Tooms Lake, Tasmania
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History
On 6 December 1828 a massacre of Tasmanian aboriginesTasmanian Aborigines
The Tasmanian Aborigines were the indigenous people of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Before British colonisation in 1803, there were an estimated 3,000–15,000 Parlevar. A number of historians point to introduced disease as the major cause of the destruction of the full-blooded...
occurred where ten were killed by nine soldiers from the 40th regiment. John Danvers, the guide of the group, reported to the Oatlands police magistrate: "One of them getting up from a small fire to a large one, discovered us and gave the alarm to the rest, and the whole of them jumpt (sic) up immediately and attempted to take up their spears in defence, and seeing that, we immediately fired and repeated it because we saw they were on the defensive part, they were about twenty in Number and several of whom were killed, two only were, unfortunately taken alive.". A woman and a boy were captured and the rest of the group escaped.
The dam on the lake was built by 40 men.