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[UMA-SRE-20160082] A TREATISE ON CRIMES AND INDICTABLE MISDEMEANORS IN TWO VOLUMES, VOLUME 1.
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IdentifierUMA-SRE-20160082Extent1 VolumeLinear Meterage0.05Scope and ContentThe Treatise was owned by Redmond Barry and annotated by him. Its author was William Oldnall Russell, Esq. and published by Joseph Butterworth and Son, London, 1826.
This volume of British criminal jurisprudence was used by barrister Redmond Barry who arrived in the District of Port Phillip [later renamed Melbourne] in 1839. That same year George Augustus Robinson (1788-1866) previously a ‘conciliator’ between settlers and the Indigenous peoples of Tasmania, became the ‘Chief Protector of Aborigines’ of Port Phillip District. He brought with him a group of sixteen Palawa, Tasmanian Aboriginals, to Port Phillip District to help him with his work (and perhaps also in part because of the failed settlement in Flinders Island).
In 1841, George Augustus Robinson investigated the frontier violence in the Western District. Tunnerminnerwait (c.1812-1842), a Parperloihener man from Cape Grim (Tas) worked as a guide with Robinson to collect testimonies relating to the Convincing Ground massacre (1833-1834) where an estimated 20-200 members of the Gunditjmara people were killed by whale hunters in Portland Bay.
In October 1841 five of the sixteen, including Tunnerminnerwait, stole ammunition and two guns: they raided stations from Dandenong to Western Port in the Mornington Peninsula, wounding four white men and killing two whalers. They were captured and returned to Melbourne (26 Nov 1841) where they appeared before the Judge John Walpole Willis on 20-22 December 1841. The two men Tunnerminnerwait, and Maulboyherrner were charged with murder, the three women Truganinni, Palnobeena, and Pyterruner as accessories to murder. (Full and alternative names noted below.)
It has been speculated that investigating the Convincing Ground massacre, which left only two survivors of the Gunditjmara people, may have been a catalyst to these actions. Tunnerminnerwait’s life was punctuated by the violence of white settlers and the resistance of Indigenous people. He was eleven years old at the time of the Cape Grim massacre (1828) in North West Tasmania, where an estimated 30 Aboriginal men were killed, resulting in the fracturing of his family unit. It is speculated that his direct experience of witnessing massacres in Tasmanian and again finding evidence of them in Victoria may have driven the group to respond so soon after his return from that trip. The lives of the women were similarly punctuated by frontier violence and loss.
Having represented several Aboriginal people in cases during 1841, Redmond Barry was appointed the Standing Council for Aborigines, 15 December 1841. In this, and in previous cases, in their defence Barry challenged the legal basis of British authority over Aboriginals who were not citizens; advocated that they should be tried before a jury which included Aboriginal people; and in this case, asserted that the evidence was dubious and circumstantial. During the brief trial, the five defendants were not permitted to give evidence, which was a normal legal procedure at the time to prevent self-incrimination; however, they were not able to be called as witnesses either due to the fact they were not Christians and consequently could not take the Oath.
Very little of Redmond Barry’s early defenses survive. This volume contains handwritten annotations of Redmond Barry in setting out his legal defense. Indigenous oral history suggests the events which led to the murder of the two whalers may have occurred because the men were seeking revenge against the abduction of Aboriginal women (See: Land, Claire, 2014 p.8). Annotations by Barry on the ‘Forcible abduction of females’ (pp. 570-571) lends support to this.
Other annotations Barry made in his defence case relate to the culpability of the three women Truganinni, Palobeena and Pyterruner. ‘Of persons capable of committing crimes - subject of others’ (p.16); ‘Murder’ (p. 421); ‘Means of Killing’ (p. 425) as well as ‘Compounding Offences’ (p. 136). There are further annotations relating to ‘Offences by Persons in Office - Extortion (pp. 144-145); ‘Of Bribery’ (p. 156); ‘Of Libels Making and Publishing’ (p. 239), it is unclear if this is related to this case or others.
There were many well documented irregularities that occurred in the trial. The jury took 30 minutes to return their verdict. Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyherrner were sentenced to hang for murder. The three women Truganinni, Palobeena and Pyterruner, initially charged as accessories, were found not guilty and returned to Flinders Island.
Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyherrner were the first men to be hanged in Melbourne. On the 20 January 1842, they were taken to Elizabeth Street where 5,000 people gathered for their execution. With their hands cuffed behind their back, and blind folded, they had to climb a ladder using their chin. Judge Willis said their execution was designed to inspire “terror … to deter similar transgressions.”
KEYWORDS: Palawa / Tasmania people (Tas), Aboriginal, Indigenous
AIATSIS KEYWORDS: History - Frontier conflict - Tasmania - Black War
AIATSIS KEYWORDS: History - Frontier conflict - Victoria
AIATSIS KEYWORDS: Race relations - Violent - Massacres, murders, poisonings etc. - To 1900
AIATSIS KEYWORDS: Law - Cases
TINDALE TRIBES Gunditjmara http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/gunditjmara.htm (July 2018)
See attached Records Description List for further information on this item and resources used.Collection CategoryCommunity and PoliticalAccess StatusClosed for public accessAccess ConditionsAccess via digital item (May 2018)Request Access to RecordsRequest records from this Series
This volume of British criminal jurisprudence was used by barrister Redmond Barry who arrived in the District of Port Phillip [later renamed Melbourne] in 1839. That same year George Augustus Robinson (1788-1866) previously a ‘conciliator’ between settlers and the Indigenous peoples of Tasmania, became the ‘Chief Protector of Aborigines’ of Port Phillip District. He brought with him a group of sixteen Palawa, Tasmanian Aboriginals, to Port Phillip District to help him with his work (and perhaps also in part because of the failed settlement in Flinders Island).
