1804 Risdon Cove massacre

Massacre in Van Diemen's Land thumb|Painting of the Risdon Cove massacre by Dennis Colbron Pearse (1929) On 3 May 1804, three or possibly as many as six Aboriginal Tasmanians were killed and others wounded by approximately 75 colonists and soldiers of the New South Wales Corps stationed at the fledgling British settlement of Risdon Cove, Van Diemen's Land.Boyce James Van Diemen's Land 2008 Black Inc Collingwood 9781760644819 Although some details of the massacre have been debated,Tardif Phillip 6 April 2003 So who's fabricating the history of Aborigines? online The Age http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/05/1049459857081.html eyewitness evidence indicated that at least three Aboriginal corpses were accounted for when "a great many were slaughtered and wounded" by the soldiers and colonists.2011 Massacre at Risdon Cove? An Australian history Mystery https://www.australianhistorymysteries.info/pdfs/StudiesAHM-1.pdf 11 February 2017 National Museum of Australia Events thumb|George Francis Evans: Risdon Cove from Old Government House, 1890 In early May 1804, around 300 Aboriginal people from either the Oyster Bay (Paredarerme) or Big River nation gathered near the recently established British outpost at Risdon Cove on the Derwent River. These men, women and children, approached the settlement whilst occupied on a kangaroo hunt.Edmonds Penelope Settler Colonialism and (Re)conciliation. Frontier Violence, Affective Performances, and Imaginative Refoundings 29 February 2016 Palgrave Macmillan 978-1-137-30453-7 1st 2635-1633 London 126 en-gb ‘Our history is not the last word’: Sorry Day at Risdon Cove and ‘Black Line’ Survival Ceremony, Tasmania 10.1057/9781137304544 Although some were upset by the presence of the colonists, there had been no widespread aggression. The colonists and a detachment of soldiers from the New South Wales Corps stationed at the settlement mistakenly thought they were being attacked and under the orders of Lieutenant William Moore, the commanding officer at the time, launched three sorties against the native people.Wentworth W. C. A statistical, historical, and political description of the colony of New South Wales and its dependent settlements in Van Diemen's Land : with a particular enumeration of the advantages which these colonies offer for emigration, and their superiority in many respects over those possessed by the United States of America 116–117 1819 https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1611232 31 May 2024 Cambridge Library Collection - History of Oceania London G. and W.B. Whittaker English 10.1017/CBO9781139109055 9781139109055 William Wentworth Cambridge University Press subscription left|thumb|Illustration of a 12-pounder carronade, 1830 Lieutenant Moore, who together with his soldiers were possibly drunk,Bonwick James The Last of the Tasmanians; or, The Black War of Van Diemen's Land 1870 Low London https://archive.org/details/lasttasmanianso00bonwgoog/page/n57/mode/1up was wary of being able to protect the small outpost from such a large group of people, especially as both the commandant of Risdon Cove, Lieutenant John Bowen, and the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land, David Collins, were absent from the outpost at the time. The massacre of the gathered Aboriginal people began at 11 o'clock in the morning of 3 May 1804 and the final shot, a blast from a carronade, was heard in the neighbouring settlement of Hobart three hours later. The soldiers and the colonists were armed with Brown Bess muskets, which could be reloaded and fired once every 20 seconds and be used in close-quarters fighting as a club. thumb|"Brown Bess" musket, 1773 In addition to the firearms, the soldiers were ordered to fire grape shot from a 12-pounder carronade (a short-barrel, heavy calibre naval cannon known to sailors as "the smasher") to disperse the Indigenous people.Watson Frederick Historical records of Australia / [edited by Frederick Watson] 1925 1 237–238 https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn115107 14 April 2024 III Library Committee of the Commonwealth Parliament English Chapman Peter Australia. Parliament. Library Committee National Library of Australia The clergyman Robert Knopwood heard "roar of the cannon at Risdon at 2 p.m". The 12-pounder carronade involved was one of two ordered to be salvaged from the ship HMS Investigator, by Governor Philip Gidley King and given to Lieutenant Bowen.Maynard John The Shark, Remora and Aboriginal History