| Site Name | Hunter Valley, The Bridgman Estate, Fal Brook |
| Aboriginal Place Name | |
| Language Group | Wonnarua |
| Present State/Territory | NSW |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | NSW |
| Police District | Wallis Plains (Maitland) |
| Latitude | -32.204 |
| Longitude | 150.775 |
| Date | 1 Sep 1826 |
| Attack Time | Evening |
| Victims | Aboriginal People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Victims Killed | 18 |
| Victims Killed Notes | Killed: M 18, F; Probable: M F; Possible: M F; Wounded: M F |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Government Official(s), Mounted Police, Convict(s), Aboriginal Guide(s) |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Musket(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s) |
| Narrative | The massacre was carried out on the Wonnarua people on the evening of 1 September 1826. The massacre was in reprisal for fifteen Wonnarua men killing two convict workers Henry Cottle and Morty Kernan on 28 August 1826, at the hut of Richard Alcorn who was overseer of Capt. Robert Lethbridge's Bridgman Estate, Fal Brook, near present day Singleton in the Hunter Valley. Magistrate Robert Scott led a party of 14 (five mounted police, four convict stockmen and four Aboriginal trackers, all armed) that 'came upon' an Aboriginal camp in the evening of 1 September 1826. They killed at least 18 Wonnarua people and wounded more. (The Australian September 23, 1826, p 3). Governor Darling enclosed Scott's report of the massacre in his dispatch November 1826, ML A 1197, vol.8, p.344. Historian Mark Dunn provides the most recent account of the massacre (Dunn 2020, 167-171). |
| Sources | The Australian, September 16, 1826, p2, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/37072221,
and September 23, 1826, p3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/4248925;
NSW Governors’ Despatches ML A1197, vol. 8, p344; Dunn 2020, pp167-171. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | *** |