In 1841, George Augustus Robinson investigated the frontier violence in the Western District. Tunnerminnerwait (c.1812-1842), a Parperloihener man from Cape Grim (Tas) worked as a guide with Robinson to collect testimonies relating to the Convincing Ground massacre (1833-1834) where an estimated 20-200 members of the Gunditjmara people were killed by whale hunters in Portland Bay.
In October 1841 five of the sixteen, including Tunnerminnerwait, stole ammunition and two guns: they raided stations from Dandenong to Western Port in the Mornington Peninsula, wounding four white men and killing two whalers. They were captured and returned to Melbourne (26 Nov 1841) where they appeared before the Judge John Walpole Willis on 20-22 December 1841. The two men Tunnerminnerwait, and Maulboyherrner were charged with murder, the three women Truganinni, Palnobeena, and Pyterruner as accessories to murder. (Full and alternative names noted below.)
It has been speculated that investigating the Convincing Ground massacre, which left only two survivors of the Gunditjmara people, may have been a catalyst to these actions. Tunnerminnerwait’s life was punctuated by the violence of white settlers and the resistance of Indigenous people. He was eleven years old at the time of the Cape Grim massacre (1828) in North West Tasmania, where an estimated 30 Aboriginal men were killed, resulting in the fracturing of his family unit. It is speculated that his direct experience of witnessing massacres in Tasmanian and again finding evidence of them in Victoria may have driven the group to respond so soon after his return from that trip. The lives of the women were similarly punctuated by frontier violence and loss.
Having represented several Aboriginal people in cases during 1841, Redmond Barry was appointed the Standing Council for Aborigines, 15 December 1841. In this, and in previous cases, in their defence Barry challenged the legal basis of British authority over Aboriginals who were not citizens; advocated that they should be tried before a jury which included Aboriginal people; and in this case, asserted that the evidence was dubious and circumstantial. During the brief trial, the five defendants were not permitted to give evidence, which was a normal legal procedure at the time to prevent self-incrimination; however, they were not able to be called as witnesses either due to the fact they were not Christians and consequently could not take the Oath.
Very little of Redmond Barry’s early defenses survive. This volume contains handwritten annotations of Redmond Barry in setting out his legal defense. Indigenous oral history suggests the events which led to the murder of the two whalers may have occurred because the men were seeking revenge against the abduction of Aboriginal women (See: Land, Claire, 2014 p.8). Annotations by Barry on the ‘Forcible abduction of females’ (pp. 570-571) lends support to this.
Other annotations Barry made in his defence case relate to the culpability of the three women Truganinni, Palobeena and Pyterruner. ‘Of persons capable of committing crimes - subject of others’ (p.16); ‘Murder’ (p. 421); ‘Means of Killing’ (p. 425) as well as ‘Compounding Offences’ (p. 136). There are further annotations relating to ‘Offences by Persons in Office - Extortion (pp. 144-145); ‘Of Bribery’ (p. 156); ‘Of Libels Making and Publishing’ (p. 239), it is unclear if this is related to this case or others.
There were many well documented irregularities that occurred in the trial. The jury took 30 minutes to return their verdict. Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyherrner were sentenced to hang for murder. The three women Truganinni, Palobeena and Pyterruner, initially charged as accessories, were found not guilty and returned to Flinders Island.
Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyherrner were the first men to be hanged in Melbourne. On the 20 January 1842, they were taken to Elizabeth Street where 5,000 people gathered for their execution. With their hands cuffed behind their back, and blind folded, they had to climb a ladder using their chin. Judge Willis said their execution was designed to inspire “terror … to deter similar transgressions.”
KEYWORDS: Palawa / Tasmania people (Tas), Aboriginal, Indigenous
AIATSIS KEYWORDS: History - Frontier conflict - Tasmania - Black War
AIATSIS KEYWORDS: History - Frontier conflict - Victoria
AIATSIS KEYWORDS: Race relations - Violent - Massacres, murders, poisonings etc. - To 1900
AIATSIS KEYWORDS: Law - Cases
TINDALE TRIBES Gunditjmara http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/gunditjmara.htm (July 2018)
See attached Records Description List for further information on this item and resources used.Collection CategoryCommunity and PoliticalAccess StatusClosed for public accessAccess ConditionsAccess via digital item (May 2018)Request Access to RecordsRequest records from this Series
Provenance
CreatorBarry, Redmond
Dates
Date1826-1844
Description Control
Previous System ID2016.0082Descriptive NoteYes listed ONLINE
Barry, Redmond, [UMA-SRE-20160082] A TREATISE ON CRIMES AND INDICTABLE MISDEMEANORS IN TWO VOLUMES, VOLUME 1. (1826-1844), [UMA-SRE-20160082]. University of Melbourne Archives, accessed 17/12/2025, https://archives.library.unimelb.edu.au/nodes/view/70999