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99-575: The Eumeralla Wars were the violent encounters over the possession of land between British colonists and Gunditjmara Aboriginal people in what is now called the Western District area of south west Victoria . The wars are named after the region around the Eumeralla River between Port Fairy and Portland where some of the worst conflict was located. They were part of the wider Australian frontier wars . The conflict lasted from

198-417: A mission outside Warrnambool . This was unacceptable, it was located moreover on Girai wurrung land. 827 hectares were set aside for them at Lake Condah , and two decades later, in 1885, this reserve was expanded by a further 692 hectares. The tribe congregated here, until an act was passed to deny right of residence to any " half-caste ", resulting in the dispersal of many Gunditjmara kinsfolk, and

297-533: A temperate mediterranean climate ( Csb ). Cold fronts regularly sweep in from the Southern Ocean. Although daytime temperatures occasionally reach into the 30s even 40s during summer, daytime temperatures in the mid teens will often linger into December and are not uncommon even during the high summer months. On average Hamilton has 105 days per year with more than 1 mm of rain with a marked minimum during Summer. The town has 56.3 clear days annually. It

396-524: A base area for their operations. Contact exposed the local people to epidemics from new diseases born by whites but otherwise was seasonal, and allowed time for demographic recovery. The major turn in relations occurred with the arrival of, and settlement of their lands by, the Henty Brothers from 1834 onwards. Though much silence surrounded the massacres that took place, and, despite Boldrerwood's explicit testimony, some early historians dismissed

495-463: A form which I dare not discredit, showing that such acts are perpetrated among you. La Trobe describes the nighttime 'murder of no fewer than three defenceless aboriginal women and a child in their sleeping-place'. The colonists' petition to La Trobe included a list of their losses that 'principally occurred' in February and March 1842. Perhaps in response to this petition, Foster Fyans returned to

594-410: A hub of several branch lines until their eventual closures in 1977 and 1979. Hamilton was proclaimed as a city on 22 November 1949. Hamilton contains a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Sheep grazing and agriculture are the primary industries in the surrounding shire, the area producing as much as 15% of Australia's total wool clip. Inside the city of Hamilton the majority of employment

693-475: A large number of stolen sheep. The fight continued all night. During the fight, information came that Basset the owner of the sheep had been murdered and 200 sheep had gone. 8 or 9 Aboriginal men were shot. 19 October 1843, Mr Lockhart's dray had been attacked and robbed, in the attempt to recover the stolen items and arrest some of the men responsible resulted in 2 local Aboriginal men being killed. Another search during this tour of duty led to more deaths. One of

792-640: A number of Gunditjmara at one of the Glenelg's tributaries called the Crawford River . Surviving members of the Wollorerer clan who lived along the Glenelg spoke to Robinson saying that "plenty shoot him white man, plenty all gone this tribe." It was made apparent to the Protector that the few remaining of the clan were mostly girls kept alive by the whites for sexual purposes. One of the girls' names

891-525: A number of punitive expeditions killing several Aboriginal people. The overseer at Tarrone also gave poisoned flour to a group of Gunditjmara, killing nine people. George Augustus Robinson later observed six survivors of this mass poisoning who were still unable to walk due to the effects. At Caramut , a leasehold held by Thomas Osbrey and Sidney Smith, a famous massacre named the Lubra Creek massacre occurred on 24 February 1842. Three women (one of whom

990-406: A role passed on by hereditary transmission. They spoke distinct dialects, not all of them mutually intelligible, with the three main hordes located around Lake Condah , Port Fairy and Woolsthorpe respectively. The Gunditjmara groups are divided into two moieties , respectively the grugidj ( sulphur-crested cockatoo or Long-billed corella ) and the gabadj ( Red-tailed black cockatoo ,

1089-717: A servant of Tulloh's abducted an Aboriginal boy, later kicking him to death. After many cattle were speared on the Bolden brothers' property on the Hopkins River , Sandford Bolden shot and killed a local inhabitant named Totkiere and his wife. Their orphan son escaped to the Aboriginal Protector, Charles Sievwright , who reported the event to the authorities. Bolden faced court in Melbourne in December 1841 but

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1188-611: A settler who was employed by John Cox at the Mount Rouse property was killed by a group of Aboriginal men assumed to have been led by Alkapurata (also known as Rodger). Codd's death forced the colonial authorities to take formal action with Captain Foster Fyans of the Border Police and James Blair, a Police Magistrate, being sent to the region to enforce order. Protectors of Aborigines were also tasked with conciliating

1287-465: A shoot against the Aboriginal race…an’ they shot women, kids and everything else…an’ that wasn’t…you know they wouldn’t say how many they shot, they wouldn’t put that down, because it was sport to them, it was like shooting animals… The last massacre was at Murder's Flats in the early 1850s (though see Dhauwurd Wurrung History for difficulties with this date). Another proposed final date is 1859 for

