12/08/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1bqgDs7CMh/
When the truth is discovered how can this be allowed.
This magical tree had a name why does a murder get to be remembered and have our sacred tree named after him. Yes he contributed in his field but this is still not right.
Uncle Steven Kemp did you see this?
EXPLORER MITCHELL NOT REALLY SQUEAKY CLEAN
We can be thankful for some of (Sir) Thomas Mitchell's detailed accounts in his journals, discovered by Bruce Pascoe and other researchers in the past four decades by meticulously wading through his writings and uncovering important information on Pre-Invasion Agriculture and housing etc.
Important history which was conveniently left out of the Australian history books by colonial history authors, publishers and governments, but they also conveniently overlooked his poor regard for the lives or well-being of Aboriginal people while taking notes in his surveying expeditions as well.
During his various expeditions he didn't seem to worry about eliminating Aboriginal people in his path as he pushed his way through their lands that they had sustainably managed over many millennia, which led an unknown number of massacres. Here are two massacres that he write about.
11 JULY 1835. The expedition team of Thomas Mitchell, during their journey to the Darling River, fatally shot at least four Aboriginals after an argument over the bartering of a teapot for the sexual services of an Aboriginal woman which escalated into violence.
One of those shot dead was a woman carrying a baby on her back.
The casualties from this encounter were probably much higher as it involved five British men shooting at a tribe of First Nations people as they tried to flee by swimming across the river. Mitchell attempted to downplay the collision by saying that the sustained shooting occurred "without much or any effect".
27 MAY 1836. Thomas Mitchell felt threatened by a group of around 150 Aboriginals and divided his expedition team into two groups with about 8 men in each group. The first group drove the Aboriginal people to the river forcing them with gunfire to enter the water in order to attempt escape.
The second group of armed men then reunited with the first and commenced firing at them as they swam across the river. For around 5 minutes, 16 men fired approximately eighty rounds of am******on at the fleeing Aboriginals.
It was claimed that a maximum of eleven people were shot dead, although this is almost certainly an underestimation. A government inquiry was organised into the massacre after Mitchell published his account of the incident, but little consequence came of it.
Mitchell subsequently named the area where the shootings occurred 'Mount Dispersion'.
MITCHELL'S MASSACRE REFERENCES:
'The Australian' New South Wales. 30 January 1837 (P2)
'The Colonist' New South Wales, 2 February 1837. (p7)
'Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia Vol 2' Thomas Mitchell 1828 London: Boone (p102–103), (p269–270)
