Table Ten: Aborigines killed by whites, Van Diemen’s Land 1803-1834

Date	Place	Number claimed killed	Identity of killer(s)	Circumstances	Reliability	Reference and comments
1804
3 May	Risdon Cove	3	102^nd Regt	Native hunting party mistaken for attackers	Plausible	All sources discussed in Chapter One
12 Nov	Port Dalrymple	1	Guard of marines	Natives tried to steal tent and throw sergeant into sea	Plausible	Historical Records of Australia, III, I, p 607
1807
14 Feb	New Norfolk	1	Robert Waring, kangaroo hunter	Attacked by natives in hut and speared, shot one native	Plausible	Knopwood diary 14 Feb 1807
28 Feb	Frederick Henry Bay	2	Two kangaroo hunters	Conflict over ownership of dead kangaroo. Natives threw spears, hunters shot back	Plausible	Knopwood diary 2 Mar 1807
19 April	Near Hobart	1	Kangaroo hunters	Governor’s kangaroo hunters attacked, shot one native	Plausible	Knopwood diary 19 Apr 1807
1808
Jan–Feb	N/a	5	Convicts Richard Lemon and John Brown	Confessed to killing 3 men and 2 women	Plausible	See Chapter Two
Date	Place	Number claimed killed	Identity of killer(s)	Circumstances	Reliability	Reference and comments
1816
31 Aug	New Norfolk	3	Stock-keepers	Stock-keepers fight off attack by 20 natives	Plausible	Hobart Town Gazette 31 Aug 1816
c. 1816-18	Bruny Island	1	Sealers	White men in boat attacked camp, stabbed Truganini’s mother	Plausible	Calder, Native Tribes, p 104
1819
c. 1819	Oyster Bay	1	Stockman	N/a	Implausible	Hobart Town Gazette 20 March 1819
18 March	Stocker’s Tier, Macquarie River	1	Stock-keeper	Stock-keepers fight off attack by natives	Plausible	CSO 1/323/7578, pp 191-3, Hobart Town Gazette 17 April 1819
1820
c. 1820	Mount Cameron West	2	Sealers	Raided tribe to abduct women and shot men who resisted	Plausible	Friendly Mission, pp 185, 202, 203-4
1826
3 Nov	Shannon River	1	Stockman	Natives attacked men in hut who shot one	Plausible	Colonial Times 10 Nov 1826
22 Nov	Allenvale, Macquarie Plains	2	Pursuit party	After two stockmen wounded, pursuit party shot natives	Plausible	CSO 1/316/7578 p 12
Date	Place	Number claimed killed	Identity of killer(s)	Circumstances	Reliability	Reference and comments
late Nov	Bothwell	2	Stock-keeper	Attacked in hut and roof set on fire, stockkeeper shot two blacks	Plausible	Hobart Town Gazette 2 Dec 1826
1827
c. 1827	Eddystone Point	Several	Edward Mansell, John Riddle, Thomas Tucker, Jack Williams	Retaliation by sealers for natives killing four others	Plausible	Friendly Mission, pp 192-3, 249, 403, 437 n 16
12 April	Elizabeth River near Campbell Town	‘a few’	Sawyers	Sawyers in hut fight off native attack	Plausible	Colonial Times 4 May 1827
late June	Western Marshes	1	Thomas Baker	Surrounded by ‘200 natives’, Baker escaped, killing one in pursuit of him	Plausible	CSO 1/316/7578 p 24
August	Cape Grim	1	VDL Co stockmen	Stockmen tried to get women into hut. Native men objected	Plausible	Friendly Mission pp 175, 181. Plomley accepts Charles Chamberlain’s claim that ‘several’ were killed, but all other accounts said it was only one, a tribal chief
1 Dec	Ritchie’s stock hut, Western Marshes	3	VDL Co stockmen	Attacked by natives who they ‘severely handled’	Plausible	VDL Co 5/1, Despatch no. 3, 14 Jan 1828 Curr to directors
Date	Place	Number claimed killed	Identity of killer(s)	Circumstances	Reliability	Reference and comments
1828
c. 1828	Birch’s Bay	2	Convicts Watkin Lowe and Paddy Newell	While abducting Truganini, they killed two natives trying to stop them	Plausible	Friendly Mission, p 49, Rae-Ellis, Black Robinson, p 32, Calder, Native Tribes, pp 104-6
28 Feb	Cape Grim	6	VDL Co stockmen	Natives arrived in numbers at hut, armed stockmen came out to meet them	Plausible	All sources discussed at start of Chapter Eight. Plomley says 30 killed.
9 April	Ben Lomond	1	John Batman	Pursuit of native killers, one shot but ran off	Implausible	Hobart Town Courier 12 April 1828. Plomley lists ‘1 nt. killed(?)’