1386-409: A study published in February 2020, new evidence produced by using a form of radiometric dating known as argon-argon dating , showed that both Budj Bim and Tower Hill volcanoes erupted at least 34,000 years ago. Specifically, Budj Bim was dated at within 3,100 years either side of 36,900 years BP , and Tower Hill was dated at within 3,800 years either side of 36,800 years BP . Significantly, this

1485-460: A sudden change in vegetation consistent with an artificial ponding system, and initial radiocarbon dating of the soil samples suggests the ponds were created up to 8,000 years ago. The eels were prepared by smoking them with burning leaves from Australian blackwood . The coastal clans, like other tribes on the south-west coast, according to an early settler, Thomas Browne , had a rich fish diet, which included whale ( cunderbul ) flesh , In

1584-425: A swivel gun mounted outside his homestead which was put to use during the conflict. Thomas Connell, the manager of Edward Henty 's Sandford property resorted to mass poisoning to remove the local people. In November 1840, around 16 people died in agony after Connell gave them damper laced with arsenic. The names of some of those poisoned were Tolort, Yangolarri, Bokarareep and Coroitleek. In May 1840, Patrick Codd

1683-739: A table tennis centre with 8 courts and a large gym . The city is also the home of the Hamilton Rowing Club (HRC) which competes in Rowing Victoria regattas during the summer. The Hamilton and Alexandra College Rowing Club (HACRC) sometimes compete in such events or attempt to train. Tucked behind the Historical Society in Gray Street, is the Hamilton 8-Ball and Snooker Club. Hamilton has a horse racing club ,

1782-570: A track called Waterloo Lane. British colonisation of the area intensified from 1840 and conflict worsened. The Whyte brothers started taking land around the modern day Coleraine region in early 1840 and were soon involved in two large massacres of Aboriginal people, namely the Fighting Hills massacre and the Fighting Waterholes massacre . George Winter shot dead five native people at Tahara , while Arthur Pileau of Hilgay on

1881-469: A tribute to the importance of the local wool industry. Together they formed a building and a cafe containing wool-related displays such as historical memorabilia, including farming and shearing equipment, wool scales, old horse harnesses, wool presses and weaving looms, along with wool samples and rural clothing. The Keeping Place is a small museum and living history centre run by local indigenous people. The Sir Reginald Ansett Transport Museum celebrates

1980-586: A wool-related trade-show and exhibition is held in the Hamilton Show-grounds in the first Monday & Tuesday of August each year, and attracts up to 20,000 visitors. It has a similar feel to an Agricultural show but is focused on wool and sheep. The Hamilton Agricultural Show is normally held in November. The Big Wool Bales was an attraction (now demolished) it consisted of five linked structures designed to resemble five gigantic woolbales -

2079-650: Is a Registered Native Title Body Corporate (RNTBC) under the Commonwealth Native Title Act 1993 , and a Registered Aboriginal Party under the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 . The TOAC owns culturally significant properties across Western Victoria on behalf of the Gunditjmara community. Sources: Tindale 1974 , p. 204 Howitt 1904 , p. 69, Hamilton, Victoria Hamilton

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2178-561: Is a "minimum age constraint for human presence in Victoria", and also could be interpreted as evidence for the Gunditjmara oral histories which tell of volcanic eruptions being some of the oldest oral traditions in existence. An axe found underneath volcanic ash in 1947 was also proof that humans inhabited the region before the eruption of Tower Hill. The beginnings of contact with ngamadjidj (white people) date as far back as 1810, when whalers and sealers began to use Portland as

2277-678: Is a city in south-western Victoria , Australia , at the intersection of the Glenelg Highway and the Henty Highway . The Hamilton Highway connects it to Geelong . Hamilton is in the federal Division of Wannon , and is in the Southern Grampians local government area . Hamilton claims to be the "Wool Capital of the World" , based on its strong historical links to sheep grazing which continue today. The city uses

2376-496: Is also mentioned in the journals of George Augustus Robinson , the Protector of Aborigines in the region. In 1837 settlers in the Portland Bay District appealed to Governor Bourke for protection from attacks by Aborigines. In 1838 a group of 82 settlers threatened to declare a 'black war' if authorities did not give them further protection. A report was also made by Dr Collier at Portland that rapes and massacres of

2475-598: Is broadcast out of Studios in Warrnambool via Mt Clay Portland on 96.9 which is relayed to Mt Dundas. Local Programming is during breakfast times only and often is sourced from Horsham and Ballarat Studios. AM radio 3WL on 1602 is audible in Hamilton as is 3WV on 594 from Horsham. There are also low power narrowcast services on fm in Hamilton which change from time to time. KIX Country is currently transmitting sport and racing. Vision FM currently transmits in Hamilton and Casterton. There are plans to convert 3HA to FM and change

2574-584: Is located at the Hamilton Airport as well as a modern terminal building and toilets. Hamilton Aero Club has its club rooms and hangar there and is open most Saturdays. AVGAS Key lock card fueling is available 24/7. Turbine fuel by arrangement. There is no airline service to Hamilton, only charter flights and as such the airport is not staffed. Pilot activated lights on:124.2 are available and an automatic weather service details on NAIPS. A non directional radio beacon on 203 kHz for instrument approaches,

2673-633: Is one of very few NDBs remaining. For all details consult the Air Services ERSA. In 1881 William Guilfoyle , the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne was employed to design the Hamilton Botanic Gardens . Set in 4 acres (1.6 ha), the gardens are distinguished by rare botanic species, a superbly restored rotunda, a small zoo featuring rabbits, cockatiels and budgerigars and playground and

2772-480: Is provided by the retail industry (20%) and the Health and Community Services sector (14.5%). Education is another large employer, with four Secondary Schools, two of which enrol both primary and secondary students, as well as a number of stand-alone primary schools. The unemployment rate at the 2001 Census was put at 6.1%, with a workforce participation rate of 58.9%. Like most of south-western Victoria, Hamilton has

2871-711: Is significantly cloudier than Melbourne due to its elevation and westerly exposure. Though snow is rare, it saw significant snowfalls on 26 July 1901 and 11 October 1910. Hamilton and the surrounding areas is serviced by The Hamilton Spectator , a tri-weekly local newspaper published by the Spectator Observer newspaper group. Established in 1859 as the Hamilton Courier, it became the Hamilton Spectator and Grange District Advertiser in 1860, and later The Hamilton Spectator. Local Television

2970-796: Is transmitted from Mt Dundas Melville Forest in the VHF Band Channel 5 to 12. ABC TV , SBS TV , WIN ( Nine ), Seven and Southern Cross ( Ten ). UHF child sites exist in Coleraine ABC TV only on UHF from McKenrys Hill and Casterton from Seeleys Hill, All Services, which are on UHF. All services are DTV-B and require appropriate antenna to receive correctly. Unlike capital cities service runs on lower power and requires correct antenna. Caravan antenna for travellers might not work well. Neither will indoor aerials. There are two radio stations based in Hamilton: Both are owned by

3069-651: The Ace Radio network, which operates radio stations in the Western District of Victoria. Many other radio stations broadcast into Hamilton, including national broadcasters the ABC transmitting from Mt Dundas Melville Forest over much of Western Victoria including outlets at Warrnambool , Portland , and Ballarat . Stations are ABC News Radio 91.7, ABC Radio National 92.5, ABC Classic FM 93.3, ABC Local Radio 94.1, and JJJ Youth Radio 94.9. ABC local radio

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3168-526: The Border Police and the Native Police Corps . They also used more lawful means such as judicial executions and the rounding up of the local Aboriginal people and placement of them on temporary reserves. Casualties from the conflict are estimated to be in the thousands with up to 6,500 Aboriginal deaths (based on an estimated pre-contact population of 7,000 declining to just 442), and an approximate 80 deaths of settlers. The remains of some of

3267-426: The Border Police of New South Wales , under Captain Foster Fyans . The police magistrate from Portland, James Blair, and the new position of police magistrate to The Grange, Acheson French, were also appointed by Governor Charles Latrobe to "check the collision between the natives and the settlers". The proximity of The Grange to other properties and to important routes between Portland and New South Wales, led to

3366-609: The Glenelg River . Pioneer colonist of the Portland region, Edward Henty , and the new Police Magistrate for the area, James Blair, said in a meeting with George Augustus Robinson (the Chief Protector of Aborigines ) that they thought the local Aboriginal people were barely human and that soldiers should be brought in to shoot whole tribes along the Glenelg. The region's government surveyor, Charles Tyers , had shot

3465-658: The Gunditjmara and Jardwadjali at the Crawford River, Mt Eckersley, Victoria Range and at Mt Zero. Henry EP Dana was the commander of the Native Police Corps and encouraged the police to shoot rather than make arrests. Under the white Sergeant Windridge the Corps were engaged in a number of violent and fatal engagements. In 1843, a skirmish broke out between the Corps and local Aboriginal people with

3564-659: The Hopkins River . Their neighbours to the west are the Buandig people, to the north the Jardwadjali and Djab wurrung peoples, and in the east the Girai wurrung people. Early settlers remarked on the richness of the game to be found from the Eumerella Creek down to the coast. The way of life of the Aboriginal people of Western Victoria differed from other Aboriginal Victorians in several respects. Because of

3663-667: The Wayback Machine . Indigenous artist Rachael Joy has created a series of paintings based on the Eumeralla Wars which she describes as 'like my Guernica ' (referring to the famous painting of the horrors of war by Pablo Picasso ). A monument was unveiled in 2011 in "memory of the thousands of Aboriginal people who were massacred between 1837 and 1844 in this area of Port Fairy". Gunditjmara The Djargurd Wurrung , Girai wurrung , and Gadubanud are also Aboriginal Victorian groups who all spoke languages in

