australia") occurred during and after a wave of mass immigration of Europeans into the continent, which began in the late 18th century and lasted until the early 20th century. The ...


References


Further reading

* * * (at
Wikisource Wikisource is an online digital library of free-content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project (each instance usually rep ...
) * , foreword by
Peter FitzSimons Peter John Allen FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian author, journalist, and radio and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and has been the chair of the Australian Republic Movement sin ...
. * This book is largely a biography of the Attorney General of NSW at the time,
John Plunkett John Hubert Plunkett (June 1802 – 9 May 1869) was Attorney-General of New South Wales, an appointed member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, Legislative Council 1836–41, 1843–56, 1857–58 and 1861–69. He was also elected ...
. The trial was his greatest test as prosecutor.


External links


National Heritage Places – Myall Creek Massacre and Memorial Site
Australian Government, Department of the Environment

Peter Stewart
Friends of Myall Creek

"Where can I find information on the Myall Creek Massacre?"
National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Myall Creek Massacre Conflicts in 1838 Massacres in 1838 Crime in New South Wales Deaths by firearm in New South Wales 1838 in Australia Australian National Heritage List New England (New South Wales) 19th century in New South Wales Massacres of Indigenous Australians June 1838 events Gwydir Shire Inverell Shire 1830s crimes in Australia