by quentin cockburn
In 1842, five thousand turned up, (that‘s a quarter of the Victorian population) to watch the execution of two, ‘Bloodthirsty Outlaws”. They were aboriginals, Tunnerminnerwait, and Maulboyheener. They were hanged for the murder of two whalers, whilst resisting white settlement. In their defense, a young barrister named Edmund Barry, (who was later to hang Kelly) asked the Crown whether, ‘the British government had legal authority over the aborigines?’ He need not have asked; the doctrine of ‘Terra Nullius’ gave the Government the only right they required.
The hangmen botched the job. On that day, January 20th 1842 it took Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheener over half an hour to die. Their bodies convulsed on the scaffold as the slowly strangled to death.
The hangmen, redeemed themselves at the next public hanging for ‘Roger the Russian’ on 5th September 1842. Roger; ‘an aboriginal from Port Fairy was publicly executed for the murder of Patrick Codd, a white settler who was known to take liberties with Aboriginal women and who was not adverse to the occasional massacre of aboriginal women and children. Unfortunately the authorities hanged the wrong man as Roger could not have committed the murder as he was over 100 kilometres from where Codd was killed.*
We do not know if the crowd cheered when the condemned fell through the trapdoor, or remained transfixed by a combination of the blood-lust and spectacle. Public Executions were guaranteed hugely popular crowd pullers. Of course there were other executions taking place all over the colony then, but they were much less formal and conducted in a more secretive manner. The people being massacred were denied the dignity conferred by formal war.
The dates are important, like 25th April 1915 they should be seared into our national conscience. The fact that they are not is a shame we are obliged to share. These Aborigines are the ones we know. The Melbourne City Council acknowledged their existence this year with a memorial. This is the only one I can think of. In Canberra, we have many commemorating other wars. It’s big business.
We killed them. We identified them. We acknowledged their native names – well, at least with two of the three. But we treat our former enemies with more respect. We grace the Turks with the sobriquet, ‘Johnnie Turk’, the Japanese, the Germans, the Boers, the Mujahadeen, are given respect through war. Not so for the first Australians since the violent invasion of their homeland.
The recent royal tour cements in our memory the proscribed version of our history. All good stories need re-telling. Every generation must learn the ‘truth about us’. It is instructive to read the Murdoch tabloids. At random I chose one; the Daily Mail. here are a couple of extracts from the commentary, they make illuminating reading;
‘Former liberal Sophie Mirabella and her young daughters were among the crowd lining the path to see the couple. They held a sign which read, “Wangaratta honours their service”. Her daughter Kitty, 3 and a half yelled out to Kate who later told Dr Nelson that the little girl was very beautiful’.
Shortly after the couple arrived at the Australian War memorial, (AWM). A young servicewoman reminded those present that the names and faces of the soldiers killed in Afghanistan were being displayed on the memorial, to add to those killed in previous wars. The Afghanistan conflict, the royal couple were told, is Australia’s longest and most recent war, and as well as the fallen, more than 260 were wounded.
Lest we forget. Well of course we can. As the historical record is concerned, the other war, the frontier war, never really happened.
*(Extract from 1842. The Public Executions at Melbourne. The full story of the capture, trial and hanging of Bushrangers and Aborigines as disclosed in official documents never before published. Book review by Joe Toscano, (Troublemaker. Ed): the Anarchist Age Weekly Review)