Tedeschi, Mark: Murder at Myall Creek: The Trial that Defined a Nation

Mark Tedeschi

Murder at Myall Creek: The Trial that Defined a Nation, Simon & Schuster, Sydney 2016

In 1838, eleven convicts and former convicts were put on trial for the brutal murder of 28 Aboriginal men, women and children at Myall Creek in New South Wales. The trial created an enormous amount of controversy because it was almost unknown for Europeans to be charged with the murder of Aborigines. It would become the most serious trial of mass murder in Australia’s history.

The trial’s prosecutor was the Attorney General of New South Wales, John Hubert Plunkett. It proved to be Plunkett’s greatest test, as it pitted his forensic brilliance and his belief in equality before the law against the combined forces of the free settlers, the squatters, the military, the emancipists, the newspapers, and even the convict population. (blurb)

The author talks on the ABC. The book is reviewed in Fairfax. National Museum of Australia resources in the NMA’s ‘Defining Moments’ collection. On our website see John Myrtle’s research and Tim Bottoms’ talk. Use our Search engine with search term ‘Myall Creek’ to find more.

A later book, Remembering the Myall Creek Massacre (2018) is edited by Jane Lydon and Lyndall Ryan and includes a piece by Tedeschi, extracted here.

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