Details
Latitude-37.446 Longitude143.735 Start Date1839-02-01 End Date1839-02-28
Description
In April 1839, Assistant Protector Charles Sievwright arrested William Allen, overseer on HB Bowerman's Mount Mitchell pastoral run, and two convict shepherds, Abraham Braybrook and John Davis, at the nearby Learmonth brothers' station at Burrumbeet, for killing and then burning six to eight Aborigines and taking 'every pain to obliterate all traces of the bodies' (Clark, 1995, p 92). According to Clark (1995, p 92), G.A. Robinson said that the site was at the junction of two creeks 12 kilometres from Bowerman's outstation, and that Sievwright 'found a small piece [of] cranium under a piece of log' and that several huts in the district, including that occupied by William Allen, 'had Aboriginal skulls placed over their doors' (Clark, 1995, pp 92-3). 'John Davis and Abraham Braybrook were committed for trial for the killings. However, owing to the lack of corroborating evidence from white men, the attorney general [J.H. Plunkett], refused to prosecute the two men for anything other than the misdemeanour of burning the bodies' and even of that, the men were subsequently acquitted (Robinson Papers cited in Clark 1995, p. 93). According to Chief Protector GA Robinson, the two men 'were not wholly cleared of guilt and the public prosecutor recommended that they be turned to the public works'. However, they were returned to Burrumbeet station where Robinson saw Braybrook on 27 February 1840 (Robinson cited in Clark 1998a, p. 180). The Rev. Joseph Orton presented the following summary of Sievwright's report (dated 17 April 1839) 'Allen, the overseer to Bowerman, had instructed the shepherds at the outstations to inform him immediately any natives made their appearance that he might be prepared for them. On one occasion the natives did come and were quiet and friendly, but the servants having received peremptory orders from Mr Allen to inform him when the natives came, they accordingly did so. Allen immediately ordered his horse to be saddled and rode in search of them and found the natives a few miles from the shepherds' station and warned them not to come near the station' (this incident relates to the massacre of 10-14 Aborigines being killed in July 1838). 'Allen left orders again with the shepherds not to allow the natives near. The men, however, said they were peaceable and they were desirous to keep on good terms with them. A short time after this the blacks came to the shepherds hut and under suspicion that they came to rob the hut an affray commenced and from six to eight Aborigines were shot by the white men. The bodies were burned the next day. It appears in the deposition that a native woman was in the hut with the white men. In answer to a question Allen acknowledged that he had ordered the men to protect themselves. Davies, a prisoner, shot most or all. The above is the substance of the depositions and admissions of the implicated parties which is of course the ex parte statement. Allen was bound to appear when called for in recognisance of 200 pounds. In this case nothing more has been done than taking the depositions of the aggressors and murderers. There being no evidence but their own and that of the Aborigines – in the former case the accused cannot incriminate himself in a court of justice and in the latter Aboriginal evidence is inadmissible. Thus these miscreants elude justice and boast in their foul deeds – which accounts for the apparent frankness of their depositions' (Orton 1840-42, 12 January 1841, cited in Clark, 1995, p 89-90).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 512
- LanguageGroup
- Djadjawurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- KnownDate
- February 1839
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0c77 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=512 SourceOrton Journal, 1840-42, 12 Jan 1841, cited in Clark 1995, pp 89-90; Cannon and Macfarlane 1983, pp 642-643; Clark ID 1995, pp 89-90; 92-93; Clark, 1998, p 192 (Robinson Journals).
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:20 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-37.21 Longitude143.875 Start Date1839-12-01 End Date1840-01-31
Description
Aldo Massola refers to this massacre as follows: 'At the end of 1839 Captain Dugald McLachlan settled at Glengower Station,' on Glengower Creek, near Campbelltown, 'and after the usual "introductory period" during which they were employed at the station and given flour and sugar rations, the Aborigines were gradually discouraged from frequenting the run. The culminating point of this policy was when the cook, who was in charge of the rations, either under instructions from his employer or otherwise, distributed to the Aborigines a mixture of flour and Plaster of Paris. Though this was a better mixture than the arsenic given them elsewhere in Victoria, we can imagine the "damper" which resulted.' The Aborigines, 'to whom this act was probably the last of a great many indignities, speared the cook and helped themselves to the quarters of mutton hanging from the rafters.' In retribution, 'McLachlan and his men caught up with the Aborigines at a waterhole on Middle Creek where they were about to feast on the mutton. The Aborigines sought safety by diving into the waterhole and there they were shot, one at a time, as they came up for air. The place is still known as "The Blood-Hole"' (Massola, 1969, p 88).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 515
- LanguageGroup
- Djadjawurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- KnownDate
- 1839
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Plaster of Paris, Poison
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-37.707 Longitude141.652 Start Date1840-01-01 End Date1840-02-28
Description
Following an Aboriginal attack on shepherds and carrying off some sheep at George Winter's station in late 1840, a reprisal party killed at least five Aborigines. On 12 January 1841, the Reverend Joseph Orton made the following entry in his diary: 'The alleged cause of the attack was the aggressions of the natives. The attack of the Europeans was equally atrocious and unjustifiable, the result of which was that according to the depositions at least five natives were killed. This occurrence was on a station of Winter's who appears to have taken active part in the performance' (Orton Papers 1840-1842, 12 January 1841, ML A1715 ).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 516
- LanguageGroup
- Wulluwurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- KnownDate
- 1840
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-37.497 Longitude141.424 Start Date1840-03-08 End Date1840-03-08
Description
According to Jan Critchett (1990, p 127) and Ian Clark (1995, p 145), in February 1840, the five Whyte brothers occupied Koonongwootong station on Koroit Creek, 6.5 kilometres north of present day Coleraine. On 8 March they gathered a party of nine men armed with double-barrelled guns, comprising the five Whyte brothers on horseback and four convict shepherds on foot, including Daniel Turner, William Gillespie and Benjamin Turner, and 'hunted down' the Aborigines in the area, killing at least 40 of them on the grounds that some 'had made off with 127 sheep'. According to Clark (1995, p 145) 'The massacre took place at the Hummocks,…a unique rocky outcrop dissected by a narrow gorge of the Wando River and became known as Fighting Hills'.
Assistant Protector Sievwright was 9.5 kilometres from the scene and quickly heard about the massacre from Aboriginal survivors who told him that 41 of their clan had been killed (Orton Papers, 12 January 1841). According to Clark, realising that the massacre could not be covered up, John Whyte, the youngest of the five brothers, decided to ride to Melbourne and make a personal report to Superintendent La Trobe (Clark, 1995, pp 145, 147). En route, on 23 March, he called in at Glenormiston Station near Terang and told squatter Niel Black his version of the events. According to Black, Whyte said that 25 Aborigines had been killed (Journal of Niel Black 1840 in Clark 1995, pp147-148).
In April 1840, 'the sole Aboriginal survivor of the massacre, Long Yarra or "Lanky Bill", was killed by George MacNamara, one of Francis Henty's hut keepers at Merino Downs' (Clark, 1995, p 146).
When Sievwright, arrived at the Whytes' station in May 1840 to take depositions from the attackers, according to missionary Joseph Orton, he was surprised to find that the Whyte brothers and their shepherds freely admitted what had happened and that there was little variation in their accounts of the slaughter, except in their estimates of the number killed – between 30 and 80 (Orton Papers 12 January 1841, ML A 1715).
In June 1841, the Reverend Joseph Orton examined the depositions of the Whyte brothers and summarised the course of events. He said that the men stayed up late the night before, preparing cartridges for their double-barrelled guns and ' [e]arly the next morning they followed the tracks of the sheep to some low hills covered with tea-tree about ten kilometres away. They tied up their horses, and crept slowly into the trees. Hearing Aboriginal voices, they crawled up to the edge of the clearing on the edge of the creek, where a meal of mutton was being prepared by a large group of [Bungandtji speakers]. As the white men moved to surround the camp, they were spotted. The women and children fled as the men rushed to grab their weapons. A spear was thrown and the men started firing. Daniel Turner was speared through the thigh, and one of the Whytes received an accidental gun-shot wound on the cheek, prompting the other gunmen to become "savage to desperation"'. According to the Whyte brothers' statements, the [Bunganditji ] tried valiantly to withstand the onslaught, one of them being shot nine times before he finally fell. Dozens more spears were thrown in what the Whyte brothers later described as lasting more than an hour, but none hit their targets' (Reverend Joseph Orton, 12 January 1841, ML A1715).
