This was the research I read out at the Wonnerup Massacre March in Busselton on 22nd February 2024 at the invitation of Bill Webb, Wardandi Traditional Owner, from the Wardan Centre at Injidup.
‘I begin today by acknowledging the Wardandi people, Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather today, and pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. I recognise that Wardandi people have an ongoing connection to the land and waters of this beautiful place from time immemorial, and acknowledge that they never ceded sovereignty. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.’
The University of Newcastle has produced the Massacre Map of Australia, showing the locations of hundreds of sites where colonial massacres of Aboriginal people took place.[1] On this map are several sites showing massacres on Noongar land. This map is not complete, however, and research on colonial violence in Western Australia is ongoing. Professor Lyndall Ryan, who led the Massacre Map project, hopes that the map will change the way settler Australia views its history, leading to acceptance of this history, and therefore, help with future reconciliation between settler Australia and Aboriginal people.[2]
Essentially, settlers were stealing Aboriginal land, and, when Aboriginal people resisted this invasion, settlers responded violently, killing many Aboriginal people. As Lyndall Ryan has pointed out, these massacres were later denied, and the violence of colonisation has become ‘invisible.’[3] I invite you to hear a list of massacres and violence, mainly on Noongar Land or boodjar, since Western Australia was colonised.
1829 onwards – settler violence on Noongar land
So far, my research shows that the following colonial massacres occurred on Noongar land:
1830 the Galup Massacre – this is on the Massacre Map. [4]
1831 Massacre at Success Hill.[5]
1831 Massacre at Walyunga in the same month. This is on the Massacre Map.[6]
1832 an incident at York when soldiers fired indiscriminately into a camp of Ballardong Noongar people while they were sleeping.[7]
1832 Beeliar Noongar people shot at Soldiers Row in Roleystone.[8]
From 1833 there is a Wadjuk Noongar oral history of a massacre at Hamilton Hill.[9]
During 1833 sixteen Noongar men were killed during the time that Midgegooroo and Yagan were resisting the settler invasion of their land around Perth. This is on the Massacre Map.[10]
1834 the Pinjarra Massacre was led by Governor Stirling. This was the same year that the Busselton district was occupied by settlers. This is also on the Massacre Map.[11]
In 1836 Lieutenant Bunbury was ordered by Governor Stirling to go to the York district and while there, he shot several Ballardong people.[12] This is recorded on the Massacre Map.
In June 1837 settlers from the Vasse district, as Busselton was then called, shot and killed nine Wardandi people, members of Gaywal’s family, after they killed and ate a calf.[13]
1837 in July, Lieutenant Bunbury was again ordered to York by Governor Stirling and conducted a massacre up there with the assistance of soldiers of the 21st regiment and settlers. This is on the Massacre Map.[14]
In 1837, at the same time, settlers from the Vasse district led a second massacre of Wardandi people after a Wardandi man called Nungundung and others, speared Elijah Dawson, one of the leaders of the first massacre in June, in the arm. This is on the Massacre Map.[15]
In 1839 Resident Magistrate McLeod led another massacre at York, after Sarah Cook and her child were killed by two Ballardong men.[16] It is important to note here that many Ballardong people were indiscriminately killed by settlers, rather than them going out and simply arresting the Ballardong men who had committed that crime.
