Of the Daly River Coppermine reprisal massacres, Senior Murrinh-patha man, the late Bill Parry, said:

Alright, the whitemen had no wives, no-one to sleep with, they had no women...the whitemen were insistent – they demanded the women, and they took the women off the Aboriginal men... and they slept with those women at the Coppermine...alright, the Malak Malak were pining for their women, they were without their women (Smith, 2024, p 142).

Region

The Daly River is 220km southwest of Darwin and forms part of the Douglas Daly region. The significant Aboriginal community of Nauiyu (formerly known as the Daly River Mission) is in the region, as are the communities of Peppimenarti, Thamarrurr, Nganmarriyanga and Wadeye. The Daly River, which originates at the junction of the King, Katherine and Flora Rivers, is about 320km long and empties into Anson Bay in the Timor Sea. The Mary River, also in the Top End, is 150km east of Darwin and forms part of Kakadu National Park. It is known for its spectacular wetlands, birdlife and saltwater crocodiles. The Mary, which is about 225km long, is one of eight that form the Northern Territory floodplain system. It has many tributaries and empties into Van Diemen Gulf.

Narrative

A combination of factors led to this war, including agricultural and mining pursuits as colonists fanned out along the overland telegraph line and pastoral stations were established, but a common factor for many clashes were attacks by Aboriginal men to rescue women who had been abducted and subjected to sexual slavery. The Daly River War included but was not limited to those circumstances of provocation.

Earliest indications of trouble brewing were on the goldfields at Yam Creek with reports of tools being pilfered from miners (NTTG, 26 December 1873, p 4). In October 1874 a miner named August Henning was killed by Aboriginal people on the road from the goldfields to Darwin (Reid, 1990, pp 53-54; Kelsey, 1975; 32).

In early June 1875, John Lewis and his party were en route to western Arnhem Land to establish the Coburg Cattle Company pastoral lease. They were attacked by Kunwinjku warriors at the East Alligator and killed in the order of 20 people (NTTG, 7 August 1875, p 2; Lewis, 1922, pp 140-143).

Violence intensified following the killing of Charles Johnston, head of the Daly Waters Telegraph Station, at Roper Bar on 29 June 1875. Mungarrayi warriors were held responsible. The ensuing reprisal massacre from 24 July at Mount McMinn was carried out by an overlanding party of nine travelling from Queensland to Darwin and led by William Batten and George de Lautour. This was the first of five reprisal massacres. The others were Crescent Lagoon, Harris Lagoon and the Calder Range in August, and Mole Hill in September 1875 (Roberts, 2009, np; Wilson, 2008, pp 221-222; Reid, 1990, pp 66-67; Roberts, 2005, p 140; NTTG, 18 September 1875, p 2).

In January 1878, teamster James Ellis was murdered at Granite Crossing, The Shackle. A punitive reprisal party led by Mounted Constable William Stretton shot at least 17 of the suspected warriors near the Daly River. An unknown number of others were shot by a civilian reprisal party, possibly for the same reason or in reprisal for the wounding of two Chinese miners at Yam Creek at about the same time (Evening Journal, 21 January 1878, p 3; NTTG, 26 January 1878, p 2; Reid, 1990, p 70).

The war intensified further following an event known as the Daly River Coppermine Massacre on 2 September 1884 in which three miners, John Landers, Henry Hauschildt and Johannes Noltenius were speared as they retreated to their camp at the Mount Hayward Copper Mine. On arrival they discovered their cook, Thomas Schollert, dead. A reprisal operation was carried out by Mounted Constable George Montagu and took in Argument Flat (Evening Journal, 4 June 1885, p 3; Austin, 1992, pp 15-16) and Marrakai Station along the Mary River. Montagu’s report documented 20-30 Aboriginal deaths, but other contemporary reports suggest between 70-150, and modern estimates are higher. Inspector Paul Foelsche also led a reprisal party. A third, civilian, party led by former police officer August Lucanus was split into three groups and armed by the government (Lucanus in Clement & Bridge, 1991, p 16). It was not accompanied by any police and did not account for ammunition used (Markus, 1974; Wilson, 2000, pp 271; Nettelbeck, 2004, p 193; Morris, 2019, pp 33-43; Smith, 2025, pp 29-31).

Poison was deployed as a weapon in later years. At Stapleton Siding in 1895, more than 100 Kungarakan people died after eating poisoned damper (McGuinness, 1991, p 8; Murgatroyd, 2001, p 6; Toohey, 1981, p 39).

Country / People / Language group / Nation

Yam Creek 1873: Wagiman, Mayall, Arigoolia and Jawoyn

East Alligator 1875: Kunwinjku

Daly Waters 1875: Mungarrayi

Daly River 1884: Woolwonga, Malak Malak, Murrinh Patha, Ngan'gikurrunggurr

Stapleton Siding 1895: Kungarakan

Notable People

Named Aboriginal people

Jemmy, Tommy, Long Legged Charley and Ajibbing Wagna, tried for the Coppermine murders (North Australian, 26 December 1884, p 3).
Jacky McGrath, leader of a ‘large mob’ camped at or near Rum Jungle (NTTG, 4 October 1884, p 2).
Boko Jackey, Neddy Lewis and Louis, murdered in Daly River reprisals (Register, 7 February 1885, p 7).

Colonists

Colonial forces:

Miners, South Australia Police, Civilians

Police:

Corporal George Montagu, Mounted Constable Charles Luck, Mounted Constable Cox, Mounted Constable Allan Macdonald, Mounted Constable Robert Stott (Kimber, 1990, np), Inspector Paul Foelsche, Mounted Constable Summers, Mounted Constable Wilson (see various newspaper reports listed in references) and Constable James Foster Smith (Wilson, 2000, p 83).

Miners:

Thomas Schollert, John Landers and Johannes Noltenius, Henry Hauschildt, murdered at Mt Hayward Copper Mine for abducting and abusing women. A man named Roberts was with them but apparently survived (Markus, 1974, p 12; Wilson, 2000, p 271; Nettelbeck, 2004, p 21; Morris, 2019, pp 33-43).

Other civilians:

John Lewis, attacked at East Alligator (NTTG, 7 August 1875, p 2; Lewis, 1922, pp 140-143).
Charles Bridson, George Stanley and John Maliff (aka Jack the Rajah) who were attacked at Argument Flat (NTTG, 4 October 1884, p 2).
William Batten and George de Lautour, leaders of a civilian reprisal party in 1875 after Johnston’s murder at Roper Bar (Roberts, 2009, np; Wilson, 2008, pp 221-222; Reid, 1990, pp 66-67; Roberts, 2005, p 140; NTTG, 18 September 1875, p 2).
James Ellis, killed at the Shackle (Evening Journal, 21 January 1878, p 3).
Former Constable August Lucanus (Clement & Bridge, 1991, p 16).
Dr Robert J Morice, Colonial Surgeon and Protector of Aborigines (Evening Journal, Thursday 4 June 1885, p 3).

Contributor: Robyn Smith, 2026

Recommended Reading/Listening

Parsons, JL (Government Resident) Quarterly Report on the Northern Territory, 11 November 1884, Legislative Council of South Australia, Adelaide (see p 13): https://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/catalogue_resources/58793.pdf

Purtill J ‘“Forgotten” Woolwonga tribe demand recognition 130 years after “extermination”’ in ABC News, 24 September 2014: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-24/indigenous-woolwonga-demand-recognition-after-extermination/5765212

Smith R ‘The Original Archive: deep diving in Australia’s recorded history’ in Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2025, No 2, pp 28-40.

Toohey, Justice B (1981) Aboriginal Land Commissioner’s Report, Finniss River Land Claim, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

References

Austin T (1992) Simply the Survival of the Fittest: Aboriginal Administration in South Australia’s Northern Territory 1863-1910, Historical Society of the Northern Territory, Darwin. pp 15-16.

Clement C and Bridge PJ (Eds) (1991) Kimberley Scenes, Hesperian Press, Perth.

Daly HW (1887) Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, London, pp 257-263.

Kelsey DE (1975) The Shackle: A Story of the Far North Australian Bush, Lynton Publications, Adelaide.

Kimber RG ‘Robert Stott (1858-1928)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 12, 1990, Australian National University, Canberra.

Lewis, J (1922) Fought and Won, WK Thomas & Co, Adelaide.

Markus (1974) From the Barrel of a Gun: the oppression of the Aborigines 1860-1900, Victorian Historical Association, Melbourne.

McGinness J (1991) Joe McGinness Son of Alyandabu, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane.

Morice RJ ‘Aborigines in the Northern Territory’ in Evening Journal, 4 June 1885, p 3.

Morris G (2019) Edge of sacred: exploring the life stories of the Nauiyu community. An investigation into trauma and the traditional healing practices of a remote Aboriginal community, PhD thesis, Charles Darwin University.

Murgatroyd, Warren (2001) Mt Grace Resources NL Magnesium Mine, Batchelor, NT, Environmental Impact Assessment, Anthropological Component, Initial Report, November 2001, URS Australia Pty Ltd.

Nettelbeck A (2004) ‘Writing and remembering frontier conflict: the rule of law in 1880s central Australia’ in Aboriginal History, Vol 28, pp 190-206.

Reid B (2020) Power and Protection: the contest between the Government Residents and the medical Protectors of the Aborigines in South Australia’s Northern Territory, Historical Society of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Roberts T (2005) Frontier Justice: A History of the Gulf Country to 1900, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane.

Roberts, T ‘The brutal truth: What happened in the Gulf Country’ in The Monthly. November 2009: https://www.themonthly.com.au/november-2009/essays/brutal-truth

Smith R (2024) Licence to Kill: massacre men of Australia’s north, Historical Society of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Smith R ‘The Original Archive: deep diving in Australia’s recorded history’ in Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2025, No 2, pp 28-40.

Toohey, Justice B (1981) Aboriginal Land Commissioner’s Report, Finniss River Land Claim, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

Unattributed ‘Corporal Montagu’s Report’ in North Australian, 8 January 1886, p 2.

Unattributed ‘Murder by the Natives’ in Evening Journal, 21 January 1878, p 3.

Unattributed ‘Murder by the Natives’ in Evening Journal, 21 January 1878, p 3.

Unattributed ‘Reprisals on Blacks in the Northern Territory’ in SA Register, 12 February 1886, p 5.

Unattributed ‘The Alleged slaughter of blacks in the Northern Territory’ in The Evening Journal (SA), 12 February 1886, p 3.

Unattributed ‘Things and Others’ in North Australian, 27 November 1885, p 2.

Unattributed ‘Yam Creek’ in Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 26 December 1873, p 4

Wilson, WR (Bill) (2000) A Force Apart? A history of the Northern Territory police force 1870-1926, PhD thesis, Charles Darwin University.

Wott P ‘Black Outrages in the Northern Territory’ in Register, 7 February 1885, p 7.

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Colonial violence. Primary sources and links contain racist language and attitudes of the time.

Gordon Reid (1990) wrote that a soldier, Pearson, was unhorsed and wounded while another, FH Litchfield, was struck and disabled. Two horses were speared. Going to their aid in a party, Alaric Ward shot an Aboriginal man and the Aborigines retreated. Col BT Finniss, who was in charge of the settlement, appointed his son Frederick as the head of a mounted and foot party. 'As they set out on 8 September eastwards towards Chambers Bay, William McMinn, who had charge of the foot party, asked Frederick Finniss what was to be done. Young Finniss replied: "Shoot every bloody native you see". When asked later by the royal commission whether he understood that the orders implied an indiscriminate massacre of the natives, McMinn replied: "Everyone could interpret the orders in his own way". He could see "from the feeling coming from them" that his men would slaughter the Aborigines. Three of them trapped an Aborigine behind some scrub and, instead of taking him prisoner, one of them shot him dead. The whites then went to the native camp, recovered stolen property and destroyed the camp. They then encountered the surveyor, JWO Bennett, who "ordered them not to kill a native within fifty yards of his camp", apparently because he feared the Aborigines would associate him with this action. It was too late; they had already done so. 'When the party returned to Escape Cliffs, Finniss complimented his son by saying, "Well done, Freddy, I thought you would let them see". Some time later, Alaric Ward was out of the whites' camp and was killed by the natives' (Reid 1990, pp 32-33). Finniss, responding to F Rymill during the Northern Territory Commission of Inquiry, said: 'The government had sent the party to occupy their territory without regard to their wishes, and if we were to remain there we were to overcome their hostility; and this, as we had proved, could not be done by means of conciliation and forebearance' (cited in Reid p 34).