3762-651: The Western Border Football League . The teams agreed to merge at the end of the 2012 season in order to make the move to the Hampden Football League . Netball , field hockey , basketball , soccer , tennis and cricket are other popular sports in the city. Hamilton opened a large Indoor Sports and Aquatic Centre in March 2006, which contains four basketball courts, a twenty-five-metre indoor swimming pool , 4 squash courts,

3861-631: The lava flow of the Budj Bim volcano, creating ponds and wetlands in which they harvested short-finned eels ( kuyang or more commonly kooyang ). The Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape, which includes both the Tyrendarra Area and the Mt Eccles – Lake Condah Area, comprising Budj Bim National Park (formerly Mt Eccles National Park), Stones State Faunal Reserve, Muldoons Aboriginal Land, Allambie Aboriginal Land and Condah Mission )

3960-483: The AM service possibly to sport. Recent demolition at Melville oval saw the old 3HA broadcast box used for football since the 1949s removed. Hamilton is serviced by an all weather airport located at Hensley Park approximately 11 km North of Hamilton. A long bitumen North South Runway can take up aircraft up to Dash 8 size as well as small jet aircraft. A gravel runway is aligned NW and SE. A CFA fire base and control centre

4059-557: The Framlingham Forest to the Framlingham Trust. Although the title is essentially inalienable, in that it can only be transferred to another Indigenous land trust, the Framlingham Trust has rights to prevent mining on the land, unlike trusts or communities holding native title . The Lake Condah Mission lands were also returned to the Gunditjmara on 1 January 1987, when the 53-hectare (130-acre) former reserve

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4158-657: The Hamilton Racing Club, which schedules around nine race meetings a year including the Hamilton Cup meeting in April. As well as a harness racing club which has recently opened a new track, with state-of-the-art facilities. Golfers play at the Hamilton Golf Club or at the more minor course Parklands on Boundary and Hensley Park Roads. The eastern barred bandicoot is a marsupial native to

4257-539: The Kilcarer Gundidj on the beach at Portland at a site that later became known as Convincing Ground in an incident now known as the Convincing Ground massacre . Various versions exist. The site earned its name either because whalers hashed out their disputes there, because some transaction took place between the indigenous people and whalers, or because disputes arose, either of whale flesh or of

4356-516: The Kilcarer gundidj clan over the ownership of a beached whale that occurred near to the whaling settlement of Portland Bay. The conflict turned violent, and the whalers shot dead an unknown number of people, possibly 60. The massacre was recorded in the diary of Edward Henty , first permanent settler in the Port Phillip district who began whaling and sheep farming in the area in late 1834, and

4455-609: The Lake Bolac massacre of 11 people. Many Aboriginal people were displaced by the settlers, and the Victorian Government created Aboriginal reserves to house them; some were moved to Lake Condah Mission after its establishment in 1867. Deborah Cheetham AO wrote Eumeralla: A War Requiem for Peace based on the Eumeralla Wars. The work was performed in Port Fairy and Melbourne Archived 2 August 2019 at

4554-456: The Port Fairy region with a larger force of 14 Border Police troopers in April 1842. They were able to kill a number of resistance leaders and capture three others, namely Jupiter, Cocknose and Alkapurata. These men were sent for trial in Melbourne. The first two were released, while Alkapurata was found guilty of the earlier murder of Patrick Codd and hanged to death outside Melbourne Gaol on 5 September 1842. After his release, Jupiter returned to

4653-628: The Portland region of Victoria's western district. 4,000 hectares (9,900 acres) between Dunkeld and Yambuk on Victoria's south-west coast were set aside to include the eastern Marr. On 27 July 2011, together with the Eastern Maar people, the Gunditjmara People were recognised to be the native title-holders of the 4,000 hectares of Crown including Lady Julia Percy Island , known to them as Deen Maar . The Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation ( GMTOAC )

4752-627: The Supreme Court in Melbourne but were found not guilty by the jury. In March 1842, colonists from the Port Fairy area wrote a letter to then superintendent of the Port Phillip District , Charles La Trobe requesting further support from Melbourne for the damage to people and property in the area. The superintendent, who had a knowledge of the Lubra Creek massacre, responded: The destruction of European property, and even

4851-779: The Victorian Labor government under John Cain attempted to grant some of the Framlingham State Forest to the trust as inalienable title. However, the legislation was blocked by the Liberal Party opposition in the Victorian Legislative Council . The federal Labor government under Bob Hawke intervened, passing the Aboriginal Land (Lake Condah and Framlingham Forest) Act 1987 , which gave 1,130 acres (5 km ) of

