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Myall Creek MassacrePrint Page Print this page

30-December-2009 (Glen Yeomans)
30-December-2009 (Glen Yeomans)

Photographs supplied by Diane Watson / Glen Yeomans / John Huth

The monument commemorates the unprovoked massacre of approximately twenty-eight Wirrayaraay women, children and old men by a group of stockmen in 1838. This is the only massacre for which Europeans were charged, found guilty and punished. Seven men were found guilty of murder and hung. The path to the main memorial is marked by memorial plaques and is known as the Memorial Walkway. 

The Memorial has great symbolic significance for the reconciliation of Aboriginal and other Australians. At the dedication on 10 June 2000, descendants of those who were murdered, and descendants of those who carried out the massacre came together in an act of personal reconciliation.

In early May 1838, a group of about 40 Aboriginal people set up camp on Henry Dangar's Myall Creek station. A posse of European stockmen and squatters arrived one day seeking revenge for cattle losses. The Aboriginal people at the property had no involvement in these attacks on stock. Despite this knowledge the men cold bloodedly killed 28 old men, women and children and later another three. Children were decapitated and people hacked to death. A young women was forced to witness her people being killed and was then repeatedly brutalised.

Governor Gipps ordered an investigation into the massacre with a view to prosecution. There was a great deal of public anger towards the government over this decision. In the initial trial the eleven men were found not guilty. In the retrial, seven men were charged with murder and sentenced to be hung. 

Location

Address:Reserve Creek Road, Myall Creek, Via Delungra - Ashford Road, Myall Creek, 2404
State:NSW
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -29.775347
Long: 150.716436
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Monument
Monument Theme:Conflict
Sub-Theme:Frontier
Actual Event Start Date:10-June-1883
Actual Event End Date:10-June-1883

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Saturday 10th June, 2000
Front Inscription

In Memory Of The Wirrayaraay People Who
Were Murdered On The Slopes Of This Ridge
In An Unprovoked But Premeditated Act In
The Late Afternoon On 10 June, 1838

Erected On 10 June 2000 By A Group Of 
Aboriginal And Non-Aboriginal Australians
In An Act Of Reconciliation, And In
Acknowledgement Of The Truth Of Our
               Shared History.

          We Remember Them
  Ngiyani Winangay Ganunga.

 

Inscription in Proximity
Plaque:
THE MEMORIAL WALKWAY

     In Memory Of The 
   Wirrayaraay People
Who Were Murdered Nearby
     On 10 June, 1838

We Remember Them
 
Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au