Convincing Ground massacre
Encyclopedia
When Portland, Victoria
was established as a whaling station in 1829, there was tension between the local Indigenous Australian tribe, the Kilcarer gundidj clan of the Gunditjmara
people and the whalers. In 1833 or 1834 this tension turned into a full fledged conflict in a dispute over a beached whale
. The Convincing Ground is located in Portland Bay
southwest of Melbourne, near the coastal town of Portland in the Shire of Glenelg and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. Professor Lynette Russell from Australian Indigenous Studies at Monash University said "The Convincing Ground is probably the first recorded massacre
site for Victoria."
According to Edward Henty
and Police Magistrate James Blair in conversation with George Augustus Robinson
, the Protector of Aborigines in 1841, the whalers withdrew to their sheds only to return with their firearms. Robinson's journal entry says "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 as to casualties. Later reports arising from a meeting in 1842 that Robinson had with Gunditjmara people stated only two members survived the massacre.
Reports vary between 60 and 200 Aborigines killed, including women and children.
The reason for this uncertainty over casualties and the actual date of the massacre appears to stem from the fact that the incident was only reported and documented several years after its occurrence. The earliest documented mention of the Convincing Ground locality is in an entry of Edward Henty
's diary dated 18 October 1835.
George Augustus Robinson
visited the site of the massacre in 1841 and talked with local squatters and made the following official report (although he made more extensive notes in his journal):
Robinson was only briefed by Aborigines on the massacre when 30 men and women from various clans of the Gunditjmara people met with him on 23 March 1842 at Campbell's station on the Merri River 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, although in May 1842 Cart Gundidj resistance leader Partpoaermin was captured at the Convincing Ground after a violent struggle.
Also conflicting with Robinsons account is a letter dated 1841 from Police Magistrate Blair To Governor Latrobe http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/nativepolice/documents/00010_u003_41-830_003.html:
Historian Richard Broome estimated that about 60 were killed at the Convincing Ground massacre. Bruce Pascoe, in his book published in 2007 titled Convincing Ground - Learning to Fall in love with your country, said:
Henty's diary entry referring to the Convincing Ground by name in October 1835 precedes the visit of Mitchell so logically invalidates this account. Clark believes the account by Henty and Blair as told to Robinson is the most likely source of origin.
A fourth account - the oral tradition and reports by the Gunditjmara
- was that a massacre took place almost wiping out an entire clan to "convince them" of white rights to the land."
Professor Clark told Message Stick
documentary in 2007:
and Michael Connor contest that a massacre even occurred and accuse Aborigines of "exaggerating the case for political bloody-mindedness" and allege the story of the massacre is "myth-making" and "very dubious". According to Michael Connor, historian Damien Cash offered the following dissenting opinion on the documentary evidence considered at a hearing of the three person committee for the Victorian Heritage Council:
community on whether or not the location should be protected.
Kilcarer clan traditional owner Walter Saunders, a descendant of one of the two massacre survivors, explained the cultural importance of the site on ABC radio:
As a result of a confidential agreement in 2007, some development would occur but the Convincing Ground would become a public reservation.
Portland, Victoria
The city of Portland is the oldest European settlement in what is now the state of Victoria, Australia. It is the main urban centre of the Shire of Glenelg. It is located on Portland Bay.-History:...
was established as a whaling station in 1829, there was tension between the local Indigenous Australian tribe, the Kilcarer gundidj clan of the Gunditjmara
Gunditjmara
Gunditjmara, or Gundidj for short, are an Indigenous Australian group from western Victoria . Their neighbours to the west were the Buandig people, to the north the Jardwadjali and Djab wurrung peoples, and in the east the Girai wurrung people.The name may also be spelt Gournditch-Mara...
people and the whalers. In 1833 or 1834 this tension turned into a full fledged conflict in a dispute over a beached whale
Beached whale
A beached whale is a whale that has stranded itself on land, usually on a beach. Beached whales often die due to dehydration, the body collapsing under its own weight, or drowning when high tide covers the blowhole.-Species:...
