Frontier Violence and the Need to Find

Recognition and Reconciliation

HIS3MHI Illustrative Essay

BY

Stephanie Rae Dettman

ID: 18974671

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The fight for colonisation within Australia is an important and dark part of Australian history.

it is not one with adaption and equality, but rather with domination and violence. Even now

in recent history there is a strong battle for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights for

land and legislative actions. Many massacres have accrued during the frontier of violence,

thousands of Indigenous people were killed to demonstrate the dominance of the white

settlers. It is the few small actions against white settlers in these situation that then are

noticed and discussed as crucial turning points in this violent history. The Myall Creek

Massacre was one of these crucial moments in the frontier, white men executed for the brutal

murder of Aboriginal men, women and children. Recognition and reconciliation are] then

brought forth form these crucial events, and the fight to uphold and maintain this idea of

recognition and reconciliation becomes such a prevalent and discussed issue in recent

Australian history, within the public, governmental and judicial eye. The memory and

discussion of these events and causalities are crucial part of the shared Australian society in

past, present and future existence in Australia.

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Frontier violence within Australia continued for almost 150 years, a large and crucial part of

history that Indigenous people and white colonists have shared. Many examples of frontier

violence can be used to show how Indigenous tribes were mistreated, abused and murdered to

set an agenda for white colonists’ power. Rarely was there a circumstance that white man

would be punished for their actions upon the Aboriginal people of the land. It was as

genocide of the Aboriginal nation. European settlers only wished to dominate over their

Aboriginal counterparts and collectively kill Aboriginal people to approve that domination1.

There are plenty of examples of frontier massacres that can be drawn from to demonstrate the

1
Patrick Wolfe, ‘Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native;, Journal of Genocide Research, 8/4
(2006), 398.

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impact on the Aboriginal population, especially within the state of New South Wales. On the

large scale of murders, there are massacres such as the Hospital Creek massacre within the

year of 1870 where 400 Pooncarie where killed for an unknown reasons2. There was also

Gravesend Mountains massacre in 1837 where 200 Gamilaraay were murdered by stockmen

after two stockmen were killed and the Slaughterhouse Creek massacre in May of 1838 were

stockmen had killed 300 Gamilaraay people for what seemed just like opportunity3.

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The commonality of these massacres is that

there seemed to be no punishment for those

who perpetrated the massacres. There was a

judicial hearing for the Slaughterhouse Creek

massacre, but no action was taken against

those who committed the slaughter4. The

Myall Creek Massacre however shows a very

pivotal moment in the history of frontier

violence in New South Wales. Within June

1838, 11 stockmen had murdered

approximately 30 Aboriginal people of Myall Figure 1: Phiz, Australian Aborigines Slaughtered By Convicts,
[Image], 1840, < http://www.nma.gov.au/defining-
moments/resources/myall-creek-massacre >, accessed 22 Oct.
Creek, Myall Creek which included the 2018.

Gamilaraay and Yugambul language groups5. These victims were herded together and tied up

2
The University of Newcastle Australia, ‘Colonial Frontier Massacres in Central and Eastern Australia 1788-
1930’, The Centre for 21st Century Humanities [webpage], <
https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/ >, accessed 20 Oct. 2018.
3
Ibid.
4
Jane Lydon, ‘Anti-Slavery in Australia: Picturing the 1838 Myall Creek Massacre’, History Compass, 15/5
(2017), 3.
5
Ibid., 2.

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before they were shot and butchered and hacked near the station of the town6. These deaths

did not go unpunished unlike the many massacres described before and like so man others.

Two trials later and seven of the eleven stockmen that were involved in the massacre were

tired and executed for their crimes7. Not without its consequences as this momentous point in

the frontier violence pushed racial tensions after the trial. The last large known massacre of

Aboriginal people was the Coniston massacre in the Northern Territory were 50 Aboriginal

people were shot by policemen, 90 years later8.

----------

The Myall Creek Massacre is an event of comparison. To look at settler interests in relation

to Aboriginal inhabitancy and the British taking a more humanitarian perspective on the

situation. As it was Governor Gipps who attempted to find a more alternative look on

understanding and recognising the Aboriginal land ownership in New South Wales9. Unlike

others like Major Thomas O’Halloran who voiced a governmental position in South Australia

and orchestrated temporary gallows to execute 23 Milmenrura people, to put the agenda

forward that the British colonisation was not to be rested against10. It was an event that gave

permission for frontier violence to continue on the belief that it was condoned by the

government. It was the Myall Creek Massacre that started to perpetuate the notion of

recognition and later reconciliation. Newspapers during this time were not praising the

murders of the Aboriginal people, but rather showing the indecency of how those individuals

