125-657: The Myall Creek massacre was the killing of at least 28 unarmed Aboriginal people in the Colony of New South Wales by eight colonists on 10 June 1838 at the Myall Creek in the north of the colony. Seven perpetrators were convicted of murder and hanged. This was one of the few alleged massacres of Aboriginal people to have been proven in court. After two trials, seven perpetrators of twelve accused were found guilty of murder and sentenced to execution by hanging. Four men were never retried on additional charges following their acquittal in
250-587: A Holocene hunter-gatherer sample ("Leang Panninge") from South Sulawesi , which shares high amounts of genetic drift with Aboriginal Australians and Papuans. This suggests that a population split from the common ancestor of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans. The sample also shows genetic affinity with East Asians and the Andamanese people of South Asia. The authors note that this hunter-gatherer sample can be modelled with ~50% Papuan-related ancestry and either with ~50% East Asian or Andamanese Onge ancestry, highlighting
375-462: A body of horsemen, 12 or 13 in number, from whom they fled to the hut, which provided the mesh of destruction. In that hut the prisoners, unmoved by the tears, groans, and sighs, bound them with cords — fathers, mothers, and children indiscriminately – and carried them away to a short distance, when the scene of slaughter commenced, and stopped not until all were exterminated, with the exception of one woman. I do not mention these circumstances to add to
500-442: A child to his slave mistress named Louisa, after which he attempted to purchase her freedom. This scandal prevented the implementation of his plan. This caused an embarrassment to Gipps who returned to England in 1829. He married Elizabeth Ramsay, the daughter of Major-General George Ramsay, RA, in 1830. After a few years serving as a commanding engineer for the government in the town of Sheerness , Gipps became Private Secretary to
625-402: A few bone fragments remained. He arrested eleven of the twelve perpetrators. The only one to escape was John Fleming, the leader and only free man. George Anderson was crucial in identifying the arrested men. He had initially refused to name any but, after learning that the massacre had been planned more than a week earlier to coincide with the absence of Hobbs, he agreed to identify the killers to
750-473: A few months. They were well known to the whites. Most of them had been assigned such English names as Daddy, King Sandy, Joey, Martha and Charley. Some of the children already spoke a certain amount of English. When the stockmen rode into their camp, the Wirraayaraay fled to Kilmeister's hut pleading for protection. George Anderson, the station hut keeper, asked the white men what they were going to do with
875-593: A gene flow from India to Australia: firstly, signs of South Asian components in Aboriginal Australian genomes, reported on the basis of genome-wide SNP data; and secondly, the existence of a Y chromosome (male) lineage, designated haplogroup C∗, with the most recent common ancestor about 5,000 years ago. The first type of evidence comes from a 2013 study by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology using large-scale genotyping data from
1000-573: A law unto themselves in how they took up land and how they dealt with the Aboriginal residents. In 1839, two groups of British colonists had been attempting to acquire large amounts of land in New Zealand by duping the resident Māori people . The New Zealand Company , led by Edward Gibbon Wakefield , and a consortium of Sydney speculators led by William Wentworth , had each laid claim to around 8 million hectares which amounted to nearly two thirds of
1125-413: A neighbouring station overseer, Thomas Foster. He told squatter Frederick Foot, who rode to Sydney to report it to the new Governor, George Gipps . Supported by Attorney General John Plunkett , Gipps ordered Police Magistrate Edward Denny Day at Muswellbrook to investigate the massacre. Day conducted a thorough investigation although the bodies had by then been removed from the massacre site, and only
1250-678: A person as Indigenous. (Torres Strait Islanders are ethnically and culturally distinct, despite extensive cultural exchange with some of the Aboriginal groups, and the Torres Strait Islands are mostly part of Queensland but have a separate governmental status .) Some Aboriginal people object to being labelled Indigenous , as an artificial and denialist term, because some non-Aboriginal people have referred to themselves as indigenous because they were born in Australia. Australian Indigenous people have beliefs unique to each mob ( tribe ) and have
1375-526: A person to that heap of human remains, to be a witness of the scene, before the heap was taken away bit by bit, as it evidently had been, to remove every vestige of the murder. The crime was, however, committed in the sight of God, and the blood of the victims cries for vengeance. The sentence was ratified by the Executive Council of New South Wales on 7 December. Governor Gipps later reported that that no mitigating circumstances could be shown for any of
SECTION 10
#17328455225341500-428: A pistol, cutting with a sword, and beating, casting into a fire, and keeping the child there until death ensued." On 5 December, the convicted defendants were each sentenced to death by hanging. Prior to sentencing, Justice Burton gave a speech. A reporter present summarized what Burton, who teared up as he spoke, said. This is not a case where any provocation has been given, which might have been pleaded in excuse for
1625-588: A pool of Aboriginal Australians, New Guineans, island Southeast Asians, and Indians. It found that the New Guinea and Mamanwa (Philippines area) groups diverged from the Aboriginal about 36,000 years ago (there is supporting evidence that these populations are descended from migrants taking an early "southern route" out of Africa, before other groups in the area). Also the Indian and Australian populations mixed long before European contact, with this gene flow occurring during
1750-615: A profound spiritual connection. Over the millennia, Aboriginal people developed complex trade networks, inter-cultural relationships, law and religions. Contemporary Aboriginal beliefs are a complex mixture, varying by region and individual across the continent. They are shaped by traditional beliefs, the disruption of colonisation, religions brought to the continent by Europeans, and contemporary issues. Traditional cultural beliefs are passed down and shared through dancing , stories , songlines , and art that collectively weave an ontology of modern daily life and ancient creation known as
1875-588: A properly organized force on the frontiers of the Colony, to keep the blacks in subjection, by means, simply, of intimidation." In fact, the British had carried out punitive actions against Aboriginal people since the 1790s, and the lawyers for the defendants had never claimed self-defence. Gipps refused to grant clemency in the case. The seven men, Charles Kilmeister, James Oates, Edward Foley, John Russell, John Johnstone, William Hawkins and James Parry, were executed early on
