In 1834, Western Australia's first Govenor, James Stirling led a group of 25 armed soldiers, police and settlers into a Bindjareb Noongar community on bank of the Murray river, near Pinjarra.

The colonial contingency was highly planned as a 'decisive action' which Stirling believed would effectively deter First Nations people from resisting colonisation. 

The government contingency had been tracking the movement of the Bindjareb in the days before their planned ambush. The night before their planned incursion the government's men camped at Jinjanuk, 16 km from the Murray River mouth. Setting out 2 hours before dawn the colonial army used the intended advantage of an early morning surprise military strategy against the unarmed and unprepared Bindjareb. 

The rain fell heavy as the  government led forces fired upon the group of  unsuspecting 80+  women, children and men. Eyewitness accounts documented in colonial records reveal a disturbing military styled assasination of people who were fleeing for their lives into the Murray River, hiding behind fallen trees on the riverbank and running into the adjacent bushland. An estimated 20 - 30 Bindjareb men were murdered within an hour, women and children also lost their lives, but were not included in this colonial tally. In one journal record written by Septimus Roe, 'very few wounded were suffered to escape'.

Current Governor, Chris Dawson formally apologised for the Pinjarra Massacre on October 28th, 2025. 

As a first and symbolic step this petition calls on the Mayor of Albany to rename Albany's Stirling Terrace.