Quote:
Originally Posted by motto
When I was born in 1948 there were still huge numbers of people around who were born in the late 1800s. By then the 'aboriginal massacres' were a thing of the past and I strongly object to them being associated in any way with returned servicemen from WW1 & 2.
|
David, my comments are in no way intended to impugn the reputation of Australian ex-servicemen. I'm only interested in history, and getting it right, without fear or favour. We've grown up with a lot of myths in this country and they need to be dismantled, because they don't do us justice. Most especially they fail to recognize Australian military achievements, particularly in WW1. Lamentably so in fact. That's my own pet bugbear, so I guess that says something about my "natural inclination and allegiances." I could rave on at length about the subject but it's a bit off topic here.
As you say we're discussing changes in society since the WW1 generation, specifically the rise in senseless gun killings in our own lifetime, and possible causative factors. I mentioned the earlier killings in passing because the question of "shooting rampages" came up, and I was pointing out that it's not an entirely new phenomenon. It has no real bearing on the modern situation, but since it's under question I'll deal with it here for the record.
The chapter in Australian history I'm referring to was the War Service Land Settlement Scheme, which ran from 1915 into the 1960s. It was this scheme which opened up much of rural and outback Australia to white settlement. Known also as the "second dispossession" it evicted Aboriginal populations off their reserve land for subdivision and allocation to ex-servicemen, including those who had not served overseas. Aboriginal ex-servicemen were ineligible, although it's reported that one managed to qualify in NSW.
Contrary to popular belief, much of the land was fertile farmland which was cleared and cultivated by Aboriginals, including commercial enterprises like hop plantations and market gardens. Often these were established with the assistance of Missions. Likewise in more remote areas the Missions assisted in the establishment of stations, and these were subsequently acquired under the scheme, eg:
"In 1921 two returned servicemen, Leonard Overheu and Frederick Hay, applied for a grant under the War Service Land Settlement Scheme. Nulla Nulla station was excised from the Marndoc Aboriginal reserve with the traditional owners, the KIng River Aborigines, removed and forced to live on the outskirts of Wyndham. The two men planted cotton, peanuts and kept a small herd of cattle. Hay, along with his friend James Dunnett ran the station while Overheu worked as a bookkeeper in Wyndham to provide cash flow."
I won't go into details of Hay's reported behaviour over the next 5 years, or the incident in which he was killed by an Aboriginal named Lumbia. Hay's death was reported to police by Rev. Ernest Gribble from the Forrest River Mission:
"On hearing of Hay's death Gribble rushed to Wyndham where he swore in Richard Jolly and Bernard O'Leary as special constables under the supervision of Constable Regan and tasked them with finding Hay's killer. The Aboriginal community supported the arrest of Lumbia and Gribble supplied two Aboriginal men from the mission who knew Lumbia to escort the patrol."
The patrol also included Overheu, his house boy Tommy, and another ex-serviceman Daniel Murnane. To cut a long story short, a massacre ensued and Lumbia was brought to trial where he pleaded guilty to Hay's murder. The initial death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after it was successfully argued that Hay had provoked the attack. Gribble reported the massacre to Inspector E. C. Mitchell of the Western Australian Aborigines Department in Wyndham, who visited two of the massacre sites identified by Tommy. Mitchell sent a telegram to the Chief Protector, A.O. Neville: "Shocking revelations, saw place Forrest River, rocky higher bed where natives chained small tree killed there then bodies burnt improvised oven". A Royal Commission was launched and evidence gathering parties uncovered further sites identified by Tommy, but when Overheu heard of these investigations, Tommy vanished, presumed murdered. The Royal Commission proceeded:
"None of the Aborigines named to the Commission who had witnessed the massacres or who had relatives killed were called to testify. The Royal Commission found that 11 people had been murdered and the bodies burned."
Many years later Overheu's brother Charles went on record: "They all got together up there and there was a bloody massacre because I think they shot about three hundred natives all in one hit and there was a hell of a row over it. It was all published in the papers and somebody let the cat out of the bag and anyhow the government and the judges in those times they realised what the trouble was and the whole thing was hushed up you see."
Two years after the Forrest River massacre came the Coniston massacre in NT, the last known massacre of Indigenous Australians:
"The massacre occurred in revenge for the death of dingo hunter Frederick Brooks. Official records at the time stated that 31 people were killed. The owner of Coniston station, Randall Stafford, was a member of the punitive party for the first few days and estimated that at least twice that number were killed between 14 August and 1 September. Historians estimate that at least 60 and as many as 110 Aboriginal men, women and children were killed. The Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye believe that up to 170 died between 14 August and 18 October.
An earlier massacre occurred at Mowla Bluff WA in 1916:
"Responding to the brutality of the white station manager, some local men gave him a beating. In reprisal, an armed mob which included officials and residents rounded up a large number of Aboriginal men, women and children who were then shot. The bodies were burned. One account states that three or four hundred people were killed and only three survived."
It's worth noting that Aboriginals who managed to join the armed services in WWI did not experience discrimination during their service.
On the subject of post war massacres (amongst white Australians) we also need to examine the history, as they fall into distinct categories, and statistically the threat posed to Australians by spree shootings appears to be a myth. I'm probably not saying anything new there, but as a non gun owner I've never given it much thought before.