The story as the Myall Creek Massacre unfolds.
By Ted Stubbins
(This summary account has, as its main source, ‘Waterloo Creek’, by Roger Milliss, the most detailed and carefully researched study of the massacre yet produced. For the full detail of events leading up to, including and after the event, Milliss’ book should be referred to.)
Background, 1788 – 1837
The infamous massacre of Aborigines at Myall Creek in Northern New South Wales in June 1838 occurred in the fifty first year after the British began their penal colony near Sydney cove.
The encroachments of the Europeans brought years of devastating strife to Aboriginal peoples, who had lived on this country for thousands of years. They suffered terribly, as they were exposed to diseases to which they had no immunity and they died in large numbers. They were driven from their lands, which had sustained them physically and spiritually. Demoralized and debauched, they were coming to be seen as a doomed race.
A proportion of the white population abused them, despised them and coveted their lands. The first British Governor, Captain Arthur Phillip, was, in the poet Les Murray’s words, ‘a kindly, rational man’, who attempted to develop harmonious relations with the Aborigines. However, he and subsequent leaders failed to bridge the cultural gaps and failed to protect Aborigines from those who tormented them. Likewise, that proportion of the white population who sympathised with the Aboriginal peoples were usually powerless to prevent atrocities on the frontier. Even the judgement of those who sought to help Aboriginal people was often clouded by presuppositions of cultural superiority. There was little knowledge of or value given to Aboriginal languages and belief systems.
As the pastoral industries continually advanced into Aboriginal lands, those in the vanguard of occupation were aware of their isolation and numerical inferiority. Some feared a rising of the tribes and lived with a siege mentality. Any news of Aboriginals clashing with whites or interfering with livestock could be a spur to action. With the closest agents of the British law several days’ ride away, low level skirmishes gave way to atrocities of which the massacre at Myall Creek is an extreme, though well documented, example.
The Events of 1837 and Early 1838
In the early or middle part of 1837, Myall Creek Station was established by Henry Dangar and became part of his pastoral empire. In 1837 and 1838, the station was managed by William Hobbs, a young freeman from Somerset. His personal staff comprised three assigned convicts Charles Kilmeister was the stockman, George Anderson the hut keeper and Andrew Burrowes, mainly responsible for the horses.
According to author Roger Milliss, there was a constant fear of Aborigines – real or imagined. All the men went armed when they were away from the shelter of the station. However, there were no Aborigines to be seen and Milliss comments that by mid 1837 the area immediately north of Bingara, extending up to Myall Creek, originally peopled by the Weraerai or Wolroi tribe, may well have been swept clear of its traditional owners.
By 1837 the centre of the conflict had shifted downstream on the Gwydir. There were a number of incidents in which killings of a few white people or livestock resulted in large scale killings of Aboriginal people.
Major James Winniet Nunn came from Sydney at the end of 1837 and with a party of about thirty troopers and some volunteer stockmen conducted a murderous campaign extending over 53 days. In one incident, up to 300 Aborigines may have been killed in a surprise attack at Snodgrass Lagoon on the Waterloo Creek on January 26th, 1838. According to oral history gathered by the late Len Payne of Bingara, the Gwydir exploded in a fresh outburst known as the ‘Drive’ or the ‘Bushwack’, at the beginning of May 1838. Towards the end of May or early in June, a large party of Aborigines were said to have been surprised at dawn in a ravine at the headwaters of Slaughterhouse Creek, with heavy loss of life.
Shortly before this, a group of about 50 Aboriginals moved to Myall Creek Station at the invitation of Charles Kilmeister. They had been living at Mclntyres – a station about 30 kilometres upstream from what is now Bingara. They had been urged to move by their friend Andrew Eaton, a hut keeper at Mclntyres, who feared for their safety. Millis comments,
“Everything points to an unusual bond developing between the little clutch of whites and the crowd of blacks who had suddenly descended on them, something approaching real friendship, not just for the enticing of young girls, but for the older men and their children as well – all taking place in the short space of a fortnight or three weeks.” (p. 282)
The Events of June 10 – 15th, 1838
On Sunday morning, ten of the Aborigines, representing just about all of the able bodied males, including ‘King’ Sandy, accompanied Thomas Foster, the superintendent of Newtons, a neighbouring station, to assist him cut bark. They arrived about four in the afternoon, only to learn that a party of armed stockmen had visited the previous day and had plans to go onto Dangars. Foster prevailed upon the Aborigines to return immediately to Myall Creek and to go ‘by the mountains’ – presumably the rugged hills of the present Bingara State forest north of Bobby Whitlow Creek. By half past four they were on their way. But they were already too late.
About half past three or quarter to four, a group of at least 10 and possibly 12 stockmen came galloping up to the huts of Myall Creek Station, brandishing their guns and swords.