2000-769: A reputation for political negotiation and colonial administration. On returning to England in April 1837, he found that he was promoted to the rank of major and was being considered for the role of Governor of New South Wales . He accepted and was officially appointed to the position on 5 October 1837. Gipps arrived in Sydney aboard the Upton Castle in February 1838. He entered into the colony at one of its most turbulent periods during which drought, economic depression, cessation of convict transportation, frontier conflict with Aboriginal people,
2125-483: A single group. Aboriginal identity has changed over time and place, with family lineage, self-identification, and community acceptance all of varying importance. In the 2021 census , Indigenous Australians comprised 3.8% of Australia's population. Most Aboriginal people today speak English and live in cities. Some may use Aboriginal phrases and words in Australian Aboriginal English (which also has
2250-411: A spirit creates the earth then tells the humans to treat the animals and the earth in a way which is respectful to land. In Northern Territory this is commonly said to be a huge snake or snakes that weaved its way through the earth and sky making the mountains and oceans. But in other places the spirits who created the world are known as wandjina rain and water spirits. Major ancestral spirits include
2375-470: A strong connection to the land. Contemporary Indigenous Australian beliefs are a complex mixture, varying by region and individual across the continent. They are shaped by traditional beliefs, the disruption of colonisation, religions brought to the continent by Europeans, and contemporary issues. Traditional cultural beliefs are passed down and shared by dancing , stories , songlines and art —especially Papunya Tula (dot painting)—collectively telling
2500-427: A tangible influence of Aboriginal languages in the phonology and grammatical structure ). Many but not all also speak the various traditional languages of their clans and peoples. Aboriginal people, along with Torres Strait Islander people, have a number of severe health and economic deprivations in comparison with the wider Australian community. DNA studies have confirmed that "Aboriginal Australians are one of
2625-423: A white man hanged for killing a black." The letter writer said he did not hear these statements directly, but had spoken to a second man who told him he had heard a juror say it. The letter writer continued, "I leave you, Sir, and the community to determine on the fitness of this white savage to perform the office of a juryman under any circumstance". R. v. Kilmeister (No. 2) – Attorney-General Plunkett requested
SECTION 20
#17328455225342750-750: Is an increase in allele sharing between the Denisovan and Aboriginal Australian genomes, compared to other Eurasians or Africans. Examining DNA from a finger bone excavated in Siberia , researchers concluded that the Denisovans migrated from Siberia to tropical parts of Asia and that they interbred with modern humans in Southeast Asia 44,000 years BP, before Australia separated from New Guinea approximately 11,700 years BP. They contributed DNA to Aboriginal Australians and to present-day New Guineans and an indigenous tribe in
2875-471: Is based on the Aboriginal peoples' geographical isolation, with little or no interaction with outside cultures before some contact with Makassan fishermen and Dutch explorers up to 500 years ago. The Rasmussen study also found evidence that Aboriginal peoples carry some genes associated with the Denisovans (a species of human related to but distinct from Neanderthals ) of Asia; the study suggests that there
3000-480: Is no evidence for South Asian gene flow to Australia .... Despite Sahul being a single connected landmass until [8,000 years ago], different groups across Australia are nearly equally related to Papuans, and vice versa, and the two appear to have separated genetically already [about 30,000 years ago]." Aboriginal Australians possess inherited abilities to adapt to a wide range of environmental temperatures in various ways. A study in 1958 comparing cold adaptation in
3125-453: Is only in the last two hundred years that they have been defined and started to self-identify as a single group, socio-politically. While some preferred the term Aborigine to Aboriginal in the past, as the latter was seen to have more directly discriminatory legal origins, use of the term Aborigine has declined in recent decades, as many consider the term an offensive and racist hangover from Australia's colonial era. The definition of
3250-497: Is that the desert people are able to have a higher body temperature without accelerating the activity of the whole of the body, which can be especially detrimental in childhood diseases. This helps protect people to survive the side-effects of infection. Aboriginal people have lived for tens of thousands of years on the continent of Australia , through its various changes in landmass. The area within Australia 's borders today includes
3375-494: The Bank of Australia , failed and many colonists lost their fortunes. Revenues to fund policies such as the assisted migration scheme dried up and Gipps was forced to borrow large amounts of money to finance government spending. The drought ended in 1843 and the economic recovery was assisted by the new profitable industry of boiling down , where excess livestock were killed, cut up and placed in huge boiling vats to make tallow . Gipps
3500-622: The CC BY 4.0 license. George Gipps Sir George Gipps (23 December 1790 – 28 February 1847) was the Governor of the British Colony of New South Wales for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. His governorship oversaw a tumultuous period where the rights to land were bitterly contested in a three way struggle between the colonial government, Aboriginal people and wealthy graziers known as squatters . The management of other major issues such as
3625-486: The CSIRO stressed the importance of taking a demand-driven approach to services in desert settlements, and concluded that "if top-down solutions continue to be imposed without appreciating the fundamental drivers of settlement in desert regions, then those solutions will continue to be partial, and ineffective in the long term." [REDACTED] This article incorporates text by Anders Bergström et al. available under
3750-554: The First Lord of the Admiralty , Lord Auckland in 1834. A year later, on Auckland's recommendation, Gipps was knighted and sent to Lower Canada as a Commissioner, together with the Earl of Gosford and Sir Charles Edward Grey , to examine grievances against colonial rule there. Although the commission was a complete failure which helped to ignite the 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion , Gipps gained
3875-573: The Initial Upper Paleolithic . They are most closely related to other Oceanians , such as Melanesians . The Aboriginal Australians also show affinity to other Australasian populations, such as Negritos , as well as to East Asian peoples . Phylogenetic data suggests that an early initial eastern lineage (ENA) trifurcated somewhere in South Asia , and gave rise to Australasians (Oceanians), Ancient Ancestral South Indian (AASI), Andamanese and