6
Jane Lydon, ‘Anti-Slavery in Australia: Picturing the 1838 Myall Creek Massacre’, History Compass, 15/5
(2017), 2.
7
Ibid., 4.
8
The University of Newcastle Australia, ‘Colonial Frontier Massacres in Central and Eastern Australia 1788-
1930’, The Centre for 21st Century Humanities [webpage], <
https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/ >, accessed 20 Oct. 2018.
9
Jane Lydon, ‘Anti-Slavery in Australia: Picturing the 1838 Myall Creek Massacre’, History Compass, 15/5
(2017), 2.
10
Steven Anderson, ‘Punishment as Pacification: The Role of Indigenous Executions on the South Australian
frontier, 1836-1862’, Aboriginal History, 39/1 (2015), 3.

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that were slaughtered by those 11 stockmen in that day11. It is the seed of doubt placed in

newspapers that began the train of thought. Such as then the inquires that were placed on the

Slaughterhouse Massacre that took place that same year.

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Recognition and reconciliation is an upwards battle for the Indigenous people of Australia

throughout post-colonialism. It is the frontier violence that brought the importance of

recognition and reconciliation, especially in the past 25 to 30 years in Australia. It is not as

easy as just saying let’s do it, there is so much time and effort that need s to go into

succeeding this. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation made a report in 1996 to help

with the guidance of reconciliation, a council that was formed with the support of the

Australian Federal Parliament five years beforehand12. This report discusses the key issues of

achieving reconciliation with many different points. Such issues include, the importance of

understanding the land of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s, the improvement of

relationships, valuing Indigenous cultures as a part of Australian heritage, the ability to share

histories, addressing the causality of Aboriginal disadvantages and non-indigenous

Australians, working for better levels of Aboriginal people in custody in Australian jails and

agreeing upon possible documentation of reconciliation13. 16 years later the Law Society of

New South Wales made a Reconciliation Action Plan to work with the reconciliation process

between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations and the legal system within the New

South Wales state14. It was on the basis that the society understood the struggling

communities of Indigenous people within the state. It evident that there is a breakdown of

11
Jane Lydon, ‘Anti-Slavery in Australia: Picturing the 1838 Myall Creek Massacre’, History Compass, 15/5
(2017), 2.
12
Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, ‘Walking Together: The First Steps’, Australian Indigenous Law
Reporter, 1/1 (1996), 89.
13
Ibid.
14
Vicky Kuek, ‘Action on Reconciliation’, Law Society Journal, 50/7 (2012), 20.

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Aboriginal rule of law, higher incarceration rates of Aboriginal people and health concerns of

disability and other health conditions that reduce life spans15.

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The issue of recognition and reconciliation has been the forefront of the public eye in recent

history. It has been discussed that this idea is a pivotal discussion point in the notion of

inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in the Australian society16. The idea of

Whiteness has overshadowed the idea of truly understanding the Indigenous agenda of

recognition and reconciliation17. The theory of Whiteness is not necessarily about the

biophysical idea of white people versus non-white people in populations, yet as a social

theory in communities18. This notion of Whiteness is more focused on identity, using

structural advantages to perpetuate cultural practises. This can account for the past

reconciliation being whiter focused, white settler identities trying to narrate and speak for

Indigenous people, rather than letting Indigenous people speak for themselves19. It is only in

recent Australian history that we now see more Indigenous Australian’s speak up for their

rights and showing their power through the use of law and legislation. The 1967 Referendum

is an example of the how the power and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander people can have an effect on Governmental positions. The referendum was

successful in counting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations within the countries

overall population and giving legislative rights to these population as well20. This was the

beginning of legal reconciliation, even though reconciliation is said not to appear in politics

15
Vicky Kuek, ‘Action on Reconciliation’, Law Society Journal, 50/7 (2012), 21.
16
Daphne Habibis, Penny Taylor, Maggie Walter and Catriona Elder, ‘Repositioning the Racial Gaze: Aboriginal
Perspectives on Race, Race Relations and Governance;, Social Inclusion, 4/1 (2016), 58.
17
Ibid., 59.
18
Ibid., 59.
19
Ibid., 58.
20
Isabelle Auguste, Passionate Histories (ACT: ANU Press, 2010), 310.

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until 193821. There even now organisation specifically for reconciliation such as

Reconciliation Australia which strives to educate Australians on how we can work toward

there plan of unity between the different cultures22.

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Memorials that remember and

discuss the countless massacres

that have occurred during the

frontier violence are a very

common way of showing

recognition within communities in

Australia’s recent history.

