Massacre
In the early 1960s, Bathurst historian Percy Gresser noted a massacre – one that none of the Suttors or any other source had described. According to ‘local traditions’, the massacre had occurred at Bells Falls Gorge, near Wattle Flat, north of Bathurst, along the road to Sofala. According to Gresser, ‘an old resident of Wattle Flat whose father had resided in the district before him, told me years ago that “hundreds of blacks” had been rounded up and shot at Bell’s Falls’. Gresser thought it was quite likely that ‘some were shot there, but in the course of time the number would become greatly exaggerated’.
People involved
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Sources
- Gresser Papers, BDHSMA, pp. 24–53; Bathurst Times, 20 August 1962, p. 3. This brief snippet of information from Percy Gresser was transformed by Grassby and Hill, who wrote that ‘troops drove a party of women and children with a few accompanying warriors into Bell’s Falls Gorge. Trapped, they were systematically shot’. Grassby and Hill, Six Australian Battlefields, p. 160. Mary Coe described it even more dramatically: ‘women with their children jumped into the gorge or were shot and their bodies fell in. The Redcoats stood at the edge of the cliff and shot at the bodies making sure everyone including the children were all dead. The water ran red with blood of the murdered Wiradjuri people’. Coe, Windradyne, p. 58. Sofala locals in the 1990s said to David Roberts that at Bells Falls Gorge there was a ‘huge massacre’ and they [Europeans] ‘rounded all the blackfellas up at the top of the gorge, and shot at them until they jumped off’. They had no idea when, or why, but that it involved the gorge. Roberts, ‘Bells Falls massacre’, p. 615. For an overview of debate over the veracity of the massacre see Neumann, ‘Among historians’, p. 182; Roberts ‘The Bells Falls Massacre and oral tradition’, in Attwood and Foster (eds), Frontier Conflict, pp. 150–57
Event mentions
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Massacre1 Jan 1824 – 31 Dec 1824 — Bells Falls GorgeIn the early 1960s, Bathurst historian Percy Gresser noted a massacre – one that none of the Suttors or any other source had described. According to ‘local traditions’, the massacre had occurred at Bells Falls Gorge, near Wattle Flat, north of Bathurst, along the road to Sofala. According to Gresser, ‘an old resident of Wattle Flat whose father had resided in the district before him, told me years ago that “hundreds of blacks” had been rounded up and shot at Bell’s Falls’. Gresser thought it was quite likely that ‘some were shot there, but in the course of time the number would become greatly exaggerated’.Source: Gresser Papers, BDHSMA, pp. 24–53; Bathurst Times, 20 August 1962, p. 3. This brief snippet of information from Percy Gresser was transformed by Grassby and Hill, who wrote that ‘troops drove a party of women and children with a few accompanying warriors into Bell’s Falls Gorge. Trapped, they were systematically shot’. Grassby and Hill, Six Australian Battlefields, p. 160. Mary Coe described it even more dramatically: ‘women with their children jumped into the gorge or were shot and their bodies fell in. The Redcoats stood at the edge of the cliff and shot at the bodies making sure everyone including the children were all dead. The water ran red with blood of the murdered Wiradjuri people’. Coe, Windradyne, p. 58. Sofala locals in the 1990s said to David Roberts that at Bells Falls Gorge there was a ‘huge massacre’ and they [Europeans] ‘rounded all the blackfellas up at the top of the gorge, and shot at them until they jumped off’. They had no idea when, or why, but that it involved the gorge. Roberts, ‘Bells Falls massacre’, p. 615. For an overview of debate over the veracity of the massacre see Neumann, ‘Among historians’, p. 182; Roberts ‘The Bells Falls Massacre and oral tradition’, in Attwood and Foster (eds), Frontier Conflict, pp. 150–57