Content note: This page discusses a massacre and colonial violence.
On 8 March 1840, a party of settlers and shepherds killed Aboriginal people at a place subsequently known as Fighting Hills, near present-day Coleraine in western Victoria. The University of Newcastle’s research database records the date and identifies the people in its entry as Nundadjali. This remembrance honours those killed and the communities whose histories continue beyond the violence.
What the historical research records
The research entry locates the massacre at the Hummocks near the Wando River, within the colonial occupation of the district. It records an armed party associated with the Whyte brothers’ pastoral operation pursuing Aboriginal people following the taking of sheep. Survivors’ accounts and later testimony form part of the evidence assembled by historians.
The entry records reports of dozens killed, including an account that forty-one people from the clan had died. Historical estimates differ. The page therefore does not present a single count as if every victim had been individually identified. The taking of stock did not justify collective killing.
Whose accounts survive?
Learning about Fighting Hills can include examining how an event enters the written record: through survivors, pastoralists, officials, later recollections and historical research. Each source has a setting and purpose. Quoting a colonial official without that context can reproduce the assumptions that shaped their response.
Written records may preserve the names of perpetrators more readily than the names and lives of the people killed. Remembrance should resist making those perpetrators the central characters. The absence of a person’s name from a surviving document does not diminish their life or their place in family and Country.
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.
We do not currently offer products or learning resources specifically for this date. The reading links above are provided for background and further learning. Suitable items from our range will be added here as they become available.
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