Table
Eight: Aboriginal killings by colonists recorded by G. A. Robinson, 1829-1839
No
revisions to date
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Date |
Place |
Number claimed killed |
Identity of killer(s) |
Circumstances |
Source |
Reliability |
Reference |
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Recherche Bay |
1 |
Soldier |
Conflict over kangaroo hunt |
Eye witness |
Plausible |
Friendly Mission pp 84, 713, 807 |
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N/a |
N/a |
N/a |
Man had trophies of ears and noses of those slain |
Second hand |
Highly Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 88 |
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Cape Grim |
1 |
VDL Company stockmen |
Tried to get native women into their hut. Native men
objected. |
Second hand |
Plausible (Aborig.)** ‘Several’ claimed by Chamblerlain p 175 implausible |
Friendly Mission p 181 |
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Cape Grim |
30 (6) |
VDL Company stockmen |
See Chapter 8 |
Participants |
Thirty implausible but six plausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission pp 175, 183, 196 |
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Emu Bay |
1 |
Alexander Goldie and VDL Co stockmen |
Unprovoked attack on a native woman |
Second hand |
Highly Plausible |
Friendly Mission pp 192, 235, 603 |
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Eddystone Point |
Several |
Edward Mansell, Jack Williams, John Riddle, Thomas Tucker |
Retaliation by sealers for natives killing four others |
Eyewitness and second hand |
Plausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission pp 192-3, 249, 403, 437 n 16 |
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“The Retreat”, Westbury |
19 |
Paddy Heagon, stockman |
Shot them with a swivel gun |
Second hand |
Highly Implausible |
Friendly Mission pp 197-8 |
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Date |
Place |
Number claimed killed |
Identity of killer(s) |
Circumstances |
Source |
Reliability |
Reference |
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Western Marshes (Quamby Bluff) |
1 |
N/a |
Native leader resisted whites but later killed |
Second hand |
Highly Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 198 |
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Epping Forest |
1 |
VDL Co stockmen |
During native attack, stockmen shot a woman |
Second hand |
Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 202 |
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Mount Cameron West |
2 |
Sealers |
Raided tribe to abduct women and shot men who resisted |
Second hand and eyewitness |
Plausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission pp 185, 202, 203–4 |
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N/a |
1 |
Stockkeeper |
Kept her for a month and then shot her |
Second hand |
Highly Implausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 210 |
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N/a |
1 |
Thomas John of VDL Co |
Enticed native with damper and then stabbed him |
Second hand |
Plausible |
Friendly Mission p 210 |
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N/a |
1 |
N/a |
Skull found near
stockyard |
Supposition |
Highly Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 217 |
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Western Marshes |
3 |
Stockkeeper |
N/a |
Second hand |
Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 217 |
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Middle Plains and Ritchie’s Sugarloaf |
‘a tribe’ |
Lyons and others |
Drove tribe into lagoon and shot several, went to R’s
Sugarloaf and shot the rest |
Second hand |
Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 218 |
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Long Swamp, Western Marshes |
Several |
Murray or Murphy and others |
N/a |
Second hand |
Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 218 |
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Date |
Place |
Number claimed killed |
Identity of killer(s) |
Circumstances |
Source |
Reliability |
Reference |
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Western Marshes |
10 |
Gibson’s stockkeeper |
Retaliation for attack on him |
Second hand |
Highly Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 219 |
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Western Marshes |
9 or 10 |
Party of 40th Regiment |
N/a |
Second hand |
Highly Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 219 |
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Kents Group Is |
1 |
Bob Gambell, sealer |
N/a |
Third hand |
Plausible |
Friendly Mission p 246 |
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Piper River |
1 |
‘white men’ |
N/a |
Third hand |
Implausible, (see FM p 436 n 9) |
Friendly Mission pp 246, 436 |
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Piper River |
Several |
N/a |
Bones on banks of river |
Supposition |
Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 248 |
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Woody Island |
1 |
James Everitt, sealer |
Native woman would not get
mutton-birds for him |
Second hand |
Plausible |
Friendly Mission pp 249, 279 |
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Launceston Road |
3 |
Soldiers |
Killed while returning from intertribal war at central
lakes area |
Participants |
Implausible – see Ch. 6 (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 263 |
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Break o’Day Plains |
2 |
Special constables |
Killed while resisting arrest for murder |
Second hand |
Highly Plausible – see Ch. 6 |
Friendly Mission pp 276, 284, 285 |
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Bruny Island |
1 |
Soldiers |
N/a |
Second hand |
Plausible (Aborig.) although location was Bothwell: Plomley, Clash p 76 |
Friendly Mission pp 285, 439, 506 |
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Woody Island |
1 |
James Everitt, sealer |
N/a |
Third hand |
Implausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 301 |
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Date |
Place |
Number claimed killed |
Identity of killer(s) |
Circumstances |
Source |
Reliability |
Reference |
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North east coast |
N/a |
N/a |
Truganini found plenty of bones in the bush |
Supposition |
Implausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 301 |
