| Site Name | LaTrobe Valley |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | unknown |
| Present State/Territory | VIC |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | PPD |
| Police District | Gippsland |
| Latitude | -38.202 |
| Longitude | 146.332 |
| Date | Between 1 Jan 1840 and 31 Dec 1840 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | |
| Victims Killed | 20 |
| Victims Killed Notes | |
| Attackers | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Attacker Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Opportunity |
| Weapons Used | Firearm(s) |
| Narrative | This incident was a massacre of Aboriginal people carried out by another Aboriginal group armed with muskets. The account was provided by J.M. Clow in 'Letters from Victorian Pioneers', 'After four days' march through the barren mountains which separate Western Port district from Gippsland, then on the fifth day sighted the smoke of some fires on the skirts of the beautiful pastoral district there. On the following day, about mid-day, they surprised the camp, making prisoners of all in it, which consisted only of some old men and some children. They then went in search of the able-bodied men whom they espied busily fishing on the banks of a large river not far off. They managed to sneak up on them within ten or twenty yards, and then blazed into them, killing and severely wounding every one of them, seven in number. Those who escaped the first volley jumped into the river and swam across, but the second volley brought them all down. After cutting out their kidney fat, they took as much of the carcasses as they could carry on their return route, and having mustered their forces at the camp where they had captured the old men and their children, they dispatched them also, and then commenced their retreat' (Clow cited in Bride, 1983, p 359). |
| Sources | Bride, [1898] 1983, p 359; Gunson, 1968, p 8. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | * |