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Colonial violence. Primary sources and links contain racist language and attitudes of the time.

A gold rush between 1871 and 1895 resulted in miners murdering Aboriginal people. The situation was often discussed in letters to the editor. For example: 'On Sunday evening, the 14th, three blacks came round the Princess Louise camp at dark, but finding they were discovered, they made "tracks" in a hurry, with a few shots after them. During the same afternoon several niggers visited Newman's battery, and on Monday morning a lot of tools were missing. The matter is becoming serious, and before long I fear there will be a collision of a more serious nature. The various camps are making arrangements to signal each other, and each party of men will have firearms in case of need. You will notice that the provocation is entirely on the side of the niggers, as they are continually told to go away, but unless they see a revolver they refuse to do so' (cited in NTTG, 26 Dec 1873, p 4). And a response: 'There may be occasions on which firmness is absolutely necessary with the natives, when they must be taught that the whitefellow is master and not to be trifled with; but to hunt them down to endeavor to make them prisoners; to break their jaws with the fist of a giant; to wound them in the shoulders with bullets from a revolver, and then let them escape into the bush to suffer pain and agony for weeks is the very way to make them troublesome and dangerous in the bush and on the road (WSN cited in, NTTG 30 Jan 1874, p 3). And this: 'The niggers are still prowling and crawling about and around the camps. Even at nights they are to be met with; it is not safe to go to the swamp for water to work on the claims; or to stop to mind the tents singly without being fully armed and prepared for an attack from them; and this state of things is likely to remain until someone is murdered by them, and the miners ��in defiance of their sympathiser at Pine Creek��are driven to take the law in their own hands, and effectually hunt them down' (Correspondent cited in NTTG 19 Jun 1874, p 3). This was written in 1878: 'I should not be surprised if there is a little more shooting before long, but whatever is done I trust that the parties concerned will not blow about their exploits but hold their tongues "Speech is silver, but silence is gold!"' (NTTG 13 Apr 1878, p 2).

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Colonial violence. Primary sources and links contain racist language and attitudes of the time.

John Lewis was making his way to establish the Coburg [sic] Cattle Company pastoral lease. His party included Charles Levi, George Reid, Jack Crossman, Ling Ah Hoo, an Aboriginal man named Prince from Port Essington, and Neddie Lewis. John Lewis (1922, pp 141-144) takes up the commentary: 'Levi and I made through the reeds to the open plain, where the horses were. We found them surrounded by between sixty to seventy armed natives, with spears ready for action, who, as soon as they saw us, ran together and formed a very formidable body. Yelling and dancing, they rushed towards us and threw their spears�� Fortunately none touched us. We knew that if we turned the natives would chase and probably overpower us, and the only thing to do was to shoot at them, which we did. Many of them were hit, although we could not be sure that any of them were fatally wounded. We shot twenty-one rounds, and then had only our revolvers left. They stood their ground, so we charged, and when they saw us coming they disappeared behind some reeds. When we let our horses go and formed our camp the natives came down from the hills on the eastern side in great numbers. We had six staghounds, which we tied to pegs driven in the ground to keep them from chasing the natives, who came nearer and nearer until they got within about 150 yards. Then they threw spears. Meantime we had taken up positions behind our packsaddles and arranged a good supply of bullets, which were nicely greased. The Chinaman had a double-barrelled gun loaded with buck-shot. The natives kept encroaching until they got near to send a shower of spears over us (many of which stuck in our baggage), and then we fired. We kept up fire for a long time, and many of them were injured. These were taken away by the lubras, who made a hideous row. We maintained fire for nearly half an hour, and then they retreated. We finished cooking our turkey, and had a most enjoyable meal....[next day] I turned round to see the rest [of the men in the party] come through, when I heard Levi cry "Look out!" Then I saw a shower of spears falling around me. Fortunately, I was close under the cliff, and out of reach of the spears; and although many fell around the Chinaman and Levi, and two touched the ammunition pack, nobody was injured. We heard the men yelling at the back, and the horses came through the gorge at a great rush��.one native, who had been very determined the day before and was very active on this occasion, stood on the edge of the cliff throwing spear after spear. He must have been struck by one of the rifle bullets, as he disappeared soon afterwards. We adjusted the packs and made north, thinking that the natives would follow us into the forest country, as they had done the year before; but they thought discretion the better part of valour, and we saw them no more'.