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Bruny Island |
1 |
‘a white man’, Meredith’s people |
N/a |
Second hand |
Plausible |
Friendly Mission pp 311, 314 |
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Oyster Bay |
1 |
Mr Wade’s man |
Saw him in bush and shot him |
Participant |
Plausible |
Friendly Mission p 320 |
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George Town |
Unspecified
number |
Muster of white men |
Came on them at night after they visited Mr Kneale’s farm |
Second hand |
Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 342 |
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N/a |
N/a |
Sealers |
Burnt women alive |
Third hand |
Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 342 |
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N/a |
1 |
Two stockkeepers |
Tied up woman by heels and left her to perish |
Eyewitness and second hand |
Plausible |
Friendly Mission pp 344, 346 |
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N/a |
1 |
Stockkeeper |
Gave loaded gun to black who shot himself in mouth with
it |
Third hand |
Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 346 |
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Huon River |
Unspecified |
‘white people’ |
‘shot the natives’ |
Eyewitness |
Plausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 373 |
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Near Hobart |
2 |
‘white men who landed in a boat’ |
‘shot two blacks dead’ |
Eyewitness |
Plausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 375, 465 n 202 |
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N/a |
1 |
Doctor’s servant |
Brought back arm of man he had shot |
Third hand |
Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 428 |
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Date |
Place |
Number claimed killed |
Identity of killer(s) |
Circumstances |
Source |
Reliability |
Reference |
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East of Campbell Town |
2 |
‘some white men’ |
Attack by armed whites on the native road |
Eyewitness |
Plausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 484 |
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Eastern Marshes |
‘plenty’ |
‘the white men’ |
N/a |
Second hand |
Highly Implausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 493 |
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N/a |
N/a |
‘white people’ |
Attacking natives at night at their camps |
Third hand |
Implausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 501 |
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Near Bothwell |
17 |
Stockkeepers |
Killed seven then followed rest to lagoon and killed ten
more |
Second hand |
Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 503 |
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Shannon River |
3 |
Mr Howell’s men |
N/a |
Eyewitness |
Plausible |
Friendly Mission p 506 |
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South of Bashan Plains |
2 |
Party of white people |
After blacks murdered three settlers, pursuit party shot
into native camp |
Eyewitness |
Highly Plausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 522 |
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N/a |
7 |
Various white men |
Various tales of atrocities told at camp |
Eyewitness and second hand |
Plausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 553 |
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St Mary’s Plains, near Hampshire Hills |
4 (3) |
Alexander McKay and two VDL Co men |
Shot natives during attempt to capture group |
Second hand, third hand |
Plausible 3 killed, Plomley FM p 686 n 18 |
Friendly Mission pp 565, 583, 588, 603, 607,
685–6, 691, 695 |
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Date |
Place |
Number claimed killed |
Identity of killer(s) |
Circumstances |
Source |
Reliability |
Reference |
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N/a |
1 |
Stockkeepers |
Shot a woman in a cherry tree |
Third hand |
Highly Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 595 |
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N/a |
2 or 3 |
Stockkeepers |
Their practice to shoot women |
Third hand |
Highly implausible |
Friendly Mission p 595 |
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N/a |
N/a |
Stockkeepers |
Cut off penis and testicles of natives |
Third hand |
Highly Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 595 |
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Pieman River |
1 |
White men |
Shot woman in the head |
Second hand |
Implausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 646 |
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Port Davey |
1 |
Soldier |
N/a |
Second hand |
Implausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 742 |
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Along west coast |
Numerous |
White men |
N/a |
Second hand |
Highly Implausible (Aborig.) |
Friendly Mission p 788 |
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Nile River, near Ben Lomond |
1 |
Man passing Glover’s farm |
Shot black and buried him in tree |
Second hand |
Implausible |
Friendly Mission p 833 |
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Little Swan Port |
6 |
Raid on native camp by white settlers |
Wood cutters frightened by natives. Returned and raided
camp. |
Eye-witness |
Implausible. Tongerlong-erter invented the story (Aborig.) |
Weep in Silence pp 325, 627 n 4 |
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Hamilton |
1 |
Shepherd |
Natives attacked shepherd and one shot |
Second hand |
Highly Plausible |
Friendly Mission pp 925–6 |
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Where number of killings is
‘several’ ‘many’ or ‘a tribe’, the figure of 5 has been allocated.
* N/a =
not available
** Aborig.
= At least one of the informants was an Aborigine
Table Eight: Totals
Total number of separate incidents: 53
Maximum number of killings claimed: 188
Total number of plausible killings reported by all
informants: 50
Total
number of plausible killings reported by Aboriginal informants: 33
Sources: N. J. B. Plomley (ed.), Friendly Mission: The Tasmanian Journals and Papers of George Augustus Robinson 1829–1834, Tasmanian Historical Research Association, Hobart, 1966; N. J. B. Plomley (ed.), Weep in Silence: A History of the Flinders Island Aboriginal Settlement, with the Flinders Island Journal of George Augustus Robinson 1835–1839, Blubber Head Press, Hobart, 1987