| Site Name | The Slaughterhouse |
| Aboriginal Place Name | |
| Language Group | Tatungalung or Brabralung |
| Present State/Territory | VIC |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | VIC |
| Police District | Gippsland |
| Latitude | -37.143 |
| Longitude | 147.518 |
| Date | Between 1 Jan 1850 and 31 Dec 1850 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal 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 | * |