International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies 2008 1 1 45–51 https://ijcis.qut.edu.au/article/download/22/22/22-Article%20Text-18-1-10-20180308.pdf 25 April 2025 Aftermath "There were a great many of the Natives slaughtered and wounded", according to Edward White, an eyewitness to the event.Arthur Sir George Van Diemen's Land : copies of all correspondence between Lieutenant-Governor Arthur and His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, on the subject of the military operations lately carried on against the Aboriginal inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land / With an historical introduction by A.G.L. Shaw 19 53 1971 https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1710068 14 April 2024 Hobart Tasmanian Historical Research Association 0909479003 Great Britain. Colonial Office Tasmanian Historical Research Association National Library of Australia Claiming to be the first to see the approaching Aborigines, he also said that "the natives did not threaten me; I was not afraid of them; (they) did not attack the soldiers; they would not have molested them; they had no spears with them; only waddies". None of the colonists or soldiers were harmed during the massacre, while three Aboriginal Tasmanian bodies were recovered from the scene. The colonists "had reason to suppose more were wounded, as one was seen to be taken away bleeding".Refshauge W. F. June 2007 An analytical approach to the events at Risdon Cove on 3 May 1804 Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society 93 1 Reverend Knopwood was of the opinion that at least five or six had been killed.Pybus Cassandra Joseph Banks and the stolen skulls https://insidestory.org.au/joseph-banks-and-the-stolen-skulls/ 25 April 2025 Inside Story 1 August 2024 It is also known that an infant boy about 2–3 years old whose parents had been killed in the slaughter was taken by Jacob Mountgarrett, the colony's surgeon. The boy was brought into British colonial society and given the name Robert Hobart May.2 September 1804 Natives 2 The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article626394 Mountgarrett also obtained the corpse of one of the deceased Indigenous men and dissected it. The skull and bones of this man were shipped to Sydney in two casks.Pybus Cassandra A Very Secret Trade 2024 Allen & Unwin Crows Nest 9781761066344 Five days after the massacre, the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land, David Collins, ordered the closure of the Risdon Cove settlement. While he moved the settlers to Hobart, Collins ordered the outpost's soldiers to be sent back to Sydney citing their lack of discipline as being troublesome for the colony. Lieutenant William Moore was acquitted of any wrongdoing in a court martial in September 1804. In 1809, he was promoted to the rank of captain in the 102nd Regiment.Colonial Secretary Index, 1788-1825 https://colsec.records.nsw.gov.au/m/F39c_mo-08.htm#TopOfPage State Records of NSW 25 April 2025 William Charles Wentworth, in 1819, blamed the "inconsiderate and unpardonable conduct" of the colonists for the "hatred and hostility" which Aboriginal Tasmanians showed towards them, specifically attributing the "murderous discharge" or "unmerited and atrocious act of barbarity" that was the Risdon Cove massacre. Previously, he wrote, the indigenous people had "evinced the most friendly disposition" towards the newcomers.Wentworth William Charles https://archive.org/details/statisticalhisto00wentiala/page/n14/mode/1up?ref=ol&view=theater A statistical, historical and political description of the colony of New South Wales 1819 Whittaker London 149–150 In a 2022 publication, Truth-Telling at Risdon Cove, the authors claimed that Edward White, who gave important eye-witness testimony, was not actually present at the massacre. The substance of the book has been described as being easily dismissed and the authors' claims have since been rejected.Ward Malcolm Book reviews THRA 2022 69 2 76–77Risdon Cove https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=462 Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930 University of Newcastle 25 April 2025 See also List of massacres of Indigenous Australians References 42 49 23 S 147 19 09 E type:event title Category:Massacres of Indigenous Australians Category:Van Diemen's Land Category:Massacres in 1804 Category:1804 in Australia Category:May 1804 Category:19th-century mass murders in Australia Category:Murder in Tasmania Category:Military history of Tasmania