Talk:Warrowen massacre

Prod

The article needs a lot of work, but I can't see any reason to conclude that the event didn't take place. There are three secondary sources already in the article. Additional journal source here from Ian Clark mentions a battle/massacre and gives additional details about the Yowengerre (Yowengare, Yowenjerre, Yowengarra). Also mentioned here and here. Are there any sources disputing that it took place, or that Robinson fabricated similar events? Even then these would need to be weighted accordingly with contradictory sources and wouldn't be cause to just delete the article. Ivar the Boneful (talk) 01:49, 22 February 2020 (UTC)

Hi, Thanks for the feedback - I'm still not convinced though. I think it is more important to provide evidence that the events actually took place rather than prove that the event didn't take place (proving a negative). All the claims rely on Thomas, an unreliable primary source...his claims are republished in secondary sources, but those sources do not make the claims themselves, it is Thomas's word we are relying on here. The Ian Clark source you provided is an interesting read, but it doesn't even mention the Warrowen massacre. There's no evidence that any tribe called the Boro Boro Willum ever existed. I think the burden of evidence is to demonstrate that the events and people discussed actually existed, the word of the Assistant Protector is not reliable, IMO. Bacondrum (talk) 02:26, 22 February 2020 (UTC)

The problem is that the coverage is so scant and trivial that no one's bothered to contradict them or go to the trouble of assessing the reliability of the authors. We have three references to a single page in much broader history books. We have two archival primary sources which is getting into WP:OR territory. And we have a local history book with no page citations. Thomas' account is incredibly vague: he concludes "The natives of Gippsland visit the inlet at Pubin.borro and other inlets in the snowing season. There must have been an awful massacre of these natives" based on the mere fact of their absence, which is not any basis for claiming that they were massacred by other Aboriginal people at a specific place in Brighton (and from someone who had obvious motive to ignore more likely reasons for their absence). The other sources refer to extremely vague rumours among white people. There's no evidence that the allegedly massacred group even existed. This is not sufficient basis for us to be having an article. The Drover's Wife (talk) 03:03, 22 February 2020 (UTC)

@The Drovers Wife, spot on.

The evidence needed to back such a claim is just not there. We cannot claim that the Kurnai people's ancestors committed a horrific crime without much stronger evidence, based on colonial era rumours. We have to remember that these claims are being made against people who have living descendants and we are claiming their ancestors committed a massacre without sufficient evidence. Bacondrum (talk) 02:41, 23 February 2020 (UTC)

I'm not advocating for this article. But just want to point out that sensitivity about what descendants might (or might not) have about events nearly 200 years ago has no place in WP. WP is not censored. Please refer to WP policies if making claims about content. Boneymau (talk) 02:06, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

Um, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying we can't claim the Kurnai peoples ancestors committed a massacre without verification that the events took place. Bacondrum (talk) 03:12, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

The article doesn't say that. It refers to an 'apparent' event and covers the available evidence. We can certainly have an article about a disputed event, and ideally reflecting secondary sources discussing different perspectives. (Although probably there's not enough secondary sources in this case to justify a notable topic.) Outside of that, it's not completely out of the realms of possibility that this happened: inter-tribal violence was a thing in pre-colonial and early colonial time, and it's well known that the Kulin nations didn't get on with the Gunaikurnai and considered them aggressive. Boneymau (talk) 09:10, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

The point is that the "available evidence" is one primary source and very brief passing mentions on one page of two books. We have articles about disputed events where they're notable, but this is just a very random colonial rumour that nobody ever took seriously enough to bother commenting on. If we accepted this extremely thin level of sourcing as acceptable for notability across the board, we'd have entirely different standards and be an entirely different project. The Drover's Wife (talk) 09:16, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

I'm not disagreeing. Until historians or others look into it more and write about it, there's probably not enough to justify a WP article. That being said, lots of our knowledge of the early colonial period (just like any history before multiple people were recording events) is based on very thin primary sources. Boneymau (talk) 09:24, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

AfD

Ivar the Boneful. You beat me to it. Well done.

I was about to hit the article starting with the following ...

Diane Barwick, of the Australian Institute of Aborignal Studies, notes per Robinson:

identified 1844 as Yowenjerre, W of 'Wilson's Promontory or Wommum', a 'powerful section of the Boonwerong nation at: Western Port who have (with the exception of two individuals) been exterminated'

and

in 1846 as Yowengerra E of 'the Tarwin who have been, with the exception of two youths, annihilated by the Gippsland Aborigines'

Sue Wesson, a researcher for the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages, notes per Robinson:

In 1844 G.A. Robinson was told that a man named Kaborer was one of two survivors of a battle with the Borro borro willum (the Boon wurrung named for the Bushy Park people of Gippsland)

Marie Fels, an Australian ethno-historian, notes per Thomas:

‘About four years ago [1836] 77 people were killed at Little Brighton not nine miles from Melbourne’.

Marie Fels also notes per Robinson:

.. in 1844 .. the country inland from Cape Liptrap, Robinson recorded that it belonged to the Yowwengerre section of the Boongerong, now extinct, extirpated by the Boro Boro Willum or Gippsland blacks.

quoting Robinson:

The chief or mor mun of the Yowengerre was Pur. Rine, native place Warmun, is dead. This tribe once powerful are defunct and the country in consequence is unburnt having no native inhabitants. This is the reason why the country is so scrubby. The natives of Gippsland visit the inlet at Pubin.borro and other inlets in the snowing season. There must have been an awful massacre of these natives. Mun mun jin ind’s father was a Yowengerre; Mun mun jin ind gave me an account of the natives of the country and also gave me the names. The natives of Gippsland have killed 70 of the Boongerong at Brighton.

Fels notes that Thomas gave a subsequent account quoting Thomas:

blacks remember the awful affair at Warrowen (place of sorrow) near where Brighton now stands, where in 1834 nearly a quarter of the Western Port blacks were massacred by the Gippsland blacks who stole up on them before dawn of day.

and also quotes a later accoiunt by Thomas:

[They have] no monuments whatever further than devices on trees where any great calamity have befallen them. On a large gum tree in Brighton, on the estate of Mr McMillan was a host of blacks lying as dead carved on the trunk for a yard or two up. The spot was called Woorroowen or incessant weeping. Near this spot in the year 1833 or 4, the Gippsland blacks stole at night upon the Western Port or Coast tribe and killed 60 or 70 of them.

Ian Clark, an academic aboriginal historian, notes per Robinson:

With the exception of two men, Kurburra and Munmungina, Robinson noted in 1844 that the Yowengerre clan was defunct. According to Robinson, the clan had been exterminated by the neighbouring Ganai clan, the Boro Boro Willum. He noted that because of the practical demise of the Yowengerre, their country had become scrubby because it was not periodically burned.

carved tree - barwick - thomas exagerated numbers - smyth 1878 - this one still needs follow up

Regards. Aoziwe (talk) 11:07, 28 February 2020 (UTC)

Sorry to steal your thunder Aoziwe :-). Any more sources would definitely not be amiss. Yes that Smyth 1878 footnote is quite interesting and should be incorporated. Fels also talks about the numbers but is 100% behind Thomas's highest estimate - 77. This seems to me to be suspiciously accurate for a years-old second-hand account. The two sevens makes it seem almost biblical, i.e. "70 times 7" as a generic large number. Although funnily enough the Gaughwin-Sullivan article in that source does suggest that up to 150-200 Bunurong could be camped in a single place, which puts such a large toll not beyond the realms of possibility. Ivar the Boneful (talk) 12:09, 28 February 2020 (UTC)

