Andrew Bolt Says Lidia Thorpe Should Apologize For Claiming Her Forefathers Lived In Peace Before Settlers Arrived: ‘Are Aborigine Massacres Only Bad If Perpetrated By Whites?’
Lidia Thorpe’s indigenous clan is believed to be responsible for a massacre that claimed the lives of dozens of Indigenous people, according to Sky News host Andrew Bolt.
The Sky News pundit on Wednesday called Senator Thorpe’s National Press Club speech ‘dangerous and misleading’ and claimed she was ‘pushing her inflammatory story of Australia’.
The former Greens senator, who identified as a member of the Gunnai Gunditjmara Djab Wurrung clan, said her ancestors lived in peace until European settlers landed on Australian shores.
The former Greens senator (pictured), who identified as a member of the Gunnai Gunditjmara Djab Wurrung clan, said her ancestors lived in peace until European settlers landed on Australian shores during her speech at the National Press Club Wednesday.
“My grandmother’s country had 70 clans living in peace and harmony before colonization,” Senator Thorpe told reporters.
But Bolt poured cold water on the claims, alleging ‘Thorpe’s ancient tribe was itself guilty of massacres’.
“The Gunnai were guilty of one of the worst massacres of aborigines known to the early colonialists,” the Sky News host claimed.
Bolt claimed the Gunnai were responsible for what became known as the Warrowen Massacre which is believed to have taken place in the 1830s and killed around 70 members of the Bunurong clan.
Warrowen translates to “place of sorrow” or “ceaseless weeping”.
William Thomas, an early settler who represented Aboriginal people in various roles in Port Phillip, later recorded the massacre based on testimony from Aboriginal sources.
In an 1840 letter, Mr Thomas wrote that “about four years ago 77 people were killed at Little Brighton, less than nine miles from Melbourne.”
The events are also said to have been recorded by George Henry Haydon, a writer and artist who emigrated to Melbourne in 1840, in his book “Five Years’ Experience in Australia Felix” who claimed that the alleged massacre “almost wiped out a whole tribe”.
“One of the old warriors of this tribe, who had escaped the slaughter, said his people lay in the country like dead kangaroos,” Haydon writes.
Historian Marie Hansen Fels, who wrote ‘I Got It Once’ – The Aboriginal Protectorate over the Mornington Peninsula, 1839-1840, says the atrocity was ‘common news early in Melbourne’s history “.
The alleged Warrowen Massacre was recorded by William Thomas, an early settler who depicted indigenous people in various roles in Port Phillip (pictured)
Ms Fels identifies the scene of the massacre with Landcox Park and Hurlingham Park in what is now Brighton East in Melbourne’s southeast.
In her speech to the National Press Club, Senator Thorpe called for reparations for Indigenous peoples.
“There is a lot of money owed to the first peoples. I mean, look at the resources that have been extracted for 200 years,” Ms Thorpe said.
“You know, we don’t want the country to be ruined. I’ll put that over there now. Otherwise, we could with what is due.
“You look at the Victorian Parliament… Stolen sandstone built the Victorian Parliament.
“I could send an invoice to Daniel Andrews as traditional owner. But I will save him from this.
But Bolt pointedly asked if Senator Thorpe would apologize for the Warrowen massacre, allegedly committed by his clan.
“Will Lidia Thorpe apologize for this massacre of aborigines by her former tribe?” he said.
‘Will she pay for reparations? Or are the massacres of aborigines only bad if they were perpetrated by white people?
Daily Mail Australia has approached Senator Thorpe for comment.