In 1841, the Wonnerup massacre was conducted by settlers from Busselton, led by Captain John Molloy and John Garrett Bussell, after settler George Layman was killed by Wardandi leader Gaywal.[17] Again, there was indiscriminate killing by settlers, rather than them simply arresting Gaywal for the crime. This is on the Massacre Map.[18]
1857 or so reports of an oral history of a massacre at Cowaramup Bay at South Point.[19]
The colonial violence then moved east and north
After that, colonial violence moved northwards, as settlers occupied and took Indigenous land further out from Noongar Country. In 1854 John Drummond led a massacre at Bootenal Springs south of Geraldton, shortly after settlers from the York district had driven their flocks up there to claim land.[20] In 1864 there was a massacre at De Grey Station in the Pilbara,[21] and in 1865 Maitland Brown and his companions killed many Aboriginal people at La Grange Bay.[22] In 1868 there was a massacre of Kaneang Noongar people near Bridgetown at Eight Mile Well. This is recorded on the Massacre map.[23] In 1880 there was the Cocaranup massacre near Ravensthorpe, east of Minang Noongar Land which is also on the Massacre Map.[24]
After that, many more massacres occurred east and north of Noongar land, and you can have a look at the Massacre Map which is online to find out more. At this stage of research, the most recent colonial massacre in Western Australia we know about was in the East Kimberleys in the 1930s when poisoned meat was given to Kija people at Panton River.[25]
What can we do about this knowledge?
This list is sure to be incomplete, and much more research is needed to document thoroughly all the colonial violence that settlers perpetrated on Noongar Land and other areas in Western Australia. Gatherings like this are important for acknowledging this history. I thank you all for coming, and encourage you to find out more and educate your family and friends as we go along this path of truth telling.
References
[1] “Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930,” University of Newcastle, 2017-2022, https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/map.php.
[2] Jack Latimore, “Massacre sites in WA confirmed with latest update of digital map,” no. 18 November 2019 (2019). https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/massacre-sites-in-wa-confirmed-with-latest-update-of-digital-map/7jr2flqcs.
[3] Latimore, “Massacre sites in WA confirmed with latest update of digital map.”
[4] See “Galup Massacre 1830,” Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930, University of Newcastle, 2017-2022, https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=885. Frederick Irwin, Letter to Governor James Stirling May 18 1830, 1830, CSR Vol. 6 SROWA Acc 36, p. 146., State Library, Western Australia, https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WaWV5OcJIei1EDot8s4G81KxxcZ9BQHB
[5] Jane Dodds 1788-1844: A Swan River Colony Pioneer, ed. Lilian Heal (Sydney: Book Production Services, 1988), 60.
[6] Baron von Hügel, New Holland Journal: November 1833-October 1834, ed. trans. Dymphna Clark (Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 1994), 28.
[7] Jeremy Martens, “‘In a State of War’: Governor James Stirling, Extrajudicial Violence and the Conquest of Western Australia’s Avon Valley, 1830–1840,” History Australia, 19(4), 668-686. (2022): 674, https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/14490854.2022.2072351.
[8] City of Armadale Local Heritage Survey 2019 – Stephen Carrick Architects, 2019, 32, https://www.armadale.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/assets/documents/council/attachment_draft_Local_Heritage_Survey_-_development_services_committee_-_16_july_2019.pdf
[9] “Historic Reset,” Fremantle Herald Interactive (2021). https://heraldonlinejournal.com/2021/07/02/historic-reset/.
[10] Ryan, “Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930.” https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=886
[11] Ryan, “Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930.” See https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1029
[12] Lieutenant H.W. Bunbury, Early Days in Western Australia: Being the Letters and Journal of Lieut. H.W. Bunbury, ed. Lieut. Col. W. St. Pierre Bunbury and W.P. Morrell (Oxford University Press, 1930), 27. https://library.dbca.wa.gov.au/static/FullTextFiles/628354.pdf.
[13] Lenox Bussell, Letter from Lenox Bussell to Captain Molloy 28 June 1837 SROWA Acc 36 CSR Vol 54 folios 135-136, 1837, State Library Western Australia. Lenox Bussell’s report states that three Wardandi people were killed, whereas Elizabeth (Bessie Bussell) states in the Cattle Chosen diary that nine Wardandi people were killed and two wounded. See Shann Papers Elizabeth Capel Bussell Diary April-December 1837 Battye Library MN 586; ACC 337A/795: 24.
[14] Ryan, “Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930.”
[15] Ryan, “Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930.” https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1035
[16] Neville Green, Broken Spears: Aborigines and Europeans in the Southwest of Australia (Focus Education Services, 1984), 215.
