| Site Name | Bruthen Creek, Gippsland This massacre is part of a group of massacres |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Brataualung |
| Present State/Territory | VIC |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | NSW |
| Police District | |
| Latitude | -38.511 |
| Longitude | 146.863 |
| Date | Between 1 Jul 1843 and 31 Jul 1843 |
| Attack Time | |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Victims Killed | 25 |
| Victims Killed Notes | Men, women and children. |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Settler(s) |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Firearm(s), Double-barrelled Purdey(s) |
| Narrative | Bruthen Creek is one of the Warrigal Creek group of massacres.
In 1845 William Thomas, the Assistant Protector of Aborigines recorded in his journal a conversation with a man called Hatcher: 'He said he [Hatcher] and another man had come unarmed from Gippsland. I asked him if he was not afraid of meeting the Blacks, his reply was, Blks Sir no fear of them now they would run away as soon as they see a white man but there are not many left, he said he had a Brother who had been in Gippsland from the first his name was Bunton & kept a Public house in Gippsland by the Dirty Water Holes & a cattle station joining to Mr. McAllister who was killed, that after Mr. McAllisters murder great slaughter of the blacks took place and that on his brothers station a cart load of Blks bones might be gath.rd up' (Thomas, cited in Caldow, 2020 and cited in Gardner, 1994, p 51). Caldow (2020) and Gardner (2022) concur that the station where bones 'might be gath.rd up' referred to in Thomas's journal is Hatcher's brother-in-law Buntine's run at Bruthen Creek. |
| Sources | Dunderdale, 1973, p.225; Pepper and de Aurugo, 1985, p.24; Cannon, 1990, p.171; Shaw,1996, p.133; Clark, 1998d, p.70, p. 99, p.110; Gardner, 2001, pp 53-61; Bartrop, 2004, pp 199-205 ; The Age, 8 Aug 1874, p 7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201532298; Gardner, 1994, p 45; The Courier, 23 Jun, 1843, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2952539; Dunderdale, 2020 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16349/pg16349-images.html; Caldow, 2020; Gardner, 2022, https://petergardner.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Warrigal-Creek-Massacre-a-reply-to-Wayne-Caldow.pdf; (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | ** |
Colonial Frontier Massacres
in Australia, 1788-1930
