Author: Megan Tutty
Tutty, Megan, 2020 Culture contact and conflict after the Rufus River massacre: an analysis of documentary evidence regarding European/Aboriginal relations on the central Murray River 1842–1890, Flinders University, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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Studies of cross-cultural contact in colonial Australia and, more particularly, the violent nature of much of that contact, are now legion. Yet despite growing attention to this field of enquiry, there are still significant temporal and spatial gaps in our analyses of Indigenous/settler relations on the Australian frontier. The situation in South Australian remains one that is perhaps least understood, particularly those circumstances on the central/upper Murray following the Rufus River massacre in 1841. This research is a contribution towards addressing that gap.
Using methodological classification and analysis of primary documents, this thesis seeks to characterise the nature of cultural interactions during a transformative period which saw a considerable decline in the Indigenous population. Careful scrutiny of historic texts and maps, and subsequent comparison with present day sources, reveals the likely locales of contact, particularly the ration depots that operated between Moorunde and Lake Littra. It provides a summary of quantitative ration distribution data and other population records made by government officials. Additionally, it identifies instances of violent conflict that were reported in press accounts and the public record.
In concluding, this research finds that Aboriginal people on the central/upper Murray responded to European colonisation in a variety of ways. Much of the cross-cultural contact that took place revolved around exchange and labour. It was not typified by the violence that was integral to the period of initial contact prior to 1842, and continuing overt violence is therefore unlikely to have been a significant cause of population decline. Depot sites most likely to yield further information include Moorunde, Overland Corner and Lake Littra; Blanchetown and Morgan sites have undergone considerable change and disturbance. Future investigation of pastoral stations, particularly outstations, as areas of potentially heightened contact, is recommended.
Keywords: River Murray, Indigenous history, colonial history, frontier violence
Subject: Archaeology thesis
Thesis type: Masters
Completed: 2020
School: College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Supervisor: Heather Burke