History of the Australian BushrangersBoxall, George
History
History of the Australian Bushrangers
Boxall, George
Bushrangers -- Australia
"The deadly antipathy which was excited between the aborigines and
the bushrangers of Van Diemen's Land provoked a series of outrages
which would have terminated in the utter extinction of the whole race,
if the local Government had not interposed to remove the last remnant
of them from the island; an act of real mercy, though of apparent
severity."[21] Before proceeding to describe this attempt to save the
remnant of the race we may perhaps give a list of the "Atrocities
committed by the blacks." It is not a very long one, taking into
consideration the time occupied in the war. In March, 1820, forty-nine
natives attacked Mr. Broadribb's house. They were divided into several
parties which came up from different points simultaneously. One man was
speared in the thigh before the blacks were repulsed. They all went
away together and stripped Mr. Thomson's house of everything portable.
They then proceeded to Mr. E. Denovan's and robbed his place. On April
1st John Raynor was speared and dreadfully beaten at Spring Bay. On
May 18th a party of blacks attacked two men employed by Mr. Lord. One
was dangerously speared and the other beaten. The hut was stripped.
On June 1st Mr. Sherwin's hut, at Weasel Plain, was plundered, and on
the 15th, Den Hut, at Lake River, was stripped bare, and Mary Daniels
and her two children murdered. On August 7th, S. Stockman's hut, at
Green Ponds, was plundered. On the 9th, some muskets, powder, and shot
were stolen from the huts of Mr. Sharland, a Government surveyor. On
the same day the Government hut, between Borthwick and Blue Ash, was
robbed, several horses stolen from Mr. Wood and Mr. Pitcairn, and a man
wounded at Mr. Purvis's. This party consisted of about forty blacks.
They were met by Mr. Howell's party, and the blacks were driven off
after a fight. A woman living near was wounded with a spear. On the
23rd, the huts of Mr. J. Connell and Mr. Robertson were attacked, and
the latter plundered; Mr. Sutherland's shepherds were robbed of their
arms and one of them wounded; some arms were taken from Mr. Taylor's
hut. The next day James Hooper was killed, and his hut plundered. The
huts of Lieutenants Bell and Watts were attacked, but the blacks were
repulsed. On September 8th Captain Clark's shepherd was attacked, but
contrived to escape. On the 13th one man was killed and another wounded
on the banks of the Tamar River. On the 14th a man working at the
Government lime kilns at Bothwell was attacked, but escaped. On the
18th a private of the 63rd Regiment was speared and two other soldiers
wounded. One of the savages was killed. On the 27th Francis Booker was
killed with spears, and on the next day three men at Major Gray's hut
were wounded. On the same day two men were killed at Mr. G. Scott's
place and their bodies thrown into the river. A third man was wounded,
but escaped into the bush. The house was stripped of everything. This
robbery was so systematically carried through that it was believed that
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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