Hospital Creek Massacre

The Hospital Creek Massacre refers to a retaliatory mass-slaughter of Indigenous Australians in 1859 in rural New South Wales.[1][2] There are differing accounts of this event, but one alleges that a white stockman at Walcha Hut (now called Brewarrina), abducted an Aboriginal woman. The stockman was warned by the woman's fellow tribe members to release her. When the stockman refused to release the woman, they were both killed. White settlers retaliated by shooting a large number of Aboriginal men, women and children. Another version claims that the Hospital Creek Massacre refers to the death of 300 Aboriginals in retaliation for having "annoyed" white settlers.[3] Yet another version states that when a stockman went missing, it was assumed that Aboriginals were the culprits, and approximately 400 of them were rounded up and massacred in retaliation.[4]

Hospital Creek, New South Wales

Both of these versions are attempts at justification. In 1928, The Sydney Mail published an article titled Pioneers of the West: The Massacre at Hospital Creek, written by G. M. Smith. This article is cited in the references (2), however the true account contained in that article is not.

Smith claimed to have met a cattleman named Con Bride near Brewarrina in the 1880s. Con Bride was managing the Quantambone cattle station in 1859. He found that many of his cattle were being speared near the waterholes, and attempted to persuade the aboriginals to move on. They refused, so he sent to an adjoining cattle station for assistance. They sent men and amunition, and Con Bride led a force of 20 armed men to disperse the aboriginals. He claims to have only shot a "dozen or so", however it is likely that it was many more and over a short period as many as 400. He was quoted as saying "Some went so far as to say that I should have been put on trial for what I did, but the Government was well aware of the fact that the work we were doing outback could not be done with white-gloves on, and, therefore, were not too ready to take action in such cases, but depended on the humanity of the white settlers to spare the natives as much as possible."

He described how the aboriginals were hiding in the trees at the waterholes and spearing the cattle when they came to drink. While he claims they were eating the cattle, other similar events in NSW and Queensland suggest that they were more concerned with driving the cattle away from their waterholes because they were breaking the banks of the waterhholes with their hooves and turning them into mudholes.

References

Office of Environment and Heritage. "Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps / Baiame's Ngunnhu". NSW Government. Retrieved 19 December 2015. In one recorded incident in 1859 a stockman at Walcha Hut on the Lawson run was warned by Aboriginals to release one of their women. He refused, and both he and the woman were killed. In retaliation, the settlers shot a large number of Culgoa Aboriginal men, women and children in what became known as the Hospital Creek Massacre (Rando, 2007, p38).CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
"Pioneers of the West". Sydney Mail. XXXIII (859). New South Wales, Australia. 12 September 1928. p. 53. Retrieved 16 November 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
"Last of the Culgoa Blacks". The Farmer and Settler. I (50). New South Wales, Australia. 24 October 1911. p. 5. Retrieved 17 April 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
Another version again is that a white husband and wife disappeared. After finding a white woman’s hand in a dilly bag of an aboriginal woman they assumed the aboriginals had killed them. They obrained permission to kill 200 in retaliation. They chose 200 mainly women with babies and young children. They lined them up in Hospital Creek and killed the mothers. They left the babies and children to die. Hospital Creek Massacre, retrieved 3 September 2018

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[OEH-1] Office of Environment and Heritage. "Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps / Baiame's Ngunnhu". NSW Government. Retrieved 19 December 2015. In one recorded incident in 1859 a stockman at Walcha Hut on the Lawson run was warned by Aboriginals to release one of their women. He refused, and both he and the woman were killed. In retaliation, the settlers shot a large number of Culgoa Aboriginal men, women and children in what became known as the Hospital Creek Massacre (Rando, 2007, p38).CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)

[2] "Pioneers of the West". Sydney Mail. XXXIII (859). New South Wales, Australia. 12 September 1928. p. 53. Retrieved 16 November 2016 – via National Library of Australia.

[3] "Last of the Culgoa Blacks". The Farmer and Settler. I (50). New South Wales, Australia. 24 October 1911. p. 5. Retrieved 17 April 2018 – via National Library of Australia.

[4] Another version again is that a white husband and wife disappeared. After finding a white woman’s hand in a dilly bag of an aboriginal woman they assumed the aboriginals had killed them. They obrained permission to kill 200 in retaliation. They chose 200 mainly women with babies and young children. They lined them up in Hospital Creek and killed the mothers. They left the babies and children to die. Hospital Creek Massacre, retrieved 3 September 2018