24 Facts About Angus McMillan

Angus McMillan was a Scottish-born explorer, pioneer pastoralist, and perpetrator of several of the Gippsland massacres of Gunai people.

Angus McMillan's explorations led to the opening of the Gippsland region for pastoralism, displacing the Gunai Aboriginal people who were the traditional owners of the land.

Angus McMillan is commemorated in public art and place names in Gippsland, including, until 2018, the Division of Angus McMillan in Australia's Federal Parliament.

Angus McMillan was born in Glen Brittle, Isle of Skye, Scotland, the fourth son of Ewan McMillan, a sheep farmer.

Angus McMillan put forward McMillan as a candidate to further explore the plains of Gippsland proper nearer to the coast.

On 28 May 1839 Angus McMillan travelled south on his first exploration of the Gippsland plains, accompanied by Jimmy Gabber, an elder of the Monaro people.

The expedition was unsuccessful; in a letter to colonial administrator Charles La Trobe, Angus McMillan reported that six days after leaving Currawong, Gabber declined to go further for fear of encountering the Gunai people, Gippsland's indigenous inhabitants.

Angus McMillan refused to turn back, whereupon Gabber waited for a quiet moment and attempted to kill Angus McMillan with a club.

Gabber retreated when Angus McMillan raised his pistol, but still refused to go on.

Angus McMillan therefore continued alone, heading west towards Buchan and Omeo.

At Macalister's urging Angus McMillan commenced a second expedition in December 1839, moving southwest by west across the plains towards the existing settlement of Sale.

Angus McMillan had named them as the Nicholson, the Mitchell, the Avon and Macalister rivers.

Angus McMillan had promptly contacted colonial officials, to register claims along the Avon River for cattle stations in his own and Macalister's names.

Angus McMillan completed several more expeditions over the following two years.

Angus McMillan travelled further west along the ranges than the current Great Alpine Road.

In retaliation Angus McMillan organised an armed assault on the Gunai, leading to the massacre of between 60 and 150 Aboriginal people at Warrigal Creek.

Angus McMillan was the leader of the "Highland Brigade", a group of Gaelic-speaking men who undertook reprisal raids on the Gunaikurnai.

Angus McMillan was the source of the White woman of Gippsland rumour, with a letter he wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald on 28 December 1840, which facilitated settler reprisals against the Gunaikurnai people.

Angus McMillan persisted, and, by the 1856 census, he was recorded as the owner of 150,000 acres, upon which he ran the region's second-largest holding of sheep and third-largest of cattle.

Angus McMillan's properties had generated substantial wealth, but by 1861 a series of poor financial decisions coupled with devastating bushfires, had left him in debt.

In need of money, in 1864, Angus McMillan acceded to a request from the Victorian Government to lead a team of men into Gippsland's alpine region with the aim of mapping and clearing tracks to support local mining operations.

Angus McMillan was carried to the public house in Iguana Creek, suffering serious internal injuries.

In 1948, the Federal Division of Angus McMillan was proclaimed in his honour, covering western Gippsland.

Nineteen monuments honouring Angus McMillan exist in Gippsland, including at Wellington, Heyfield, Yarram, Omeo and Lucknow.