Myall Creek massacre - Misplaced Pages Continue
4000-688: The Kimberley region in what is now Western Australia about 60,000 years ago. They migrated across the continent within 6,000 years. A 2018 study using archaeobotany dated evidence of continuous human habitation at Karnatukul (Serpent's Glen) in the Carnarvon Range in the Little Sandy Desert in WA from around 50,000 years ago. Genetic studies have revealed that Aboriginal Australians largely descended from an Eastern Eurasian population wave during
4125-466: The Myall Creek massacre perpetrated by squatter John Henry Fleming and his ten stockmen. The British government at this time was interested in reducing the exterminatory effects of colonisation on Indigenous peoples, and in 1837 a select committee had produced a report suggesting ways to do this. As Governor, Gipps was obligated by this report at least to attempt to protect Aboriginals under his jurisdiction. He ordered inquiries into both incidents with
4250-657: The Northern Territory to study their genetic makeup (which is not representative of all Aboriginal peoples in Australia). The study concluded that the Warlpiri are descended from ancient Asians whose DNA is still somewhat present in Southeastern Asian groups, although greatly diminished. The Warlpiri DNA lacks certain information found in modern Asian genomes, and carries information not found in other genomes. This reinforces
4375-761: The Peninsular War . Gipps took part in the Siege of Badajoz in 1812 where he was wounded in the arm leading an assault on the fort of La Picurina. He was deployed to other cities in Spain as well as elsewhere in Europe (although he missed the Battle of Waterloo due to his posting in Ostend , Belgium where he was preparing fortifications). In 1824 he joined the Colonial Service and served in
4500-505: The Pleistocene epoch and lived over large sections of the Australian continental shelf when the sea levels were lower. At that time, Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea were part of the same landmass, known as Sahul . As sea levels rose, the people on the Australian mainland and nearby islands became increasingly isolated, some on Tasmania and some of the smaller offshore islands when
4625-611: The Rainbow Serpent , Baiame , Dirawong and Bunjil . Similarly, the Arrernte people of central Australia believed that humanity originated from great superhuman ancestors who brought the sun, wind and rain as a result of breaking through the surface of the Earth when waking from their slumber. Taken as a whole, Aboriginal Australians, along with Torres Strait Islander people, have a number of health and economic deprivations in comparison with
4750-456: The West Indies , where he was appointed as Commander of Engineers in the colonies of Demerara and Berbice . Gipps was in charge of the construction of public works and had control over a few hundred slaves who were utilised as labourers. He proposed a scheme of removing these labourers from slavery after their work for the government had ceased. However, a minor scandal surfaced. Gipps fathered
4875-774: The 1970s and 1980s, when Aboriginal people moved to tiny remote settlements on traditional land, brought health benefits, but funding them proved expensive, training and employment opportunities were not provided in many cases, and support from governments dwindled in the 2000s, particularly in the era of the Howard government . Indigenous communities in remote Australia are often small, isolated towns with basic facilities, on traditionally owned land . These communities have between 20 and 300 inhabitants and are often closed to outsiders for cultural reasons. The long-term viability and resilience of Aboriginal communities in desert areas has been discussed by scholars and policy-makers. A 2007 report by
5000-655: The 19th century. Scholars believe that most Aboriginal Australians originated from Southeast Asia. If this is the case, Aboriginal Australians were among the first in the world to have completed sea voyages. A 2017 paper in Nature evaluated artefacts in Kakadu . Its authors concluded "Human occupation began around 65,000 years ago." A 2021 study by researchers at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage has mapped
5125-463: The Aboriginal people who resided in these lands. In 1839, Gipps amended an Act brought in by Governor Richard Bourke three years earlier that attempted to restrain the unauthorised occupation Crown Lands. Gipps' amendment allowed for the formation of the Border Police of New South Wales , which were paramilitary units controlled by various Commissioners of Crown Lands that enabled the enforcement of
Myall Creek massacre - Misplaced Pages Continue
5250-426: The Aboriginal people. John Russell said they were going to "take them over the back of the range and frighten them". The stockmen entered the hut, tied the Aboriginal people to a long tether rope and led them away. The stockmen took the group to a gully on the side of the ridge about 800 m (2,600 ft) to the west of the station huts. There they killed them all except for one woman, whom they kept with them for
5375-468: The British criminal system was undergoing major reform and as a result, transportation of convicts to mainland New South Wales ceased in 1840. These convicts provided slave labour for the squatters, some of whom like James Macarthur and Benjamin Boyd tried to replace them with cheap Chinese and Indian coolie or blackbirded Pacific Islander labourers. Gipps was indifferent to these ideas and instead promoted
5500-491: The Dreaming . Studies of Aboriginal groups' genetic makeup are ongoing, but evidence suggests that they have genetic inheritance from ancient Asian but not more modern peoples. They share some similarities with Papuans , but have been isolated from Southeast Asia for a very long time. They have a broadly shared, complex genetic history, but only in the last 200 years were they defined by others as, and started to self-identify as,
5625-599: The East/Southeast Asian lineage, including ancestors of the Native Americans . Papuans may have received approximately 2% of their geneflow from an earlier group (xOOA) as well, next to additional archaic admixture in the Sahul region. Aboriginal people are genetically most similar to the indigenous populations of Papua New Guinea , and more distantly related to groups from East Indonesia. They are more distinct from
5750-864: The Holocene ( c. 4,200 years ago). The researchers had two theories for this: either some Indians had contact with people in Indonesia who eventually transferred those Indian genes to Aboriginal Australians, or a group of Indians migrated from India to Australia and intermingled with the locals directly. However, a 2016 study in Current Biology by Anders Bergström et al. excluded the Y chromosome as providing evidence for recent gene flow from India into Australia. The study authors sequenced 13 Aboriginal Australian Y chromosomes using recent advances in gene sequencing technology. They investigated their divergence times from Y chromosomes in other continents, including comparing