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Colonial violence. Primary sources and links contain racist language and attitudes of the time.

In reprisal for the murder of teamster James Ellis in January 1878, Mounted Constable William Stretton with two other troopers, civilians and a South Australian Aboriginal tracker located the party of Aboriginal suspects near the Daly River and shot at least 17 of them. After Ellis' death, a jury found that "the only available retaliation is to give a lesson to the tribe" (NTTG, 26 January 1878, p 2). An unknown number of Aboriginal people were shot by a civilian reprisal party.

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Colonial violence. Primary sources and links contain racist language and attitudes of the time.

Markus (1974), Wilson (2000), Nettelbeck (2004), Morris (2019) and others have detailed that on 2 September 1884 at Mt Hayward Copper Mine on the Daly River, four miners were killed in an attack. John Landers and Johannes Noltenius were speared at or near the mine, their cook, Thomas Schollert, was killed near the kitchen and Henry Hauschildt, who was absent at the time, was later found dead some way from the mine (Morris 2019, p 36). A reprisal operation was carried out by Mounted Constable George Montagu and took in Argument Flat and Marrakai Station along the Mary River. Montagu's report documented 20-30 Aboriginal deaths, but other contemporary reports suggest between 70-150, and modern estimates are higher. Inspector Paul Foelsche also led a reprisal party. A third, civilian, party, known as the 'Hauschildt Rescue' party, led by former police officer August Lucanus and split into three groups, was provisioned by the Government but not accompanied by any police and did not account for ammunition used. See also Argument Flat.

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Colonial violence. Primary sources and links contain racist language and attitudes of the time.

Protector of Aborigines, Dr Robert Morice wrote in the SA Evening Journal (June 4. 1885, p 3) that three teamsters claimed to have shot some Aborigines in self-defence following Aboriginal visitors to their camp the night before who, upon learning there were no police in the group, returned the next day, armed, and demanded food. The carters defended themselves and reported the matter. This occurred around the same time as the Daly River massacre: "While this was going on, and before the Inspector of Police had returned from the Daly River, three teamsters reported that they had been attacked by the natives at Argument Flat, about twenty miles from Southport. According to their account the natives flourished their spears and demanded tucker; the teamsters resisted, and shot five or six of them. There were three weak points about this tale. None of the teamsters were wounded; it is unusual for natives to attack in the bold way described and, lastly, it was admitted that there were women with the natives (one of the killed was a lubra, I think). Now it is well known that the natives when they mean mischief always keep their women out of the way." (Evening Journal, 4 June 1885, p3)

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Colonial violence. Primary sources and links contain racist language and attitudes of the time.

Joe McGuinness (1991, p 8) recalled: 'The majority of the tribe (Kungarakany)... about one hundred people, became victims of poisoned damper... at a railway siding known as Stapleton... weed-killing powder... was supposedly mistaken for baking powder and added to the flour in preparing damper. Those who ate the poisoned damper became violently ill before their death'. This is one of at least three poisoning incidents suffered by the Kungarakan people.

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