Unfortunately for the Aborigines, who were preparing their evening meal, William Hobbs, the station superintendent, and Andrew Burrowes, one of the assigned convicts, were absent from the station. It is likely that the marauding gang knew this.
The horsemen herded the Weraerai into the workmens’ hut with only two boys aged about 8 or 9 able to escape. One the of the stockmen?, John Russell undid a long tether rope from around the horse’s neck, entered the hut with one or two others and began tying the defenceless people’s hands together.
Despite his evening socializing with the Aborigines Charles Kilmeister, one of the station convicts, joined with their tormentors. George Anderson, another of the assigned station convicts, refused to join and was later prevailed upon to give evidence against them. He identified John Fleming, the only perpetrator not of convict origin, and John Russell as the ring leaders. Charles Telluce, James Oates, William Hawkins, Edward Foley, George Palliser, Jem Lamb and the mulatto ex-seaman, ‘Black’ Johnstone, were implicated. Anderson was uncertain about two others, John Blake and James Parry.
Anderson saved a little boy, who had avoided being tethered by the long rope, by pushing him back into the hut when the others were dragged out Also with Anderson were two Peel River Aborigines, Yintayintin and his brother Knimunga, known by the whites as Davey and Billy, respectively. They were employees of Mr. Dangar and regarded in a different light to the group of Weraerai and were not threatened by the gang. When Davey asked for and was given a young woman, Anderson tried to save ‘Peta’ or Ipeta, a striking woman with whom he had had a relationship in the previous few weeks. Perhaps to spite him for not joining them, the gang left him with another young girl.
Anderson later recalled that many of the group of 25 or 30 Aborigines had been given nicknames, including one man named ‘Daddy Daddy’. He was a ‘very old, big tall man’, who William Hobbs later described as the ‘doctor of the tribe’. He has been spoken of as the clan’s ‘clever man’. Old Joey, Tommy Sandy and his wife Martha and their precocious son Charlie, who was liked by everyone and was William Hobbs’ special favourite, were others Anderson recalled.
The stockmen were deaf to the cries of their victims. Within twenty minutes of first arriving, the mounted men surrounded their frantic captives and they were hauled forward by a man with the end of the rope hitched to his saddle. They headed west from the hut, with Anderson watching until they had disappeared from view over the top of a rise. Two solitary shots were heard 15 or 20 minutes later.
There is no eyewitness account of the killings. About 800 metres from the huts, the defenceless black people were hacked and slashed to death. Only one of the whole clan was spared – John Blake appears to have selected an Aboriginal woman. All of the other Aboriginal people were beheaded and their headless bodies were left where they fell. It is thought that the gang spent the night camped out, carousing and recalling their bloody deeds. Meanwhile, Anderson waited at the hut, later claiming to have never visited the site. Davey slipped away and brought back news of what he had seen.
Not knowing what the murderers next move would be, Anderson kept those who had avoided capture with him.
At 10 p.m., the ten Aboriginal men who had been away at Newton’s arrived at Anderson’s hut and learned the awful story of what had befallen their kin. They had covered close to 50 kilometres during the day. But now, with Anderson’s urging and Davey interpreting they were persuaded to get as far away from the station as possible.
By 10.30 p.m., the ten men, two women and three boys headed off into the night, towards Maclntyres.
The Murderers Return
On Monday afternoon, the murderers returned to Anderson’s hut and spent the night there and, on Tuesday morning, set about burning the bodies of their victims.
Kilmeister was deputized by Fleming to mind the fire during the day. The remaining murderers set out to find the Aborigines they had missed.
Subsequent Massacres
It appears that the group of Aboriginal men reached Maclntyres on Wednesday, June 13th and that, no sooner had they arrived than the stockmen caught up with them.
It is thought that they had tracked the group with the assistance of Billy, whom they had coerced. Most of the group were found and murdered.
Worse, it seems likely that the murderers were guilty of another outrage near Maclntyres, even more horrific than that at the Dangars. From reports gathered by the missionary, Lancelot Threlkeld, between 30 and 40 Aborigines were murdered and their bodies cast onto a triangular log fire.
An elderly woman’s throat was said to have been cut; she was allowed to run with blood spurting and then was thrown alive onto the fire. Her infant child was thrown alive onto the fire. Two young girls were mutilated by the gang.
It is likely that after these events, the stockmen were involved in several days of heavy drinking and their party dispersed on Friday, June 15th 1838.
An Outrage Revealed
On the same afternoon, Dangar’s superintendent, William Hobbs, returned to Myall Creek, having already gained some information about what had occurred in his absence.
He questioned Anderson and accepted Kilmeister’s denial of complicity.
He was then guided by Davey to the site of the massacre, noting footmarks and tracks of horses cast hard in the soil after recent rain. At least 20 separated heads and a mass of bodies were together in a haphazard pile. The stockmen’s attempt to burn the bodies had failed because of the damp wood.