4950-501: The Wannon River openly admitted that he shot "natives to get rid of them" and usually did so one-by-one instead of mass killings to avoid publicity. Charles Wedge established The Grange property and he and his neighbouring colonists spent much of 1840 in constant warfare with the local Aboriginal population that did not end until, as Wedge himself wrote: "many lives were sacrified and...many thousands of sheep destroyed." Wedge had

5049-431: The area, and a reserve has been built to protect this and other endangered species . In more recent decades (2007), the numbers of bandicoot (both within the reserve and outside of it) have declined significantly—to the point of nearing extinction—as a result of extended drought, and predation by introduced red foxes as well as feral cats . Competition for food with the introduced rabbits is another major issue affecting

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5148-565: The border of the great Eumeralla mere, there had been divers quarrels between the old race and the new. Whether the stockmen and shepherds were to blame—as is always said—or whether it was simply the ordinary savage desire for the tempting goods and chattels of the white man, cannot be accurately stated. Anyhow, cattle and sheep had been lifted and speared; blacks had been shot, as a matter of course; then, equally so, hut-keepers, shepherds, and stockmen had been done to death. Settlers went on 'hunting parties', for example 13 hunting parties described by

5247-729: The colder climate, they made, wore, and used as blankets , rugs of possum and kangaroo . Possum-skin cloaks , used by Gunditjmara and other peoples of the south-east, were made sewn with string, and worn for warmth, used to carry babies on their backs, as drums in ceremony and as a burial cloak. They are still made today as part of revitalisation of culture and as an instrument for healing. They also built huts from wood and local basalt (known as bluestone ), with roofs made of turf and branches. Stone tools were used for cutting, and are held in collections across Victoria today. The women used digging sticks , also known as yam sticks, for digging yams , goannas , ants and other foods out of

5346-466: The colonialist slaughters taking place during the Eumerella War, so named when the phrase was used as a chapter heading in the memoirs of the novelist Rolf Boldrewood who squatted 50,000 acres near Port Fairy a decade after the main killings. Sometime in 1833–1834, though the incident has been dated later, to around, 1839, whalers, perhaps 'tonguers,' are thought to have clashed with

5445-508: The context of Australia's recent History wars argues the figure of 200 dead misinterprets an 1841 report by the Portland Police Magistrate James Blair to Governor Latrobe referring to up to 200 Aboriginals amassing at Convincing Ground, and claims that modern research has fabricated the massacre. His arguments have been analysed, with a negative verdict by Ian D. Clark . George Augustus Robinson ,

5544-407: The crater's brow, which can be accessed only by Gunditjmara men wearing special emu-feather footwear. Opposite, beyond the coastline, the island they call Deen Maar/Dhinmar held special value for its burial associations. Rocks on the mainland shore facing the island contain a cave, known as Tarn wirrung ("road of the spirits"), which is thought of as the mouth of a passage linking the mainland and

5643-521: The dialect continuum known as the Dhauwurd Wurrung language ("Gunditjmara language"). Gunditjmara is formed from two morphemes: Gunditj , a suffix denoting belonging to a particular group or locality, and the noun mara , meaning "man". The Dhauwurd wurrung language is a term used for a group of languages spoken by various groups of the Gunditjmara people. Different linguists have identified different groupings of lects and languages (see

5742-453: The evidence of the native was not admissible in a court, the white murderers had escaped with impunity, and were still pursuing their career of crime and blood". Resisting dispossession, the Gunditjmara concentrated in the Stony Rises from which they waged guerilla warfare against the pastoralists usurping their lands, raiding their flocks and herds. Some protection was also afforded by the native protectorate set up at Mount Rouse , which

5841-444: The fertility and abundance of ‘ Australia Felix ’ (as he called this region of Western Victoria) encouraged pastoralists to move into the area and set up large sheep runs. In 1839, squatter Charles Wedge , with his brothers, arrived in the area and established ‘The Grange' sheep station near the banks of the Grange Burn rivulet—where the town of Hamilton now stands. There soon followed significant conflict between Wedge's men and

5940-417: The founding of Ansett Australia in Hamilton in 1935 and displays items from the early days of the Ansett Airlines' operation. There are many sporting clubs and leagues in the Hamilton area. The city is served by one Australian rules football team; Hamilton Kangaroos . This team competes in the Hampden Football League . The city formerly had 2 teams, Hamilton Magpies and Hamilton Imperials, which played in

6039-463: The gradual emergence of a small town. This settlement featured an inn, a blacksmith, a small store and some random shanties and businesses nearby. The site was a local social centre and meeting point for the surrounding pastoral properties; horse races were held along the Grange Burn flat. A postal office opened on 1 July 1844 (Hamilton from 1 January 1854). The desire for a school prompted a town survey, which commenced in 1849. The township of Hamilton

