Coorong, Adelaide and Yorke War and Resistance

A summary of this war and resistance will be available in future.

Notes:

• Sealers and whalers who kidnapped women established violent relations.
• Explorers at the Coorong looking for the mouth of the Murray-Darling system and others passing through were killed, probably due to the hostile relations established by sealers and whalers.
• With Adelaide established by free settlers rather than convicts, there was violence and resistance, but it's severity relative to other parts of Australia may have been ameliorated by the efforts of Mullawirraburka and Kadlitpinna, with Wyatt and other colonists to quell violence and retaliation.
• When the 'Maria' was ship wrecked at the Coorong, many were killed in a rare massacre of colonists by Aboriginal people. This lead to Government ordered reprisals and killing of Aboriginal people.
• Violence and resistance expanded from Adelaide into the Yorke Peninsula and to the north.
• This was followed by conflicts at Port Lincoln (Eyre Peninsula) to the west; on overland routes between Adelaide and the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers and Port Phillip (Victoria), and further north in the Flinders Ranges. Also, the Northern Territory was governed from Adelaide when there was extensive violence there later.

Data has been generously provided by:

Robert Foster, Skye Krichauff and Amanda Nettelbeck, The South Australian Frontier and its Legacies, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 2024, http://ua.edu.au/south-australian-frontier

With permission.

Colonial violence. Links to historical sources may contain racist attitudes and language.