Myall Creek 1

Myall Creek
Myall Creek
MASSACRE
10 June 1838 

Myall Creek 1

Ngiyani Winangay Gamunga

Myall Creek Walkway Plaque

 

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Woolshed

News!

A film is being made about the events at Myall Creek that occurred in 1838!

Click for info 


True Australian history would be to recognise and acknowledge the
cruelty, injustice and treatment of the Aboriginal people.

There can be no reconciliation without social justice.

What Europeans call settlement, Aboriginal people call invasion.

 History books are written by conquerors!

 

Myall Creek Memorial Site  


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Use the Map controls ( + and -) to zoom out or in,
to see where the Myall Creek Memorial site is situated in Northern NSW and Australia.

 The Broze Statue of Colin Isaacs pointing to Myall Creek Memorial Site.

The bronze statue of Colin Isaacs,
created by International Bronze Sculptor
Kerry Cannon
of
Ceramic Break Sculpture Park,
with the spear pointing to the Myall Creek memorial site.

 

http://www.thenma.org.uk/
National Memorial Arboretum 

The National Memorial Arboretum is a national site of remembrance at Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. The Arboretum is home to over 300 thought-provoking memorials, one of which is the Myall Creek Massacre. A photo and information is on display.

 


The Myall Creek Massacre

There have been many massacres and slaughter of Aborigines that have gone unrecorded in Australian history, but the Myall Creek Massacre, stands out, as the only one of its type, where the perpetrators were punished for the crimes against Aborigines.

On the 10th June 1838, twelve armed stockman rode onto Henry Dangar’s property at Myall Creek in Northern NSW, near Bingara, and rounded up, like animals, twenty eight friendly Aboriginal, elderly men, women and children. These were the relatives of the Aboriginal men who were working with the station manager, William Hobbs.

The twelve stockmen then dragged the Aborigines into the bush and slaughtered every last one. Their bodies were then burnt. The cowardly attack on the elderly Aboriginal men, women and children was well planned.

When William Hobbs returned and discovered the attack, he immediately began his own investigation into the atrocity. He went to the site of the massacre, questioned other employees of the station and let it be known that he intended to report the matter to his employer, Henry Dangar, as well as the authorities.

On the 24th June, Frederick I. Foot, a landholder, travelled to Muswellbrook to report the incident. On arrival at Muswellbrook, Foot discovered he had missed the police magistrate so decided to travel onto Sydney to report the incident there. On the 4th July, Foot wrote an account of the incident for the attention of Governor Gipps.

Governor Gipps ordered an investigation into the incident with the view to prosecution. There was a great deal of antagonism against the Government for this decision.

Unfortunately, colonial Australia was extremely racist and Victorian in their thinking and treated Aborigines as pests, and animals to be exterminated. Later, when the perpetrators were put on trial, one juror was quoted in the Australian Newspaper as saying,” I look on the blacks as a sort of monkey and the sooner they are exterminated from the face of the earth, the better. I knew the men were guilty but I would never see a white man hanged for killing a black.”

The hanging of the Myall Creek murderers caused great outrage in Sydney, but there were many colonists that were outraged at the massacre of Aboriginal people, but unfortunately, those colonists were the minority!

One hundred and sixty two years after the massacre, a memorial to the Wirrayaraay Aborigines of Myall Creek was dedicated on the 10th June 2000. An annual memorial service has been held on 10th June, at the site of the massacre, ever since. Colin Isaacs is the artist who painted the original artwork from which the engravings on the seven plaques along the memorial walkway of the Myall Creek Memorial were made.

In 2008, Heritage Minister Peter Garrett, announced the inclusion of the Myall Creek massacre site on the National Heritage List.  Minister Garrett made the announcement while attending a memorial service for the 170th anniversary of the massacre.

Peter Garrett and Sue Blacklock

(Picture source: Bingara on the Gwydir)

Myall Creek Memorial committee member Sue Blacklock, and Heritage Minister Peter Garrett,  holding the plaque commemorating the Myall Creek massacre   site’s addition on the National Heritage List.

 

 Click here for a  personal view from Ted Stubbins

 

 

 Colin Isaacs and his bronze statue created by International Bronze sculptor Kerry Cannon. 

The Colin Isaacs bronze statue on the Parade of Heroes,
at
Ceramic Break Sculpture Park.
Created by International Bronze Sculptor,
Kerry Cannon.

         

Click here for more info

Other Myall Creek web pages and sites:

Myall Creek

Myall Creek Massacre and Memorial Site, New South Wales

Friends of Myall Creek

Guided Tour of the Myall Creek Memorial site.


The Myall Creek Massacre, 1838
 

Remembering The Myall Creek Massacre

Teacher Plan for Myall Creek Lesson

Papers on the Myall Creek Massacre 1964-1979 [manuscript]/cLeonard L. Payne

Indigenous Law Bulletin 

Places of Pain and Shame

 

Aborigines; Australia: History; Parliament House: Sydney
 

Kerry Cannon's Woolshed! Colin Isaacs explain art depicting the history of indigenous peoples of New England, according to Colin Isaacs.

Kerry Cannon's Woolshed - Musical version of the above video

 

Woolshed

 

Australia On Trial (ABC TV)

 

 Click here for more:

Educational resources
School projects

One of the plaques at Myall Creek Memorial Walkway

We Remember Them Plaque

One of the stone plaques at Myall Creek

 

 Murder at Myall Creek

Click here for info on the book.

Colin Isaacs © Copyright 2005
isaacs@newagemultimedia.com 

 

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