Contents

Talk:Avenue Range Station massacre

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Avenue Range Station massacre article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help. Assume good faith Be polite and avoid personal attacks Be welcoming to newcomers Seek dispute resolution if needed Article policies Neutral point of view No original research Verifiability

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

	Avenue Range Station massacre is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.
	This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on September 3, 2018.
Article milestones Date Process Result October 26, 2017 Good article nominee Listed January 26, 2018 WikiProject A-class review Approved March 24, 2018 Featured article candidate Promoted Afact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on November 15, 2017. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that the Avenue Range Station massacre involved the shooting murders of nine Aboriginal Australians, including children and a baby, by white settlers? Current status: Featured article

This article is rated FA-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Military history: South Pacific This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles Associated task forces: /  Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific military history task force Additional information: /  This article has passedanA-Class review. Crime and Criminal Biography Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Crime and Criminal Biography, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Crime and Criminal Biography articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Crime and Criminal BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject Crime and Criminal BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Crime and Criminal BiographyCrime-related articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. Australia: South Australia / Crime / Military history / Indigenous peoples Low‑importance Avenue Range Station massacre is within the scope of WikiProject Australia, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Australia and Australia-related topics. If you would like to participate, visit the project page.AustraliaWikipedia:WikiProject AustraliaTemplate:WikiProject AustraliaAustralia articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by WikiProject South Australia (assessed as Low-importance). This article is supported by WikiProject Australian crime (assessed as Low-importance). This article is supported by the Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific military history task force (assessed as Low-importance). This article is supported by WikiProject Indigenous peoples of Australia (assessed as Low-importance). Need help improving this article? Ask a LibrarianWhat's this? at the National Library of Australia, or the State Library of South Australia. The Wikimedia Australia chapter can be contacted via email to helpwikimedia.org.au for non-editorial assistance. Death Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Death, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Death on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.DeathWikipedia:WikiProject DeathTemplate:WikiProject DeathDeath articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Avenue Range Station massacre. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20161012010923/http://maps.sa.gov.au/plb/tohttp://maps.sa.gov.au/plb/%23

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 12:56, 12 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Peacemaker, what a great job you've done recording the conflictions of the various versions. Here are a few suggestions and questions. I certainly understand that answers may not exist. Please ignore any that are not helpful. I only saw two minor typos which have since been fixed.

• "pastoral station" - pipe wlink to Sheep station? - o'seas readers may think of railways

•  Done

• "...a fire which contained bones." - more bones

•  Done

• "Brown was charged with the murder of "unknown aboriginal natives" on 1 March 1849." (x2) - is ambiguous, ie it could be read as murders occurred 1 March, so maybe move date? Brown was charged on 1 March 1849 with the murder of "unknown aboriginal natives".

•  Done

Also, the sentence preceding says "Moorhouse's original report in March 1849..." so was Brown charged same day of report or prior to it?

• I think Moorhouse's reporting was independent of the court process, as he reported to the Chief Secretary

• "In late March or early April he appeared before a local magistrate..." - did he actually plead not guilty? Do we know if he was represented?

• Info not provided in Foster et al.

• Foster et al (x5) need fullstop?

•  Done

• "...exodus of white labourers to the Victorian goldfields." - Victorian gold rush is more evocative?

•  Done

• "...Parker denied any knowledge of the crime, as did others who were believed to have heard the incident discussed in Brown's presence." - Is this to mean the others actually heard the gun shots or had heard about the incident? And/or stayed stum because Brown was present when Moorhouse questioned them?

• It isn't clear exactly what they knew or had overheard, I think the implication is that they had heard Brown or his associates discuss the murders, so were potential witnesses.

• "...Leandermin himself, who it appears was being detained at Guichen Bay..." - detained to be a witness or on something unrelated?

• They don't say, I'm assuming it means he was being held by police as a witness

• "...had apparently been "made away with". - are they suggesting he was sent away or killed?

• Perhaps lured away out of the colony, but Foster et al. aren't clear about it.

• Identities - it is baffling that victims were recorded as "unknown aboriginal natives". So not even the tribe from which they were missing was identified during the investigations? The only mention is towards end where Christina Smith mentions Wattatonga - do Foster et al mention a possible tribe?

• It is, given Moorhouse had good experience of Aboriginal people. Foster et al. don't mention it except to note that Smith's witness said they were Wattatonga people.

Also if they weren't identified how were their genders and ages determined - is there anything in Foster et al re forensics on the collected bones?

• No, but Moorhouse was a doctor, and wrist bone ossification measurements have been used to determine ages of deceased children for a long time.

• Smith - There are three different Smith accounts - Clement, Elma, Christina - but they seem far enough apart to not be confused.

• I agree, I did wonder if I should preface them all with the first name as well.

• "In 1987, an elderly Aboriginal man from nearby Kingston relates a version..." - where is this from? ie did the man relate it directly to FH&N?

• No, colleagues of theirs interviewed him, but the recording was lost and they are relying on the interviewer's notes.

• Poss categories? (I don't yet understand if/where templates override cats). Aborigines in South Australia, Australian frontier wars, History of South Australia, Settlers of South Australia, Violence against Aboriginal Australians

• added a few.

• Btw List of massacres of Indigenous Australians says massacre occured 1849 in Mt Gambier region and clan was Buandig Wattatonga. Its ref links to Christina's digitized book.

Thanks for your wonderful work on this sad story. JennyOz (talk) 03:22, 22 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

• Thanks for taking a look. Your feedback has been very helpful. I'm planning a trip to State Records this week to view a couple of the reports mentioned, which might clarify some of your queries. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 06:37, 22 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Peacemaker - I just did a bit of a Trove search because I was curious about the point JennyOz raised about his appearance before the local magistrate, and found some curious results. There are a number of references to a John (?) Brown on trial for killing natives at Guichen Bay (though he is referred to as James in some of them), with what appears to be some form of Supreme Court appeal on 20 March 1849 against an earlier committal by a Captain Butler. Not sure what to make of this but thought I'd raise it here in case it's useful. The Drover's Wife (talk) 07:09, 22 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

It's interesting alright. I had a squiz at the April 1849 letter from Butler to Bagot on Friday and there is a mention in it of something being awry with the warrant of commitment for Brown, which is borne out by what you found. I s'pose that's one of the problems you can have when you make a military officer a magistrate... The issue of habeas corpus probably explains why he was granted bail when he first appeared in Adelaide. I'm hoping that two State Records files will shine some light, although I'll have to be very careful how I use anything gleaned from them. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 07:24, 22 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

One more detail that might (or might not) be useful if this gets written up: Butler appears to have resigned his judicial commission within a fortnight of that Supreme Court appeal. Still failed to confirm exactly who his counsel "Mr. Fisher" was. The Drover's Wife (talk) 11:44, 22 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I think the latter refers to another magistrate having resigned his commission (brother-chip?), and the anonymous writer advises Butler to do the same. I don't think it refers to Butler himself having resigned. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 02:21, 23 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I see elsewhere on Trove that the application for bail for Brown was agreed to by the Advocate General on the basis of no action being taken against Butler for inconsistencies in Brown's warrant of committal. Not sure how much of this should be included in the article... Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 03:16, 23 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hi again Peacemaker67, Re the settler hanged for killing an aboriginal - this fellow...? Per List of people legally executed in Australia#South Australia - "Thomas Donnelly – Hanged outside Adelaide Gaol for the murder of Kingberrie at Rivoli Bay – 24 March 1847"

Here's a ref - (though "Monday morning" would make date 29 March not 24 as above.) ^[1]

(I wasn't sure whether to add this here or on review page.) JennyOz (talk) 00:26, 25 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Jenny! By my calculation, 31 March 1847 was a Wednesday, so the execution was on Monday 29 March 1847. I've added the month and hanging and the location of the murder (also in the south east). Cheers, Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 02:24, 25 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]