Hobbs spent between fifteen and twenty minutes at the site, becoming at one stage stricken with nausea.
The next morning, Hobbs and Thomas Foster inspected the site for a briefer period.
The men agreed that the atrocity should be reported and Hobbs undertook to inform his employer, Dangar. He did, though, let it be known that he was going to report it to the authorities as well?
By Sunday, June 24th, Frederick I. Foot, a landholder, set off to Muswellbrook to report the matter to the nearest police magistrate, Edward Denny Day. Missing Day, he traveled on to Sydney and, on July 4th, wrote an account of the incident for the attention of Governor Gipps.
Governor Gipps, only in the colony 4 months and anxious to implement British Government instructions to protect Aborigines, gave the report precedence over other matters, including an inquiry into Major Nunn’s activities. Edward Denny Day, supported by a party of mounted police, was instructed to institute a strict inquiry and to apprehend all the parties concerned or suggested of being so.
The Investigation
Denny Day probably left Muswellbrook on Thursday, July 19th, and his expedition occupied 47 days.
On Saturday, July 28th, having spent time gathering witnesses and seeking suspects named by Foot, he opened his inquiry, with Foster as the first witness. That afternoon, Day visited Myall Creek Station with Hobbs and inspected the site.
However, there were remarkable changes to what Foster had described to Day that morning. The site of the massacre gave the appearance of having been swept, though there were fragments of bones and the remains of the fire. Day took charge of part of a lower jawbone, a child’s rib and a number of teeth.
It is thought that, in the intervening six weeks since the massacre, the murderers and perhaps some accomplices, returned to relight the fire and destroy evidence.
That evening, Day ordered Kilmeister taken into custody on suspicion of involvement and set about hearing Hobbs’ account. Then it was Anderson’s turn. He implicated Kilmeister for the first time.
Following persistent interrogation of Burrowes, Day identified ten suspects, four of whom he had in custody. In the ensuing days, the magistrate traveled widely through the area, taking evidence and seeking suspects. He missed the freeman, Fleming, at Mungie Bundie Station on the Gwydir River. Fleming was never captured. It is thought that he returned to his parents’ home on the Hawkesbury river, near Sydney.
By Wednesday August 8th, Day and the mounted police had gathered ten suspects. George Anderson was now questioned further and he was now prepared to identify eight of the men as belonging to the murderous party. Day charged Blake on the strength of information from other witnesses.
The prisoners walked for about 300 kilometres under guard and in chains to Muswellbrook, in the Hunter Valley, arriving on September 10th. Within a week, all but one were under lock and key in Sydney. During the trip through the Hunter, John Russell escaped, but was recaptured by mid October.
In the aftermath of his inquiry, Day wrote to two landholders concerning lack of supervision of convicts on some of their holdings, which, it is thought, contributed to the massacres. Roger Milliss is critical of Day for not exposing the extent of the ‘attacks’ by whites on Aboriginals in the area he had investigated.
The Lead Up to the Trials
In the Hunter, Day’s investigation and the arrival of the prisoners attracted wide interest. A fund was set up to defend the prisoners and landholders met to lobby the Governor. Soon, a vociferous campaign erupted over the trial of the Myall Creek men. It is thought that a clandestine organization of Hunter Valley landlords, many of whom also had holdings in the North Western Districts, were the driving force in this campaign.
In September of 1838, Mr. Robert Scott, a prominent landholder on the Hunter and on the Gwydir (an area close to Myall Creek), visited the prisoners in the Sydney gaol and told of his plans to finance their defence. He said that the one witness against them was insane and they should hold together and not inform on each other. In early October, Henry Dangar visited Myall Creek Station and dismissed William Hobbs. However, Dangar insisted Hobbs complete his contract by mustering some 500 cattle. But when Hobbs received a subpoena to appear as a witness in the coming trial, he responded to that duty above other concerns.
Meanwhile, in Sydney, controversy raged in the press and in public meetings. An attempt to form an Aboriginal Protection Society was short-lived. By early November, public opinion was running in favour of the accused.
First Trial – November 15th, 1838
Chief justice James Dowling presided in the Supreme Court, with the prosecution led by the Attorney-General, John Hubert Plunkett. Seated with the three defence lawyers was Mr. Robert Scott, who had retained them from the ₤300 subscribed by holders of the livestock in the ‘disturbed’ North West district.
The charges against the eleven accused dealt with the killing of one Aboriginal male, ‘Daddy’ and one other. In Milliss’ words, the charges were couched in ‘legal gobbledygook gone utterly mad’. But they could not conceal the fact that the whole accusation was based on extremely tenuous circumstantial evidence.
There was no observer of the crime and nobody had been recovered. The accused pleaded not guilty.
Thomas Foster, the first crown witness, was circumspect. Hobbs was more forthcoming, but had to concede that he could not positively identify the body of Daddy.
In essence, Edward Denny Day’s evidence amounted to him having come across the traces of an old fire and picking up a few fragments of bones. He was not cross-examined.
The defence tried to destroy Anderson’s credibility, firstly by reference to Anderson’s request that Ipeta be left for him. His reluctance to provide information was raised with the suggestion that he was seeking his liberty by giving evidence favourable to the prosecution. When his contract in the colony and reason for deportation were raised, however, he stood up for himself and had the better of the exchange.
Further witnesses included a dentist, who agreed that the bone fragment consisted of a jawbone with two teeth, several other burned teeth and a rib bone, apparently from a child.
The defence case first sought, unsuccessfully, to have the prosecution disallowed on the grounds of circumstantial evidence. Then, surprisingly, instead of calling in their 30 witnesses the defence only called for testimony as to the good character of their clients. Dangar supported Kilmeister and attacked Anderson.
In his summing up, Dowling said that no-one could be convicted of murder unless a body was found. Therefore the jury had to determine whether ‘Daddy’ was the ‘unfortunate man’ whose remains Hobbs has seen.
The jury filed out at 9.30 p.m. and were back within 15 minutes. To the cheering in the court, all the accused were pronounced not guilty. However, Plunkett immediately asked that the prisoners be remanded, as he wished to prepare another indictment. To hissing, Dowling granted the application.
Two days later, the date of the second trial was set for Monday, November the 26th.
Much of the publicity following the first trial expressed revulsion at the facts that had been revealed. For once, attacks on Aboriginals in sections of the press briefly abated. Instead, there were attacks on Governor Gipps, who, it was said, contributed to public ill feeling against Aboriginals by not ordering stronger measure against them. New waves of ‘attacks by lawless savages’ were reported from the Gwydir area.
The Second Trial
Judge William Westbrooke Burton presided in the second trial. Only 7 of the original group were accused – Kilmeister, Oates, Foley, Parry, Russell, Hawkins and Johnstone. Plunkett hoped that the defence would put the others, Lamb, Palliser, Telluse and Blake on the stand for cross-examination.
The charges now centred on the killing of an Aboriginal child. A total of 20 counts were alleged, including 5 that nominated a precise victim, ‘Charley’.
A jury was sworn and asked to decide whether the prisoners had previously been tried for the murder of an Aboriginal child. When the jury decided in the negative, the trial recommended on November 29th, before another jury.
Thomas Foster was again the first witness. He firmly believed that none of the skulls he saw were those of children. Hobbs, as a second witness, gave definitive evidence concerning the presence of children. He said that the children’s skulls were in the centre of the mess and Foster had not examined as closely as he.
On leaving the witness box, Hobbs was arrested for failing to settle and outstanding debt. This appeared to be an attempt to hinder justice and the over zealous bailiff was fined two pounds for contempt of court.
Next, Day repeated his evidence and suggested that Kilmeister had perhaps been coerced by other members of the group to join them in the atrocity. Anderson weakened the crown case as he was unable to swear that Anderson had been taken away.
The defence began by stating that it was not even certain that the boy had been killed, but Burton ordered that the trial should proceed. The defence went straight to character witnesses, Dangar being first. As before, he supported Kilmeister and attacked Anderson. Plunkett sought to undermine Dangar’s credibility by drawing attention to his suspension from a public office. He was questioned about his dismissal of Hobbs, about Hobbs’ arrest and about Dangar’s contribution to the prisoners’ defence fund.
The following witness, Thomas Hall, was discredited when he had to admit that he visited the northern stations only twice a year. There were no further witnesses.
In his summing up, Burton directed that the jury should first consider the question of Charley separately. He was scathing in his assessment of Dangar and noted that the murdered Aboriginals had given no provocation. Masters should ensure that their stockmen used arms only in extreme provocation
The jury filed out and returned after three quarters of an hour, the foreman pronounced the defendants ‘not guilty’ on all counts. However, when he sat down, another juror rose and announced an error. He said the men had been found guilty of the murder of an Aboriginal child whose name was unknown.
This agreed, the judge complimented Hobbs on the part he had taken to report the murder.
Epilogue
The 7 convicted were executed at 9 a.m. on December 18th, 1838. Governor Gipps fought a losing battle with the squatters and his commitment to justice for Aboriginals waned. Major Nunn’s activities on the Gwydir were never investigated. Henry Dangar’s pastoral holdings grew. William Hobbs was unemployed for several years before becoming a constable at Wollombi in 1846.
The murderous attacks on Aborigines, including the use of arsenic and other poisoning, by European settlers continued on the frontiers until into the 20th century.
162 years after the massacre a Memorial to the Aborigines of Myall Creek was dedicated on June 10th, 2000.