Powlett River

The Powlett River rises on the southern slopes of the Strzelecki Ranges, near Ellerside, north of Inverloch, and flows generally west, joined by one minor tributary, before reaching its mouth within Bass Strait, west of Wonthaggi, within the Shire of Bass Coast. The river descends 40 metres (130 ft) over its 27 kilometres (17 mi) course.[6]

The river is traversed by the Bass Highway between Daylston and Wonthaggi.[6]

"Violence typified the expansion of Port Phillip. In the decades that followed Batman's and Pascoe Fawkner's settlement, the colony became an historically condensed example of the worst aspects of nineteenth century British settler colonialism. Britons hungry for land and space 'bred like rabbits and settled like bad weeds' in what James Belich described as the 'settler revolution'.' Colonists and settlers observed the speed of dispossession with pride. This invasion occurred between 1840 and the 1860s and was reported with a mixture of pride and astonishment.' Aboriginal people lost land, were shot, shot at, had their camps destroyed, their dogs shot and their implements stolen and broken. Investigations were mostly cursory and incomplete. Aboriginal Protectors were vilified for attempting to do their job properly. The powerful in the colony were actively critical of the Protectorate. Gipps actually blamed the Protectorate for not containing Aboriginal violence."[7]

"Tragically two of these (Aboriginal) men, Tunnerminnerwait (known as Jack) and Maulboyheenner (known as Bob, or sometimes called Timmy or Jimmy), became the first people executed in the Port Phillip District. This took place in 1842, a mere seven years after John Batman's fraudulent treaty with the Kuhn people, when the two Tasmanian Aboriginal men were publicly hanged for murder."[7] The Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner public marker exists at the place of execution at the site of the Old Melbourne Gaol. The website contains historical research and information on the artists commissioned for the marker, Artist Brook Andrew, along with Trent Walter.

"Two Tasmanian Aboriginal men, clad in white pyjamas, went to their deaths on a makeshift gallows in Melbourne in 1842. The contemporaneous executions were apparently quite a spectacle: one man, Maulboyheenner, twisting on the rope, strangled slowly in front of a crowd of 5000. They had been convicted of killing two whalers in Western Port. Both the Tasmanians and the whalers - one was called the Yankee - were a long way from home."[7]

"In the earliest official report about the murders, on 7 October 1841, Robert Massie reported to La Trobe of two whalers' deaths (sometimes described as 'runaways') at Watson's coal mine the previous day. Threaded through this very first report is a convoluted tale of at least two hunting parties operating in pursuit of the (Aboriginal) Tasmanians."[7]

"After Massie's report was received, a number of formal military and police parties were sent out to capture the Tasmanians. The group of five was taken alive after a violent dispersal on 20 November 1841. Conflicting versions of the conduct of the dispersal are found in Frederick Armand Powlett's official, and in Ensign Samuel Rawson and Assistant Protector William Thomas' unofficial, versions."[7]

"On 20 November 1841 an armed daylight attack (arrest) was made upon the sleeping and unresponsive band of (Aboriginal) Tasmanians, just back from the beach near what we now call the mouth of the Powlett River. This dispersal came at the end of this long, if interrupted, hunt. Twenty five armed men - 18 mounted men and seven foot troops - charged down a sand dune discharging their weapons at the sleeping group."[7]

"Commissioner of Crown Lands Powlett's reports began with a brief note to La Trobe on 4 December 1841. 'Before sunrise', he said, they came upon the campfire of the Tasmanians. It was difficult to surround the camp as it abutted a thick tea tree scrub. He gave the order to shoot if they could not 'capture' the group. The Tasmanians 'retreated'. Some shots were fired. The women were 'secured' and one shot 'slightly grazed' one woman's head. As to what shooting took place, Powlett is measured and responsible: [as] 'the natives had left their firearms at the camp he ordered the men on no account whatever to fire another shot'. Powlett's raid was orderly. The Tasmanians were on their feet retreating or, at worst, running away. One 'slight graze' is not a serious head wound."[7]

In the Australian Aboriginal Boonwurrung language the name for the river is Kugerungmome, with no clearly defined meaning.[4]

The river was named in 1840 in honour of Frederick Powlett,[1] the Commissioner of the Western Port District.[2][3]

• Rivers of Victoria

• Media related to Powlett River at Wikimedia Commons
• "West Gippsland Regional Catchment Strategy (2013 - 2019)" (PDF – 4MB). West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority. 2012. ISBN 978-0-9805562-8-5.