5875-519: The Myall Creek massacre inquiry resulting in a judicial trial that saw seven stockmen being sentenced to death and hanged for the massacre. Although these actions upheld Gipps in the eyes of those concerned for Indigenous protection, the powerful squatters marked him as a dangerous enemy who interfered with their acquisition of vast tracts of Aboriginal land. Gipps attempted twice to introduce legislation that allowed for Aboriginal evidence to be given in
6000-479: The Myall Creek station, was among those supporting the defence. This secret group called themselves The Black Association. They were led by a local magistrate, who apparently used the influence of his office to gain access to the prisoners in Sydney. He told them to "stick together and say nothing". Not one of the eleven accused gave evidence against their co-accused at the trial. Governor Gipps attributed their silence to
6125-849: The Northern, Southern and Central cultural areas. The Northern and Southern areas, having richer natural marine and woodland resources, were more densely populated than the Central area. There are various other names from Australian Aboriginal languages commonly used to identify groups based on geography , known as demonyms , including: Other group names are based on the language group or specific dialect spoken . These also coincide with geographical regions of varying sizes. A few examples are: However, these lists are neither exhaustive nor definitive, and there are overlaps. Different approaches have been taken by non-Aboriginal scholars in trying to understand and define Aboriginal culture and societies, some focusing on
6250-759: The Philippines known as Mamanwa . This study confirms Aboriginal Australians as one of the oldest living populations in the world. They are possibly the oldest outside Africa, and they may have the oldest continuous culture on the planet. A 2016 study at the University of Cambridge suggests that it was about 50,000 years ago that these peoples reached Sahul (the supercontinent consisting of present-day Australia and its islands and New Guinea ). The sea levels rose and isolated Australia about 10,000 years ago, but Aboriginal Australians and Papuans diverged from each other genetically earlier, about 37,000 years BP, possibly because
6375-505: The Protectorate suffered from under-funding and financial mismanagement. Despite strong pressure from the squatters in the region to disband the scheme, Gipps kept it going during his time as governor. It failed, however, in providing protection to the Aboriginal people. One of Gipps' major tasks was to try to bring some control over the " squattocracy " spreading outside the "boundaries of location" and to minimise conflict between them and
SECTION 50
#17328455225346500-678: The administration in New Zealand was carried out by Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson , while Gipps retained control only of matters to do with the Imperial Prerogative. This arrangement ended in May 1841, when New Zealand became a Crown Colony in its own right. He advanced to the regimental rank of lieutenant colonel on 23 November 1841. In 1842, the British government passed the Constitution Act for New South Wales. This act allowed, for
6625-415: The agony of that moment, but to portray to those standing around the horrors which attended this merciless proceeding, in order, if possible, to avert similar consequences hereafter. It appears that extraordinary pains have been taken by the prisoners, or by some persons deeply interested in the concealment of their crime, to prevent the murder from coming to light. But, it has pleased Almighty God to conduct
6750-444: The ancient people expanded and differentiated into distinct groups, each with its own language and culture. More than 400 distinct Australian Aboriginal peoples have been identified, distinguished by names designating their ancestral languages, dialects, or distinctive speech patterns. According to noted anthropologist , archaeologist and sociologist Harry Lourandos , historically, these groups lived in three main cultural areas,
6875-399: The blacks, and Russel said, "We are going to take them over the back of the range, to frighten them". Anderson testified that the Aboriginal people in the hut had cried out to him for assistance. He said two women were left behind at the huts, one "because she was good-looking, they said so." He said that a young girl who had been left behind attempted to follow her mother (who was tied up with
7000-678: The courts. In 1839, an Act was passed in the NSW legislature but was later vetoed by the British government. In 1844, Gipps tried again but the proposed Aboriginal Evidence Bill was defeated by the squatters in the NSW Legislative Council. Additionally, the British government requested Gipps to oversee the introduction of an Aboriginal Protectorate in the Port Phillip District of the colony. Although it provided important documentary evidence of widespread abuses toward Aboriginal people,
7125-447: The deed… The murder was not confined to one man, but extended to many, including men, women, children, and babies hanging at their mothers’ breasts, in numbers not less than 30 human souls — slaughtered in cool blood. This massacre was committed upon a poor defenceless tribe of Blacks, dragged away from their fires at which they were seated, resting secure in the protection of one of the prisoners. Unsuspecting harm, they were surrounded by
7250-511: The deep split between Leang Panninge and Aboriginal/Papuans. Mallick et al. 2016 and Mark Lipson et al. 2017 study found the bifurcation of Eastern Eurasians and Western Eurasians dates to least 45,000 years ago, with indigenous Australians nested inside the Eastern Eurasian clade. Two genetic studies by Larena et al. 2021 found that Philippines Negrito people split from the common ancestor of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans before
7375-490: The defendants, and it could not be said that any of the men were more or less guilty than the rest. As the execution date for the convicts drew closer, public outrage over the trials increased. Editorials in The Sydney Morning Herald openly advocated genocide . One writer claimed that the executions would be "nothing short of legal murder", and if carried out would "incite an actual war of extermination" against
7500-497: The desert-dwelling Pitjantjatjara people compared with a group of European people showed that the cooling adaptation of the Aboriginal group differed from that of the white people, and that they were able to sleep more soundly through a cold desert night. A 2014 Cambridge University study found that a beneficial mutation in two genes which regulate thyroxine , a hormone involved in regulating body metabolism , helps to regulate body temperature in response to fever. The effect of this
7625-422: The editor of The Australian on 8 December 1838 alleged that one of the jurors had said privately that although he considered the men guilty of murder, he could not convict a white man of killing an Aboriginal person, purportedly saying: "I look on the blacks as a set of monkeys and the sooner they are exterminated from the face of the earth, the better. I knew the men were guilty of murder but I would never see
SECTION 60