September	Mersey River	1	Alexander Goldie and VDL Co stockmen	Reprisal for attack on VDL Co men at Burleigh	Plausible	Plomley, Clash, p 28, lists one dead, in Friendly Mission p 235 says ‘several’
20 Oct	Green Ponds	Some	Pursuit party	Pursuit of natives who attacked Langford family	Implausible	Hobart Town Courier 25 Oct 1828 Pursuers ‘returned unsuccessful’; Tasmanian 31 Oct 1828, ‘fired after them and killed and wounded a considerable number’
25 Oct	Opposite Maria Island	1	Edward Walpole	Threatened by killers of stockman, Walpole fired	Plausible	Hobart Town Courier 1 Nov 1828
Date	Place	Number claimed killed	Identity of killer(s)	Circumstances	Reliability	Reference and comments
November	Western River	‘More killed’	N/a	Aboriginal robbery and arson at Thomas Ritchie’s hut	Highly implausible	CSO 1/316/7578, p 805 Plomley misquoted document, which said ‘mare killed’
7 Dec	Break O’Day Plains	1	N/a	Attempt to rob hut	Implausible	Hobart Town Courier 13 Dec 1828
9 Dec	near Tooms Lake	10	40^th Regiment	Party in pursuit of native killers shot ten	Plausible	Hobart Town Courier 13 Dec 1828, p 2 This incident not in Plomley’s survey. See Ch 5 for location.
13 Dec	Sugar Loaf Hill	2	Patrick McOwen, Jonathan Kenzie	Attacked while droving sheep to Hobart. Shot two attackers	Plausible	Tasmanian 19 Dec 1828
27 Dec	Oyster Bay	1	Meredith’s men	Pursuing natives who killed horses. Shot one who tried to spear them.	Plausible	Hobart Town Courier 17 Jan 1829
1829
17 Jan	Bothwell	1	Sergeant of regiment	While guiding regiment Bruni Island Jack struck sergeant, was pursued to river and shot	Plausible	Colonial Times 30 Jan 1829, Friendly Mission, pp 285, 439, 506
Date	Place	Number claimed killed	Identity of killer(s)	Circumstances	Reliability	Reference and comments
c. 20 Jan	St Paul’s River	9	N/a	N/a	Highly implausible	Colonial Times 30 Jan 1829, Launceston Advertiser 9 Feb 1829. See discussion Ch Five
26 Jan	Little Swan Port	1	David Rayney	N/a	Plausible	Colonial Times 30 Jan 1829, Launceston Advertiser 9 Feb 1829
18 Feb	Pleasant Hills, West Tamar	7	Officer of military party	Military party attacked by natives and responded	Implausible	Hobart Town Courier 28 Feb 1829. Other officers denied seeing any blacks at all
16 March	Launceston	6	Pursuit party	Natives killed three at farm, pursuit party overtook them and killed five	Plausible	Hobart Town Courier 21 Mar 1829; CSO 1/316/7578 p 230. HTC said 5 killed but Launceston police said total was 6
3 May	Morven, Brushy Plains	1	Pursuit party	Pursued robbers, shot one and wounded another	Plausible	Hobart Town Courier 16 May 1829
11 June	South Esk River, upper reaches	1	McLeod’s shepherd	Skirmish with natives, one woman shot	Plausible	Diaries of John Helder Wedge, pp 56–7
9-14 Aug	Jerusalem and Coal River	1	N/a	N/a	Highly implausible	Hobart Town Courier 15 August 1829. This report refers to a white man killed and another wounded by blacks
21 Aug	Emu Bay	1	Alexander Goldie and Richard Sweetling	Unprovoked attack on native women	Plausible	Friendly Mission, pp 192, 235 n 133
Date	Place	Number claimed killed	Identity of killer(s)	Circumstances	Reliability	Reference and comments
Early Sept	Ben Lomond	2	John Batman	Shot dead his wounded captives	Highly Plausible	CSO 1/320/7578 pp 142-5
18 Sept	Sorell	1	Shingle splitter	After woman killed by blacks, shingle splitters fired at them severely wounding one	Plausible	Colonial Times, 25 September 1829. Plomley records this as one native wounded but CT said ‘one of them [blacks] was severely wounded, if not killed’
20 Dec	Orielton	1	Shepherd	Two natives attacked hut and one shot	Plausible	CSO 1/316/7578 p 382. Plomley records this as one native wounded but police report said ‘a shot was fired by which one of them fell’
1830
18 April	Whitefoord Hills, north of Deloraine	2	Stockman	Speared by natives and retaliated	Wounded plausible, killed implausible	CSO 1/316/7578 p 489 ‘we went in search of them … but could see nothing of them dead or alive’
4 Aug	Shannon River	2	Humphrey Howells, settler	Rushed camp and took two prisoners, woman killed, man’s body found later	Plausible	CSO 1/316/7578 pp 545, 565. Plomley records only woman killed. Friendly Mission diary gives native view p 522
Date	Place	Number claimed killed	Identity of killer(s)	Circumstances	Reliability	Reference and comments
27 Aug	Bothwell	Several	Captain Patrick Wood’s assigned servants	Attack on stockman in hut, several natives killed, one man captured	Plausible	Colonial Times, 27 August 1830, 3 September 1830