In Melbourne, the Crown Prosecutor, James Croke, after examining the depositions of Daniel Turner, William Gillespie and Benjamin Wardle, considered that the Aborigines appeared to have been the aggressors in originally stealing the sheep and that William Whyte had killed two Aborigines only after a spear was thrown at him and John Whyte 'stated that no less than 200 spears were thrown and not less than 30 Aborigines were killed' (Whyte cited in Clark 1995, p. 149). Croke concluded that he could not accept the perpetrators' depositions on the grounds that they were self-incriminating and that in the absence of independent witnesses, he could not charge the men with anything (Croke cited in Clark 1995, p 149).
In 1853, squatter George Robertson, who moved into the area three days after the massacre, stated that 51 Aborigines were killed. 'They watched an opportunity, and cut off 50 sheep from Whyte Brothers' flocks, which were soon missed, and the natives followed; they had taken shelter in an open plain with a long clump of tea-tree, which the Whyte Brothers' party, seven in number, surrounded, and shot them all but one. Fifty one men were killed, and the bones of the men and sheep lay mingled together bleaching in the sun at the Fighting Hills.' (Robertson to La Trobe, 26 September 1853 in Bride, 1893, pp 30 - 31)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 517
- LanguageGroup
- Nundadjali
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- KnownDate
- 8 March 1840
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 41
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Shepherd(s), Stockkeeper(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Shotgun(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-37.47 Longitude141.568 Start Date1840-04-01 End Date1840-04-01
Description
As reported in Clark (1995, 152), after the massacre at Fighting Hills on 8 March 1840, the Aborigines returned to the Whyte Brothers' Konongwootong station a month later, and stole 'a number of sheep'. After unsuccessfully searching for a trail, 'to teach the Aborigines a lesson', the Whyte brothers and their stockmen separated…The Whytes rode to the nearest station to 'drown their disappointment' and the station hands, including Henry Skilton, William Fox, and two others, Henry and Bassett, 'returned to the home station. En route they passed the waterholes at which were camped some old men, women and children. They shot the entire camp' (Clark 1995, p 153).
William Moodie settled in the region in 1853, not long after the massacre, and wrote in his memoirs,
'So far I have said very little about the blacks at Wando Vale. A few years before we went there they had received severe punishment and so had deserted that part of the country for a time. Reprisals were made after depredations committed at Konong Wootong and were carried out by a party organised by the Whyte brothers, first at the Fighting Waterholes and then by following the poor frightened creatures to the big ti-scrub in the Wando just below the station. A blackfellow told me about it years afterwards in his own way, "Blackfellow all runem along a scrub in creek, lubra look up
scrub, white fellow shoot her down. Two hundred fine fat lubra shot". The number may not be reliable, as
Jimmy when telling me, only held up his hands two or three times. Any way it was a rather inglorious victory for the Whyte brother's valiant army' (Moodie in Palmer, 1873, p 72).
According to local historian ER Trangmar, 'The place where Coleraine's water supply comes from used to be known as the "Fighting Waterholes."
There a pitched battle was to have taken place between the angry mounted stockowners, the station hands, and
the blacks. Naturally the weapons of the whites would take heavy toll, so the blacks quickly dispersed by slipping through the cordon of mounted men. When the whites reached their objective there was not a blackfellow there.
The squatters rode to the nearest homestead and the men told to go
home. The station hands came across camp of the old men, picanninies and
women. They shot the lot. There was a great outcry at the time but no
legal action was taken. The squatters sacked the men.
After the massacre at the "Fighting Waterholes" the survivors asked to be
allowed to leave the district of Konongwootong and Coleraine; the name
of the tribe was Tarer-bur-er and their last chief was named Cart-ware-rer-coot. They went to "Murndal" and
joined the Wanedeets on the Wannon
river; They stayed there until they died out or went to the Condah Mission Station.' (Trangmar, 1956, p 8).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 518
- LanguageGroup
- Wulluwurrung or Nundadjali
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- KnownDate
- 1 April 1840
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-37.885 Longitude142.303 Start Date1840-06-11 End Date1840-06-11
Description
On 19 May 1840, overseer Patrick Codd was killed at Mount Rouse Station by five Aborigines of the Kolorer gundidj clan [Djab wurrung or Gai wurrung speakers], allegedly led by Taigara, also known as 'Roger the Russian', in retaliation for the murder of the Aboriginal warrior, Tuurap warneen. Taigara was later convicted and hanged for Codd's murder (Critchett, 1990, p 160) although Superintendent La Trobe was not convinced of his guilt on the grounds that there were no white witnesses at the murder (La Trobe to Gipps, 26 July 1842, cited in Shaw 1989, p 150). Codd was overseer and bookkeeper for the Wedge Brothers at the Grange, Strathkellar, just above present day Hamilton. Five days before his death, Codd had 'gone across' to Mount Rouse station 'to superintend the stock there during the projected absence of the overseer, James M Brock' (Clark, 1995, p 62). Charles Wedge wrote to his father JH Wedge in England about what happened after the Aborigines had killed Codd: 'On the following day or soon after Codd met his death, the squatters in the neighbourhood went in pursuit of the natives; but, owing to the wetness of the season, they did not succeed in revenging themselves so far as they intended; however, I believe three or four suffered.... They [the squatters] are determined (as they pay for protection and receive none) to exterminate this hostile tribe, without such protection is given them as will enable them to live in comparative security' (Charles Wedge to JH Wedge, Enclosure in Russell to Gipps, 20 February 1841, HRA, I, xxi, p 242). On 29 April 1841, GA Robinson was told by Captain Campbell, storekeeper at Port Fairy, 'that in revenge for Codd's death, 20 had been taken' (Robinson's journal 29 April 1841, cited in Clark, 1998b, p 161).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 519
- LanguageGroup
- Djab wurrung or Gai wurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- KnownDate
- 11 June 1840
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Patrick Codd
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0c7f Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=519 SourceCritchett, 1990, p 160; HRA, I, xxi, p 242; Clark 1995, pp 62-63,156; Clark 1998b, pp 160-162; Shaw, 1989, p 150.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:20 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-37.101 Longitude144.413 Start Date1838-06-09 End Date1838-06-09
Description
John Coppock, W.H. Yaldwin's overseer at Barfold Station, on the Coliban River, said in a sworn statement, that on 9 June 1838 about 50 Aboriginal people had stolen sheep from Dr Bowman's and Mr Yaldwyn's runs (Coppock cited in Cannon and Macfarlane, 1982, pp 336-337). Coppock led a party of eight white men from both stations in search of the Aboriginal camp and the sheep. When they reached the camp 'a shot was fired' and the Aboriginal men 'immediately manned their spears and gave another shout and instantly began throwing them at us. These spears dropped by us and passed as we were obliged to shelter ourselves behind trees.'
'We fired upon the blacks and there was a regular engagement for about three-quarters of an hour, when we rushed up to the fires to take possession of the place. When we got to the fires the blacks had deserted them, but we saw them about one or two hundred yards off still in possession of the sheep. It was at this time quite dark and we were afraid to make any further attempt to take the sheep. We therefore went home.'