#17328455225347750-481: The end of convict transportation , large immigration programs and the introduction of majority elected representation also featured strongly during his tenure. Gipps is regarded as having brought a high moral and intellectual standard to the position of governor, but was ultimately defeated in his aims by the increasing power and avarice of the squatters. Gipps was born in December 1790 at Ringwould , Kent , England ,
7875-465: The entire New Zealand land mass. The British government wished to prevent this transaction and declared sovereignty over New Zealand, altering Gipps' jurisdiction as governor by Letters Patent to include both the territory of New South Wales and New Zealand. In 1840, Gipps proclaimed all previous and future land purchases in New Zealand invalid unless they were approved by the Crown. The Treaty of Waitangi
8000-528: The first time, elected representatives to outnumber those nominated by the Crown in the Legislative Council of New South Wales . The following year, Gipps implemented the changes with him nominating 12 members, and another 24 being elected by eligible land-holding male citizens of the colony. Although these changes seemed to increase democratic governance in New South Wales, it in fact markedly increased
8125-671: The first trial. The leader of the perpetrators, free settler John Henry Fleming , evaded arrest and was never tried. The trials and guilty verdicts sparked extreme controversy within New South Wales settler society. In the 1830s white settlers were expanding into the northern area of the colony of New South Wales ( New England ), near the Gwydir River , the traditional territory of the Kamilaroi people. They ran livestock and cultivated crops, competing for resources. The Aboriginal people resisted, sometimes attacking livestock or settlers, and there
8250-694: The haplogroup C chromosomes. They found a divergence time of about 54,100 years between the Sahul C chromosome and its closest relative C5, as well as about 54,300 years between haplogroups K*/M and their closest haplogroups R and Q. The deep divergence time of 50,000-plus years with the South Asian chromosome and "the fact that the Aboriginal Australian Cs share a more recent common ancestor with Papuan Cs" excludes any recent genetic contact. The 2016 study's authors concluded that, although this does not disprove
8375-609: The high regard the Colonial Office held him in. By the end of this term, Gipps was troubled by breathing difficulties, the cause of which was being misdiagnosed as asthma by colonial doctors. Gipps did not wait for his successor, Charles Augustus FitzRoy , to arrive, departing Sydney in July 1846 in poor health. He arrived in England that November, and died at Canterbury of a massive heart attack on 28 February 1847. Gipps and his wife had
8500-582: The huts of the station. They were part of the Wirraayaraay (also spelled 'Weraerai') group who belonged to the Kamilaroi people. They had been invited a few weeks before by Charles Kilmeister (or Kilminister), one of the convict stockmen, to camp at the station for safety and protection from the gangs of marauding stockmen in the district. These whites were slaughtering any Aboriginal people they could find. These Aboriginal people had previously been camped peacefully at Peter MacIntyre 's station at Keera for
8625-401: The idea of ancient Aboriginal isolation. Genetic data extracted in 2011 by Morten Rasmussen et al., who took a DNA sample from an early-20th-century lock of an Aboriginal person's hair, found that the Aboriginal ancestors probably migrated through South Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia , into Australia, where they stayed. As a result, outside of Africa, the Aboriginal peoples have occupied
8750-653: The increased suicide rate, many researchers have suggested that the inclusion of more cultural aspects into suicide prevention programs would help to combat mental health issues within the community. Past studies have found that many indigenous leaders and community members, do in fact, want more culturally-aware health care programs. Similarly, culturally-relative programs targeting indigenous youth have actively challenged suicide ideation among younger indigenous populations, with many social and emotional wellbeing programs using cultural information to provide coping mechanisms and improving mental health. The outstation movement of
8875-506: The indigenous populations of Borneo and Malaysia , sharing drift with them than compared to the groups from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. This indicates that populations in Australia were isolated for a long time from the rest of Southeast Asia. They remained untouched by migrations and population expansions into that area, which can be explained by the Wallace line . In a 2001 study, blood samples were collected from some Warlpiri people in
9000-517: The influence of the wealthy land-holding squatters due to the prerequisite of owning at least £2,000 worth of land in order to be a candidate. Although Gipps still had the power of veto, this new legislature almost entirely extinguished his ability to restrain the squatters. Elected squatters such as William Wentworth , Robert Lowe , Hannibal Macarthur , Richard Windeyer and William Foster attacked Gipps consistently for his land policies that worked against their exclusive claims on property beyond
9125-566: The islands of Tasmania , K'gari (previously Fraser Island) , Hinchinbrook Island , the Tiwi Islands , Kangaroo Island and Groote Eylandt . Indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands, however, are not Aboriginal. In the 2021 census , people who self-identified on the census form as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin totalled 812,728 out of a total of 25,422,788 Australians, equating to 3.2% of Australia's population and an increase of 163,557 people, or 25.2%, since
9250-505: The judge to remand the prisoners in custody awaiting further charges from the same incident. Although all eleven were remanded in custody, only seven faced a second trial. The second trial was held on 27 November. Only 28 of the 48 men called up for jury service turned up. Later it was learned that the Black Association had intimidated many into staying away. The trial started on 29 November under Justice Burton . Anderson, who had been
9375-446: The jury found the seven men guilty. Initially, the foreman had stated that the men had been found 'not guilty'. However, one juror immediately rose and stated that there had been a mistake. They had only acquitted the defendants on separate charges. However, they had found the men guilty of the murder of a single six-year-old Aboriginal child whose name was unknown. According to the indictment, the murder had been committed "by shooting with
9500-420: The key witness at the first trial, testified again. He told the court: While Master was away, some men came on a Saturday, about 10; I cannot say how many days after master left; they came on horseback, armed with muskets and swords and pistols; all were armed ... the blacks, when they saw the men coming, ran into our hut, and the men then, all of them, got off their horses; I asked what they were going to do with
9625-419: The killers would be returning. When the whites returned to Myall two days later, they dismembered and burnt the bodies before resuming the search for the remaining people. The ten Wirraayaraay had gone to MacIntyre's station at Keera , 30 kilometres to the south-east. There between 10 and 20 Aboriginal people were soon reported as murdered and their bodies were burned on a large fire. Many suspect this massacre
9750-416: The land laws in the frontier regions. The Border Police were also meant to control the violence between the squatters and Aboriginals, but in reality this force were often utilised to kill Aboriginal people in large numbers. Further to this, in April 1844 Gipps introduced legislation that expanded the annual licensing fee for squatters, demanding £10 a year for every station they had taken up. Each property
9875-450: The land was inundated at the start of the Holocene , the inter-glacial period that started about 11,700 years ago. Scholars of this ancient history believe that it would have been difficult for Aboriginal people to have originated purely from mainland Asia. Not enough people would have migrated to Australia and surrounding islands to fulfill the beginning of the size of the population seen in
10000-406: The last 10,000 years it may have occurred—newer analytical techniques have the potential to address such questions. Bergstrom's 2018 doctoral thesis looking at the population of Sahul suggests that other than relatively recent admixture, the populations of the region appear to have been genetically independent from the rest of the world since their divergence about 50,000 years ago. He writes "There
10125-518: The latter two diverged from each other, but after their common ancestor diverged from the ancestor of East Asian peoples . The dingo reached Australia about 4,000 years ago. Near that time, there were changes in language (with the Pama-Nyungan language family spreading over most of the mainland), and in stone tool technology. Smaller tools were used. Human contact has thus been inferred, and genetic data of two kinds have been proposed to support
10250-496: The likely migration routes of the peoples as they moved across the Australian continent to its southern reaches and what is now Tasmania , then part of the mainland. The modelling is based on data from archaeologists , anthropologists , ecologists , geneticists , climatologists , geomorphologists , and hydrologists . It is intended to compare this data with the oral histories of Aboriginal peoples, including Dreaming stories, Australian rock art , and linguistic features of
10375-446: The magistrate's influence. R. v. Kilmeister (No. 1) – The station hutkeeper, George Anderson, was the only white witness and key for the prosecution , conducted by Attorney General Plunkett and Roger Therry as his junior counsel . He told the court how the eleven men had tied the victims together, and led them away. He also said that Edward Foley, one of the perpetrators, had shown him a sword covered with blood. Anderson's testimony
10500-517: The magistrate. Beginning on 15 November 1838, the case was heard before the Chief Justice of New South Wales , James Dowling . The accused were represented by three of the colony's foremost barristers , William Foster , William à Beckett and Richard Windeyer , paid for by an association of landowners and stockmen from the Hunter Valley and Liverpool Plains region. Henry Dangar, the owner of
10625-481: The main witness against them, an Aboriginal boy named Davey, to be prepared in order to take a Bible oath. It has been claimed that according to missionary Lancelot Edward Threlkeld , Henry Dangar had arranged for Davey "to be put out of the way", and he was never seen again. With Davey unable to be located, the government released the four suspects in February 1839. But, Threlkeld made no such statement regarding Dangar. What Threlkeld wrote about Davey's whereabouts at
10750-423: The many Aboriginal languages which reveal how the peoples developed separately. The routes, dubbed "superhighways" by the authors, are similar to current highways and stock routes in Australia. Lynette Russell of Monash University believes that the new model is a starting point for collaboration with Aboriginal people to help reveal their history. The new models suggest that the first people may have landed in
10875-403: The micro-level (tribe, clan, etc.), and others on shared languages and cultural practices spread over large regions defined by ecological factors. Anthropologists have encountered many difficulties in trying to define what constitutes an Aboriginal people/community/group/tribe, let alone naming them. Knowledge of pre-colonial Aboriginal cultures and societal groupings is still largely dependent on
11000-445: The morning of 18 December 1838 at Darlinghurst Gaol . Following the executions, Henry Keck, the chief of the prison, said all of the convicts had confessed. "Sir, in compliance with your suggestion to me yesterday, respecting the seven men executed on Tuesday morning, I have the honour to inform you, that frequently, during their confinement here, they each and all, at different times, acknowledged to me their guilt; but implied, that it
11125-715: The natives. The paper also attacked Gipps's sympathies for the Aboriginal people. "Are the white settlers and their servants to be protected against the outrages of the blacks? Are blacks to be hanged for murder as well as whites? And if so, what steps have been taken to apprehend and hang the scores of black murderers who have shed the blood of white British subjects?" The Herald listed examples of alleged Aboriginal crimes, before continuing: "Are all these outrages to be enveloped in obscurity—is all this blood to be unavenged, and yet white men to be hanged for slaying blacks, perhaps in self-defence, perhaps in retaliation for injuries previously sustained? No attempt has been made, by means of
11250-401: The next couple of days. The 28 corpses found at the site were mostly women, children, and old men. Ten younger men were away on a neighbouring station, having been hired to ring-bark trees. Apparently most of the people were slaughtered with swords. George Anderson, who refused to join the massacre, said he heard only two shots. Unlike Anderson, Charles Kilmeister joined the slaughter. Testimony
11375-411: The observers' interpretations, which were filtered through colonial ways of viewing societies. Some Aboriginal peoples identify as one of several saltwater, freshwater, rainforest or desert peoples . The term Aboriginal Australians includes many distinct peoples who have developed across Australia for over 50,000 years. These peoples have a broadly shared, though complex, genetic history, but it
11500-418: The oldest continuous cultures in the world, although this is disputed. At the time of European colonisation of Australia, the Aboriginal people consisted of complex cultural societies with more than 250 languages and varying degrees of technology and settlements. Languages (or dialects) and language-associated groups of people are connected with stretches of territory known as "Country", with which they have
11625-633: The oldest living populations in the world, certainly the oldest outside of Africa." Their ancestors left the African continent 75,000 years ago. They may have the oldest continuous culture on earth. In Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory , oral histories comprising complex narratives have been passed down by Yolngu people through hundreds of generations. The Aboriginal rock art , dated by modern techniques, shows that their culture has continued from ancient times. The ancestors of present-day Aboriginal Australian people migrated from Southeast Asia by sea during
11750-474: The original 250–400 Aboriginal languages (more than 250 languages and about 800 dialectal varieties on the continent) are endangered or extinct, although some efforts are being made at language revival for some. As of 2016, only 13 traditional Indigenous languages were still being acquired by children, and about another 100 spoken by older generations only. Dispersing across the Australian continent over time,
11875-420: The other studies had utilised complete Y chromosome sequencing, which has the highest precision. For example, use of a ten Y STRs method has been shown to massively underestimate divergence times. Gene flow across the island-dotted 150-kilometre-wide (93 mi) Torres Strait, is both geographically plausible and demonstrated by the data, although at this point it could not be determined from this study when within
12000-413: The others). Anderson took her back to he hut. He said two young Aboriginal boys escaped by hiding in the creek. Anderson also testified about the perpetrators' return and the burning of the bodies. I [Anderson] saw smoke in the same direction they went; this was soon after they went with the firesticks ... Fleming told Kilmeister to go up by-and-by and put the logs of wood together, and be sure that all [of
12125-467: The penal colony toward a free society of worker immigrants with the European population of New South Wales nearly doubling to 190,000 people by 1846. From Gipps' arrival in the colony there was a devastating three-year drought, which resulted in the economic depression of the early 1840s. Wool prices and land values plummeted while unemployment rose and graziers went bankrupt. Financial institutions such as
12250-440: The presence of any Holocene gene flow or non-genetic influences from South Asia at that time, and the appearance of the dingo does provide strong evidence for external contacts, the evidence overall is consistent with a complete lack of gene flow, and points to indigenous origins for the technological and linguistic changes. They attributed the disparity between their results and previous findings to improvements in technology; none of
12375-414: The previous census in 2016. Reasons for the increase were broadly as follows: Most Aboriginal people speak English, with Aboriginal phrases and words being added to create Australian Aboriginal English (which also has a tangible influence of Aboriginal languages in the phonology and grammatical structure ). Some Aboriginal people, especially those living in remote areas, are multi-lingual. Many of
12500-423: The program of paying British and German people to emigrate to the colony. Gipps presided over the implementation of this scheme and, influenced by the pro-immigration colonist John Dunmore Lang , funded it through revenue acquired by the sale of Crown Lands. Although many squatters disliked Gipps' scheme because it collected tax off them and resulted in a more expensive workers, Gipps was successful in transforming
12625-487: The remaining land bridge was impassable. This isolation makes the Aboriginal people the world's oldest culture. The study also found evidence of an unknown hominin group, distantly related to Denisovans, with whom the Aboriginal and Papuan ancestors must have interbred, leaving a trace of about 4% in most Aboriginal Australians' genome. There is, however, increased genetic diversity among Aboriginal Australians based on geographical distribution. Carlhoff et al. 2021 analysed
12750-443: The remains] was consumed ... the girls they left, and the two boys, and the child I sent away with 10 black fellows that went away in the morning ... I did not like to keep them, as the men might come back and kill them. Anderson said he wanted to speak the whole truth at the second trial. He also said he did not seek to be rewarded for testifying, rather he asked "only for protection". The trial continued until 2 am on 30 November, when
12875-595: The rise of semi-elective government, and bitter contests with powerful squatters over land seizure would all create immense difficulties for him. Gipps' salary of £5,000 a year, the highest in the Empire for a colonial governor, was to be hard earned. When Gipps arrived in 1838, he was immediately faced with the issue of two major massacres of Aboriginal people: the Waterloo Creek massacre perpetrated by Major James Nunn and his detachment of New South Wales Mounted Police , and
13000-406: The same territory continuously longer than any other human populations. These findings suggest that modern Aboriginal Australians are the direct descendants of the eastern wave, who left Africa up to 75,000 years ago. This finding is compatible with earlier archaeological finds of human remains near Lake Mungo that date to approximately 40,000 years ago. The idea of the "oldest continuous culture"
13125-461: The settled areas, previously the domain solely of their Indigenous inhabitants. When Gipps was removed from the governorship in 1846, he and his appointees on the Council were the last obstacles to the squatters, who were then able to pass favourable pastoral leasing laws that increased the security of their claims and entrenched their power and wealth for at least the next fifty years. In the late 1830s
13250-526: The smaller offshore islands and Tasmania when the land was inundated at the start of the Holocene inter-glacial period , about 11,700 years ago. Despite this, Aboriginal people maintained extensive networks within the continent and certain groups maintained relationships with Torres Strait Islanders and the Makassar people of modern-day Indonesia. Aboriginal Australians have a wide variety of cultural practices and beliefs that some scientists believe make up
13375-577: The son of Rev George Gipps and Susannah Bonella Venn. Both his parents were from wealthy families, with his maternal grandfather having been an estate and slave owner in Jamaica . He was educated at The King's School, Canterbury , and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich . In 1809 he joined the Royal Engineers and was initially posted to Ireland before being transferred in 1811 to serve in
13500-572: The story of creation known as The Dreamtime . Additionally, traditional healers were also custodians of important Dreaming stories as well as their medical roles (for example the Ngangkari in the Western desert ). Some core structures and themes are shared across the continent with details and additional elements varying between language and cultural groups. For example, in The Dreamtime of most regions,
13625-409: The term Aboriginal has changed over time and place, with the importance of family lineage, self-identification and community acceptance all being of varying importance. The term Indigenous Australians refers to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and the term is conventionally only used when both groups are included in the topic being addressed, or by self-identification by
13750-551: The time was: ... for Mr Arndell, who was here last week, states that on his recent return from the Gwyder he was informed by a Gentleman that Davey was put out of the way, but whether with his throat cut, or only hid, could not be ascertained. Further, when the remaining four accused came before the Court on 14 February 1839, Attorney General Plunkett informed the Court: ... [Davey] had been under
13875-560: The tuition of a competent person for two months, but it was now reported to [the Attorney General] that he was not so far instructed as to be a competent witness, and it was quite uncertain when he would be; and he [the Attorney General] did not think he should be doing his duty in risking public justice by prosecuting the case without his evidence. ... I cannot proceed with the trial with any hope of success without [Davey's] evidence .... According to Plunkett, in mid-February 1839 Davey
14000-465: The various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands . Humans first migrated to Australia at least 65,000 years ago, and over time formed as many as 500 language-based groups . In the past, Aboriginal people lived over large sections of the continental shelf . They were isolated on many of
14125-484: The way for the passing of the National Education Board Act of 1848. This Act established the secular public school system that exists today in New South Wales. While being extremely conscientious and fair-dealing in his governorship, Gipps' health was broken down by overwork and the constant invective from the squatters. His appointment had been extended for another two years after the original six, due to
14250-542: The wealthy colonists which continued until his departure. Despite Gipps' attempts to rein in the squatters, the expansion of the frontiers of British colonisation increased dramatically under his governorship. The Moreton Bay region (later known as Brisbane ) and the Darling Downs were opened up to the colonists in the north, while the Portland Bay District in the south was quickly overrun with graziers. Gipps
14375-517: The wider Australian community. Due to the aforementioned disadvantage, Aboriginal Australian communities experience a higher rate of suicide, as compared to non-indigenous communities. These issues stem from a variety of different causes unique to indigenous communities, such as historical trauma, socioeconomic disadvantage, and decreased access to education and health care. Also, this problem largely affects indigenous youth, as many indigenous youth may feel disconnected from their culture. To combat
14500-497: Was a vociferous advocate for a secular government school system and wished to improve the situation in the colony where in 1844 fewer than half of the children received any form of education, whether public or private. With the Attorney-General John Plunkett , Gipps proposed a strong public school system to be funded alongside the denominational system. Although their plan was unresolved during Gipps' tenure, it paved
14625-494: Was alive and "under tuition", however, Plunkett could not proceed with the case against the remaining accused because of the uncertainty surrounding the time it would take to complete that tuition. It was for this reason that the accused were discharged. I have just returned from seeing the seven men all launched into eternity at the same moment it was an awful sight and has made me feel quite sick – I shall never forget it. Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are
14750-494: Was commemorated during this period of growth through the naming of Gippsland in 1840. This acceleration of invasion of Aboriginal lands led to even more frontier conflict and massacres during the early 1840s. After feeling the wrath of the squatters around the Myall Creek affair, Gipps was no longer willing or able to make a meaningful intervention into the violence. Well connected colonists and squatters such as Angus McMillan , Patrick Leslie and Arthur Hodgson were in large part
14875-449: Was committed by the same stockmen as at Myall Creek. After several days of heavy drinking, the party dispersed. When William Hobbs, the manager of Myall Creek station, returned several days later and discovered the bodies, he counted up to twenty-eight (as they were beheaded and dismembered, he had difficulty determining the exact number). He decided to report the incident but Kilmeister initially talked him out of it. Hobbs discussed it with
15000-476: Was completed soon after, which induced the Māori to cede their lands without reservation to the Crown. Gipps openly accused Wentworth of a massive fraud in his attempts to acquire huge tracts of New Zealand land from the Māori. This heightened the fierce enmity between the squatters and Gipps, with Wentworth, a leading member of the "squattocracy", swearing "eternal vengeance" against Gipps for his interference. Most of
15125-403: Was done solely in defense of their masters' property, that they were not aware that in destroying aboriginals they were violating the laws, or that it could take cognizance of their having done so, as it had (according to their belief) been so frequently done in the colony before." The four remaining accused, Blake, Toulouse, Palliser and Lamb, were remanded until the next session to allow time for
15250-447: Was later given at trial that the stockmen had beheaded the children. They forced the men and women to run as far as they could between the stockyard fence and a line of sword-wielding stockmen, who hacked at them as they passed. After the massacre, Fleming and his gang rode off looking to kill the men who they knew had gone to the neighbouring station. Those Aboriginal men returned to Myall Creek that night and left after being warned that
15375-451: Was supported by William Hobbs and Magistrate Day, who had conducted the police investigation. The defence's case rested solely on the argument that the dismembered bodies could not be identified accurately. Justice Dowling advised the jury that the law made no distinction between the murder of an Aboriginal person and the murder of a European person. The jury, after deliberating for twenty minutes, found all eleven men 'not guilty.' A letter to
15500-490: Was to be limited to 20 square miles (52 km ) with no more than 500 head of cattle and 7000 sheep. Although the bill also allowed for a longer term 8 year tenancy of a small part of each property, the squatters were infuriated by these restrictions. This storm of protest from the squatters led to the foundation of the Pastoral Association of New South Wales and added to the already toxic resentment felt toward Gipps by
15625-577: Was violence on both sides. John Henry Fleming , a free man from Mungie Bundie Run near Moree , gathered a group of armed men to respond. They consisted of eleven stockmen , both former convicts and assigned convicts (who were essentially indentured workers to employers). Ten were white Europeans and one, John Johnstone, was a black African. They arrived by horseback at Henry Dangar 's Myall Creek station in New England on 9 June 1838. A group of approximately thirty-five Aboriginal people were camped near
#533466