References

Ivar the Boneful. No problem at all. Your version is much better than my first version would have been. Re Smyth 1878. There is the WS edition at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Aborigines_of_Victoria/Volume_1 . Unfortunately volume II is not complete? I am still trying to locate Barwick's reference therein and other possible locations. According to TROVE there are 19 editions of the work, so that might be why the pages numbers given by Barwick do not line up with the WS edition. See https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9328554 . Yes I saw Fels "hand writing analysis" etc. I agree Fels has most likely correctly interpretted Thomas' record, but whether that was correct in the first place is another matter. Aoziwe (talk) 11:16, 29 February 2020 (UTC)

I assume it's in Chapter 3 where Smyth writes:

But he [Thomas] adds that one-half at least of one of the tribes inhabiting these counties had perished in 1834 in a war with the Gippsland and Omeo blacks, and that previous to the war the total number was certainly not less than 500

He then adds in a footnote:

The native warfare generally does not result in the destruction of great numbers of the belligerents. One or two may fall in battle, never to rise again; but not seldom is a war concluded without actual loss of life. Mr. Thomas, in stating that 150 persons had perished in this war, merely repeated a story he had heard. [...] A war resulting in the death of 150 persons is not certainly common amongst the blacks.

Fair comments. It's difficult to imagine such a large death toll without firearms, but not impossible. Ivar the Boneful (talk) 11:46, 29 February 2020 (UTC)

Thanks. Although Barwick seems much more explicit than Smyth? so I was looking for more. Aoziwe (talk) 12:15, 29 February 2020 (UTC)

Another reference?: A Bend in the Yarra: A History of the Merri Creek Protectorate Station and Merri Creek Aboriginal School 1841-1851, Ian D. Clark, Toby Heydon, Aboriginal Studies Press, 2004, page 32 [1] which refers to [2] page 62. Aoziwe (talk) 13:11, 29 February 2020 (UTC)

• Comment As per AfD discussion: I admit I was wrong about this, it looked like a highly dubious colonial rumor to begin with, but I'm happy to admit I was wrong - there appears to be more to it. The article is much improved, changes demonstrate notability. Nice work Ivar and Aoziwe.

Thanks Bacondrum. However, all credit for the revised article must go to Ivar the Boneful. Aoziwe (talk) 11:27, 1 March 2020 (UTC)

Further research needed

Ok so, I read over the discussion on this page and the deletion page. One question I'm uncertain of is what happened to the Borro Borro Willun? These people are barely talked about, and they - according to this article -, massacred a Boonwurrung clan in Brighton and took over the area. However, a Kurnai presence in Brighton would surely be noteworthy? That's extremely far from Kurnai territory. Is there any record of these people living in the Brighton area?

According to this article someone used: https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Aboriginal_versus_European_perspectives_on_country/3826671 it seems like they say the Kurnai country shifted from the east to the west side of Wilson's prom; this suggests to me that by killing the Borro Borro who lived in Brighton they allowed themselves to take over ownership of an area around Wilson's Prom. But that doesn't really make any sense to me, because that area is still very far from Brighton and all the other way on the other side of Western Port Bay? Poketama (talk) 16:44, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

@Aoziwe ITBF Poketama (talk) 16:46, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

Been a while since I looked at this, but my understanding is that the theory is that the Yowenjerre were ambushed while passing through Brighton either to or from Port Phillip. This left the Yowenjerre territory near the Tarwin River free to be taken by the Borro Borro who had been pushed out of their own territory by Angus McMillan. Brighton didn't belong to either group. Unfortunately there's pretty scanty coverage of the topic and the Wilson/Ellender article is about the only one that goes into the background detail as opposed to the bare facts. ITBF (talk) 19:19, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for that, that makes a bit more sense now. About a days walk to Brighton is feasible I suppose. I'm unsure what happened to the Borro Borro though and if there was any further evidence of occupation in that area. I'll update if I find any more info. Poketama (talk) 01:38, 20 June 2022 (UTC)