Cape Grim massacre: remembrance

10 February · Remembrance

Content note: This page discusses colonial violence and loss of life.

On 10 February 1828, Van Diemen’s Land Company shepherds killed Aboriginal people near Cape Grim in north-west Tasmania. This remembrance date honours those killed and recognises the continuing lives, cultures and connections to Country of Tasmanian Aboriginal people.

The history behind the date

The University of Tasmania’s Companion to Tasmanian History places the massacre near the Doughboys islands and within a longer period of violence associated with the company’s occupation of Aboriginal Country. Its account records about thirty people killed on 10 February, following earlier killings and a punitive expedition. The University of Newcastle’s research database independently records 10 February 1828.

This was not an isolated encounter without a wider history. The earlier violence described by the Tasmanian account helps explain the conditions surrounding the massacre. The events should be understood through dispossession, company power and the experiences of Aboriginal people, rather than only through a story of pastoral expansion.

Records, testimony and responsibility

The Newcastle research entry brings together company correspondence, official records and accounts collected by George Augustus Robinson. It identifies differences between Aboriginal witness testimony and company officials’ accounts, including attempts to minimise the number killed. Those differences are part of the history of how violence was reported and remembered.

A source-based account should distinguish what an author records from what can be established with certainty. Approximate death tolls should remain approximate. Identifying the date does not mean every detail of the massacre or every victim’s identity is recoverable from surviving written records.

Remembering with care

Remembrance centres the people killed, their families and descendants, and continuing Aboriginal life and connection to Country. A date in a calendar is a starting point for learning, rather than a complete account of the people or places involved.

In schools and workplaces, explain the content before inviting people to participate. Do not ask Aboriginal students or colleagues to speak for everyone, disclose family experiences or defend the historical record. Use age-appropriate material and allow people to step away. Avoid re-enactments, graphic imagery and activities that turn violence into entertainment.

Read the sources critically, including who created them and whose testimony they preserve. Where records differ, name the uncertainty. A perpetrator’s account is not automatically more reliable than a survivor’s or descendant community’s account. Seek current, publicly available community guidance when planning local remembrance.

Sources and further reading

The links below provide historical research, First Nations perspectives and official records. Historical sources may contain distressing material, outdated language, and names or images of people who have died.

Online sources

Cape Grim Massacre. University of Tasmania, Companion to Tasmanian History. Ian McFarlane’s historical overview, with references.
https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/C/Cape%20Grim%20Massacre.htm

Cape Grim (2). University of Newcastle, Colonial Frontier Massacres research project. Research entry identifying the date, evidence and differing accounts.
https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=494

Our related products and resources

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