[17] “Wonnerup ‘Minninup’ Massacre 1841,” Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930, University of Newcastle, 2017-2022, https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=889.
[18] Ryan, “Wonnerup ‘Minninup’ Massacre 1841.”
[19] Leeuwin-Naturalist Capes Area Parks and Reserves Management Plan 81, 45 (2015).
[20] Margaret Hair, “Invisible Country,” M/C Journal, 8(6) (2005), https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2460.
[21] Nicholas Smith, “‘Carried off in their hundreds’: Epidemic diseases as structural violence among Indigenous peoples in Northwestern Australia,” History and Anthropology, 31(4) (2020): 531.
[22] Peter Cowan, Maitland Brown: A View of Nineteenth Century Western Australia (Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1988), 70-98.
[23] Ryan, “Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930.” https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1032
[24] Ryan, “Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930.” https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=895
[25] Pam Smith, “Frontier conflict: Ways of remembering contested landscapes,” Journal of Australian Studies, 31(91) (2007): 17-18.
Bibliography
Bunbury, Lieutenant H.W. Early Days in Western Australia: Being the Letters and Journal of Lieut. H.W. Bunbury. Edited by Lieut. Col. W. St. Pierre Bunbury and W.P. Morrell. Oxford University Press, 1930. https://library.dbca.wa.gov.au/static/FullTextFiles/628354.pdf.
Bussell, Lenox. Letter from Lenox Bussell to Captain Molloy 28 June 1837 SROWA Acc 36 CSR Vol 54 Folios 135-136. State Library Western Australia.
City of Armadale Local Heritage Survey 2019 – Stephen Carrick Architects. https://www.armadale.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/assets/documents/council/attachment_draft_Local_Heritage_Survey_-_development_services_committee_-_16_july_2019.pdf
Cowan, Peter. Maitland Brown: A View of Nineteenth Century Western Australia. Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1988.
Green, Neville. Broken Spears: Aborigines and Europeans in the Southwest of Australia. Focus Education Services, 1984.
Hair, Margaret. “Invisible Country.” M/C Journal, 8(6) (2005). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2460.
“Historic Reset.” Fremantle Herald Interactive. (2021). https://heraldonlinejournal.com/2021/07/02/historic-reset/.
Hügel, Baron von. New Holland Journal: November 1833-October 1834. Edited by trans. Dymphna Clark. Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 1994.
Irwin, Frederick. Letter to Governor James Stirling May 18 1830. State Library, Western Australia. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WaWV5OcJIei1EDot8s4G81KxxcZ9BQHB
Jane Dodds 1788-1844: A Swan River Colony Pioneer. Edited by Lilian Heal. Sydney: Book Production Services, 1988.
Latimore, Jack. “Massacre Sites in WA Confirmed with Latest Update of Digital Map.” no. 18 November 2019. (2019). https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/massacre-sites-in-wa-confirmed-with-latest-update-of-digital-map/7jr2flqcs.
Leeuwin-Naturalist Capes Area Parks and Reserves Management Plan 81. 2015.
Martens, Jeremy. “‘In a State of War’: Governor James Stirling, Extrajudicial Violence and the Conquest of Western Australia’s Avon Valley, 1830–1840.” History Australia, 19(4), 668-686. (2022). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/14490854.2022.2072351.
“Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930.” University of Newcastle, 2017-2022, https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/map.php.
“Galup Massacre 1830.” Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930, University of Newcastle, 2017-2022, https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=885.
“Wonnerup ‘Minninup’ Massacre 1841.” Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930, University of Newcastle, 2017-2022, https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=889.
Shann Papers Elizabeth Capel Bussell Diary April-December 1837 Battye Library MN 586; ACC 337A/795.
Smith, Nicholas. “‘Carried Off in Their Hundreds’: Epidemic Diseases as Structural Violence among Indigenous Peoples in Northwestern Australia.” History and Anthropology, 31(4) (2020).
Smith, Pam. “Frontier Conflict: Ways of Remembering Contested Landscapes.” Journal of Australian Studies, 31(91) (2007).
Western Australian History 