Aboriginal and European Relations Faithfull Massacre Myall Creek

Aboriginal and European Relations

• Faithfull Massacre • Myall Creek Massacre • Murdering Gully Massacre • Coniston Massacre

Pinjarra 1834

For generations Australians have been taught to believe the country was peacefully settled by Europeans. That is not true. No one asked the Aboriginal people if they wanted an invasion. There was no buying of land or signing of treaties, as in New Zealand at the same time. The British imposed their own law - they just took over, hungry for land. They drew their own maps, divided the land into housing blocks, farms and stations, then sold these to other settlers.

This was despite the official instructions to Governor Stirling from the King allowing him only to "grant unoccupied lands". The Common Law imported from England held that property rights had to be respected. In WA the law was ignored. Aboriginal people were not seen to be "farming" the land. Their use and respect of the land was not understood by the white people.

Fences were built, strange animals introduced. Aboriginal people at first thought their newcomers would soon be gone; many thought their white skins meant they were returned spirits of the dead. They were welcomed, shown watercourses and given food.

When it became obvious the "visitors" had no intention of leaving or sharing, warfare erupted. Because this didn't start the moment the Europeans arrived and because there were few pitched battles, the nature of the warfare was misunderstood. There were hundreds of small-scale conflicts, shootings and poisonings that were seldom reported.

One West Australian settler wrote, "We are at war with the original owners; we have never known them in any capacity but as enemies. " People were declared "outlaws", then arrested and shot or hung without trial. The Australian frontier was marked by blood.

Few of the newcomers took this seriously. Aborigines speared sheep and cattle just as they'd been killing kangaroos and emus for thousands of years. They climbed over fences and entered buildings, taking whatever food was available, reasoning they were sharing their wealth and expected others to do the same. The Europeans retaliated with force. The First Australians were labeled savages, less than humans. They were shot, whipped, poisoned, arrested, chained, transported jailed, tortured and executed.

In 1834, Noongars protested against the taking of their land. The settlers opened fire, then drove the Noongars into the swamps of what is now Lake Monger. Troops surrounded the lake at nightfall, but when they advanced at daybreak no one could be found. During the night they had slipped past the soldiers and escaped unnoticed. This was the socalled "Battle of Perth".

• Pinjarra

Reports of these atrocities seldom told the truth, for the killers were ashamed of their deeds and sought to justify them with words like "dispersed" instead of massacred. An ambush by soldiers of people camped near Pinjarra was labeled by the victors "the Battle of Pinjarra" as though it was a contest of equals. Only one European died. It is believed up to 150 Aboriginal men, women and children were slaughtered in gunfire from both sides of the river.

Prisoners were taken then released to spread the message that if spearings of stock and settlers continued "four times the present expedition would be sent against them and destroy every man, woman, and child. " Historians commented on a "war of retaliation" and the "hatred expressed by the bulk of the settlers to the whole of the Aboriginal race. "

Battle or massacre?

Was deterioration in the relationship between European and Aboriginal people historically inevitable or avoidable?

THE CLASH Agriculturist versus hunter and gatherers Australia - limited resources to house both styles Indigenous social structure - lacked ability to come together to succeed fighting against Europeans