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6138-464: The ground, as well as for defence, for settling disputes and for punishment purposes as part of customary law . The Gunditjmara believe that the landscape's features mark out the traces of a creator, Budj Bim (meaning "High Head"), who emerged in the form of the volcano previously called Mount Eccles . In a spate of eruption, the lava flows, constituting his blood and teeth, spilled over the landscape, fashioning its wetlands. "High Head" still refers to

6237-452: The groundwork is older than the Egyptian pyramids . A controversy exists concerning the extent to which these features are the results of natural environmental processes or cultural modifications of the landscape by Indigenous people. Peter Coutts and others argued, in a work entitled Aboriginal Engineers of the Western District, Victoria, that numerous features show the handiwork of Aboriginal landscaping for economic purposes. This thesis

6336-407: The idea of a guerilla war. The Gunditjmara people fought fiercely for their lands during what became known as the Eumerella Wars , which lasted for decades. Women would fight as well, using their digging sticks which had a dual purpose as a weapon, for defence, for settling disputes and for meting out punishments as part of customary law . Ian D. Clark has identified 28 massacre sites most of

6435-421: The island. In Gunditjmara funeral rites, bodies are enfolded in grass bundles and interred with their heads pointing to the island, with an apotropaic firebrand of native cherry wood . If grass was thereafter found outside the mouth of Tarn wirrung, it was regarded as evidence that the good spirit Puit puit chepetch had conveyed the corpse via the subterranean passage to the island, while guiding its spirit to

6534-422: The judge threw the case out, dismissing the accusations against him as "hearsay evidence procured at second hand from the blacks." After a lengthy delay, Foster Fyans , the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Portland District, was able to organise a force of paramilitary Border Police troopers to bring order to the region. By the start of 1842, severe loss of stock and killing of shepherds by Aboriginal people

6633-471: The latter once thriving in buloke woodlands, now mainly cleared. According to Alfred William Howitt , they had four sections, which however did not affect marriage rules: However these terms refer to 4 of the 58 clans. Descent was matrilineal . The following is a list of the Gunditjmara clans ( conedeet ), taken from that in Ian D. Clark 's work. The Gunditjmara are traditionally river and lake people, with Framlingham Forest , Lake Condah and

6732-399: The local Aboriginal people. Wedge reported attacks on his shepherds, and the loss of hundreds of sheep and other livestock; in 1840, the killing of Patrick Codd—who had been employed on The Grange—led to at least three separate punitive expeditions by Wedge and co., resulting in the deaths of at least ten Aborigines. Wedge infamously had a swivel gun mounted outside of his homestead to ‘deter’

6831-518: The local Indigenous people in the region was occurring. In October 1838, after a shepherd was killed at Francis Henty 's Merino Downs property, a large number of local Aboriginal people were reportedly massacred along the nearby Wannon River . Likewise, men working for Samuel Winter's neighbouring property were involved in several skirmishes with the local residents. During this period the Murdering Gully massacre also took place (1839, with 35-40 Aboriginal people killed), and another massacre reported at

6930-423: The local people from approaching the house. Regarding his extensive conflicts with the local tribes, Wedge claimed that the "depredations did not cease till many lives were sacrificed". The "frequent collisions" compelled the squatters of the area to go so far as to request protection from the government. In 1842, temporary protection came from troopers of the Native Police , under Captain Henry Dana , and from

7029-409: The loss of their collective traditions, with the Condah mission numbers dropping drastically from 117 to 20. The land was reclaimed in 1951 by the government and allocated to returnee soldiers . In 2005 the area began to be bulldozed for groundwork for an eight-lot subdivision. The dispute was settled when the area was set aside as a reservation, in an agreement forged in February 2007. In 1987,

7128-483: The main article for details), and the whole group is also sometimes referred to as the Gunditjmara language or the Warrnambool language. Some of the major languages or dialects often grouped under these names were: The Gunditjmara tribal territories extends over an estimated 7,000 square kilometres (2,700 sq mi). The western boundaries are around Cape Bridgewater and Lake Condah . Northwards they reach Caramut and Hamilton . Their eastern boundaries lay around

7227-952: The marsupials. Within the city, the public lands adjoining the river and Lake Hamilton have been subject to spasmodic tree-planting projects. Mount Napier —the highest point on the Western District Plains—is found 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Hamilton. Primary schools in Hamilton include Hamilton (Gray Street) Primary School, George Street Primary School, Hamilton North Primary School and Saint Mary's Primary School. Secondary schools include Hamilton and Alexandra College , Baimbridge College and Monivae College . There are two Primary to Year 12 schools: Hamilton and Alexandra College and Good Shepherd College. Hamilton Special School caters to primary school-age students who have special education needs, predominantly autistic spectrum disorders and communication difficulties. South West Institute of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) has

