Raid and attack on 'Milla-Murrah'

Date: 25 May 1824
Place: Milla-Murrah
At absentee landlord Samuel Terry's station ‘Milla-Murrah’, George Cheshire and William Lee found ‘two shepherds and one hut-keeper killed by the natives'. The Wiradyjuri warriors had ‘proceeded to break up and destroy every article of convenience about the place; 12 sheep were killed and eaten at their camp … [and] Several other sheep were also killed, and many wounded’. The Gazette newspaper later reported ‘that the natives have in their possession 7 stands of arms, with plenty of ammunition’. If 'Milla-Murrah' was the 'Murdering Hut' it may well have been targetted. Salisbury and Gresser, Windradyne of the Wiradjuri, pp. 22-3. Salisbury and Gresser noted that ‘Millah-Murrah’ was nearby ‘Tanawarra’, a ‘native cemetery’, and that it was also ‘the location of the “Murdering Hut”’, where it seems poison had been laid out for unsuspecting Wiradyjuri. According to Gresser, it was ‘nearby’ (not on) ‘Tanawarra’, the ‘native cemetery’. Gresser notes that ‘Mullah-murrah’ meant ‘many eyes’.

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Sources

  • Reverend William Horton, Wesleyan Missionary Papers, 3 June 1823, ML BT 52, V4, p. 1268; Gazette, 10 June 1824, p. 2; Depositions re bodies of men killed by Aborigines, 29 May 1824, SRNSW, NRS 897, 6065, 4/1799, pp. 55–58; Gresser Papers, BDHSMA, pp. 24–53; Salisbury and Gresser, Windradyne of the Wiradjuri, pp. 22-3

Event mentions

  • Raid and attack on 'Milla-Murrah'
    25 May 1824 — Milla-Murrah
    At absentee landlord Samuel Terry's station ‘Milla-Murrah’, George Cheshire and William Lee found ‘two shepherds and one hut-keeper killed by the natives'. The Wiradyjuri warriors had ‘proceeded to break up and destroy every article of convenience about the place; 12 sheep were killed and eaten at their camp … [and] Several other sheep were also killed, and many wounded’. The Gazette newspaper later reported ‘that the natives have in their possession 7 stands of arms, with plenty of ammunition’. If 'Milla-Murrah' was the 'Murdering Hut' it may well have been targetted. Salisbury and Gresser, Windradyne of the Wiradjuri, pp. 22-3. Salisbury and Gresser noted that ‘Millah-Murrah’ was nearby ‘Tanawarra’, a ‘native cemetery’, and that it was also ‘the location of the “Murdering Hut”’, where it seems poison had been laid out for unsuspecting Wiradyjuri. According to Gresser, it was ‘nearby’ (not on) ‘Tanawarra’, the ‘native cemetery’. Gresser notes that ‘Mullah-murrah’ meant ‘many eyes’.
    Source: Reverend William Horton, Wesleyan Missionary Papers, 3 June 1823, ML BT 52, V4, p. 1268; Gazette, 10 June 1824, p. 2; Depositions re bodies of men killed by Aborigines, 29 May 1824, SRNSW, NRS 897, 6065, 4/1799, pp. 55–58; Gresser Papers, BDHSMA, pp. 24–53; Salisbury and Gresser, Windradyne of the Wiradjuri, pp. 22-3