Lest We Forget - Aboriginal Freedom Fighters

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5 years Commemorating Freedom Fighters Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner
June 15th, 2012


Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner were amoung 5 Tasmanian Aborigines who conducted a campaign of resistance to European settlement in 1841 around Western Port and South Gippsland near Melbourne. After 3 military expeditions they were finally captured and brought back to Melbourne for trial. They were not allowed to give evidence themselves. The two men were found guilty of murder, with the jury saying due to the circumstances mercy should be granted. No mercy was given and Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner were the first judicial executions to take place in Melbourne on January 20, 1842 before a crowd of 5,000 - a quarter of the population of Melbourne at the time.

PHOTOS:
http://www.flickr.com//photos/takver/se ... 10484/show

2012 Commemoration
150 people gathered, event broadcast live on 3CR. After speeches, a silent procession occurred to the Victoria Markets where flowers were laid near the site where the two were buried.
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MORE: http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51336