Memorials let us not forget the

past transgressions of white

settlers toward those Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander victims,
Figure 2: Mark Mohell, The Memorial at the 1838 Massacre of Aboriginal People at
Myall Creek in Northern New South Wales [image], (10 June 2018) <
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-10/myall-creek-massacre-memorial-a-symbol-
of-reconciliation/9845158 >, accessed 22 Oct 2018.

but perpetuate the notion that in the present and future white Australia can do more to

reconcile with these Aboriginal communities. The Myall Creek Memorial was established in

2000 and every year since there has been a day of memorial where approximately 150 or

more people come to pay their respects to those who had been massacred on that day in

183823. This memorial expresses the Indigenous culture and invites those to come and

participate in a ritual of sorrow and grieving, that follows a path of seven plaques of

21
Isabelle Auguste, Passionate Histories (ACT: ANU Press, 2010), 311.
22
Reconciliation Australia, ‘What is Reconciliation’, Reconciliation Australia [Webpage], (2017) <
https://www.reconciliation.org.au/what-is-reconciliation/ >, accessed 19 Oct. 2018.
23
Cynthia E. Cohen, Roberto Gutierrez Varea and Polly O. Walker (eds.), Acting Together I: Performance and
the Creative Transformation of Conflict (New York: NYU Press, 2011), 230.

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memorial24. This site of memorial and the others just as significant and meaningful are

absolutely crucial to communities that are willing to reconciliate and restore justice in the

present time. To the multiple thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander that were

massacred during the frontier, memorials have a great significant and emotional tether.

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Colonisation in Australia was not peaceful or smooth, but rather dark and full of violence

towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Equality and equity were not in the

forefront of the white settler population, rather domination and suppression. Massacres within

New South Wales have shown the destructive power white settler had over the populations of

Indigenous people. However, the Myall Creek Massacre had shown that there would

eventually be consequence for these actions, and those stockmen who brutally murdered

almost 30 Indigenous men, women and children were executed. An example of one of the

beginning events that made others think of the ideas of recognition and reconciliation. These

two ideas of recognition and reconciliation are now in the forefront of society in more recent

Australian history within the public, government and judicial spheres. It is also with the help

and importance of memorials of these massacres that keep the conversation and need for

reconciliation and recognition alight.

24
Cynthia E. Cohen, Roberto Gutierrez Varea and Polly O. Walker (eds.), Acting Together I: Performance and
the Creative Transformation of Conflict (New York: NYU Press, 2011), 230.

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References:

Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, ‘Walking Together: The First Steps’, Australian
Indigenous Law Reporter, 1/1 (1996), 89.
Cynthia E. Cohen, Roberto Gutierrez Varea and Polly O. Walker (eds.), Acting Together I:
Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict (New York: NYU Press, 2011),
230.
Daphne Habibis, Penny Taylor, Maggie Walter and Catriona Elder, ‘Repositioning the Racial
Gaze: Aboriginal Perspectives on Race, Race Relations and Governance;, Social Inclusion,
4/1 (2016), 58.
Isabelle Auguste, Passionate Histories (ACT: ANU Press, 2010), 310.
Jane Lydon, ‘Anti-Slavery in Australia: Picturing the 1838 Myall Creek Massacre’, History
Compass, 15/5 (2017), 3.
Patrick Wolfe, ‘Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native;, Journal of Genocide
Research, 8/4 (2006), 398.

Reconciliation Australia, ‘What is Reconciliation’, Reconciliation Australia [Webpage],

(2017) < https://www.reconciliation.org.au/what-is-reconciliation/ >, accessed 19 Oct. 2018.
Steven Anderson, ‘Punishment as Pacification: The Role of Indigenous Executions on the
South Australian frontier, 1836-1862’, Aboriginal History, 39/1 (2015), 3.
The University of Newcastle Australia, ‘Colonial Frontier Massacres in Central and Eastern
Australia 1788-1930’, The Centre for 21st Century Humanities [webpage], <
https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/ >, accessed 20 Oct. 2018.
Vicky Kuek, ‘Action on Reconciliation’, Law Society Journal, 50/7 (2012), 20.
IMAGES:
Image 1: Phiz, Australian Aborigines Slaughtered By Convicts, [Image], 1840, <
http://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/myall-creek-massacre >, accessed 22
Oct. 2018.
Image 2: Mark Mohell, The Memorial at the 1838 Massacre of Aboriginal People at Myall
Creek in Northern New South Wales [image], (10 June 2018) <
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-10/myall-creek-massacre-memorial-a-symbol-of-
reconciliation/9845158 >, accessed 22 Oct 2018.