Massacre at 'Maria' massacre, Coorong

Date: 1 Jul 1840 – 14 Jul 1840
Place: 'Maria' massacre, Coorong
Event type: massacre
Direct violence: Yes

In late July 1840, news reached Adelaide that 26 survivors of the wreck of the Maria, at a reef off the Coorong, had been slaughtered by the Milmenrura people (SA Register, August 1, 1840, p 2). Sir George Gawler, the governor of South Australia, declared martial law in the Coorong and dispatched a party of mounted police led by police commissioner Thomas O'Halloran to the Coroong and 'enforce summary justice' on the killers (SA Register, August 15, 1840, p 2). Two Milmenrura men, 'chosen on hearsay, were hung in the sight of the captive members of their clan' (Foster et al, 2001, p 15). However, in the aftermath of the hanging, it is alleged that the police killed a large group of Milmenrua (Hamann, 1973). Twenty-six colonists killed in one operation remains the largest massacre of colonists by Aboriginal people in Australia.

Notes:
CorroborationRating: ***

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