Eumeralla War and Resistance
Summary ▸Listen
Lovett-Gardiner, Iris Chimney Flats Victorian Collections, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tK1lRxlcv4&t=147s
Notes
Events in this conflict will be added as Australian Wars and Resistance research continues.
At present this data combines massacre data generously shared from 2 projects:
- Colonial Frontier Massacres, Australia, 1788 to 1930 https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/map.php (This data includes massacres of 6 or more people only)
- The South Australian Frontier and its Legacies https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/4755c59ae93447a9b0acf9b2b0b265f6 (This includes any recorded incident of conflict between colonists and Indigenous peoples, only within South Australia, with several incidents on the Victorian side of the border)
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1 Mar 1833 – 31 Mar 1834Convincing Ground, Portland Bay — massacre
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15 Oct 1838 – 20 Oct 1838Murdering Flat — massacre
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1 Oct 1839 – 31 Oct 1839Mt Emu Creek — massacre
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1 Jan 1840 – 28 Feb 1840Tahara Station — massacre
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1 Jan 1840 – 31 Dec 1840Wootong Vale — massacre
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8 Mar 1840Fighting Hills — massacre
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1 Apr 1840Fighting Waterholes — massacre
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1 Jun 1840 – 30 Jun 1840Mustons Station — massacre
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11 Jun 1840Mount Rouse — massacre
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12 Aug 1840 – 12 Apr 1840Grampians — massacre
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12 Aug 1840 – 20 Aug 1840Victoria Valley — massacre
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1 Nov 1840 – 30 Nov 1840Connell's Ford — massacre
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1 Nov 1840 – 30 Nov 1840Burrumbeep Station — massacre
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1 Jun 1841 – 30 Jun 1841Mount Sturgeon Station — massacre
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1 Jun 1841 – 25 Jul 1841Woodlands — massacre
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24 Feb 1842Caramut Station — massacre
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7 Aug 1842 – 18 Aug 1842Eumeralla — massacre
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1 Oct 1842 – 28 Oct 1842Tarrone Station — massacre
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6 Aug 1843Victoria Range — massacre
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1 Sep 1843 – 6 Sep 1843Budj Bim — massacre
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1 Nov 1843 – 30 Nov 1843Clunie, Glenelg River — massacre
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1 Jan 1844Mount Schank area
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1 Jan 1844Mount Schank area
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1 Jan 1844Mount Schank area
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1 Jan 1844Rivoli Bay
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1 Apr 1844Leake's Woolshed station
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8 May 1844Mount Schank
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21 May 1844Inverary run
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30 May 1844Leake’s Rivoli Bay station
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6 May 1845SA Company’s run near Rivoli Bay
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13 May 1845Bluff Range near Rivoli Bay
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13 May 1845SA Company’s run near Rivoli Bay
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1 Jul 1845Near Hynam
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1 Jul 1845Near Hynam
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1 Jul 1845 – 31 Jul 1845Mt Arapiles / Dyurrite — massacre
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2 Jul 1845Naracoorte Caves — massacre
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1 Jan 1846Lawson’s run
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19 Apr 18463 miles from Biscuit Flat on Stirling's station (near Mount Benson).
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24 Apr 18469 miles from Leake’s station at the Woolshed
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12 May 1846Leake’s ‘Mount Gambier run’
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18 Jun 1846Curran's (Green Waterhole) Station
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1 Jul 1846Curran’s run
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1 Jul 1846McKinnon's Run
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1 Aug 1846 – 2 Aug 1846Aire River Estuary, Cape Otway — massacre
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1 Sep 1846Davenport’s Station (Mayurra)
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1 Oct 1846Mount Benson
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10 Oct 1846Rivoli Bay
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1 Nov 1846Hope’s station near Rivoli Bay
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1 Nov 1846Cameron’s Station
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1 Nov 1846Chirnside’s North Avenue Station
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9 Dec 1846Mt Muirhead Flat
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1 Jan 1847‘Evelyn Sturt’s station’
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1 Jan 1847Lake Eliza, near Mount Benson
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1 Jan 1847Black’s station
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1 Jul 1847 – 31 Jul 1847Mt Eccles — massacre
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7 Jul 1847Mr Brown’s station ‘in the southern part of the Tatiara country’
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15 Jul 1847Davenport’s station (Mayurra)
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28 Jul 1847Baker’s station ‘in the southern part of the Tatiara country’
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1 Aug 1847Near Sanders Station, County of Robe
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4 Aug 1847Doughty’s station near Mt Gambier
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15 Aug 1847Bates’ Station, Lake Hawdon run
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17 Aug 1847Two miles off the coast north of Cape Northumberland
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26 Feb 1848Robe
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1 Sep 1848James Brown and hutkeeper allegedly kill 9 Aboriginal People on Avenue Range station, September 1848Avenue Range (Keilera) Station
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1 Sep 1848 – 30 Sep 1848Avenue Range station, near Guichen Bay — massacre
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1 Jan 1850 – 12 Jan 1860Murderers Flat, Darlot's Creek, Lake Condah Mission — massacre
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1 Nov 1854 – 30 Nov 1854Apsley, Western Wimmera — massacre
The following lists references to some people involved in this conflict. More may be added in future.
This information has been collected from various sources, including the Colonial Frontier Massacres, 1788-1930 project (Ryan et al, 2025) and the South Australian Frontier and it's Legacies project (Foster et al), as well as ongoing research in primary sources. Finding and gathering this much information in millions of pages of colonial texts and other sources would not be possible without the use of computer automation. All information is checked but human and computer error can persist. Please let us know any corrections. Where possible, links are provided to sources to read the full text.
Country/Nation/People/Language indicates which Indigenous group people belonged to. Different people in different places prefer different terminology, and sometimes the 'belonging' relates to one of these not another. In many cases, due to colonists' limited knowledge, the archival record only uses generalised and sometimes racist terms (eg: 'blacks' or 'Murrimbidgee blacks'). In the absence of any other detail, although people travelled and visisted, we may infer the people involved were the people of the region the event occurred.
Listed are:
- Named Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander people. This includes people involved in violent action, or in some other way involved, such as messengers. In many cases only the colonists' name (alias or aka - 'also known as') for the person is available.
- Colonists involved in the conflict. This includes people who were involved in violent actions such as massacres and shooting, or whose stock, runs or huts were raided, or similar. It may include people who played a significant role in the conflict in other ways, such as the Governor or regional administrators who ordered actions or established policies in relation to the conflict.
- Unnamed individuals or groups of people. This is as specific as possible. If a group is mentioned that is indicated and if an individual is mentioned, we also list that individual. It may be difficult to disentangle which individuals and groups in source texts are the same, and which different. Indigenous people go unnamed in colonial records of conflict encounters more commonly than colonists, but sometimes reporting also did not refer to low status workers and convicts by name, and referred to them by role, such as 'a stockman', 'a shepherd', or by their employer's name, such as, 'Mr Smith's men'.
- Auxilliaries. This is a general category for people aiding or working for one side or another, who might not be regarded as 'from' that side. Usually this means Indigenous people working for, or acting on behalf of colonists such as trackers, workers and Native Police. This can also apply to colonists working within and on behalf of Indigenous culture (such as William Buckley). The distinction is not always clear cut and some individuals acted on both sides of the conflict or changed sides. This may be voluntarily or by coercion.
Unnamed Aboriginal People
This data has not yet been gathered. Research work is ongoing. To help, please consider donating or contact us to volunteer or about setting up research projects in your area.
Unnamed Colonists
This data has not yet been gathered. Research work is ongoing. To help, please consider donating or contact us to volunteer or about setting up research projects in your area.
Unnamed Auxilliaries
This data has not yet been gathered. Research work is ongoing. To help, please consider donating or contact us to volunteer or about setting up research projects in your area.