Bathurst War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bathurst War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The Bathurst county in which the war was fought | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United Kingdom | Wiradjuri | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Governor Thomas Brisbane Major James Morisset | Windradyne | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
75 British soldiers Several cavalry 200+ armed settlers | 1,500 (unable to verify) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
~20 killed others wounded[1] |
~100 killed others wounded[1] | ||||||
The Bathurst War (1824) was a war in present-day New South Wales, Australia, between the Wiradjuri tribes and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The successful Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth expedition of 1813 to find a route through the "impenetrable" Blue Mountains allowed the colony to expand onto the vast fertile plains of the west.
British expansion into the land was initially slow, but following a change of government, Governor Thomas Brisbane came to power allowing a flood of land grants to the west of the Blue Mountains. The enormous influx of British colonists put massive strain on the traditional food sources[citation needed] and sacred landmarks of the Wiradjuri.[citation needed] By early 1824, war had broken out in which the Wiradjuri adopted a guerrilla-style approach. After Governor Brisbane declared martial law, the resistance soon collapsed in late 1824.[2]
Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson
Attempts to cross the Blue Mountains had been made from 1790 onwards with convicts seeking a way to escape and adventurers eager to explore the region. However, all of these attempts failed, and it was to be over 20 years before a way across was found. In May 1813, Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth set out with a plan to find a passage through the impenetrable Blue Mountains. After 21 days of traveling through 50 miles (80 km) of rugged terrain, the party reached Mount Blaxland. From here they saw a vast expanse of forest and grass in which Blaxland wrote was rich enough "to support the stock of the colony for the next thirty years".[3]
This was in fact the land of the Wiradjuri people, one of the largest language groups in Australia. The Wiradjuri inhabited an area bounded by the Blue Mountains in the east, the western slopes in the south, and the change of open forest to grassy plains in the north and west. The tribes led by Windradyne lived in the eastern parts of this territory, connected to the other groups by a common language as well as cultural and trade links.[4]
Governor Lachlan Macquarie
After passage through the Blue Mountains had been secured, assistant surveyor George Evans and his party had been instructed to further explore the country. Evans' reports confirmed of excellent pastures beyond the mountains to which Governor Macquarie ordered a road be built from the Nepean River. In less than six months the 100-mile (160 km) road had been completed. Soon after Governor Lachlan Macquarie and a large accompanying party set out to view the country. The journey took nine days by coach from Parramatta and on arrival Macquarie's welcoming ceremony was observed by seven Wiradjuri.[5]
Macquarie wrote:
"We found here also three male natives and four boys of this newly discovered tract of country, who showed great surprise, mixed with no small degree of fear, at seeing so many strangers, horses and carriages but to whom they soon appeared to be reconciled on being kindly spoken to. They were all clothed with Mantles made of the skins of o'possums which were neatly sewn together and the outside of the skins were carved in a remarkably neat manner. They appear to be very inoffensive and cleanly in their persons."[6]
Three days later Macquarie inaugurated the town of Bathurst, then continued to tour the surrounding country. In his journal, Macquarie writes of being visited by three male natives and that "to the best looking and stoutest of them I gave a piece of yellow cloth in exchange for his mantle, which he presented me with".[7] It has been theorized that this unknown Wiradjuri man may have been Windradyne, but this cannot be proven. Nevertheless, it would be another eight years before he would become famous to the colony. In 1820, the population of Bathurst was only 114 due to Macquarie's slow and cautious approach to new settlement. His experience of the Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars of 1795–1816 may also have made him hesitant to start a new conflict. It seems that the Wiradjuri were willing to tolerate this slow level of growth and peaceful relations were maintained during this period.
Governor Thomas Brisbane
Macquarie offered his resignation several times, due to undermining forces within his own government, and in late 1820 his third application was accepted.[8] His replacement was Governor Thomas Brisbane, who formally took over on 1 December 1821.[9] Brisbane who had different views through which he began asserting his authority.[10][11][12] Under Brisbane, land settlement laws were changed leading to a flood of land grants across the Blue Mountains. An enormous influx of the British onto the Wiradjuri lands put great strain on traditional food sources, and destroyed some of the Wiradjuri social and sacred sites. In response, the Wiradjuri resistance was born. Well aware that they had no chance against guns, they adopted a guerrilla-warfare approach, in which attacks were made against outlying and undefended stations.[citation needed]
Pre-war violence
Following Governor Brisbane's decision to open the flood gates to the west of the Blue Mountains, various attacks were soon made against the growing settlement. In 1822, Wiradjuri warriors attacked a station on the Cudgegong River in which they drove away the stockman, let the cattle out of the yard and killed several of the sheep.[13] More attacks followed with the murder of convict hut-keepers, scattered herds and speared cattle. Stockmen were intimidated and would not leave their huts to round up the cattle and bring them in without protection. The government centre at Swallow Creek was soon abandoned in fear of attack. In late 1823, Windradyne (known as Saturday by the British) was captured for the first time.
The Sydney Gazette described the situation in the following:
Advices from Bathurst say that the natives have been very troublesome in that country. Numbers of cattle have been killed. In justification of their conduct, the natives urge that the white men have driven away all the kangaroos and opossums, and the black men must now have beef!... The strength of these men is amazing. One of the chiefs (named Saturday) of a desperate tribe, took six men to secure him and they had actually to break a musket over his body before he yielded, which he did at length with broken ribs... Saturday for his exploits was sentenced to a month's imprisonment.[14]
