| Location | Portland, Victoria, Australia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 38°16′42″S 141°39′34″E / 38.2784°S 141.6595°E |
| Participants | Whalers Kilcarer gundidj clan |
| Casualties | |
| Whalers: Unknown | |
| Kilcarer gundidj: 60–200; All but 2 young men killed | |
The Convincing Ground Massacre was a massacre of the Indigenous Gunditjmara people Kilcarer gundidj clan by British settler whalers based at Portland Bay in South-Eastern Australia. It was part of the wider Eumeralla Wars between the British colonisers and Gunditjmara. Tensions between the two groups had been building since the establishment of the town as a whaling station some five years previously, however, around 1833 or 1834, a dispute over a beached whale caused events to escalate.[1]
The massacre has been recognised by academics and state officials as a significant event in the state's history, with Professor Lynette Russell from Australian Indigenous Studies at Monash University saying that the "Convincing Ground is probably the first recorded massacre site for Victoria."[2] The Convincing Ground, site of the massacre, which lies in Portland Bay close to the town in the Shire of Glenelg has been listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.[3]