September	VDL Co territory in northwest	1	Thomas John, VDL Co servant	Enticed native with food, stabbed him	Plausible	Friendly Mission, p 210. See discussion of this story Chapter Eight
18 Oct	Sorell	1	William Gangell	Gangell and son wounded during native attack but stabbed one with pitchfork.	Plausible	CSO 1/316/7578, p 676; CSO 1/316/7578, p 681; Hobart Town Courier 20 November 1830. Plomley records this as a wounding but body was later found nearby
25 Oct	North of Forestier Peninsula	2	Edward Walpole	Black Line halted. Walpole went ahead and found native camp, captured two and shot two	Highly Plausible	Arthur, Memorandum, Sorell Camp, 20 November 1830, British Parliamentary Papers, Colonies, Australia, 4, p 245
29 Oct	Break O’Day Plains	2	Police Magistrate James Simpson and constables	Pursued natives who killed settlers. Fight at Esk River where two shot dead	Highly Plausible	CSO 1/316/7578 pp 712-3, Hobart Town Courier 13 November 1830, Friendly Mission, pp 276, 284, 285
Date	Place	Number claimed killed	Identity of killer(s)	Circumstances	Reliability	Reference and comments
1831
2 Feb	Barrowville, North Esk	1	Shepherd	Menaced by natives, who dared him to fire, shepherd shot one	Plausible	CSO 1/316/7578 p 881 Plomley records this as one native wounded but shepherd ‘discharged two guns at them and observed one of the natives to fall who was immediately carried off by his companions’
13 Aug	Bashan Plains	1	John Espie’s men	In attack on property, one native shot	Plausible	Hobart Town Courier 20 August 1831. Plomley records native wounded but ‘a shot was fired which so wounded one of the blacks as to disable him from moving’ and comrades carried him off into bush
4 Sept	Racecourse, Surrey Hills	1	VDL Co stockman	N/a	Plausible	Plomley, Clash, p 28, no source given
November	St Mary’s Plains near Hampshire Hills	3	Alexander McKay and two VDL Co men	Two shot during attempt at capture. One shot another time by McKay	Plausible	Friendly Mission, pp 565, 583. Original number reported killed was four but Plomley p 686 n18 shows it was three
Date	Place	Number claimed killed	Identity of killer(s)	Circumstances	Reliability	Reference and comments
1834
18 August	Hamilton	1	Shepherd	In attack on shepherd, one native shot	Plausible	Friendly Mission, p 925
No date indicated
	Recherche Bay	1	Soldier	Conflict over kangaroo hunt	Plausible	Friendly Mission, pp 84, 713, 807
	Woody Island	1	James Everitt, sealer	Native woman would not get mutton-birds for him	Plausible	Friendly Mission, pp 249, 279
	Kent Group islands	1	Bob Gambell, sealer	N/a	Plausible	Friendly Mission, p 246
	Bruny Island	1	Meredith’s people	N/a	Plausible	Friendly Mission, pp 311, 314
	Oyster Bay	1	Mr Wade’s man	Saw native in bush and shot him	Plausible	Friendly Mission, p 320
	N/a	1	Two stock-keepers	Tied up a native woman by heels and left her to perish	Plausible	Friendly Mission, pp 344, 346
	Huon River	Unspecified	‘white people’	‘shot the natives’	Plausible	Friendly Mission, p 373
Early years of colony	Near Hobart	2	‘white men who landed in a boat’	‘shot two blacks dead’	Plausible	Friendly Mission, pp 375, 465 n 202
	East of Campbell Town	2	‘some white men’	Attack by armed whites on the native road	Plausible	Friendly Mission, 484
Date	Place	Number claimed killed	Identity of killer(s)	Circumstances	Reliability	Reference and comments
	Shannon River	3	Mr Howell’s men	N/a	Plausible	Friendly Mission, p 506
	N/a	7	Various white men	Various tales of atrocities told to Robinson at camp	Plausible	Friendly Mission, p 522

Where number of killings is ‘several’, a figure of 5 has been allocated; where number of killings is ‘a few’ or unspecified, a figure of 3 has been allocated

Total number of plausible killings = 121

Sources: Historical Records of Australia, Series I and III. Mary Nicholls (ed.) The Diary of the Reverend Robert Knopwood 1803–1838, Tasmanian Historical Research Association, Hobart, 1977. Archives Office of Tasmania: Colonial Secretary’s Office papers 1/316/7578; Van Diemen’s Land Company papers 5/1, 5/3. Hobart and Launceston newspapers from 1816–1831. 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, The Aboriginal/Settler Clash in Van Diemen’s Land 1803–1831, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, 1992. Vivienne Rae-Ellis, Black Robinson: Protector of Aborigines, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1988. The Diaries of John Helder Wedge, ed. Justice Crawford, W. F. Ellis and G. H. Stancombe, Royal Society of Tasmania, Hobart, 1962