| Site Name | Mt Eccles |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Gunditjmara, Wulluwurrung or Djabwurrung or Gai wurrung |
| Present State/Territory | VIC |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | PPD |
| Police District | Portland |
| Latitude | -38.058 |
| Longitude | 141.913 |
| Date | Between 1 Jul 1847 and 31 Jul 1847 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Victims Killed | 30 |
| 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), Pistol(s) |
| Narrative | In 1857 historian James Bonwick travelled to western Victoria and recorded a story told by two settlers of the region about a massacre at Mt Eccles (also known as Mt Eeles) ten years prior (circa 1847). Gunditjmara people had long used this region as a base for the guerilla resistance and, according to Bonwick, when colonists were finally able to attack in this region around 1847 the people there were 'almost exterminated' (Bonwick, 1970 , p 170).
'The Stony Rises of Eeles could reveal many a tale of rapine and murder. It was to these pathless solitudes that the Blacks were accustomed to drive sheep pillaged from the flocks of the early Settlers. Secure within such stony intricacies, they would break the legs of the animals to prevent them straying, and thus at their leisure indulge their love of mutton. Again and again was the trail followed by indignant shepherds; but the mighty barriers of basalt reared their crests, piles of boulders rose in all directions, caverns gaped before one, and the man who ventured into such a realm of wildness found no small difficulty to escape therefrom, while he was exposed in his stumbling career to the spear of his concealed enemy. Some ten years ago, however, the nest of robbers was gained, and the tribe almost exterminated under the following circumstances. A shepherd was murdered, his hut was rifled, and his fleecy charge was driven off by the Eeles mob. Vengeance was demanded. The arm of the law was too slow and weak to grasp the offenders. The neighbours assembled, armed, and set off in pursuit. Upon the return of the expedition, the coat and pocket book of the shepherd were exhibited. Resistance was said to have been offered, and shots were fired. Being interrogated as to the result of the conflict, as to what natives were killed, the only reply obtained was, that 'really there was such a smoke that they could see nothing.' Having, however, heard another tale upon this journey, being in company with one of the visitors of that region of stones upon that occasion, I venture to unfold the mystery, or, rather, to give another version. The party, who, though few in number, mustered in rifles and pistols about fifty shots, secured as guide to the Stones a half civilized native, and were lucky enough to fall upon a stray wild Blackfellow, who indicated the entrance into the fastnesses, and the route of the marauders. Camping for the night without fire within a mile or two of their unsuspecting victims, they resolved to make an onslaught upon them at the early dawn. Rough travelling delayed the march, and when they broke cover the poor creatures were taking their morning meal. Without a word of warning, the bullets of destruction were poured in among them. Some fell at the first discharge, others snatched up their children and tried to fly, and some warriors turned round in desperation and seized their spears to defend their families. But all resistance was in vain. The christians were too quick and too formidably armed for their heathen antagonists. Mothers, husbands, babes lay about the stones shrieking in maddening pain, moaning in dying struggle, or still in the sleep of death. More than thirty are said to have been thus laid low.' (Bonwick, 1970, pp 169-171) Bonwick's informants also told him that during the massacre one of the Aboriginal guides tried to strike one of the colonists with a waddy but was himself shot, and that the other guide murdered a baby with a rock and finished off some of the dying with a weapon fashioned from a broken pair of shears (Bonwick, 1970, p 171). [Note: this massacre was previously confused with an incident at Mt Napier in which 2 people were killed after the killing of a shepherd named Edwards, recorded in Augustus Robinson's journal entry of 2 Sep 1847 (Clark 1998f, v6, p 172).] |
| Sources | Bonwick, 1970, pp 169-171; Broughton, 1980, p 32; Clark ID, 1995, p 49; Clark, 1998f. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | * |
Colonial Frontier Massacres
in Australia, 1788-1930
