Pinjarra Massacre Painting by Emma Margetts Eugene A Winmar Phillip S Mears Isabel Rose Ugle David Colin Mundy Julie Mundy Candice Burns and John Phillip Kelly

Eight artists joined forces to create this haunting and evocative scene, depicting what has become known as the Pinjarra Massacre. The painting features Captain Theophilus Tighe Ellis who travelled to Pinjarra in 1834 with a party of 25 men led by Governor James Stirling. According to official records, they set south to mark out a township and establish a military post. Just before dawn on October 28, Stirling led an attack on the Bindjareb people at their camping grounds on the banks of the Murray River. Accounts of the aftermath vary, but between 15 and 80 Aboriginal men, women and children are said to have died in a nearly hour-long clash. Among them was Bindjareb warrior Calyute, his wife and their family. During the fight, a spear struck Ellis in the temple. He tumbled from his horse, struck his head on the ground and fell unconscious. Ellis never regained consciousness and died a month later. He was the only European to die from injuries sustained in the fight.