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Convincing Ground massacre
The Convincing Ground Massacre was a massacre of the Kilcarer gundidj clan of the Indigenous Gunditjmara people, by British whalers based at Portland Bay in south-eastern Australia. The massacre was part of the wider Eumeralla Wars between the British colonisers and Gunditjmara.
The massacre has been recognised by academics and state officials as a significant event in the history of Victoria. Professor Lynette Russell, from Australian Indigenous Studies at Monash University, says that the "Convincing Ground is probably the first recorded massacre site for Victoria." The Convincing Ground site, on the shore of Portland Bay, close to the town of Portland, has been listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
Tensions between European settlers and the Gunditjmara had been building since the establishment of Portland as a whaling station some five years previously. However, around 1833 or 1834, a dispute over a beached whale caused events to escalate. While reports vary as to the number of casualties, it is clear that Gunditjmara people were determined to assert their right to the whale as traditional food and, when challenged by the whalers, became aggressive.
In a conversation in 1841 with George Augustus Robinson, the Protector of Aborigines, Edward Henty and Police Magistrate James Blair said the whalers initially withdrew to the whaling station, only to return with firearms. Robinson's journal entry states: "And the whalers then let fly, to use his expression, right and left upon the natives. He said the natives did not go away but got behind trees and threw spears and stones. They, however, did not much molest them after that." No mention was made in the conversation of any casualties. Later reports, arising from a meeting that Robinson had in 1842 with Gunditjmara people, stated that only two members survived the massacre.
The uncertainty over the date of the massacre and the number of casualties appears to stem from the fact that the incident was reported and documented several years after it occurred. The earliest documented mention of the locality of the Convincing Ground is in an entry of Edward Henty's diary, dated 18 October 1835.
George Augustus Robinson visited the site of the massacre in 1841. He spoke to local squatters and made the following official report (although he made more extensive notes in his personal journal):
Among the remarkable places on the coast, is the "Convincing Ground", originating in a severe conflict which took place in a few years previous between the Aborigines and the Whalers on which occasion a large number of the former were slain. The circumstances are that a whale had come on shore and the Natives who fed on the carcass claimed it was their own. The whalers said they would "convince them" and had recourse to firearms. On this spot a fishery is now established.
On 23 March 1842, at Campbell's station on the Merri River, Aborigines briefed Robinson about the massacre. Only 30 men and women from various clans of the Gunditjmara people met him and told him that all but two men of the Kilcarer gundidj clan were slain in the massacre. The two survivors were called Pollikeunnuc and Yarereryarerer and were adopted by the Cart Gundidj clan of Mount Clay. The Cart Gundidj would not allow any member of the clan to go near the settlement of Portland following the massacre. In May 1842, Cart Gundidj resistance leader Partpoaermin was captured at the Convincing Ground after a violent struggle.
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Convincing Ground massacre
The Convincing Ground Massacre was a massacre of the Kilcarer gundidj clan of the Indigenous Gunditjmara people, by British whalers based at Portland Bay in south-eastern Australia. The massacre was part of the wider Eumeralla Wars between the British colonisers and Gunditjmara.
The massacre has been recognised by academics and state officials as a significant event in the history of Victoria. Professor Lynette Russell, from Australian Indigenous Studies at Monash University, says that the "Convincing Ground is probably the first recorded massacre site for Victoria." The Convincing Ground site, on the shore of Portland Bay, close to the town of Portland, has been listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
Tensions between European settlers and the Gunditjmara had been building since the establishment of Portland as a whaling station some five years previously. However, around 1833 or 1834, a dispute over a beached whale caused events to escalate. While reports vary as to the number of casualties, it is clear that Gunditjmara people were determined to assert their right to the whale as traditional food and, when challenged by the whalers, became aggressive.
In a conversation in 1841 with George Augustus Robinson, the Protector of Aborigines, Edward Henty and Police Magistrate James Blair said the whalers initially withdrew to the whaling station, only to return with firearms. Robinson's journal entry states: "And the whalers then let fly, to use his expression, right and left upon the natives. He said the natives did not go away but got behind trees and threw spears and stones. They, however, did not much molest them after that." No mention was made in the conversation of any casualties. Later reports, arising from a meeting that Robinson had in 1842 with Gunditjmara people, stated that only two members survived the massacre.
The uncertainty over the date of the massacre and the number of casualties appears to stem from the fact that the incident was reported and documented several years after it occurred. The earliest documented mention of the locality of the Convincing Ground is in an entry of Edward Henty's diary, dated 18 October 1835.
George Augustus Robinson visited the site of the massacre in 1841. He spoke to local squatters and made the following official report (although he made more extensive notes in his personal journal):
Among the remarkable places on the coast, is the "Convincing Ground", originating in a severe conflict which took place in a few years previous between the Aborigines and the Whalers on which occasion a large number of the former were slain. The circumstances are that a whale had come on shore and the Natives who fed on the carcass claimed it was their own. The whalers said they would "convince them" and had recourse to firearms. On this spot a fishery is now established.
On 23 March 1842, at Campbell's station on the Merri River, Aborigines briefed Robinson about the massacre. Only 30 men and women from various clans of the Gunditjmara people met him and told him that all but two men of the Kilcarer gundidj clan were slain in the massacre. The two survivors were called Pollikeunnuc and Yarereryarerer and were adopted by the Cart Gundidj clan of Mount Clay. The Cart Gundidj would not allow any member of the clan to go near the settlement of Portland following the massacre. In May 1842, Cart Gundidj resistance leader Partpoaermin was captured at the Convincing Ground after a violent struggle.