236 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



squatters, and started in pursuit, a well-armed company of ten. 

 When they came up with the natives they found them cooking some 

 of the sheep, and prepared to defend possession of the rest. For 

 more than an hour they stood their ground, hurtling spears and 

 defiance with considerable bravery, though they only succeeded in 

 wounding one of the white men. But the result was disastrous, for 

 at least thirty of the natives fell before the bullets of the assailants. 

 The Messrs. Whyte at once reported the matter to the Government, 

 and after full inquiry the depositions were submitted to the Attorney- 

 General to advise if the slayers could be criminally indicted. He 

 held that the natives were the aggressors, and that the owners of 

 the sheep were justified in defending or recovering their property 

 by force of arms when they were attacked without provocation. 

 Mr. Latrobe did not feel justified in ordering a trial in face of the 

 explicit opinion of his chief law officer, but the decision evoked 

 much controversy, and gave special umbrage to Mr. Sievewright, 

 who hinted that an independent jury would have taken a different 

 view. 



The other case was an instance, happily by no means common, 

 of undoubted wanton outrage, and stirred Mr. Latrobe to very out- 

 spoken indignation. On the night of the 23rd of February, 1842, two 

 men, four women and two children attached to the Mount Eouse 

 Protectorate were asleep in the scrub only a few hundred yards from 

 the homestead of Messrs. Smith and Osprey's station in the Port 

 Fairy district. They were awakened by the sound of voices to find 

 themselves surrounded by a party of eight men who, without 

 warning, commenced firing upon them at such close quarters that 

 their bodies were scorched by the burning powder. The two men 

 succeeded in effecting their escape, carrying off one child, but three 

 of the women and one child were killed outright, and the fourth 

 woman was left, when these ruffians withdrew, with one bullet in 

 her back, and her hand shattered by another. The natives who 

 escaped made their way at once to Mr. Sievewright, who verified 

 their statements by visiting the spot and examining the dead bodies, 

 and recording their wounds in the presence of Messrs. Smith and 

 Osprey. But the owners of the station individually, their manager 

 and all their servants vehemently denied any knowledge of the deed, 



