| Site Name | Mt Dispersion, Murray River |
| Aboriginal Place Name | |
| Language Group | Kureinji or Dadi Dadi |
| Colony | NSW |
| Present State/Territory | NSW |
| Police District | Goulburn |
| Latitude | -34.586 |
| Longitude | 142.47 |
| Date | 27 May 1836 |
| Attack Time | day |
| Victims | Aboriginal People |
| Victims Killed | 20 |
| Victims Killed Notes | Killed: M at least 7, F; Probable: M F; Possible: M F; Wounded: M F |
| Attackers | Colonisers: Explorers |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | Killed: M F; Wounded: M F |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Firearms, muskets |
| Narrative | Major Thomas Mitchell wrote to McLeay that he divided his group (exploring party) into two parties and that when they attacked, ‘the whole [Aboriginal people] betook themselves to the River – my men pursuing and shooting as many as they could. Numbers were shot in swimming across the Murray, and some even after they had reached the opposite shore, as they ascended the bank. Amongst those shot in the water was the Chief (recognised by a particular kind of cloak he wore, which floated after he went down). Thus in a very short time the usual silence of the desert prevailed on the banks of the Murray, and we pursued our journey unmolested.’ |
| Sources | Extracts from Proceedings…Relating to Major Mitchell’s Attack on Aborigines, 1836’, SRNSWCSO 4/118; The Australian, November 8, 1836 - https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/4258629; Mitchell 1838 vol. II: 101-2; HRA, I, xviii: 590-1; Milliss 1992: 128-136. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | *** |