'At the place where the blacks stood during the engagement we found seven or eight blacks dead' (Coppock cited in Cannon & Macfarlane 1982a, p 337). When Coppock and six stockmen returned to the camp the next day, they 'found the bodies of the blacks who had been killed had been put upon the fire and were partly consumed' (Cannon & Macfarlane, 1982A, p 338). However, since Aboriginal people did not dispose of bodies in this way, it can only be assumed that Coppock and his party put them 'upon the fire'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 520
- LanguageGroup
- Djadjawurrung or Ngurai-illamwurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Melbourne
- KnownDate
- 9 June 1838
- AttackTime
- Evening
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-37.876 Longitude142.337 Start Date1840-06-01 End Date1840-06-30
Description
According to Ian Clark, 'In either April or May 1840, Mustons station near Mount Rouse, and leased by Peter Aylward and Augustine Barton', was alleged to have been 'attacked' by 300 Aboriginal people who took a number of Aylward's sheep to the other side of the Serra Range. 'In June, Aylward took his revenge in an act of reprisal in which seven Aborigines were killed and many others wounded' (Clark 1995, p. 66). RW Knowles, Robert Martin's overseer at Mount Sturgeon station, was a perpetrator in the massacre as was Robert Tulloh from nearby Bochara Station at the junction of the Wannon River and Grangeburn Creek. On 27 June 1841, Tulloh told Chief Protector GA Robinson that he was one of eight horsemen in the party (Robinson cited in Clark 1998b, p. 284). The group not only included Aylward and Knowles, but also stockman George Robinson.
Historian Jan Critchett (1990) examined the depositions each of the men gave on different days on different properties to produce this account: '[They] came across a large party of Aborigines... Aylward estimated the Aborigines to number nearly 300, Knowles [or Knolles] more than 150, Tulloh about 500... The Europeans, on horseback, fired on them and then retreated... As soon as the three men had reloaded their guns, they charged again with the Aborigines fleeing before them. The "engagement" lasted a quarter of an hour' (p. 124). Aylward reported that 'there must have been a great many wounded, and several killed ... saw two or three dead bodies'. Knowles reported: 'Some of the Natives must have been wounded, but I saw none dead' (Aylward and Knowles cited in Critchett, 1990, pp. 124-5).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 521
- LanguageGroup
- Djabwurrung or Gai wurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- KnownDate
- 1840
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 8
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-33.674 Longitude115.357 Start Date1837-01-10 End Date1837-07-28
Description
The Bussell family of four brothers John, Joseph Vernon, Alfred and Charles were early colonists in 1831 in the town named after them – Busselton. Conflict started between the Bussells and the Noongar Wardandi traditional owners and escalated over the next four years, as increasingly severe tactics were used to stop the Wardandi from visiting their farms. They shot at 'intruders', made a wooden cannon to fire at them and took hostages, on one occasion holding a 'little girl', and another four women and a child (Shann, 1978, pp 98, 106). On 23 June 1837, a calf went missing. Allegedly Gaywal and Kenny had speared it. In retaliation on 28 June 1837, Henry Chapman and his brother, Alfred Bussell, an unnamed Corporal, a man named Moloney and Elijah Dawson went to Yulijoogarup and were involved in a massacre in which at least nine of the tribe were shot down. Brothers Vernon and Alfred Bussell later 'went down to the estuary, and saw that the natives had been afraid to return and bury their dead.' (Shann, 1978) 'In a letter to John Bussell in England, Charles wrote that "the war with the natives had been properly conducted", and was pleased that no European had died, although the family had been reprimanded by the WA government for taking the law into their own hands.' (Allbrook, 2014, pp 150-151).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1034
- LanguageGroup
- Wardandi
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Busselton
- KnownDate
- 28 June 1837
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockkeeper(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-37.558 Longitude142.284 Start Date1840-08-12 End Date1840-08-20
Description
Following an earlier massacre in the Grampians (see the 'Grampians' massacre), on 28 August 1840 'the Aborigines drove off nearly 1,300 of Wedge's sheep in the care of Colin Isaacs' (Clark, 1995, p 157). A 'hunting party', comprising Charles and Henry Wedge, Joseph Read, Thomas Grant, William Marsh, John Cox and R.W. Knowles, recovered the sheep in the present day Victoria Valley and then killed 13 Aborigines (Orton Papers 12 January 1841, Orton Papers 1840-1842, ML A1715). When Assistant Protector Charles Sievwright took depositions from the killers and presented them to James Croke, the Crown Prosecutor, Croke 'formed the opinion that the Aborigines had perpetrated the "outrages" and ought to be punished. He considered the killings were in self-defence.' (Croke cited in Clark, 1995, p 157).
In a letter to Governor Latrobe, Charles Wedge wrote,
"I, with my brothers, removed our stock to the country at the foot of the Grampians, now known as the Grange, on the creeks forming the river Wannon in the Australia Felix of Major Sir Thomas Mitchell... Up to this time we had but little trouble with the aborigines, but they now began to attack our shepherds, whom they drove from their flocks, which they took into the mountains known as the Victoria Range, where they disposed of many hundreds of them by killing, maiming by breaking three of their legs, and otherwise mutilating them in a cruel manner to prevent their escape, and resisting (their numbers giving them confidence) recovery. At this time they also killed a valuable horse and cow belonging to me, and drove away the whole of my milking cattle and working bullocks, some of which returned with spears in them ; and these depredations did not cease till many lives were sacrificed, and, I may say, many thousands of sheep destroyed." (Bride, 1899, p 163)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 522
- LanguageGroup
- Djabwurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- KnownDate
- 12 and 29 August 1840
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 13
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-37.608 Longitude141.423 Start Date1840-11-01 End Date1840-11-30
Description
In November 1840, squatter Augustine Barton reported to Superintendent La Trobe that earlier that month, Thomas Connell, a hut keeper at the Henty Brothers' station at the junction of the Wannon and Glenelg Rivers, had fed damper laced with arsenic to 15 or 17 Bunganditj [Nundadjali or Wulluwwurrung] Aborigines, and that many of them had died. Barton said that the Aborigines had told him that 'Connell had divided the damper among the Aborigines who were visiting the station and that soon afterwards, the blacks were seized with violent pains in the stomach accompanied by retching' before they died (Enclosure in La Trobe to Robinson 27 November 1840, GA Robinson Papers, Vol. 54). When news of the poisoning reached La Trobe in Melbourne, the Hentys sent Connell to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). On 3 June 1841, Chief Protector GA Robinson called in at nearby Tahara station and the lessee, George Winter, gave him the names of seven Aboriginal people said to have died from poison administered by one of Henty's employees (Robinson cited in Clark, 1998b, p 250).
In 1960, ER Trangmar, in his book, The Aborigines of Far Western Victoria, constructed a detailed account of the incident: 'A man named Connell, an outside overseer, was employed by the Henty brothers. He had a hut on the hill above the ford named after him. He got his rations delivered by dray once a month from the homestead. The blacks used to wait until he was out on the run and then rob his hut, particularly stealing his flour, which they learned how to use. Connell got very annoyed with the constant raiding so he mixed arsenic with half the flour and hid the other half. When he came home in the evening he found the poisoned flour had gone and blacks were dead by the dozen. They had mixed the flour on pieces of bark and partly cooked it in little cakes on the coals and had ravenously eaten it. A raging thirst was created, the natives went to the river to drink and tumbled head first into the stream, they were thus drowned as well as poisoned. It is stated that no graves were made, the bodies were put into the river. Connell hurriedly left the district and was never heard of again in these parts' (p 5).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 524
- LanguageGroup
- Nundadjali or Wulluwwurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- KnownDate
- November 1840
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Hutkeeper(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Poison, Arsenic
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-37.39 Longitude142.836 Start Date1840-11-01 End Date1840-11-30
Description
In July 1841, Chief Protector GA Robinson, on a tour of the Western District, heard that in November 1840, the hutkeeper employed by Horatio Spencer Wills, lessee of Lexington, La Rose and Moekpilly Stations, was killed by three Aboriginal men in revenge for killing a Wurrung or Jardwadjali [Pirtpirtwurrung speakers?] Aboriginal man and an Aboriginal woman. Wills, William Kirk, lessee at Burrumbeep station, and the overseer, Andrew Rutter, then attacked the Aboriginal camp and 'shot two women who had infants... the latter were left without milk' (Robinson, 29 July, 1841, cited in Clark, 1998b, p 336). At about the same time, Wills, AT Thompson, Capt. RH Bunbury and Capt. R Briggs, the lessees of other nearby stations, shot another three Aboriginal men and two women. Another report by Assistant Protector ES Parker suggests that a further three Aboriginal men were also shot by three other employees at Kirk's station. In all ten Aboriginal people were killed by squatters in this region at this time. It is possible that all three incidents were part of the same killing spree to disperse Aboriginal people from the station (Clark, 1995, pp 73, 77).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 525
- LanguageGroup
- Pirtpirtwurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- KnownDate
- November 1840
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-28.37 Longitude122.24 Start Date1908-11-07 End Date1908-11-08
Description
Described in newspaper articles as 'tribal fights' between rival groups and was part of many years of intergroup 'Bush warfare' in the Laverton area. See Laverton Massacre 1910 (Mt Leonora Miner, 14 November 1908, p 2).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1037
- LanguageGroup
- Wongai
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Laverton
- KnownDate
- 7 November 1908
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 8
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Inter se fighting
- WeaponsUsed
- Spear(s), Club(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-37.881 Longitude147.869 Start Date1841-01-01 End Date1841-12-31
Description
According to Gippsland historian Peter Gardner, after 'the Kurnai speared cattle on the Avon River,' in 1841, a reprisal party of 12 armed settlers pursued them on horseback and after 'crossing the Mitchell, Nicholson and Tambo Rivers,' eventually trapped them at Butchers Creek, a small inlet of Lake Victoria just to the east of Metung, where they were slaughtered. The details of the massacre were later provided by Colin McLaren, one of the killers. The other killers 'were Angus McMillan, Dr Arbuckle, Tom Macalister, Colin Macalister, McDonald, Bath, Conners, Lawrence, Gilbert and at least two Omeo Aborigines.' According to Gardner, 'This list is by no means exhaustive, it being possible that Ronald Macalister was also an early participant' (Gardner, 2001, pp 49-52).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 526
- LanguageGroup
- Tatungalung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Melbourne
- KnownDate
- 1841
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- stock
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-37.149 Longitude143.098 Start Date1841-06-01 End Date1841-07-25
Description
John Francis, manager of WJT Clarke's run at Woodlands (around present day Crowlands), 'is said to have shot six or seven Aborigines there in June or July 1841; Clarke later wrote that the Aborigines had been "defiant" and had killed numbers of his sheep, "destroying them wantonly and slaughtering them for their support"'. But as historian AGL Shaw points out, 'Francis was a man who often had trouble with Aborigines, and as he was later killed by a white shepherd, it is possible he was hot-tempered and ''defiant" himself.' (Shaw, 1996, p 130) WJT Clarke later said "a number of blacks, I am sorry to say, were shot". (Shaw, 1996, p 134) Critchett lists the names of seven Aborigines who were shot by Francis.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 528
- LanguageGroup
- Knenknenwurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Portland
- KnownDate
- 1841
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-38.209 Longitude142.203 Start Date1842-10-01 End Date1842-10-28
Description
Prior to the poisoning, 300 Aboriginal people lead by Purtkeun, one of five Yowen gundidj
clan leaders, raided Tarrone Station. Dr James Kilgour of Tarrone Station mustered 40 colonists from neighboring runs and attacked a camp, killing three or four Yowen or Tarrone gundidj people (Clark, 1995 p 43). According to Ian Clark (1995, pp 43-44): 'In October 1842, Dr John Watton, medical officer who had charge of the Mt Rouse protectorate station, investigated a case of alleged poisoning at James Kilgour's station' at Tarrone, 19 kilometres north of Port Fairy. Three Aboriginal men, three women and three children died from poisoning. Watton reported to Chief Protector GA Robinson, that 'it appears that the then overseer, Mr Robinson had sent away into the bush to some natives ... a quantity of what was supposed to be flour. Of this they partook, and were immediately seized with burning pains in the stomach, vomiting, sinking of the abdomen and intense thirst (which are the symptoms usually produced by arsenic); on the following morning three men, three women and three children were dead' (Watton cited in Clark, 1995, p 44). 'The bodies were burned, and Watton could not find any white witnesses. Despite the fact that Watton established that [overseer] Robinson had received a large quantity of arsenic just before the incident, there was not enough proof to convict Robinson or his associates' (Clark, 1995, p 44). 'On March 17, 1843, Superintendent La Trobe informed the Colonial Secretary in Sydney of the reported poisoning at Kilgour's station, noting that attempts to discover the responsible parties had proved ineffective' (La Trobe cited in Clark 1995, pp 44-45). GA Robinson recorded in his diary on 29 August 1842 that Kilgour lost his licence for reporting false information concerning the Aborigines (Clark, 1998c, p 89).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 531
- LanguageGroup
- Koornkopanoot or Bi:gwurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Portland
- KnownDate
- February 1842
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Shotgun(s), Spear(s), Arsenic
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-37.946 Longitude142.505 Start Date1842-02-24 End Date1842-02-24
Description
'Caramut Station had been occupied by Thomas Osbrey and Sidney Smith in November 1841' (Clark, 1995, p 35). On the evening of 24 February 1842, settlers Arthur D Boursiquot, and Robert Whitehead and employees John Beswicke, Joseph Betts, Richard Hill and Charles Smith, shot and killed six people from two Aboriginal families asleep 'in a clump of tea-tree beside a small tributary of Mustons Creek.' Two survivors who sought refuge at the Mt Rouse Aboriginal station, 25 kilometres from Osbrey's station reported the horrible event to Assistant Protector Charles Sievewright who immediately rode to Caramut station 'where he found the bodies of three women, (one who was pregnant), and a male child, and a fourth woman severely wounded' who subsequently died. After examining the bodies Sievewright allowed Pinchingannock to cremate the bodies. No one at Caramut would speak about the massacre, even though Sievewright offered 50 pounds reward for information and Governor Gipps quickly followed up with 100 pounds reward. On 15 May 1843, Christopher McGuinness a witness to the massacre went to Melbourne and told the whole story to Chief Protector of the Aborigines, GA Robinson. The perpetrators were arrested and charged and brought to trial but escaped conviction (Clark, 1995, pp 35-42). Historian Michael Christie (1979, p 50) believes the massacre was premeditated, and carried out to relieve the boredom of a summer evening.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 532
- LanguageGroup
- Gai wurrung or Djabwurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Portland
- KnownDate
- 24 February 1842
- AttackTime
- Evening
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Pistol(s), Fowling Piece(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0c95 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=532 SourceClark, ID, 1995, pp 35-42; Clark, 1998c, p 171 (Robinson Journal, 12 May 1843); Christie, 1979, p 50.
See also: BPP 1844, p 234; Thomas Papers, ML Item 21; Robinson Papers, vol. 57, p 46, ms ML A 7078; Critchett, 1990, pp 118-119 and 250; Port Phillip Gazette, August 2, 1843 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225011583.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:20 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-38.317 Longitude142.044 Start Date1842-08-07 End Date1842-08-18
Description
On August 18, 1842 at Eumerella Station, Port Fairy, Western District, after 2 raids by more than 150 Aboriginal people a party of Colonists found and attacked the raiding party. '...on the 7th ultimo [August] a party of blacks, headed by Jupiter [Tarerer] and Cocknose [Tykoohe]...attacked my shepherd and drove off a flock of sheep...my superintendent and several of the men...went in pursuit of the marauders, and after a severe skirmish succeeded in recovering the property. On the 10th, the shepherds were again attacked by upwards of 150 blacks... a part of the blacks took possession of the sheep and the remainder attacked the shepherds, who were in a position of great danger, but being well armed, they were...able to keep their assailants at bay until assistance arrived, when the blacks made off, and the men obtained repossession of the sheep. On the 18th the blacks again attacked the shepherds...and drove off 1,014 sheep...a party went out to recover the sheep, and they described the road as strewed with dead carcases [sic]. About eight miles [20 kms] off the station they came up with the blacks, and it was not until they had overcome a vigorous resistance, during which three of the blacks were shot, and several others wounded, that they succeeded in recovering the remainder of the sheep, 511 having been killed or destroyed.' (BPP 1844, p 234; Hunter cited in Critchett, 1990, p 108). Carried out by employees of James Hunter. Historian Jan Critchett considers that on this occasion several Aboriginal people were wounded and later died (Critchett, 1990, p 250).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 533
- LanguageGroup
- Tatungalung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Portland
- KnownDate
- 18 August 1842
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Shepherd(s), Stockkeeper(s), Overseer(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-16.7 Longitude135.88 Start Date1892-01-01 End Date1892-12-31
Description
According to Roberts (Roberts, 2009, np) six years after the Lenehan murder and reprisal massacres, in 1892, a massacre occurred on top of the Abner Range, 100km from where Lenehan had been killed, where a party of 22 went after about '70 or 80 fleeing Aboriginals'. The fleeing group went to the top of the Abner Range, thinking the horses would not be able to reach the top. The horsemen did find a way to the top and followed the tracks left behind to an Aboriginal camp. Roberts wrote: 'The men, in pairs, formed a half-circle around the sleeping camp – some of them as close as 20 metres. On the far side of the camp was a sheer, 150-metre drop. The numerous small fires were evidence of a large number of people. Curtis said he would fire first, as soon as it was light enough to see. Shooting sleeping victims at first light was a standard method. Exhausted, the occupants of the camp slept soundly. But, at times, according to Gaunt, "we could hear a piccanninny cry and the lubra crooning to it". When it was finally light enough to see, an Aboriginal man sat up and stretched his arms. "Smith fired and the police boy with me fired at the sitting Abo. The black bounced off the ground and fell over into the fire, stone dead. Then pandemonium started. Blacks were rushing to all points only to be driven back with a deadly fire…One big Abo, over six feet, rushed toward the boy and I. I dropped him in his tracks with a well-directed shot. Later on, when we went through the camp to count the dead and despatch the wounded, I walked over to this big Abo and was astonished to find, instead of a buck, that it was a splendidly built young lubra about, I should judge, sixteen or eighteen years of age. The bullet had struck her on the bridge of the nose and penetrated to the brain. She never knew what hit her…When the melee was over, we counted fifty-two dead and mortally wounded. For mercy's sake, we despatched the wounded. Twelve more we found at the foot of the cliff fearfully mangled." Below the cliff was the head of a creek, which Tom Lynott named Malakoff Creek, after a bloody battle during the siege of Sevastopol in the Crimean War. When a camp was attacked in daylight, the whites were usually mounted and, unless the country was open and flat, it was often possible for a number of occupants to escape. In some cases, they watched in horror, unseen, as whites dispatched the wounded. Adults and children received a bullet to the brain, while babies – whether injured or not – were held by the ankles "just like goanna", their skulls smashed against trees or rocks. A crying baby left behind when Garrwa people fled a camp on the Robinson River was thrown onto the hot coals of a cooking fire, still crying' (Roberts, 2009, np).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1047
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Tongalongina (Gudanji name)
- LanguageGroup
- Garawa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Borroloola
- KnownDate
- 1892
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 64
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s), Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Ted Lenehan
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0c9a Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1047 SourceRoberts, 2009, np. SEE ALSO O'Brien & Adams 1999; NTTG, April 24, 1886 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3159378; Costello, 1930, pp 164, 167; Northern Standard, October 16, 1931, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48050361; May 29, 1934 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49494183 and June 1, 1934 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49494267 p 508 & p 517; Bottoms, 2013.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:20 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-38.051 Longitude147.466 Start Date1842-12-01 End Date1842-12-31
Description
According to an account sent to Gippsland historian Peter Gardner by settler Ray Scott, a massacre of Kurnai people took place at Hollands Landing in late 1842, when they congregated at the site and were fired at by a cannon from a ship anchored nearby. Years later, Scott's grandfather met some Aboriginal survivors who told him of the incident. Following the killing of two shepherds at Lindenow station, 'an organised and co-ordinated drive' was organised by the owners of Lindenow, involving 'a boat with one of the Clonmel cannon mounted in its bow, and was probably manned by men from the Strathfieldsaye run...those driving across the land, on the west from Strathfieldsaye and the north and east from Lindenow, no doubt were directed by the "notorious" Frederick Taylor.' Carried out by Angus McMillan; John McLennan, overseer at Hart Run; one of the Loughnan brothers at Lindenow run; William Pearson, squatter of Kilmany Park; John Reeve, squatter of Snake Ridge; Captain Orr of Orr's Survey near Port Albert; RB Sheridan, overseer for William Odell Raymond.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 535
- LanguageGroup
- Tatungalung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Melbourne
- KnownDate
- December 1842
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Overseer(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Cannon(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-17.4 Longitude130.8 Start Date1923-01-01 End Date1923-12-31
Description
Charola and Meakins (2016, p 69) noted that:
"Deaths of women continued at least into the early twentieth century. Hobbles Danayarri of Yarralin reported to Rose that in the 1920s a group of women who lived near Daguragu refused to submit to gang rape and were shot."
As the date is unclear, the date of 1923 provided here is a rough estimate based on other massacres in the area.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1053
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Daguragu
- LanguageGroup
- Gurindji
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Wave Hill
- KnownDate
- 1920
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- Women
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-38.465 Longitude147.011 Start Date1843-07-01 End Date1843-07-31
Description
In early July 1843, Donald Macalister, the nephew of squatter Lachlan Macalister, was killed by Aboriginal people, near Port Albert in Gippsland. According to GA Robinson, who first heard of Macalister's killing from Crown Lands Commissioner Charles Tyers on 19 May 1844,' Mr McAllister was murdered about six months ago by the natives; he was alone it seems and on horseback and supposed riding serenely along and E.H. the black took him by surprise or he must have been parleing with them a the time it happened. He had a brace of pistols in his holster, [when] his body was found, he was on his way to the Port [Albert] with cattle in short way on ahead' (Robinson 19 May 1844, in Clark 1998d, p.56).
After being visited by Thomas McAllister and Mr McMillan at Foster's, Robinson remarked in his journal on 1 June, 1844, 'Reginald McAllister was the gentleman killed by natives; they are supposed to have killed him with sticks; there was no spear wounds no person saw it done or saw natives; hence there is no direct proof' (Clark, 1998d, p 73). Robinson listed several other colonists killed. According to Gippsland historian Peter D Gardner, Macalister's death was at least the fifth killing of a colonist in Gippsland within 12 months (Gardner 2001, p.53). McMillan had been the first European to the region in 1839, and the earliest runs were established soon after, such that these murders were in direct response to the first few years of colonial incursion.
A visitor to Gippsland wrote in 1843 'I had been informed that ill-blood existed between the blacks and settlers, and that four
or five shepherds and stock-men had been murdered; that it was unsafe to travel alone and unarmed in Gipps' Land' (The Courier, 23 Jun, 1843, p 4).
In 1845 William Thomas, the Assistant Protector of Aborigines recorded in his journal that 'He said he [Hatcher] and another man had come unarmed from Gippsland. I asked him if he was not afraid of meeting the Blacks, his reply was, Blks Sir no fear of them now they would run away as soon as they see a white man but there are not many left, he said he had a Brother who had been in Gippsland from the first his name was Bunton & kept a Public house in Gippsland by the Dirty Water Holes & a cattle station joining to Mr. McAllister who was killed, that after Mr. McAllisters murder great slaughter of the blacks took place and that on his brothers station a cart load of Blks bones might be gath.rd up' (Thomas, cited in Caldow, 2020 & cited in Gardner, 1994, p 51).