7326-568: The mid 1830s up until the 1860s with the most intense period being between 1834 and 1844. The Aboriginal people mostly employed guerrilla tactics and economic warfare against the livestock and property of the British colonists, occasionally killing a shepherd or settler. The colonists utilised a wider range of strategies, such as killings of individuals and massacres of larger groups of Indigenous people, including women and children, by armed groups of whalers, settlers, station workers, and members of

7425-518: The native population and encouraging them to relocate to a reserve near Terang . However, these deployments had significant delays and John Cox, who was the grandson of noted colonist William Cox , in the meantime led a large punitive expedition against the local Aboriginal clans and killed around 20 people. In 1841, the Gunditjmara killed another settler in Francis Morton, who was hacked to death along with his servant William Lawrence near

7524-475: The need to travel far for food. Historical, physical items (such as the weirs and fish traps found in Lake Condah , south of Hamilton), as well as Aboriginal accounts of early white settlers, support the local oral histories of well-established, pre-European settlements in the area. On 12 September 1836, the explorer Major Thomas Mitchell was the first European to travel through the region. His reports of

7623-403: The occasional sacrifice of life, by the hands of the savage tribes among whom you live, if unprovoked and unrevenged, may justly claim sympathy and pity. But the feeling of abhorrence which one act of savage retaliation or cruelty on your part will rouse, must weaken, if not altogether obliterate every other, in the minds of most men ; and I regret to state, that I have before me a statement in

7722-673: The official Protector of Aborigines , in travelling in this western area in 1841, reported that settlers in the districts spoke of 'dropping the Aborigines as coolly as if speaking of dropping birds.' The loss of numbers, and headsmen meant clans were forced to unite under other clans and their chieftains. Thus the wungit of the Yiyar clan Boorn Boorn assumed leadership of the Cart gunditj, the Kilgar gunditj and Eurite gunditj when their leadership

7821-525: The ornate Thomson Fountain. The garden at one point housed an emu , however, it was illegally shot in 2012. The National Trust of Australia classified the gardens in 1990 with eight tree species listed on the Register of Significant Trees in Victoria. Hamilton Gallery Established in 1961, Hamilton Gallery's renowned collection features collection of gouache and watercolour pictures by English landscape painter Paul Sandby (1731-1809). Sheepvention ,

7920-555: The people involved in the conflict are at the Deen Maar Indigenous Protected Area . Coastal Gunditjmara people first came into regular contact with British colonisers in the early 1830s when whalers such as William Dutton , John Griffiths and the Henty brothers started to establish whaling stations at Portland Bay . The Convincing Ground Massacre (1833 or 1834) was a dispute between whalers and

8019-447: The realm of the clouds. If the burial coincided with the appearance of a meteor, this was read as proof that the being in transit to the heavens had been furnished with fire. If grass was found at the cave when no one had been buried, then it was thought it showed someone had been murdered, and the cave could not be approached until the grass had been dispersed. The Gunditjmara were divided into 59 clans, each with its headmen ( wungit ),

8118-569: The region and led further sheep-stealing campaigns in August against the British. Samuel MacGregor, the manager at the main sheep station targeted by Jupiter, led a punitive expedition in which they recovered the sheep and killed at least three Aboriginal warriors. Violence also continued around the Portland area with colonist Donald McKenzie and his hutkeeper being speared to death by a man named Koort Kirrup on McKenzie's run at Hotspur . In light of these ongoing conflicts, La Trobe ordered Fyans back to

8217-605: The region in September with a full complement of Border Police troopers together with an additional force of ten Native Police troopers under the command of Captain Henry EP Dana . La Trobe wanted Fyans to "take the most decided measures to put a check to these disorders." In 1843, the Native Police were brought in from Melbourne to take part in fighting against other Aboriginal people which included attacks upon

8316-405: The surrounding river systems being of great importance to them economically and spiritually. Numerous distinct structures, extending over 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi) of the landscape, are employed for the purpose of catching short-finned eels , the staple of the Gunditjmara diet. These include stone races; canals ; traps; stone walls ; stone house sites and stone cairns. Some of

8415-581: The tagline "Greater Hamilton: one place, many possibilities". Hamilton was built near the junction of three traditional indigenous tribal territories—the Gunditjmara land, stretching south to the coast; the Tjapwurong land, to the north east; and the Bunganditj territory, to the west. People who lived in these areas tended to be settled rather than nomadic. The region is fertile, with ample precipitation and an abundance of flora and fauna, lessening

8514-491: The tribes used as a basis for their operations. A particular point of ire were settlements that took over sacred sites associated with Mount Napier , Lake Condah and Port Fairy. Due to the ongoing battles in the 1840s, the Gunditjmara became well known as "The fighting Gunditjmara". From the mid- late 19th century attempts were made to have them move into the Framlingham Aboriginal Station ,

8613-495: The troopers was recorded by Assistant Protector William Thomas as claiming 17 Aboriginal men had been killed, though this number was later disputed. It was about this time that T.A. Browne settled at the property he called Squattesmere. T.A. Browne became a popular author, writing as Rolf Boldrewood, and wrote a chapter about the Eumeralla war in his book Old Melbourne Memories (1896). Before I arrived and took up my abode on

