Coorong, Adelaide and Yorke War and Resistance
Summary ▸A summary of this war and resistance will be available in future.
Notes:
- Sealers and whalers who kidnapped women established violent relations.
- Explorers at the Coorong looking for the mouth of the Murray-Darling system and others passing through were killed, probably due to the hostile relations established by sealers and whalers.
- With Adelaide established by free settlers rather than convicts, there was violence and resistance, but it's severity relative to other parts of Australia may have been ameliorated by the efforts of Mullawirraburka and Kadlitpinna, with Wyatt and other colonists to quell violence and retaliation.
- When the 'Maria' was ship wrecked at the Coorong, many were killed in a rare massacre of colonists by Aboriginal people. This lead to Government ordered reprisals and killing of Aboriginal people.
- Violence and resistance expanded from Adelaide into the Yorke Peninsula and to the north.
- This was followed by conflicts at Port Lincoln (Eyre Peninsula) to the west; on overland routes between Adelaide and the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers and Port Phillip (Victoria), and further north in the Flinders Ranges. Also, the Northern Territory was governed from Adelaide when there was extensive violence there later.
Data has been generously provided by:
Robert Foster, Skye Krichauff and Amanda Nettelbeck, The South Australian Frontier and its Legacies, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 2024, http://ua.edu.au/south-australian-frontier
People
The following lists references to some people involved in this conflict. More may be added in future.
If an individual or group is mentioned more than once in an article, only one instance from that article is referenced. If they are mentioned in more than one article there is a record for each article. Where possible, links are provided to the article to read the full account. The sentence quoted may contain poor quality uncorrected text from Trove OCR.
Country/Nation/People/Language indicates which Indigenous group people belonged to. Different people in different places prefer different terminology, and sometimes the 'belonging' relates to one of these not another. In many cases, due to colonists' limited knowledge, the archival record may indicate only use generic terms (eg: 'blacks' or 'Murrimbidgee blacks'). In the absence of any other detail, it is assumed it is the people of that region (eg: Wiradjuri).
Listed are:
- Named Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander people. This includes people involved in violent action, or in some other way involved, such as messengers. In many cases only the colonists' name (alias or aka - 'also known as') for the person is available.
- Unnamed individuals or groups of people. This is as specific as possible. If a group is mentioned, we indicate that group, then if an individual is mentioned, we also list that individual. These numbers should not be tallied to arrive at a total, as that would result in double counting. Estimates of numbers of people effected, of combatants directly involved in action, or of non-combatant victims, should be derived from population estimates and understanding of cultural roles, as well as information in sources.
- Colonists involved in the conflict. This list includes people whose stock, runs or huts were raided, or were involved in violent actions. In most cases colonists are named. In some cases someone involved may be referred to by their role only or as belonging to a run, or the owner of the run, eg: 'a shepherd' or 'Mr Smith's hutkeeper'.
- Indigenous Auxilliaries Auxiliaries are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people working for, or acting on behalf of colonists. This may be voluntarily or by coercion. This includes people such as trackers, workers and Native Police. The distinction is not always clear cut and some individuals acted on both sides of the conflict or changed sides.
Named Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
Name / Alias: