The first massacre of Tasmanian Aboriginal people occurred at Risdon Cove in 1804, when troops fired on a group which included women and children.

According to historian Professor Lyndall Ryan, (University of Newcastle) "Tunnerminnerwait had witnessed the Cape Grim massacre in 1828 as an 11-year-old, when a lot of his own people were killed.

"[4] Tunnerminnerwait first met civil servant George Augustus Robinson, Chief Protector of Aborigines, at Robbins Island in June 1830.

During the tour they gathered testimonies about frontier violence in the Western District and investigated the Convincing Ground massacre in which between 60 and 200 members of a Gunditjmara clan were killed by whale-hunters at Portland Bay.

[4] In September 1841, Tunnerminnerwait, Maulboyheenner, Plorenernoopner (Fanny), Maytepueminer (Maria) and Truganini, waged an eight-week campaign of resistance against the British settlement in the Port Philip area.

[6] They robbed stations from Dandenong to Western Port and South Gippsland districts on the outskirts of Melbourne over the next seven weeks.

[6] Barry questioned the legal basis of British authority over Aborigines who were not citizens and claimed that the evidence was dubious and circumstantial.

'"[12] "If Willis was cited accurately by the press in describing the accused as murderers' before any evidence was led to convict them (and more than one newspaper carried this commentary), then, he seriously misconceived the rights of the prisoners to a fair trial in which their guilt had to be established by the prosecution beyond a reasonable doubt.

"[12] The Supreme Court found the two men, Tunnerminnerwait ("Jack Napoleon Tarraparrura") and Maulboyheenner guilty of the murder of the two whalers, Cook and Yankey at Western Port on 6 October 1841.