| Site Name | Victoria Valley |
| Aboriginal Place Name | |
| Language Group | Djabwurrung |
| Present State/Territory | VIC |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | PPD |
| Police District | Geelong |
| Latitude | -37.558 |
| Longitude | 142.284 |
| Date | Between 12 Aug 1840 and 20 Aug 1840 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Victims Killed | 23 |
| Victims Killed Notes | Killed: M 23 F; Probable: M F; Possible: M F; Wounded: M F |
| Attackers | Colonisers |
| Attacker Descriptions | Settler(s) |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | Killed:M F;Wounded:M F |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Firearm(s) |
| Narrative | On 12 August 1840, Charles Wedge and his brothers shot ten Aborigines near the Grampians. On 28 August 1840, in reprisal, ‘the Aborigines drove off nearly 1,300 of Wedge’s sheep in the care of Colin Isaacs’ (Clark, 1995, p 157). A ‘hunting party’, comprising Charles and Henry Wedge, Joseph Read, Thomas Grant, William Marsh, John Cox and R.W. Knowles, recovered the sheep in the present day Victoria Valley and then killed 13 Aborigines (Orton Papers 12 January 1841, Orton Papers 1840-1842, ML A1715). When Assistant Protector Charles Sievwright took depositions from the killers and presented them to James Croke, the Crown Prosecutor, Croke 'formed the opinion that the Aborigines had perpetrated the "outrages" and ought to be punished. He considered the killings were in self-defence.’ (Croke cited in Clark, 1995, p 157). |
| Sources | Clark ID, 1995, pp 156-158; Orton, 12 January 1841; 1840-1842. See also: Shaw, 1996, p 130; HRA Series I vol 21, p242 http://arrow.latrobe.edu.au:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | *** |
Colonial Frontier Massacres
in Australia, 1788-1930
