Campaspe Plains Massacre

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The Campaspe Plains massacre of the Aborigines of Australia occurred in 1839 in central Victoria near Campaspe Run, which is on the Northern Highway at Elmore .

This first massacre in 1839 was in response to the conquest of whites in the Aboriginal tribal area of ​​the Dja Dja Wurrung and the Daung Wurrung . First there were isolated clashes in 1838 when Charles Hutton settled near the border between the two Aboriginal peoples in 1838. The situation escalated in April 1839 when five Aborigines were murdered by settlers. In May, the Aboriginal backlash came when they murdered two white people living in cottages in the countryside and stole their belongings in their cottages and a number of sheep. Hutton immediately assembled an armed group of settlers, turned in the Aborigines and found some of the sheep on Campaspe Creek. In the violent confrontation that followed, around 40 Aborigines were murdered.

Six Aborigines were shot in the back months later by Hutton and the police without warning and died while trying to escape while trying to gain access to the Aboriginal camp on the Campaspe River , injuring other Aborigines.

George Augustus Robinson , who was charged with investigating crimes against the Aborigines, wrote in his diary on January 24, 1840: “Mr. H. [Hutton] avowed to be terror; to keep the natives in subjection by fear, and to punish them wholesale, that is, by tribes and communities. If a member of a tribe offend, destroy the whole. He believed they must be exterminated. " . (English: Mister Hutton used terror to keep the Aborigines in fear and to punish everyone, the tribe and groups. If one rebels, destroys everyone. He believed that all must be exterminated.) Against the leader Hutton was never investigated, much less a trial.

See also

literature

  • Bain Attwood, My Country. A history of the Djadja Wurrung 1837–1864. Monash Publications in History: 25th 1999. ISSN  0818-0032 .
  • Beverly Nance: The level of violence, Europeans and aborigines in Port Phillips . 1835-1850. Australian Historical Studies. October 1981.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bain Attwood, My Country. A history of the Djadja Wurrung 1837-1864. Pp. 7-9, Monash Publications in History: 25, 1999, ISSN  0818-0032