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Imagine you are living in Tasmania in 1929. You have just read 'Killing of Aborigines' in the Tasmanian Mercury (Source E from yesterdays worksheet). You feel very strongly about the article.

Compose a letter to the editor that highlights your feelings toward the article/event and why you feel this way. You may agree or disagree with the article.

Your response should be no longer than 250 words.

  • August 1928, Fred Brooks is killed by Walpiri tribesmen near Coniston Station in the NT

  • W.G Murray and a party of 8 men are sent to track down the murderers

  • Within 2 months, Murray and his men have killed 31 men, women and children - it is reported that this was in 'self defence'.

  • Public outrage leads to a Commonwealth Govt. Investigation - this only lasts 19 days and concludes that the death of the 31 official victims was neccessary.

  • W.G Murray and his band of vigilates are never held accountable.

  • Verdict is widely condemned by the press and by the public - the disgrace of racism can no longer remain hidden.

What happened again?

In Class Task

What were the consequences?

"I am here because like you, I am linked by family to the tragic killings of many of your people 75 years ago. I am here as the great niece of Mounted Constable William George Murray who played a leading role in these killings. But more importantly, I am here because I care about our shared history.

The 1928 Coniston Massacre involved the killings of between 31 and 100 Aboriginal people. I am deeply sorry that it happened. I know in my heart it was wrong. Sadly I cannot change what happened.

The Coniston Massacre links my life with yours. We share this past. We also share the future. I hope that being together today will help us find new meanings from our difficult and painful pasts, and to create a future that gives respect to the diversity and equal rights of all Australians".

The Coniston Massacre

Making Peace with the Past

Lisa Dale Hallet

  • Lisa Dale-Hallet is the great grand niece of Constable William George Murray and she played an important part of the initial 75 year anniversary commemoration events, travelling to Brooks Soak to take part.

  • Lisa was studying history when she first heard about the role her great uncle had played in Australian history.

  • She was not only shocked to learn of the massacre but also the culture of silence surrounding her own family history.

  • Lisa hoped that by uncovering some of Australia’s skeletons and coming to terms with what has happened, this would allow Australia and all Australians to move forward in a positive way, ultimately helping us to mature as a nation.

  • “It’s my history, it’s your history and it’s everyone’s history and about acknowledging that it happened.”

  • “I’m really really privileged to have had this opportunity of both being here and actually thinking about it deeply and I think anyone else who’s got opportunities like this, I think they should grab hold of them however uncomfortable they might make them feel.”

Some 83 years after the massacre, the pastoralists who continue to run cattle out in the deepest depths of the NT and the area around Coniston Station won't talk about it to the news media.........

And the Aboriginal people who used to live there remain scattered.

The Coniston Massacre revealed the racially prejudiced nature of the outback.....

Remembering the past.....

  • In 2003, the 75th anniversary of the Coniston Massacre was commemorated at Yurrkur (Brooks Soak), the site of the murder of Fred Brookes. The commemeration was attended by Walpiri communities ofn the NT, representatives of the NT Police and descendants of the family of Constable W.G Murray.

  • This commemoration event was a significant event in the history of our nation - This occasion represented the first and possibly the last gathering of people alive at the time of the massacre to commemorate the events.

  • It provided Aboriginal communities to reflect on the meaning of the event and to mourn the loss of family.

  • Traditional ceremonies were staged along with a Christian service, a concert and the placement of a brass plaque on a stone memorial near Brooks Soak.

  • Commemoration services were again staged in 2008 for the 80 year aniversary.

  • The events of the Coniston Massacre remain a very painful legacy for the many Kaytetye, Warlpiri and Anmatyerre descendants of the victims.

  • The story remains strong, passed from parents to children, so that the events of 1928 are not forgotten
  • Many of the survivors of the Coniston Massacre left the area and ended up a long way away from where the bloodshed happened - many of those people never returned.

  • Many who did returned to a life that was very different from their traditional life.

  • It has been suggested that the massacre "broke the back of any of the last vestiges of resistance to settlement in Central Australia".
  • During the 1920's, white Australia had shown little care for the plight of the Aboriginal people - The Coniston Massacre proved this.

  • The publicity that the case was given and the national and international outrage that followed ensured that this would be the final massacre of Indigenous Australians.

  • The bloody history of massacres carried out on Aboriginal Australians by white Australians had come to an end. The injustices perpetrated by the judicial system would not be tolerated again.

  • The Coniston Massacre challenged the triumph of of Australian nation building.

  • Australia was shamed by this event and shown that the disgrace of racism could no longer remain hidden.
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