Macalister's death prompted a massacre of Aboriginal people, most likely at multiple sites around Warrigal Creek. Bell, in 1874, wrote as if the massacre was well known in the colony:
'The historic pen of Victorian settlement would paint with truth the horrors of many
a scene of Gipps Land life; and it was in 1843 (the year the will was dated) that the aggressions
of the blacks were so frequent. Shepherds worked in pairs, armed, as if in an enemy's
country, to resist them ; and it was 1843 that ended by wholesale destruction, the massacres at
Warrigal Creek and the Bundalaguah Swamp, where only one aboriginal was left to tell the
story of how they died and the history of his race' (The Age, 8 Aug, 1874, p 7).
Dunderdale, writing in the late 1800s, provides the following description of events:
'At this time the blacks had quite recovered from the fright occasioned by the discharge of the nine-pounder gun, and were again often seen from the huts at the Old Port. Donald Macalister was sent by his uncle, Lachlan Macalister, of Nuntin, to make arrangements for shipping some cattle and sheep. The day before their arrival Donald saw some blacks at a distance in the scrub, and without any provocation fired at them with an old Tower musket, charged with shot. The next day the drovers and shepherds arrived with the stock, and drove them over Glengarry's bridge to a place between the Tarra and Albert rivers, called the Coal Hole, afterwards occupied by Parson Bean. there was no yard there, and the animals would require watching at night; so Donald decided to send them back to Glengarry's yards. Then he and the drovers and shepherds would have a pleasant time; there would be songs and whisky, the piper would play, and the men and maids would dance. The arrangement suited everybody. The drovers started back with the cattle, Donald helped the shepherds to gather the sheep, and put them on the way, and then he rode after the cattle. The track led him past a grove of dense ti-tree, on the land now known as the Brewery Paddock, and about a hundred yards ahead a single blackfellow came out of the grove, and began capering about and waving a waddy. Donald pulled up his horse and looked at the black. He had a pair of pistols in the holsters of his saddle, but he did not draw them: there was no danger from a blackfellow a hundred yards off. But there was another behind him and much nearer, who came silently out of the ti-tree and thrust a spear through Donald's neck. The horse galloped away towards Glengarry's bridge.
'When the drovers saw the riderless horse, they supposed that Macalister had been accidentally thrown, and they sent Friday to look for him. He found him dead. The blacks had done their work quickly. They had stripped Donald of everything but his trousers and boots, had mutilated him in their usual fashion, and had disappeared. A messenger was sent to old Macalister, and the young man was buried on the bank of the river near McClure's grave. The new cemetery now contained three graves, the second being that of Tinker Ned, who shot himself accidentally when pulling out his gun from beneath a tarpaulin.
'Lachlan Macalister had had a long experience in dealing with blackfellows and bushrangers; he had been a captain in the army, and an officer of the border police. The murder of his nephew gave him both a professional and a family interest in chastising the criminals, and he soon organised a party to look for them. It was, of course, impossible to identify any blackfellow concerned in the outrage, and therefore atonement must be made by the tribe. The blacks were found encamped near a waterhole at Gammon Creek, and those who were shot were thrown into it, to the number, it was said, of about sixty, men, women, and children; but this was probably an exaggeration. At any rate, the black who capered about to attract young Macalister's attention escaped, and he often afterwards described and imitated the part he took in what he evidently considered a glorious act of revenge. The gun used by old Macalister was a double-barrelled Purdy, a beautiful and reliable weapon, which in its time had done great execution' (Dunderdale, 2020). McMillan showed Robinson his gun on 5 June 1844. It had 'seven barralls (sic): all go off at once' (Clark 1998d, p.94).
A more detailed account of the events was published in The Gap magazine's 1925 edition in an article titled 'Experiences with Gippsland Blacks'. The article on the Warrigal Creek massacre was submitted under the pen name 'Gippslander, Bairnsdale'. Gippslander wrote:
'When Angus McMillan first settled in Gippsland in 1839, the blacks were very numerous, hostile, and treacherous. They speared the stock and attacked
the homesteads, and, in some instances, speared some of the hut-keepers. The white settlers retaliated, and there were numerous raids on the blacks, and numbers of them were killed, mostly around McLennan's Straits, Roseneath, and the western shores of Lake Wellington.
Getting well into the forties, settlement was taking place south from Sale and north from Port Albert. The blacks were becoming more civilised, and many of them used to congregate about the stations. Shipping was coming from Van Diemen's Land, and elsewhere, bringing in a number of undesirables - "ticket-of-leave" men, or "Vandemonians," as they were called in those days.
These men [Vandemonians] were employed by the settlers as hutkeepers, and some of them used to treat the blacks
badly, playing all sorts of practical jokes upon them,
which in many instances amounted to cruelty. Most
of the outrages committed by the blacks at that time
were the outcome of some injury, either real or
fancied, committed by those men on the natives.
The murder of
Roland Macalister was in revenge for
the throwing of hot ashes on the
feet of the natives by Macalister's
hut-keeper. Macalister at that time
was stationed some distance out from
Port Albert and had one of these
"ticket-of-leave" men as hut-keeper.
The former used to visit Port Albert, returning after dark, and the
blacks were aware
of this. The hut-keeper, during Macalister's absence, was in the habit of letting the blacks inside the hut.
On this particular night, when he wanted them
to go out, they refused, so he took some hot ashes,
which he threw over their bare feet.
In revenge they made up their minds to kill Macalister. Three
of them waited for him as he returned, putting
three spears through him and killing him at once.
Taking most of his clothes and his kidney fat, they
made for Warrigal Creek.
Macalister's horse, taking fright, galloped off along
the road towards Sale, and, next day, was found
between Woodside and Sale by Mr. McMillan,
who was traveling down the road with cattle. The
blacks must have had some way of communicating
with the others, for the morning after the murder
not a black was to be seen on any of the stations;
all had made for Warrigal Creek. The settlers were
so enraged at this murder that they determined to
give the blacks a lesson, and formed what they
called the Highland Brigade. Every man who could
find a gun and a horse took chase after the blacks.
The Brigade, coming up to the blacks, camped
around the waterhole at Warrigal Creek,
rounded them, and fired into them, killing a great
number. Some escaped in the scrub, others jumped
into the waterhole, and, as fast as they put their
heads up for breath, they were shot, until the water
was red with blood. It was estimated that between
one hundred and one hundred and fifty were killed
during the progress of the Brigade.
I knew two blacks who, though wounded, came
out of that hole alive.
One was a boy at that time,
about 12 or 14 years old. He was hit in the eye
by a slug, captured by the whites, and made to lead
the Brigade on from one camp to another. He was
afterwards adopted by one of the party and was
called "Bing Eye."
The other was a little older;
he made his escape up the creek by swimming and
diving. He was shot through the foot, and was so
injured that he was called "Club Foot."
After this slaughter the blacks kept to the coast,
and did not come near the stations for a number of
years. The spearing of cattle, however, still went
on, and there were still many blacks
being killed, principally by the Black
Police' (Gippslander, Bairnsdale, 1925).
Dunderdale names Macalister's uncle 'Lachlan Macalister' as having lead the massacre while, Gippslander names 'McMillan'. All accounts indicate that many colonists in the area were involved.
In another reminiscence in the same magazine titled 'My Early Life', Mrs H. Greenwood wrote, 'I remember the blacks killing Mr Macalister, and the subsequent slaughter of the blacks at Warrigal Creek.' Mrs Greenwood says she was born in 1853, some time after the massacre, so she must have meant that she remembered hearing of it, presumably from her father who she said had moved to Gippsland around 1840 (The Gap, 1925, p 11). Historian Peter Gardner notes that the massacre remained widely recognised in the folk history of Gippsland (Gardner, 1983, pp 53-62).
