| Site Name | 'Maria' massacre, Coorong |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Milmenrura |
| Present State/Territory | SA |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | SA |
| Police District | Adelaide |
| Latitude | -35.782 |
| Longitude | 139.306 |
| Date | Between 1 Jul 1840 and 14 Jul 1840 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Colonists |
| Victim Descriptions | Settler(s) |
| Victims Killed | 26 |
| Victims Killed Notes | Men, women and children |
| Attackers | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Attacker Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Foot |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Spear(s), Club(s) |
| Narrative | In late July 1840, news reached Adelaide that 26 survivors of the wreck of the Maria, at a reef off the Coorong, had been slaughtered by the Milmenrura people (SA Register, August 1, 1840, p 2). Sir George Gawler, the governor of South Australia, declared martial law in the Coorong and dispatched a party of mounted police led by police commissioner Thomas O'Halloran to the Coroong and 'enforce summary justice' on the killers (SA Register, August 15, 1840, p 2).
Two Milmenrura men, 'chosen on hearsay, were hung in the sight of the captive members of their clan' (Foster et al, 2001, p 15). However, in the aftermath of the hanging, it is alleged that the police killed a large group of Milmenrua (Hamann, 1973). Twenty-six colonists killed in one operation remains the largest massacre of colonists by Aboriginal people in Australia. |
| Sources | SA Register, August 1, 1840 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27441699; August 15, 1840 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27441755; September 12, 1840 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27441838, September 19, 1840 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27441856; News (Adelaide), February 21, 1942, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131950481; SACWM,July 28, 1877, p 17 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90942607; The Australasian, December 15, 1883, p 21 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138647904; South Eastern Times, (Millicent, SA), June 15, 1945 p 1
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article200107455; Clyne, 1981; Hamann, 1973; Foster and Nettelbeck, 2001, pp 13-28; Hetherington, R 'George Gawler (1795-1869)' in ADB, Vol 1, 1966 https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gawler-george-2085; Ross, DB 'Thomas Shuldham O'Halloran (1797-1870)' in ADB, Vol 2, 1967 https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ohalloran-thomas-shuldham-2523. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | *** |
