Appin MassacrePrint Page

The monument commemorates the Dharawal people killed in the massacre of 1816 in Appin.

During March 1816 under the command of various military leaders three detachments were dispatched by Governor Macquarie to `inflict terrible and exemplary punishments` on the Aborigines of the Appin area. Under Governor Macquarie’s and the British Government’s instructions attempts were made to live in good relations with the indigenous peoples but relations between Aborigines and Europeans in the Appin area became strained. This may have been exacerbated by a severe drought in the area that placed pressure on food supplies.

Early one morning the military’s leader for the Appin area Captain Wallis and a number of his men came across a Dharawal men’s camp. They slaughtered the men who were mostly elders, cut off their heads and took them back to Sydney. While Captain Wallis returned to Sydney the remaining men hunted down the local Aboriginal clan (Dharawal people). They found the camp where the women and children were staying. They shot and trampled them under their horses and drove them over the cliffs at Broughton Pass.

Location

Details

Dedication