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The Powlett River (Boonwurrung: Kugerungmome) is a perennial river of the West Gippsland catchment, located in the West Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria.

Powlett
Mouth of the Powlett River in Victoria
EtymologyIn honour of Frederick Powlett, the Commissioner of the District of Western Port[1][2][3]
Native nameKugerungmome  (Boonwurrung)[4]
Location
CountryAustralia
StateVictoria
RegionSouth East Coastal Plain (IBRA), West Gippsland
Local government areaBass Coast
Physical characteristics
SourceStrzelecki Ranges
  locationnear Ellerside, north of Inverloch
  coordinates38°32′38″S 145°44′35″E
  elevation42 m (138 ft)
MouthBass Strait
  location
west of Wonthaggi
  coordinates
38°35′0″S 145°30′39″E
  elevation
0 m (0 ft)
Length27 km (17 mi)
Basin features
River systemWest Gippsland catchment
Tributaries 
  rightFoster Creek
[5][6]
Dalyston's Powlett River Walking tracks
Dalyston's Powlett River Walking tracks

Location and features


The Powlett River rises on the southern slopes of the Strzelecki Ranges, near Ellerside, north of Inverloch, and flows generally west, joined by one minor tributary, before reaching its mouth within Bass Strait, west of Wonthaggi, within the Shire of Bass Coast. The river descends 40 metres (130 ft) over its 27 kilometres (17 mi) course.[6]

The river is traversed by the Bass Highway between Daylston and Wonthaggi.[6]


History


"Violence typified the expansion of Port Phillip. In the decades that followed Batman's and Pascoe Fawkner's settlement, the colony became an historically condensed example of the worst aspects of nineteenth century British settler colonialism. Britons hungry for land and space 'bred like rabbits and settled like bad weeds' in what James Belich described as the 'settler revolution'.' Colonists and settlers observed the speed of dispossession with pride. This invasion occurred between 1840 and the 1860s and was reported with a mixture of pride and astonishment.' Aboriginal people lost land, were shot, shot at, had their camps destroyed, their dogs shot and their implements stolen and broken. Investigations were mostly cursory and incomplete. Aboriginal Protectors were vilified for attempting to do their job properly. The powerful in the colony were actively critical of the Protectorate. Gipps actually blamed the Protectorate for not containing Aboriginal violence."[7]

"Tragically two of these (Aboriginal) men, Tunnerminnerwait (known as Jack) and Maulboyheenner (known as Bob, or sometimes called Timmy or Jimmy), became the first people executed in the Port Phillip District. This took place in 1842, a mere seven years after John Batman's fraudulent treaty with the Kuhn people, when the two Tasmanian Aboriginal men were publicly hanged for murder."[7] The Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner public marker exists at the place of execution at the site of the Old Melbourne Gaol. The website contains historical research and information on the artists commissioned for the marker, Artist Brook Andrew, along with Trent Walter.

"Two Tasmanian Aboriginal men, clad in white pyjamas, went to their deaths on a makeshift gallows in Melbourne in 1842. The contemporaneous executions were apparently quite a spectacle: one man, Maulboyheenner, twisting on the rope, strangled slowly in front of a crowd of 5000. They had been convicted of killing two whalers in Western Port. Both the Tasmanians and the whalers - one was called the Yankee - were a long way from home."[7]

"In the earliest official report about the murders, on 7 October 1841, Robert Massie reported to La Trobe of two whalers' deaths (sometimes described as 'runaways') at Watson's coal mine the previous day. Threaded through this very first report is a convoluted tale of at least two hunting parties operating in pursuit of the (Aboriginal) Tasmanians."[7]

"After Massie's report was received, a number of formal military and police parties were sent out to capture the Tasmanians. The group of five was taken alive after a violent dispersal on 20 November 1841. Conflicting versions of the conduct of the dispersal are found in Frederick Armand Powlett's official, and in Ensign Samuel Rawson and Assistant Protector William Thomas' unofficial, versions."[7]

"On 20 November 1841 an armed daylight attack (arrest) was made upon the sleeping and unresponsive band of (Aboriginal) Tasmanians, just back from the beach near what we now call the mouth of the Powlett River. This dispersal came at the end of this long, if interrupted, hunt. Twenty five armed men - 18 mounted men and seven foot troops - charged down a sand dune discharging their weapons at the sleeping group."[7]

"Commissioner of Crown Lands Powlett's reports began with a brief note to La Trobe on 4 December 1841. 'Before sunrise', he said, they came upon the campfire of the Tasmanians. It was difficult to surround the camp as it abutted a thick tea tree scrub. He gave the order to shoot if they could not 'capture' the group. The Tasmanians 'retreated'. Some shots were fired. The women were 'secured' and one shot 'slightly grazed' one woman's head. As to what shooting took place, Powlett is measured and responsible: [as] 'the natives had left their firearms at the camp he ordered the men on no account whatever to fire another shot'. Powlett's raid was orderly. The Tasmanians were on their feet retreating or, at worst, running away. One 'slight graze' is not a serious head wound."[7]


Etymology


In the Australian Aboriginal Boonwurrung language the name for the river is Kugerungmome, with no clearly defined meaning.[4]

The river was named in 1840 in honour of Frederick Powlett,[1] the Commissioner of the Western Port District.[2][3]


See also



References


  1. Sales, P. M. "Powlett, Frederick Armand (1811–1865)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 7 August 2014 via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  2. Blake, Les (1977). Place names of Victoria. Adelaide: Rigby. p. 294. ISBN 0-7270-0250-3.
  3. Bird, Eric (12 October 2006). "Place Names on the Coast of Victoria" (PDF). The Australian National Placename Survey (ANPS). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2011.
  4. "Powlett River: 23828: Traditional Name: Kugerungmome". Vicnames. Government of Victoria. 2 May 1966. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  5. "Powlett River: 23828". Vicnames. Government of Victoria. 2 May 1966. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  6. "Map of Powlett River, VIC". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  7. Auty, Kate (2016). Hunt them, hang them : 'the Tasmanians' in Port Phillip 1841-42. Melbourne: Melbourne Justice Press; Clayton : Legal Service Bulletin Cooperative. ISBN 9780959472769.





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