| Site Name | Sally Peak (1) |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Oyster Bay |
| Present State/Territory | TAS |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | VDL |
| Police District | Richmond |
| Latitude | -42.62 |
| Longitude | 147.715 |
| Date | Between 1 May 1827 and 15 May 1827 |
| Attack Time | Night |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Victims Killed | 6 |
| Victims Killed Notes | |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Field Police, Military, Settler(s), Stockkeeper(s) |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Foot |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Firearm(s), Musket(s), Cutlass/Cutlasses, Bayonet(s) |
| Narrative | In May 1827 Richard Addey, stock keeper to Andrew Gatehouse, was killed by Oyster Bay Aborigines. The reprisal killings that followed were not made public for nearly 50 years when historian James Bonwick (1870) published the interview he conducted 20 years after the incident with one of the perpetrators, stockman James Gumm who was assigned servant to settler George Meredith. Gumm told Bonwick that a party of 30 colonists – comprising constables, soldiers (of the 40th Regiment), and neighbours, the master of the slain stock keeper, John Radford and himself - set off in bloody revenge. They heard that a large group of Aboriginal people were camped for the night in the gully by Sally Peak, 10 kilometres from Bushy Plains, on the border of Prosser's Plains. 'They proceeded stealthily as they neared the spot; and, agreeing upon a signal, moved quietly in couples, until they had surrounded the sleepers. The whistle of the leader was sounded, and volley after volley of ball cartridge was poured in upon the dark groups around the little camp-fires. The number slain was considerable' (Bonwick, 1870, pp 98-99). |
| Sources | Bonwick, 1870, pp 98-99. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | * |
