Cape Grim Massacre - Background

Background

The frontier conflict in Tasmania between Europeans and Aborigines has been alleged to have been marked by violence, cruelty, and abduction and rape of women, with a gross imbalance in weapons. Jan Roberts said that:

In general, Aboriginal men were shot on sight and the women seized to serve the needs of shepherds and sealers, many of whom took two Aboriginal women each.

However, other historians including Josephine Flood disagree with this assessment:

Abduction and ill-treatment of Aborigines certainly occurred, but the extent of atrocities and 'massacres' has been grossly exaggerated.

In 1826 the Van Diemen's Land Company set up sheep stations at Cape Grim and at Circular Head. When the Peerapper band from West Point revisited Cape Grim in December 1827 they found several shepherds, their huts and many sheep. The shepherds attempted to entice some of the Aboriginal women into a hut with the Aboriginal men strongly objecting resulting in a fight with one shepherd being speared in the thigh and one Aborigine shot dead.

In revenge the tribe drove a flock of sheep over a cliff, spearing 118 of them. One contemporary source claims that in February 1828 a Van Diemen's Land company punitive expedition killed twelve Aborigines in response. However, historian Keith Windschuttle argues that the account is dubious and is most likely a distorted rumour which conflates two other events; an incident when the crew of a ship's boat attempted to fire on some Aborigines but were thwarted by wet gunpowder and the conflict between convict shepherds and Aborigines at Cape Grim.