| Site Name | Aire River Estuary, Cape Otway |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Gadubanud |
| Present State/Territory | VIC |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | PPD |
| Police District | Portland |
| Latitude | -38.806 |
| Longitude | 143.461 |
| Date | Between 1 Aug 1846 and 2 Aug 1846 |
| Attack Time | Dawn |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | |
| Victims Killed | 8 |
| Victims Killed Notes | 1 warrior, the rest were women and children. Up to 20 were killed. |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Government Official(s) |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Musket(s), Tomahawk(s) |
| Narrative | In July 1846, surveyor George Smythe was hired to conduct a coastal survey of the Otway Ranges. Having established a base camp on the eastern shore of Cape Otway at Blanket Bay, Smythe and four others in the party marched westward towards the Aire River and when they returned to Blanket Bay six days later, they found that another member of the party, James Conroy, 'had been barbarously murdered' with a tomahawk 'about 200 yards from the tent, where he had gone to cut wood' (GA & SA, August 8, 1846, p 2). Conroy had been visited by some Gadubanud people earlier in the day and it appears he had tried to abduct an Aboriginal woman, and had been killed for his efforts. Smythe and the party buried Conroy's body and made their way back to Geelong and then to Melbourne where Smyth informed Superintendent La Trobe of the incident. Smythe then organised a punitive expedition to avenge Conroy's death, comprising 'a heavily armed posse' (Cannon, 1990, p 147) of pastoralists and stockmen, probably on horseback, and an 'armed detachment of the Barrabool tribe', employed 'under the sanction of government' (Niewojt, 2010, p 201). The party tracked down a group of the Badubanud camped on the opposite bank of the Aire river estuary. Early the following morning, the Barrabool were sent in to attack the Badubanud camp and promptly killed the chief and several women and children. Reports of the numbers killed range from eight to twenty. |
| Sources | Geelong Advertiser and Squatter's Advocate, August 8, 1846, p 2http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94443347 August 26, 1846 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94446886 and August 29, 1846 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94444706; Cannon, 1990, p 147; Niewojt, 2010, pp 193-213. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | *** |
