Site Name | The Slaughterhouse |
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
Language Group, Nation or People | Tatungalung or Brabralung |
Present State/Territory | VIC |
Colony/State/Territory at the time | VIC |
Police District | Gippsland |
Latitude | -37.443 |
Longitude | 148.214 |
Date | Between 1 Jan 1850 and 31 Dec 1850 |
Attack Time | Day |
Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
Victims Killed | 15 |
Victims Killed Notes | 15 to 20 killed and bodies burned. |
Attackers | Colonists |
Attacker Descriptions | Stockmen/Drover(s) |
Attackers Killed | 0 |
Attackers Killed Notes | |
Transport | Horse |
Motive | Opportunity |
Weapons Used | Firearm(s) |
Narrative | 'Kurnai people were surprised' by a party of stockmen 'while feasting on the banks of the lagoon' behind the rugged limestone outcrop called Pyramids. I [Macleod] killed a bullock for them and they ate until they were sick.' (MacLeod cited in Gardner, 2001, pp 76-78) Then stockmen and Aborigines from outside the region trapped them against a bluff, and 15-20 were shot and killed and the bodies 'thrown in the river at a spot where the river flows under the hill' (Armstrong cited in Gardner, 2001, p 80). It would appear that this massacre occurred before the Brodribb River massacre and was a closely guarded secret. Gippsland historian Peter Gardner suggests that it is possible that an Aboriginal youth, possibly Charlie Hammond, survived the massacre. |
Sources | Gardner, 2001, pp 76-82, 84-85; Broome, 2005, p 81. (Sources PDF) |
Corroboration Rating | * |