Myall Creek Massacre, 19 June 1838
To HistoryThe 1838 massacre of 28 Aboriginal people at Myall Creek station is one of the worst recorded cases of the murder of Aboriginal people at the hands of white settlers. Angered by recent attacks on their livestock, farmers from the Bingara shire descended upon a group of 40 Aboriginal men, women and children who had set up camp nearby and assuming they were responsible for their losses exacted a bloody revenge, burning their bodies to destroy any evidence of their crime.
New South Wales Governor George Gipps sought justice for this gruesome crime, and the perpetrators were prosecuted with seven of the men sentenced to hang. It was the first time that the white citizens of Australia had been convicted of a crime against the Aboriginal people. A monument honouring the tragedy was opened in 2001 and was a key piece in the reconciliation process between the descendants of the white perpetrators and the Aboriginal survivors.
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