| Site Name | Gammon 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 | PPD |
| Police District | Gippsland |
| Latitude | -38.496 |
| Longitude | 146.945 |
| Date | Between 15 Jul 1843 and 31 Jul 1843 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| 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 | Gammon Creek is one of the Warrigal Creek group of massacres.
According to Dunderdale, following the killing of Donald Macalister, Aborginal people were massacred at Gammon Creek. 'Lachlan Macalister had had a long experience in dealing with blackfellows and bushrangers; he had been a captain in the army, and an officer of the border police. The murder of his nephew gave him both a professional and a family interest in chastising the criminals, and he soon organised a party to look for them. It was, of course, impossible to identify any blackfellow concerned in the outrage, and therefore atonement must be made by the tribe. The blacks were found encamped near a waterhole at Gammon Creek, and those who were shot were thrown into it, to the number, it was said, of about sixty, men, women, and children; but this was probably an exaggeration. At any rate, the black who capered about to attract young Macalister's attention escaped, and he often afterwards described and imitated the part he took in what he evidently considered a glorious act of revenge. The gun used by old Macalister was a double-barrelled Purdy, a beautiful and reliable weapon, which in its time had done great execution' (Dunderdale, 2020). According to local historian Gardner, 'It is remarkable how the tradition of the massacre at this site has been continued down to the present owners of the property' (Gardner, 1983, p 56). |
| 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
