It’s National Reconciliation Week and as we reflect on the many injustices perpetrated against Aboriginal peoples, The Jaded Newsman is taking the opportunity to spotlight the Warrigal Creek massacre.

Confronting the darker elements of Australian history is crucial to fostering unity and healing, so we hope you’ll take the time to read two articles written by Ciaran O’Mahony on the shocking events at Warrigal Creek.

These articles were published by The Guardian as part of its landmark “Killing Times” project, which can be viewed here.

Living on a massacre site: home truths and trauma at Warrigal Creek

Ciaran O’Mahony

Elizabeth Balderstone leads a lifestyle that many city dwellers fantasise about, on a farm in Victoria’s Gippsland, surrounded by friendly sheep, with a humble little creek just 60 metres from her house.

But that creek, Warrigal, has seen unimaginable horrors.

You can read the rest of this article here.

The Scottish explorer who became the butcher of Gippsland

Ciaran O’Mahony

Once revered as a pioneer, the Scottish explorer Angus McMillan is now known as “the butcher of Gippsland”.

This reversal of reputation – from virtuous Presbyterian to cold-blooded killer – is the work not just of the people he wronged but of his own relations and the descendants of his closest friends.

You can read the rest of the article here.