June 10, 1838: 28 First Nations people are massacred by vengeful white stockmen at Myall Creek
Australian history is dotted with instances where Aborigines have been massacred, but their deaths have gone unrecorded. The Myall Creek massacre stands alone as one in which there was some attempt to bring the white perpetrators to justice.
On June 10, 1838, a gang of stockmen, heavily armed, rounded up between 40 and 50 Aboriginal women, children and elderly men of the Wirrayaraay people at Myall Creek Station, near Bingara, not far from Inverell in New South Wales. 28 Aborigines were murdered. It was believed that the massacre was payback for the killing of several colonists in the area, yet most of those massacred were women and children.
At a trial held on November 15, 1838, twelve Europeans were charged with murder but acquitted.
Another trial was held on November 26, during which the twelve men were charged with the murder of just one Aboriginal child.
They were found guilty, and seven of the men were hanged in December under the authority of Governor George Gipps. As a result of the hangings, the government received a huge backlash from people in Sydney, who saw the Aborigines as mere pests that deserved to be exterminated.
Colonists who were outraged at the massacre of Aboriginal people were largely in the minority.
On June, 10, 2000, a memorial to the Aborigines of Myall Creek was dedicated.
An annual memorial service has been held on 10th June at the site of the massacre ever since. Some reconciliation between the descendants of the perpetrators of the massacre and of the people who were massacred has occurred, as documented in the ABC Australian Story episode “Bridge Over Myall Creek”.
