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Over the Bonnet
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To the editor, I read in Issue 113 an interesting article about travelling from Mingenew to Mullewa. Many of your readers may be unaware of two historic memorials which are located about 20km south of Mullewa at the end of Butterabby Road. Back in 1864, two settlers were killed by Aborigines at Kockatea Spring, south of Mullewa. A police party from Champion Bay (now Geraldton) eventually found and arrested the Aborigines involved in the attack and they were taken to the Supreme Court in Perth for trial. Five of the attackers were found guilty and sentenced to death. Others received lesser sentences and one other was acquitted. In response to requests from Settlers in the Irwon area, arrangements were made for the guilty persons to be taken back to the scene of the crime and hanged on the site. It fell to the lot of Alfred Hillman, as Sherriff of Perth, to lead the hanging party and supervise the executions. A memorial plaque now exists in the vicinity for the two killed settlers and a separate memorial records the execution of the Aborigines involved in the attack. My particular interest in this is that Alfred Hillman was my great great grandfather. For most of his earlier working life he had been one of the first surveyors in Western Australia and is remembered in the names of the suburb of Hillman in Perth, the locality of Hillman in the Great Southern, Lake Hillman and the Hillman River.
Trevor Stoneman Floreat winner
Hi Trevor, Australia is dotted with many small historic memorials that are quickly fading into the fog of time. Having a connection to our past is extremely important and being able to lay claim to a family connection who’s name is associated with so many state locations is fantastic. Thanks for writing in to tell us about it!
Congratulations Trevor!
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