Kukenarup Memorial Site

We encourage you to stop and give thought to whose country you are on.

The Kukenarup Memorial Site was established in 2015 as a significant step in recognition of the long Aboriginal history of the area, and the brutality with which First Nations people were treated by some early farmers. It overlooks a key spot in the Phillips River valley – the site of the first European farm in the region and a place where dozens of First Nations people were brutally massacred in 1880. For many years, Indigenous people avoided the Ravensthorpe area, but now the open recognition of what happened to their ancestors, provided by the memorial, and the involvement of today’s Ravensthorpe community in the memorial’s establisment, has started a process of recovery.

The memorial was achieved after many years of discussion between the communities, and is an important act of truth-telling. The reality of what happened in 1880, and the murders that continued for many years afterwards, are now recognised and out in the open. As one Ravensthorpe resident said ‘There will be no more whispering around here’.

A short walk trail winds its way through shrubland and across the bare rocks. Along the trail are statements from families whose ancestors once lived and died near here. Take time to wander the trail and contemplate the story being told. Look out over the valley and think of the many lives once lived in what can now seem a lonely spot.