8712-612: The use of native women. If the dispute was over the carcass of a beached whale, the whites may have wished to flense it while the natives may have insisted that it was theirs, as dictated by their ancient customs. Estimates of the number of people killed in the dispute is unknown, varying from only a few to 30, 60 and as high as 200. All but two of the Kilcarer gundidj clan, Pollikeunnuc and Yarereryarerer, were said to have died. Robinson surmised many had been killed from encounters with 30 members of several different Dhauwurd wurrung clans. A minority view argued by Michael Connors, emerging in

8811-421: The writer and diarist Annie Baxter of Yambuk in 1845-1847. Gunditjmara Elder Aunty Iris Lovett-Gardiner from Lake Condah recalled the information passed down to her from her family who had survived: there was massacres all over the place but they probably weren’t recorded, because they had a shooting board that they had with Aboriginal people…they went out an’ they shot ‘em an’ they come from every where to have

8910-460: Was Narracort. Killings occurred elsewhere in the region during this year with reports made public that Robert Tulloh of Bochara station would ride out on Sundays and "hunt down blacks and shoot them like kangaroos." An investigation led by James Blair cleared him of any wrongdoing, even though Tulloh and other colonists admitted to partaking in other punitive expeditions which resulted in many casualties of Aboriginal people. On one of these excursions,

9009-1116: Was added to the National Heritage List on 20 July 2004, under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 . Several designated areas comprising the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019. In the wake of the burning of some 7,000 hectares of bushland around Lake Condah and in the Budj Bim National Park, further channel structures came to light. They also created channels linking these wetlands. These channels contained weirs with large woven baskets made by women to cull mature eels. Professor Peter Kershaw , noted palynologist at Monash University , as cited by Bruce Pascoe in his best-selling work Dark Emu , found evidence of

9108-431: Was centred around land acquired along the Eumeralla River and it was to this area that Fyans proceeded. His troopers were involved in skirmishes where several Gunditjmara were killed but some of the police were severely wounded and the force had to withdraw. The wider conflict continued unabated in its viciousness. In response to the local inhabitants killing livestock on his Tarrone landholding, Dr James Kilgour organised

9207-403: Was challenged as a mythical "romancing of the landscape" by Anne Clarke, one that confused natural processes with socially crafted infrastructure. However, fresh archaeological work by Heather Builth led to her contending that they had a sophisticated system of aquaculture and eel farming . They built stone dams to hold the water in these swampy volcanic areas, especially the area comprising

9306-627: Was eliminated. Rev Benjamin Hurst (missionary to the Port Phillip tribe ) noted in a Weslayen Mission meeting in 1841 that in the Portland bay area "it was usual for some to go out in parties on the Sabbath with guns, for the ostensible purpose of kangarooing, but, in reality to hunt and kill these miserable beings — the bones and the bodies of the slaughtered blacks had been found — but because

9405-409: Was formally declared in 1851. The town was named in the following way as quoted by the book "Dundas Shire Centenary 1863-1963", page 58. Quote: "In 1840, owing to police difficulties in controlling public houses on, or not on the imaginary boundary line, Henry Wade was sent from Sydney on a special mission to mark out the boundary. He completed the survey as far as Serviceton by the spring of 1847, and

9504-498: Was granted this status in 1999. Becoming the first IPA in Victoria. The Lake Condah Mob launched their Native Title Claim in August 1996. On 30 March 2007, the Federal Court of Australia under Justice Anthony North determined on recognising the Gunditjmara People's non-exclusive native title rights and interests over 137,000 hectares (340,000 acres) of vacant Crown land, national parks, reserves, rivers, creeks and sea in

9603-414: Was pregnant) and a child were shot dead, and another woman died later of wounds. Because the victims included women and children, and the attack was unprovoked—the group were not found with sheep nor western clothing, and the families were asleep at the time—the massacre was widely condemned. Three of the men involved in the attack, Richard Hill, Joseph Betts and John Beswicke, were tried the following year at

9702-510: Was then appointed District Surveyor and in 1850, laid out a township for the Grange, which he named Hamilton. It was then the prerogative of the surveyor to christen his lay-out. Wade and his family had made close friends of the Hamiltons and Gibsons of Bringalbert, there being intermarriages later." The railway reached the town in 1877 and, along with the local railway station , would become

9801-807: Was vested to the Kerrup Jmara Elders Corporation. The transfer included "full management, control and enjoyment by the Kerrup-Jmara Elders Aboriginal Corporation of the land granted to it". In 1993, the Peek Whurrong members of the Gunditjmara purchased the Deen Maar under the auspices of ATSIC for the Framlingham Aboriginal Trust, with the intention that it become an Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), it

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