| Site Name | Warrigal Creek Mouth This massacre is part of a group of massacres |
| Aboriginal Place Name | |
| Language Group | Brataualung |
| Present State/Territory | VIC |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | PPD |
| Police District | Gippsland |
| Latitude | -38.482 |
| Longitude | 147.033 |
| Date | Between 1 Jul 1843 and 31 Jul 1843 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal People |
| Victim Descriptions | |
| Victims Killed | 25 |
| Victims Killed Notes | |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s) |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Firearm(s), Double-barrelled Purdey(s) |
| Narrative | In July 1843, Ronald Macalister, nephew of squatter Lachlan Macalister, was killed by Brataualang Aborigines, near Port Albert. According to Aboriginal Protector GA Robinson he 'was murdered after some depraved white men, had, in a fit of drunkenness, shot and killed some friendly natives' at Port Albert (Robinson, 25 June 1844, in Clark 1998d, p.110). An avenging party of 20 horsemen, known as 'The Highland Brigade' was organised by Angus McMillan, Ronald Macalister's former overseer, to look for the killers. According the Gardner, the 'Brigade' was 'sworn to secrecy' and they appear to have set out on a five day rampage attacking four Aboriginal campsites (Gardner, 2001, pp 53-7). In reviewing every known account of the rampage Gippsland historian Peter Gardner considers Warrigal Creek Mouth was the second campsite where 25 Aboriginal people were killed and that human remains have been found at the site on several occasions (Gardner, 2001, pp 53-57). |
| Sources | Clark 1998d, p. 110; Gardner, 2001, pp 47-61. See also Pepper and de Araugo, 1985, p 24; Cannon, 1990, p 171; Bartrop, 2004, pp 199-206. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | *** |
Colonial Frontier Massacres
in Australia, 1788-1930
