Site NameQuamby Bluff (4)
This massacre is part of a group of massacres
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name
Language Group, Nation or PeoplePort Sorell [Pallittore North]
Present State/TerritoryTAS
Colony/State/Territory at the timeVDL
Police DistrictLaunceston
Latitude-41.551
Longitude146.481
Date13 Jul 1827
Attack TimeDawn
VictimsAboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
Victim DescriptionsAboriginal
Victims Killed9
Victims Killed Notes
AttackersColonists
Attacker DescriptionsFoot Soldier(s), Stockkeeper(s)
Attackers Killed0
Attackers Killed Notes
TransportFoot
MotiveReprisal
Weapons UsedFirearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
NarrativeNine Pallittore Aboriginal people were killed in in reprisal for the attempted killing of Thomas Baker, overseer to landowner David Gibson at Dairy Plains. The dawn attack on the Pallittore camp near Quamby Bluff was probably led by Corporals William Shiners and James Lingan, assisted by District Constable Thomas Williams and stock-keepers James Cubit, Henry Smith and Thomas White. This was the 4th reprisal massacre in the cluster known as the Quamby Bluff killings. They were carried out in reprisal for the killing of an overseer and the wounding of another; and the killing of two shepherds. It is estimated that more than 78 Pallittore were killed in the four massacres.
SourcesTAHO CSO 1/316, 15-37; Plomley, 2008, p 254; Ryan, 2008, p 491. (Sources PDF)
Corroboration Rating**