| Narrative | According to missionary L.E. Threlkeld, following the declaration of martial law in the Bathurst Disrict in August 1824, a detachment of soldiers led by Major Morisset, drove a large number of Wiradjuri people, men, women and children, into a swamp and 'all were destroyed'. 'But forty-five heads were collected and boiled down for the sake of the skulls! My informant, a Magistrate, saw the skulls packed for exportation in a case at Bathurst ready for shipment to accompany the commanding Officer on his voyage shortly afterwards taken to England.' (Gunson 1974:49) Military historian John Connor acknowledges that Morisset made no report of the entire Bathurst operation which comprised 40 soldiers from the 40th Regiment, 4 Magistrates, 6 mounted settlers and some Aboriginal guides. |
