Rufus River massacre

The Rufus River is a small tributary which runs into the Murray River near Lake Victoria, New South Wales, very close to both the current borders with Victoria to the south and South Australia to the west,[1][2] in the area known as the Central Murray region.[3]

The local Maraura people probably had their first encounter with Europeans when Charles Sturt travelled down the river in 1830. There is no record of other Europeans in the region until the overland stock route was opened between Sydney and Adelaide in 1838, and Joseph Hawdon and Charles Bonney made the first trip, taking 335 cattle to the Adelaide market. Edward Eyre and Sturt followed, and by April 1841 at least 36 parties had travelled the track, bringing with them about 480 people, 90,000 sheep and 15,000 cattle, as well as horses, bullocks, drays and goods into Aboriginal territories. The route followed much older Aboriginal pathways, and various skirmishes were reported as the new settlers travelled through the Central Murray region.[3]

On 16 April 1841 a group of 11 overlanders, led by Henry Inman, with 5,000 sheep, was attacked on the banks of the river about 40 miles (64 km) east of Lake Bonney. Two of the party were killed and one injured. A group of volunteers, including a member of the original party, Henry Field, set out to recover the sheep on 7 May. They too were attacked.[3]

Governor Grey swore in a batch of special constables under the jurisdiction of Major Thomas O’Halloran and the Protector of Aborigines, Matthew Moorhouse.[4] A large party of men, including police under the command of James Rigby Beevor, left Adelaide on 31 May. They met up with another group of overlanders, led by Alfred Langhorne, on 22 June, who had been attacked two days earlier at the Rufus River. Four Europeans and five Aboriginal people had been killed, with two and about ten injured in each group respectively.[3]

A memorial on the embankment at Lake Victoria.

Another official party, including police, three Aboriginal people and Moorhouse, again left for the Murray in July 1841, meeting up in August with another group of overlanders, led by William Robinson, who had earlier been attacked. In that conflict, no Europeans had been hurt, but five Aboriginal men had been killed and 10 wounded. Coming across a large group of local men and women near Lake Victoria, Moorhouse and two others became involved in another clash, despite Moorhouse’s attempts to negotiate through interpreters.[3] According to Moorhouse's report later sent to Grey, "nearly 30" Aboriginal people were killed, "about 10" wounded and four captured and four (one man, one boy, and two females) taken prisoner.[5][6][7] A large majority of the wounded would be expected to die from their wounds, because Aboriginal medicine was ill-equipped to deal with gunshot wounds.[8] Only one European was wounded.[3]

A subsequent enquiry headed by Sturt questioned the participants, including the Aboriginal interpreter and one of the captives, but eventually declared that the actions of the European parties had been justifiable.[3] It determined original cause of much of the trouble with the Robinson group was the Europeans engaging in sexual relations with the women without giving the food and clothing promised first.[4] That initiated an escalating cycle of conflicts, which eventually included the Aboriginal groups stealing thousands of European sheep.[7][9] Moorhouse testified that about 150 Aborigines appeared to be readying to attack, and that the massacre was committed to pre-empt such an attack.[10]

Moorhouse's report was disputed by Robinson, who stated that "thirty to forty were killed, and as many wounded",[5] and later by James Collins Hawker, who wrote in his book Early Experiences in South Australia (1899: p. 79): "The firing lasted about fifteen minutes, 30 natives were killed, 10 wounded and 4 taken prisoner ... This was the Protector's report but in after years when I was residing on the Murray and had learnt the language of the natives, I ascertained that a much larger number had been killed..."

• Australian Frontier Wars
• List of massacres of Indigenous Australians
• Maria (brigantine)

• "Papers Relative To The Affairs Of South Australia—Aborigines", Accounts and Papers 1843, Volume 3 (London: William Clowes and Sons), p. 267-310.
• "Fatal recontre with the Murray natives", South Australian Register, p. 2, 11 September 1841. [This report is also available via Trove. ]
• "The late fatal affray on the Murray", South Australian Register, p. 2, 18 September 1841 – via Trove.
• "The Bench of Magistrates and the Late Fatal Affray with the Natives", Southern Australian, p. 3, 21 September 1841 – via Trove.
• Blaikie G. (29 March 1952), "Rumpus at Rufus River", The Mail, pp. 4–5 of Sunday Magazine – via Trove.
• Clyne R. (1981), "At war with the natives: From the Coorong to the Rufus, 1841", Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, 9: 91-110.
• Eyre E.J. (1845), Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia, and overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound, in the years 1840-41, sent by the Colonists of Australia, with the sanction and support of the Government; including an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines, and the state of their relations with Europeans, Volume I and Volume II (London: T. and W. Boone). Republished by Cambridge University Press (2011).
• Mattingley C., Hampton K. (1988), Survival in Our Own Land, p. 38-40.
• Nettlebeck A. (1999), "Mythologising frontier: Narrative versions of the Rufus River conflict, 1841‐1899", Journal of Australian Studies, 23: 75-82; doi:10.1080/14443059909387476.
• O'Halloran T. (1903–1904), "From Adelaide along the River Murray to the Rufus and Lake Victoria", Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia: South Australian Branch, 7: 70–91.
• Sturt C. (1849), Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia, p. 92 (London: T. and W. Boone).
• Summers J. (1986), "Colonial race relations", The Flinders History of South Australia: social history (editor – E. Richards), p. 283-311 (Wakefield Press).
• Watson F. (1924), Historical Records of Australia—Series I, Volume XXI (October 1840 – March 1842), p. 695-701 (Sydney: Library Committee of the Commonwealth Parliament). [Letter from Lord Stanley to Sir George Gipps, 21 February 1842.]
• Watson F. (1924), Historical Records of Australia—Series I, Volume XXII (April 1842 – June 1843), p. 39-40 (Sydney: Library Committee of the Commonwealth Parliament). [Letters from Lord Stanley, 13 May 1842.]
• Wigley M. (2006), Ready Money: The life of William Robinson of Hill River, South Australia and Cheviot Hills, North Canterbury (Christchurch: Canterbury University Press).
• Razik, Naveen (11 July 2020). "Victoria to introduce Australia's first truth-telling process to address Indigenous injustices". SBS News, Special Broadcasting Service. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
• Thorne, Leonie (11 July 2020). "Victoria to establish truth and justice process as part of Aboriginal treaty process". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2020.

• SA Protector of Aborigines: Out Letter Book I (May 21, 1840 to Jan 6, 1857)  —First Sources
• Some Known Conflicts in New South Wales  —Australian Frontier Conflicts
• Sign Sites - Palmer Gardens / Pangki Pangki  —City of Adelaide
• Colonial Frontier Massacres in Central and Eastern Australia 1788-1930  —University of Newcastle (Australia)