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Angus McMillan ExpeditionPrint Page 
The monument commemorates the journey of Angus McMillan and Jimmy Gibber from the Currawong in New South Wales who traveled through Tubbut.
Public interest in Angus McMillan and Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki was initiated in a 1920`s campaign to recognise the European explorers in Victoria, and a chain of commemorative cairns was erected across the region. McMillan’s contribution to the region was also conferred in naming the Federal Electoral Division of McMillan in 1948, which includes original lands of the Gunai Kurnai in west and south Gippsland.
The view of McMillan as heroic explorer and pioneer was disrupted in the late 1970`s when historian Peter Gardner highlighted the extent of the frontier conflict in Gippsland, naming McMillan as a key figure. The attack on the Brataualung camped at Warrigal Creek following the murder of Ronald Macalister in 1843 was the foremost of several incidents that resulted in the loss of Gunai Kurnai lives. Historian Don Watson named McMillan as the leader of the ‘Highland Brigade’, a group of Gaelic-speaking Scotsmen who conducted reprisals against the Gunai Kurnai. The extent of McMillan’s leadership of these conflicts has been contested although his own accounts indicate that he was involved.
McMillan was responsible for raising fears of a European woman held captive by the Gunai Kurnai, firstly in 1840 and again in 1846 - 47. Little was made of the earlier claim, but in 1846 with the European population of Port Phillip District expanding and frontier conflict a matter of public anxiety, McMillan’s reports sparked a heightened reaction to the missing ‘White Woman of Gippsland’. Two search parties travelled throughout Gippsland, bringing much disruption and more violent deaths to the Gunai Kurnai despite there being no firm evidence of a kidnapping.
Location
| Address: | Mckillops Road, Tubbut, 3888 |
|---|---|
| State: | VIC |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -37.070262 Long: 148.591351 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Monument |
|---|---|
| Monument Theme: | Landscape |
| Sub-Theme: | Exploration |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Saturday 22nd November, 1969 |
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Plaque :
In commemoration of Angus McMillan
Discoverer of Gippsland
28th, May 1839. Started from Currawong. We got to a station called Tibbut (Tubbut), where I was kindly recd. by the hut keeper.
29th May, started 8am. Crossed several creeks coming from the Tingaringo Mountain, camped after crossing the Snowy River. I here first saw the Australian Pine.
Extract from his diary.
Plaque :
This plaque was unveiled by His Excellency the Governor of Victoria Major-General Sir John Delacombe K.C.M.G., K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., K. St. J.
22 - 11 - 1969