Caldow provides a detailed list of sources for the Warrigal Creek massacre, but is dismissive of the Gippslander's version, relied on heavily by Gardner, largely because it is published in a magazine for children (Caldow, 2020). Gardner has replied to Caldow in detail (Gardner, 2022). The intended readership of The Gap is schoolchildren, with a focus on factual education rather than fiction. The story of the Warrigal Creek massacre appears along with other non-fiction articles on diverse topics ranging from ANZAC Day and the use of gas in World War One to beekeeping and the sugar beet industry. These topics are not cast into doubt for being in an educational magazine. As a Gippsland publication, the magazine includes a section providing members of the community an opportunity to contribute their knowledge and reminiscences towards a history of the region. The Gippslander article also mentions other attested violence in Gippsland at 'McLennan's Straits, Roseneath, and the western shores of Lake Wellington', and historical events such as the influx of Vandemonians and the murder of Macalister. Caldow acknowledges that, 'First, using the information Gardner misinterpreted, rejected or missed in Thomas, Dunderdale and Bell, we must accept the possibility or even the probability that an atrocity took place somewhere' and suggests 'Establishing the factual basis of this will require in-depth research to uncover any written evidence before Bell's account from 1874, as well as archaeological evidence at locations such as Bruthen Creek and Bundalaguah Swamp' (Caldow, 2020).
The creeks mentioned in various tellings of the massacre are all relatively close together. This is consistent with Gippslander's statement that the colonists had progressed from one camp to another. This could be seen as a single massacre at multiple sites, referred to by the name of any one of the creeks in the area, or as a group of massacres that were part of a single expedition. Caldow (2020) and Gardner (2022) concur that the station where 'might be gath.rd up' referred to in Thomas's journal is Hatcher's brother in law Buntine's run at Bruthen Creek.
The earliest accounts then give the locations as Bruthen Creek, Warrigal Creek and Gammon Creek. Gardner lists several sites that are mentioned in local folk history and where archaeological evidence has been found. First, Warrigal Creek at a long U shaped waterhole which matches Gippslander's description (Gardner, 1983, p 53). Next, Warrigal Creek mouth, where a large quantity of Aboriginal bones of men, women and children were found with similar skull fractures. This led local historian the Rev. George Cox to conclude that it was not the result of a tribal massacre, but may be a result of the massacres following Macalister's murder (Gardner, 1983, p 53-54). Then Red Hill, where skeletons were found in an upright position, which Gardner regards as inconsistent with traditional Kurnai funereal practice. However, Gardner discounts this site as it is unrealistic that people could have been surrounded and not escaped (Gardner, 1983, p 55). Then Gammon Creek: as well as being named as the location by Dunderdale, there is a strong local tradition that a massacre occurred here (Gardner, 1983, p 56). Finally, Freshwater Creek: an Aboriginal survivor named Darby had told Chas Lucas who told the Rev. Cox this was the location (Gardner, 1983, p 57).
The most likely sites at which people were killed, based on a combination of historical records, archaeology and local oral history is then: Warrigal Creek, Warrigal Creek Mouth, Gammon Creek, Freshwater Creek and Bruthen Creek.
Gardner further notes the rapid decline in numbers of people of the Brataualung Clan of Kurnai Nations: 'Beginning with the pre-white estimates of population at 300-500 the total of these people, within 30 years of the initial white occupation numbered 17. By 1880 there were only two surviving members' (Gardner, 1983, p 58). The determined manner in which these reprisal massacres were carried out and the sudden extreme decline in population indicate that unusually large numbers of people were killed in the Warrigal Creek massacres.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 537
- LanguageGroup
- Brataualung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Gippsland
- KnownDate
- July 1843
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 25
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Double-barrelled Purdey(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1843: Warrigal Creek, Gippsland, PPD/VIC
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0c9c Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=537 SourceDunderdale, 1973, p.225; Pepper and de Aurugo, 1985, p.24; Cannon, 1990, p.171; Shaw,1996, p.133; Clark, 1998d, p.70, p. 99, p.110; Gardner, 2001, pp 53-61; Bartrop, 2004, pp 199-205 ; The Age, 8 Aug 1874, p 7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201532298;
Gardner, 1994, p 45;
The Courier, 23 Jun, 1843, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2952539;
Dunderdale, 2020 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16349/pg16349-images.html;
Caldow, 2020;
Gardner, 2022, https://petergardner.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Warrigal-Creek-Massacre-a-reply-to-Wayne-Caldow.pdf;
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:20 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-38.554 Longitude146.962 Start Date1843-07-15 End Date1843-07-31
Description
Freshwater Creek is one of the
Warrigal Creek group of massacres.
According to local historian Gardner, 'The sources for Freshwater Creek as a massacre site are the only ones fully known. The aboriginal "Darby", who escaped the massacre, told an earlier settler, Mr. Chas Lucas, Lucas in turn informed the Rev. G.S. Cox of the Yarram Historical Society. It is for this reason that Freshwater Creek remains a definite consideration' (Gardner, 1983, p 57).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 539
- LanguageGroup
- Brataualung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Gippsland
- KnownDate
- July 1843
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 25
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Double-barrelled Purdey(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
- MassacreGroup
- 1843: Warrigal Creek, Gippsland, PPD/VIC
Details
Latitude-38.496 Longitude146.945 Start Date1843-07-15 End Date1843-07-31
Description
Gammon Creek is one of the
Warrigal Creek group of massacres.
According to Dunderdale, following the killing of Donald Macalister, Aborginal people were massacred at Gammon Creek.
'Lachlan Macalister had had a long experience in dealing with blackfellows and bushrangers; he had been a captain in the army, and an officer of the border police. The murder of his nephew gave him both a professional and a family interest in chastising the criminals, and he soon organised a party to look for them. It was, of course, impossible to identify any blackfellow concerned in the outrage, and therefore atonement must be made by the tribe. The blacks were found encamped near a waterhole at Gammon Creek, and those who were shot were thrown into it, to the number, it was said, of about sixty, men, women, and children; but this was probably an exaggeration. At any rate, the black who capered about to attract young Macalister's attention escaped, and he often afterwards described and imitated the part he took in what he evidently considered a glorious act of revenge. The gun used by old Macalister was a double-barrelled Purdy, a beautiful and reliable weapon, which in its time had done great execution' (Dunderdale, 2020).
According to local historian Gardner, 'It is remarkable how the tradition of the massacre at this site has been continued down to the present owners of the property' (Gardner, 1983, p 56).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 540
- LanguageGroup
- Brataualung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Gippsland
- KnownDate
- July 1843
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 25
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Double-barrelled Purdey(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1843: Warrigal Creek, Gippsland, PPD/VIC
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0ca0 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=540 SourceDunderdale, 1973, p.225; Pepper and de Aurugo, 1985, p.24; Cannon, 1990, p.171; Shaw,1996, p.133; Clark, 1998d, p.70, p. 99, p.110; Gardner, 2001, pp 53-61; Bartrop, 2004, pp 199-205 ; The Age, 8 Aug 1874, p 7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201532298;
Gardner, 1994, p 45;
The Courier, 23 Jun, 1843, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2952539;
Dunderdale, 2020 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16349/pg16349-images.html;
Caldow, 2020;
Gardner, 2022, https://petergardner.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Warrigal-Creek-Massacre-a-reply-to-Wayne-Caldow.pdf;
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:20 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-37.377 Longitude142.253 Start Date1843-08-06 End Date1843-08-06
Description
According to Clark (1995, p 160): 'In August 1843, a large group of Aboriginal warriors attacked WJ Purbrick's Koroite station on Konongwootong Creek, adjoining present day Coleraine, and drove off 180 sheep'. Captain HEP Dana, commandant of a detachment of Native Police stationed at Mt Eckersley, 'was notified of the alleged attack and with seven native police troopers, Dana followed the Aboriginal men into the Victoria Range' (Clark, 1995, p 160). According to the Port Phillip Gazette (August 26, 1843, p. 2), in the conflict that ensued, 'Captain Dana's troop fired simultaneously upon the savages four or five times, seven or eight of whom were shot dead on the spot, and many wounded; the remainder retreated to the scrub and it is supposed about twenty of their number have been shot in the affray'. 'About eighty sheep out of the number that had escaped being slaughtered, were driven back to the owner.' According to the same article, 'the settlers were 'in perfect ecstasies', declaring that a 'real service has been done for them' (Port Phillip Gazette, August 26, 1843 p 2).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 542
- LanguageGroup
- Djabwurrung or Nundadjali
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Portland
- KnownDate
- 6 August 1843
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-38.063 Longitude141.851 Start Date1843-09-01 End Date1843-09-06
Description
A group of Aboriginal people killed colonists and stole sheep, strategically using stony and swampy country, difficult for horses, in the Budj Bim area to evade pursuit. Clark suggests this was the group lead by Koort Kirrup, 'According to Dana, they were the same people who had killed McKenzie and his employee, and Martha Ward. If this is correct, they were probably the Pallapnue gundidj under the leadership of Koort Kirrup.' (Clark, pp 46-47)
Captain Henry Dana and Native Police with Mr Edgar pursued them into the wetlands near Mt Eccles (formerly 'Mt Eeles') and killed eight to 10 Aboriginal people. From the descriptions of places and terrain provided it appears that Dana and the Native Police approached from the west, having been at '"Bassett's Station" (also known as Crawford) near the head of
the Crawford River adjoining Hotspur' (Clark, p 46) and Edgar's station on the 'Fitzroy River run adjoining Heywood' (Clark, p 46) and pursued the group through stony and swampy country to where the sheep had been herded onto an island in the swamp, near Mt Eccles (Budj Bim). The Aboriginal people taunted them from scrub across the swamp, and made a counter attack on the sheep. Dana lead a counter attack and the massacre occured in the scrub across the from the island. These descriptions suggest that the massacre occurred in the scrub to the east of Lake Condah.
