Bolstered by the global Black Lives Matter movement, calls for the removal of statues and place names honouring those who contributed to the violent colonization of Aboriginal lands and lives are gaining momentum. But the thick fog of the great conspiracy of silence is lifting as the push for truth-telling advances. Most have no idea because they’ve never had the opportunity to learn about it. Most New Englanders would be completely oblivious of the horrific history to which these signpost names point. This is, in all likelihood, why a waterway on the outskirts of Bendemeer is called Poison Swamp Creek. On the Macdonald River run - named after Henry Macdonald, Station manager there in the mid-1830s - colonists poisoned local Aboriginal people by giving them milk containing arsenic. In reporting this to his superiors, Macdonald justified the slaughter, claiming that it had been “absolutely necessary…to check the boldness and daring of their attacks”.ĭangar Falls, Dangarsleigh, and Armidale’s Dangar Street were all named in honour of Henry Dangar, a squatter known for his role in the attempted cover up of the infamous 1838 Myall Creek Massacre, and for trying to pervert to course of justice in the subsequent trial.
Commissioner Macdonald commanded the New England Border Police, and over the course of two days of skirmishing on the Beardie Plains in March 1840, his troopers shot dead nine Aboriginal warriors and wounded a tenth. Then there’s Macdonald Park in Armidale, which is named after the district’s first Crown Lands Commissioner George James Macdonald. Elizabeth Gardner’s history of the Station documents a story “passed down through some people who worked on the station…that a large number of Aborigines were killed near the creek on Terrible Vale”, and it was Terrible Billy who shot a great many Aboriginal people there. Terrible Vale, south of Uralla, took its name from William ‘Terrible Billy’ Stephenson, the head stockman during the mid-1830s. “The name was derived from one of the men working on the place in the early days and known as ‘Terrible Billy’, being a terror to the blacks.” - Uralla Times,, p2 I suspect Clogher’s Creek at Nymboida is named after Michael Clogher, who was also notorious for terrorizing Aboriginal people he would ride into camps brandishing his cavalry sword, and apparently didn’t hesitate to use his pistol or carbine. Joshua Scholes’ account of this incident appeared in a 1923 issue of the Uralla Times Scholes was a long-time resident of the Tableland “with a wealth of knowledge of the early days”. That same month, Clogher led a posse of settlers “in pursuit of the natives” on the Aberfoyle run, and “followed them to Paddy’s Land, where they shot down as many as they could”. It’s likely that Michael Clogher of Bostobrick Station, a former convict and constable with the New England Border Police, was involved in the Darkie Point massacre as well. An article about the history of the Dorrigo Plateau printed in the Dungog Chronicle in 1932 talked of Edward Parke’s involvement in this atrocity: “A great number of them were shot by Major Parke and other residents of the district who had joined the chase”. Wright of Wallamumbi Station, this particular bluff was the site of a massacre -in August 1852, a large group of Aboriginal people were chased to the edge, shot and pushed over. According to the well-known pastoralist P.A. Just east of Major’s Point is Darkie Point. PICTURED: Darkie Point massacre, 1852, illustrated by Narmi Collins-Widders “The name of the gentleman in question is held in awe by the darkeys till the present day, and to mention it is sufficient to induce any stray Aboriginal to make back tracks to the nearest shelter.” - Singleton Argus,, p2 A profile of the New England district published by the Singleton Argus in 1883 referred to how Parke “established such a reign of terror…that for twenty-five years no Aboriginal would approach his run, although through it ran their favourite and most prolific fishing streams”. Parke, an ex-military man, acquired a reputation for his brutal treatment of local Aboriginal people. Ebor itself has a Major Street, and a Parke Street. These places were named after Major Edward Parke, who took up Guy Fawkes Station in the mid-1840s. Travelling along Waterfall Way, not far from the village of Ebor, you’ll drive across Major’s Creek, and nearby there’s a signpost for Major’s Point Road which takes you towards Major’s Point bluff. PICTURED: Major’s Creek, a waterway near the village of Ebor, named after squatter Major Edward Parke.
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