. The Convincing Ground is located in Portland Bay
Portland Bay
Portland Bay is a small Bay off the coast of Victoria, Australia. It is about 360 km west of Melbourne. The main town on the bay is also named Portland....
southwest of Melbourne, near the coastal town of Portland in the Shire of Glenelg and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. Professor Lynette Russell from Australian Indigenous Studies at Monash University said "The Convincing Ground is probably the first recorded massacre
Massacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
site for Victoria."
The massacre
While reports are varied on casualties, it is clear that the Gunditjmara were determined to assert their right to the whale as traditional food and when challenged by the whalers, were aggressive in return.According to Edward Henty
Edward Henty
See also Western District Edward Henty ,was a pioneer and first permanent settler in the Port Phillip district , Australia....
and Police Magistrate James Blair in conversation with George Augustus Robinson
George Augustus Robinson
George Augustus Robinson was a builder and untrained preacher. He was the Chief Protector of Aborigines in Port Phillip District from 1839 to 1849...
, the Protector of Aborigines in 1841, the whalers withdrew to their sheds only to return with their firearms. Robinson's journal entry says "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 as to casualties. Later reports arising from a meeting in 1842 that Robinson had with Gunditjmara people stated only two members survived the massacre.
Reports vary between 60 and 200 Aborigines killed, including women and children.
The reason for this uncertainty over casualties and the actual date of the massacre appears to stem from the fact that the incident was only reported and documented several years after its occurrence. The earliest documented mention of the Convincing Ground locality is in an entry of Edward Henty
Edward Henty
See also Western District Edward Henty ,was a pioneer and first permanent settler in the Port Phillip district , Australia....
's diary dated 18 October 1835.
George Augustus Robinson
George Augustus Robinson
George Augustus Robinson was a builder and untrained preacher. He was the Chief Protector of Aborigines in Port Phillip District from 1839 to 1849...
visited the site of the massacre in 1841 and talked with local squatters and made the following official report (although he made more extensive notes in his 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.
Robinson was only briefed by Aborigines on the massacre when 30 men and women from various clans of the Gunditjmara people met with him on 23 March 1842 at Campbell's station on the Merri River 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
Portland, Victoria
The city of Portland is the oldest European settlement in what is now the state of Victoria, Australia. It is the main urban centre of the Shire of Glenelg. It is located on Portland Bay.-History:...
following the massacre, although in May 1842 Cart Gundidj resistance leader Partpoaermin was captured at the Convincing Ground after a violent struggle.
Also conflicting with Robinsons account is a letter dated 1841 from Police Magistrate Blair To Governor Latrobe http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/nativepolice/documents/00010_u003_41-830_003.html:
C. J. La Trobe Esqr.
&c &c
Melbourne
[Annotation: attached]
2 10 June. am.
A messenger has just arrived from
the Convincing Ground with the intelligence that
upwards of 200 Blacks have assembled there &
the whalers are in consequence obliged to
remain on shore, being in momentary expec-
of an attack on their huts.
This being the same site of the alleged massacre and upon the supposed sacred ground.
Historian Richard Broome estimated that about 60 were killed at the Convincing Ground massacre. Bruce Pascoe, in his book published in 2007 titled Convincing Ground - Learning to Fall in love with your country, said:
- "The battle site became known as the Convincing Ground, the place where the Gundidjmara were ‘convinced’ of white rights to the land. The Gundidjmara were beaten in that battle but never convinced of its legitimacy."
Origin of 'Convincing Ground'
There has also been debate over the origin of the term, Convincing Ground, with three different European based accounts:- Edward Henty and Police Magistrate Jim Blair's account of a violent altercation to "convince" the Aborigines of European "rights" to land and resources which led Robinson to believe a large number of people were slain;
- that it was a place where whalers settled disputes between themselves; and
- a popular account that the site was named by explorer Thomas Mitchell when he visited in August 1836, still being promoted in 2008 by Portland Rotary Club.
