Mount Dispersion, in south-western

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, is the location of the massacre of

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

by Major Thomas Mitchell on 27 May 1836. Officially recognised as an Aboriginal place under the ''

National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 The ''National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974'' is the legislation passed by the New South Wales Parliament with the explicit intent of conserving the natural and cultural heritage of the state of New South Wales; fostering public appreciation, und ...

'' in May 2020, the official name is the Mount Dispersion Massacre Site Aboriginal Place.

History

In May 1836 Mitchell and his surveying party had been followed for several days by a group of Aboriginal people, starting from Lake Benanee, near the present-day town of Euston. Although it is not exactly clear what happened, it seems that instead of attempting negotiation, Mitchell and his men decided to launch a surprise attack on 27 May. In Mitchell's words: There were at least seven Aboriginal people killed as they fled across the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray; Ngarrindjeri language, Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta language, Yorta Yorta: ''Dhungala'' or ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is List of rivers of Australia, Aust ...

. Mitchell faced an enquiry in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

afterwards, so his account was recorded, but that of the survivors was not. Mitchell received only a minor reprimand for his actions. Mitchell named the small hill Mount Dispersion. Mitchell later published a book in which he justified the event by emphasising that the ambush was an act of self-defence: he portrayed the Aboriginal people as hostile tribes from the

Darling River The Darling River (or River Darling; Paakantyi: ''Baaka'' or ''Barka''), is the third-longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth. Including its long ...

intent on revenge for an incident during his 1835 expedition in which his party shot and wounded a man, and killed another man and a woman who was carrying a baby.

Recognition

A monument in the form of a

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

was built by the

Mildura Mildura ( ) is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 at the 2021 census. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point, Merbein and Red ...

Historical Society in September 1963, with the inscription "Mt Dispersion / Named by Major Mitchell on May 26th 1836 after an encounter with Aboriginies icat this spot"; however, it was placed from the correct location. The same site had been known as a

sacred site A sacred space, sacred ground, sacred place, sacred temple, holy ground, holy place or holy site is a location which is regarded to be sacred or hallowed. The sacredness of a natural feature may accrue through tradition or be granted through ...

for thousands of years by the

Kureinji The Kureinji, otherwise known as the Keramin, are an Aboriginal group whose traditional lands are located in south-west New South Wales, Australia, along the north side of the Murray River, roughly between today's settlements of Euston and We ...

and

Barkindji The Paakantyi, or Barkindji or Barkandji, are an Australian Aboriginal tribal group of the Darling River (known to them as the Baaka) basin in Far West New South Wales, Australia. Name The ethnonym Paakantyi means "River people", formed from ...

peoples, with a

songline A songline, also called dreaming track, is one of the paths across the land (or sometimes the sky) within the animist belief systems of the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal cultures of Australia. They mark the route followed by localised "crea ...

relating to "the story of the great warrior and the cod and the spiritual ancestors" connected to it. Mutti Mutti elder Barry Pearce, who lives nearby, believes that knowledge of history such as this, and acknowledgement of

Australian frontier wars The Australian frontier wars were the violent conflicts between Indigenous Australians (including both Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders) and mostly British settlers during the colonial period of Australia. The first conflic ...

, helps

reconciliation Reconciliation or reconcile may refer to: Accounting * Reconciliation (accounting) Arts, entertainment, and media Books * Reconciliation (Under the North Star), ''Reconciliation'' (''Under the North Star''), the third volume of the ''Under the ...

, and would also like visitors to know about the cultural history of the spot - that it is "more than the massacre". He was inspired to have the site acknowledged, and Heritage NSW officer Harvey Johnston led a project to have it formally recognised on 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 24 April 2020, Mount Dispersion was recorded in the ''

New South Wales Government Gazette The ''Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales'', also known as the ''New South Wales Government Gazette'', is the government gazette of the Government of New South Wales in Australia. The ''Gazette'' is managed by the New South Wales ...

'' as an Aboriginal Place under the ''

'' (NSW). Text was copied from this source, which is available under
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
licence. (Se
here
.Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales, No 85, Friday 24 April 2020
/ref> It was officially listed on 27 May 2020, 184 years to the day that the massacre took place.

Location

Mount Dispersion is close to the border with

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, on Tapalin Mail Road. It lies on a former course of the Murray, near Euston.

History

Recognition

Location

References

Further reading