Campaspe Plains massacre
| Campaspe Plains massacre | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Charles Hutton and Mounted Police | Dja Dja Wurrung, Daung Wurrung unknown clans | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Charles Hutton | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | up to 40 killed in 1st event,6 killed, unknown number wounded in 2nd event | ||||||
Campaspe Plains massacre, occurred in 1839 in Central Victoria, Australia as a reprisal raid against Aboriginal resistance to the invasion and occupation of the Dja Dja Wurrung and Daung Wurrung lands. Charles Hutton took over the Campaspe run, located near the border of Dja Dja Wurrung and Daung Wurrung, in 1838 following sporadic confrontations.
In April 1839 five Aborigines were killed by three white men. In response Hugh Bryan, a shepherd, and James Neill, a hut keeper were killed in May 1839 by Aborigines identified as Daung Wurrung, who had robbed a hut of bedding, clothes, guns and ammunition and also ran a flock of 700 sheep off the property, possibly as retribution for the earlier Aboriginal deaths. The Daung Wurrung were enemies of the Dja Dja Wurrung.
Hutton immediately put together an armed party of settlers who tracked and finally caught the Aborigines with a flock of sheep 30 miles away near the Campaspe Creek. An armed confrontation between the settlers and Aborigines occurred for up to half an hour. Hutton claimed privately that nearly 40 Aborigines were killed.
The following month Hutton led a party of mounted police and came upon a party of local Dja Dja Wurrung whom Hutton had previously forced off his run, even though these people had been friendly to him since his arrival. The Aboriginal camp near the Campaspe Creek was charged by Hutton and the mounted police with no warning given, with six Dja Dja Wurrung being shot in the back and killed as they tried to flee and others wounded.
Charles Parker, the Assistant Protector of Aborigines for the region, described the massacre as:
George Robinson described Charles Hutton and his attitude to the blacks in his journal of 24 January 1840:
No official action was taken against Hutton.
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Wikipedia