Henty's diary entry referring to the Convincing Ground by name in October 1835 precedes the visit of Mitchell so logically invalidates this account. Clark believes the account by Henty and Blair as told to Robinson is the most likely source of origin.
A fourth account - the oral tradition and reports by the Gunditjmara
Gunditjmara
Gunditjmara, or Gundidj for short, are an Indigenous Australian group from western Victoria . Their neighbours to the west were the Buandig people, to the north the Jardwadjali and Djab wurrung peoples, and in the east the Girai wurrung people.The name may also be spelt Gournditch-Mara...
- was that a massacre took place almost wiping out an entire clan to "convince them" of white rights to the land."
Professor Clark told Message Stick
Message Stick
Message Stick is an Australian television series about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lifestyles, culture and issues. It began screening in 1999 on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It features features profile stories, interviews, video clips, short films and cooking segments.The...
documentary in 2007:
- "If we deny the history that goes with the Convincing Ground - and that is both the very good documentary evidence that we have, plus the very good oral history that we have from the Gunditjmara People, we are denying Aboriginal people their history, and if we deny Aboriginal people their history, we are denying a major part of the history of Australia." .
Historical skepticism
Some historians such as Keith WindschuttleKeith Windschuttle
Keith Windschuttle is an Australian writer, historian, and ABC board member, who has authored several books from the 1970s onwards. These include Unemployment, , which analysed the economic causes and social consequences of unemployment in Australia and advocated a socialist response; The Media: a...
and Michael Connor contest that a massacre even occurred and accuse Aborigines of "exaggerating the case for political bloody-mindedness" and allege the story of the massacre is "myth-making" and "very dubious". According to Michael Connor, historian Damien Cash offered the following dissenting opinion on the documentary evidence considered at a hearing of the three person committee for the Victorian Heritage Council:
- "the massacre claim was revealed as a case study in the misuse of historical evidence, beginning with a series of errors made by Robinson in 1841-42, and then perpetuated through a series of unreasonable conclusions and other errors made by historians and consultants."
Present day controversy
In 2005 a developer was granted the right to build homes on the site. This caused a dispute between the Western Victoria's Glenelg Shire Council and the local KooriKoori
The Koori are the indigenous Australians that traditionally occupied modern day New South Wales and Victoria....
community on whether or not the location should be protected.
Kilcarer clan traditional owner Walter Saunders, a descendant of one of the two massacre survivors, explained the cultural importance of the site on ABC radio:
- "It stands on the same level as the Eureka StockadeEureka StockadeThe Eureka Rebellion of 1854 was an organised rebellion by gold miners which occurred at Eureka Lead in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The Battle of Eureka Stockade was fought on 3 December 1854 and named for the stockade structure erected by miners during the conflict...
and GallipoliGallipoliThe Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
from our perspective. It is the first recorded massacre in the state. This is where Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people fought over the resources of this great country and they happened to kill a large number of my relatives and my mother's relatives."
As a result of a confidential agreement in 2007, some development would occur but the Convincing Ground would become a public reservation.
External links
- Victorian Heritage Register: PROV H2079: Convincing Ground, Victorian Heritage Register Document (6.4 MB document)
- Museum Victoria: Encounters: Convincing Ground
- Convincing Ground, Michael Connor website, 2007.
- The Convincing Ground Pt 1, Australian Broadcasting CorporationAustralian Broadcasting CorporationThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
TV Message StickMessage StickMessage Stick is an Australian television series about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lifestyles, culture and issues. It began screening in 1999 on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It features features profile stories, interviews, video clips, short films and cooking segments.The...
Documentary Transcript, Broadcast 19 February 2007. - The Convincing Ground Pt 2, Australian Broadcasting CorporationAustralian Broadcasting CorporationThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
TV Message StickMessage StickMessage Stick is an Australian television series about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lifestyles, culture and issues. It began screening in 1999 on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It features features profile stories, interviews, video clips, short films and cooking segments.The...
Documentary Transcript, Broadcast 26 February 2007.