Massacre on the Murray River, WA - 28 October 1834

Some call it the "Battle of Pinjarra", which occurred in this place some 80km South of Perth in Western Australia on this day 178 years ago. Given the unbalanced distribution of weaponry and the outcome of this incident that choice of words can safely be regarded as playing down the actual events of the day.


Murray River near Pinjarra, Western Australia

After repeated calls by white settlers of the area for protection from local Aboriginals, Governor James Stirling led a group of 25 soldiers and settlers to attack an encampment of Pindjarrep people, who fled into the bush but were later ambushed at a river crossing of the Murray River. According to settler accounts, 1 soldier died, another was wounded and between 10-80 Aboriginals were killed, including women and children. Aboriginal oral tradition speaks of up to 150 casualities...

Elsewhere in the world, Harvard University was founded in Cambridge/Massachusetts (1638), the United Tribes of New Zealand declared independence (1835), St. Louis Police trialled a new investigation method: fingerprinting (1904), Czechoslovakia gained independence for the first time in 300 years (1918), Benito Mussolini took over the Italian government (1922), John XXIII got elected Pope (1958) and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced the withdrawal of Soviet nuclear installations in Cuba, thus bringing an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962).

Today's birthdays include Microsoft founder Bill Gates (Seattle/Washington, 1955), Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Aradan/Iran, 1957), Italian musician and songwriter Eros Ramazzotti (Rome/Italy, 1963) and US actress Julia Roberts (Atlanta/Georgia, 1967).
The English philosopher and Father of Classical Liberalism, John Locke, died in Essex on this day (1704).