Rapid possession & dispossession Port Phillip, 8th of June,1835 - now
Within 3 years of the murderous John Batman arriving on a ship called "Enterprize" there were over 1.2 million hoofed animals in the new colony. Most of the larger wildlife was shot as vermin. Much of the land was burned or cleared or both and stocked with cattle and sheep
Traditional aboriginal cultural life began to evaporate with the first blankets, steel axes, mirrors and alcohol and by 1856* they'd been displaced from the peninsula despite the efforts of their protectors. Within 20 years of settlement the land had been legally parceled up and there was little Kulin land that didn't have fences |
Livestock census figures for Port Phillip district from 1835 to 1851
See Les Booth's timeline of post European-arrival Aboriginal history in Victoria here...
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The grasslands, the woodlands, the scrub, the creeks and wetlands and their animal and plant communities alike were irrevocably changed in a very short time by intensive livestock grazing**
*Thomas established his first protectorate station for the Western Port District at Tuerong on the Mornington Peninsula. In February 1840 he noted that there were 101 Aborigines camped there. Thomas saw a further reduction of Boonwurrung numbers during the 1840s. It was thought that this was caused by disease spread by contact with whites, murder, executions, shooting by authorities and others, inter-tribal warfare, death in jail and intemperance. On one occasion Thomas reported that 90 percent of the Boonwurrung were suffering from venereal disease and many also suffered from dysentery. In addition he thought that as their lands were invaded and food became scarce, the Boonwurrung deliberately controlled their own population growth, telling him ‘No country, no good piccaninny’.
Thomas estimated that of the 300 Boonwurrung living in the district prior to European settlement, by 1839, there were only 83 counted: 49 males and 34 females. Aborigines were last seen on the Southern Peninsula in 1856 when Thomas estimated that there were 28 or less Boonwurrung on the Mornington Peninsula. In the mid-1850s, most of the remaining Boonwurrung moved to a reserve at Mordialloc and a census of their numbers taken in 1863 revealed only 11. Jimmy Dunbar was thought to be the last so-called “full-blooded” member of the Boonwurrung tribe. He died in April 1877. (n.b. There are many descendents of Boonwurrung people today, some from women kidnapped from their peninsula home and taken to Tasmania and as far away as Mauritius)
**The introduction of pastoralism to the Peninsula helped destroy traditional sources of food. Grazing licences issued in the colony, from 1837 onwards, meant the introduction of sheep and cattle which resulted in a decline in the numbers of kangaroos and emus. These hoofed animals had an adverse effect on the growth of indigenous plant foods, particularly the Yam Daisy, a staple food tuber of the Boonwurrung. The development of the Melbourne settlement by the Port Phillip Association from 1835 had a disastrous effect on tribal boundaries and traditional movements.
* ** Source: Mornington Peninsula Shire Environmental History - Graeme Butler & Assoc. 2011
Thomas estimated that of the 300 Boonwurrung living in the district prior to European settlement, by 1839, there were only 83 counted: 49 males and 34 females. Aborigines were last seen on the Southern Peninsula in 1856 when Thomas estimated that there were 28 or less Boonwurrung on the Mornington Peninsula. In the mid-1850s, most of the remaining Boonwurrung moved to a reserve at Mordialloc and a census of their numbers taken in 1863 revealed only 11. Jimmy Dunbar was thought to be the last so-called “full-blooded” member of the Boonwurrung tribe. He died in April 1877. (n.b. There are many descendents of Boonwurrung people today, some from women kidnapped from their peninsula home and taken to Tasmania and as far away as Mauritius)
**The introduction of pastoralism to the Peninsula helped destroy traditional sources of food. Grazing licences issued in the colony, from 1837 onwards, meant the introduction of sheep and cattle which resulted in a decline in the numbers of kangaroos and emus. These hoofed animals had an adverse effect on the growth of indigenous plant foods, particularly the Yam Daisy, a staple food tuber of the Boonwurrung. The development of the Melbourne settlement by the Port Phillip Association from 1835 had a disastrous effect on tribal boundaries and traditional movements.
* ** Source: Mornington Peninsula Shire Environmental History - Graeme Butler & Assoc. 2011