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JOIN US EVERY YEAR AT MIDDAY 20th JANUARY at the corner of Bowen & Franklin Streets Melbourne to commemorate the execution of the indigenous freedom fighters Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner
Read about Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheener at Treaty Republic
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.
2011 Comemoration
Over 100 people attended. Event was broadcast live on community radio 3CR. After speeches, a silent procession occurred to the Victoria Markets where flowers were laid near the site where the two were buried.
2009 Commemoration
Requests have been made to Melbourne City Council to erect a memorial to Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner. Joseph Toscano ran for Lord mayor in 2008 focusing on this issue, with the result that Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and Greens Councilor Cathy Oke both attended and spoke to the crowd. The Commemoration was opened with a Welcome to Country speech by Robbie Thorpe, Gunnai elder, followed by a smoking ceremony.
2009 commemoration http://treatyrepublic.net/node/28
2008 Commemoration
In 2008 over sixty people, indigenous and non-indigenous, gathered at the corner of Franklin and Bowen Street, Melbourne on January 20 2008, opposite the City Baths to remember Tasmanian Aborigines Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, the 166th anniversary of the judicial murder of these two indigenous freedom fighters.
It was the third annual commemoration held on this site. A commemoration committee has been formed which aims
* to hold an annual commemoration on January 20 at the corner of Bowen and Franklin streets Melbourne, the site of the execution.
* to acknowledge the injustice that happenned in 1842
* to highlight the unfinished business that still exists between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians
* to work towards the establishment of a significant public monument on or near the site