Angus McMillan

Angus McMillan was an explorer, pioneer pastoralist, and perpetrator of several of the Gippsland massacres of Gunai people. Arriving from England in 1838, McMillan rose swiftly in Australian colonial society as a skilled explorer. His explorations led to the opening of the Gippsland region for pastoralism, displacing the Gunai who were its Indigenous owners. Relations between McMillan and the Gunai reached their nadir in 1843 when, in retribution for the murder of a fellow pastoralist and the killing of livestock, McMillan led the first of several armed assaults culminating in the massacre of between 60 and 150 people at Warrigal Creek. The massacre had no impact on McMillan's relations with other colonists and he went on to become a successful Gippsland pastoralist himself, with more than 150,000 acres of property. However a series of poor financial decisions brought him to near bankruptcy in the 1860s. Forced to return to exploration and surveying, he was badly injured in an accident near Dargo, Victoria, and died on 18 May 1865.