Image: Strutt, William (1864). Black Thursday, February 6th. 1851. State Library of Victoria.
This project will look to identify and record sites of acts of heroism by Aboriginal people towards non-Aboriginal people across Victoria from 1790 to 1930 - specifically relating to fires (including bushfires and other types of fires), famine (including the guiding and tracking of people and animals), and floods (including safely crossing rivers and or rescuing from shipwrecks).
Visit our mapping portal for a visual representation of heroic Aboriginal acts across Victoria from 1790 to 1930. Mapping portal.
Visit our online 'Data table'
Or
Download the latest spreadsheet of our mapped data here - Aboriginal Heroes Data [XLSX 115 KB]
This short documentary film explores the history of emergency rescues and assistance in Victoria by Aboriginal people of non-Aboriginal people.
Cahir, F., Clark, I.D., Tout, D., Wilkie, B., Clark, J. (2021) 'Aboriginal fire-management practices in colonial Victoria', Journal of Aboriginal History, Vol. 45, 109-130. search.informit.org/doi/epdf/10.3316/informit.415770453091793
Image: Unknown artist, 'The Ladies want to cross a river,' 1883, illustration taken from The Graphic, wood engraving on paper. Art Gallery of Ballarat. Purchased with funds from public donation, 2014.
We wish to advise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that this website contains images of deceased persons. All of the documented information contained in this website has been published previously, or is publicly accessible. The words of nineteenth and twentieth century writers are quoted at length. Many of these writers used words and phrases that may not be considered appropriate today. In quoting these words, without alteration, no disrespect is intended to living peoples.