In a letter to La Trobe written at Mount Eckersly, September 6th 1843, H E Pultney Dana wrote that Christopher Basset, who lived 'on the head of the Crawford' had been killed by Aboriginal people. According to Dana, the Aboriginal people had also stolen his clothes and more than 200 sheep. 'I was out with my party accompanied by Mr Edgar of the Fitzroy in search of Mr Ward's child and had ascertained from a number of natives in the stones hear Mount Eels [Mt Eeles / Mt Eccles] that it had been murdered by a black named Harry who used to live with Messrs Whyte. I was proceeding along the edge of the large swamp when I came across the tracks of sheep. I followed them for a short distance and came on a number of natives driving and breaking the legs of a flock of sheep; he natives fled into the reeds in the swamp and thinking they would be safe challenged us.' Dana, the troopers and Mr Edgar dismounted and pursued the Aboriginal people into the swamp and in an affray, Mr Edgar shot one of them. They continued the pursuit through the swamp to a large island and found a great number of dead sheep and a coat. The aboriginal people reached the far side of the swamp, and the colonists paused to secure up to 40 unhurt sheep. The Aboriginal people returned and attempted to retake the sheep and taunted them from a tea tree scrub across the swamp. Dana wrote, 'I determined to cross the men over the swamp before daylight and if possible take some of the murderers and drive them out of the scrub. I accordingly did so and a little before sunrise attacked them in the scrub it was by far the worst place I have ever been in and it was a mercy that my small party was not cut off to a man. I did not succeed in taking any prisoners but before we could take the scrub and drive the natives eight or nine were shot... Spears, waddies and tomahawks were thrown at us from all directions but no person was struck except one of the men, Moonee Moonee who got a blow on his head from a large axe but did not appear to hurt him. If these murderers had escaped without punishment there is no knowing when this work would stop; the same tribe of Natives killed McKenzie and his man, Ward's child and now Basset, and the Country they fly to after committing these outrages is such that but few white men could follow them and I trust that your Honor will not consider that I have exceeded my duty for following them into their strong holds, and making them feel that they shall not murder and plunder with impunity.' (Dana to Latrobe, 6 September 1843, pp99-106)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 543
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Budj Bim
- LanguageGroup
- Dhauwurd wurrung, Gunditjmara
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Portland
- KnownDate
- September 1843
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-37.4982 Longitude147.883 Start Date1842-01-01 End Date1842-12-31
Description
The massacre was originally reported by Aboriginal Protector GA Robinson in Report of a Journey of Two Thousand Two Hundred Miles to the Tribes of the Coast and Eastern Interior during the Year 1844, George Mackaness published the report in 1941 (Mackaness, 1941, p 13). Ian D. Clark provided more detail of the massacre when he published GA Robinson's Journal, dated 15 June 1844, in 1998 and included the following account, 'Two miles above the crossing place up the stream is the spot where a great slaughter of Gipps Land blacks by the Omeo and Mokeallumbeets and Tinnermittum, their allies, took place: was shown the spot by [the Aboriginal guide]... Charley who was present. Saw the human bones strewed about bleached white.... Charley spoke of it with zest went through the whole scene shewed (sic) the camp of wild blacks upwards of 70 camped beside a fire. Canal of still water in bed of Tanbo (sic) 30 feet wide 500 long. Shew how the black[s] found in line, then gave yell; the point of attack; spoke of it with zest; five young women were spared but I believe killed some time after. All the old women and children were killed' (Clark, 1998d, p 102 ).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 546
- LanguageGroup
- Tatungalung or Brabralung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Gippsland
- KnownDate
- 1842
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 70
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Waddies/Nulla-nulla(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-16.787 Longitude129.818 Start Date1920-06-30 End Date1920-07-01
Description
Coomanderoo station was taken up by Jack Frayne and Matt Wilson in September 1903. Lewis (2021, p 155) wrote: "Old Jimmy Manngayari told me of a massacre close to the homestead: 'Yeah, they bin shoot 'im, oh, big mob! They bin shoot 'im there. Right on the river. They [Aborigines] bin just have a camp, you know, 'longa, 'longside a water. Well, kadia [whiteman] was come and kill 'im first thing in the morning now. Shoot 'im. That all about, they [Aborigines] bin kill 'im ngarin, kill 'im bullock - milker got a bell. They bin kill 'im ... and they bin eat 'im. Alright – that kadia bin quieten 'im down, quieten 'im, and feed 'im up [made friends with the Aborigines]. Now after that kadia bin turn in, muster 'im [Aborigines] all about, and put 'im all in a heap – now he bin start shootin' the lot. Shoot the lot – no one bin get out. That's where the kadia bin do, early days'." Charola and Meakins (2016, pp 70-71) also wrote of this massacre, noting that Jack Frayne is implicated in the early massacres on what is now Limbunya Station: "In 1903, Frayne and Mat Wilson obtained a Pastoral Permit for the area between Stirling Creek, the West Baines and Humbert River. Frayne built a small homestead at Kunja Rockhole (Kanyjalurr) on the banks of Kunja Creek within the boundaries of Limbunya. He called the station Kunja Station. In 1920 he moved the homestead to Kumanturru (Coomonderoo Spring) which is on the edge of Pumuntu, a sandstone area now in Kildurk Station. Manngayarri people reported to Darrell Lewis that a large massacre of Malngin people occurred there. Malngin people had sought refuge at Pumuntu because they had killed a milking cow at Kumanturru near the old homestead and had cooked it downstream."
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1058
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Kumanturru
- LanguageGroup
- Manngayarri
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Wave Hill
- KnownDate
- 1920
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-37.09 Longitude140.826 Start Date1845-07-02 End Date1845-07-02
Description
When settler William Brown was killed by Aborigines in the "New Country" over the South Australian border in July 1845, John Oliver and neighbours gave chase and "some" Aborigines were killed (Blair to La Trobe , 31 July 1845, cited in Critchett, 1990, p 254). According to Michael Cannon (1990, p 154), 'Many years later, James C. Hamilton, whose family worked at "Bringalbert", some distance to the north, described what happened: "A call to arms was made – the footmen going one way and the horsemen another. They were all armed with flintlock muskets and pistols of some sort – heavy, clumsy weapons they were, but effective enough. (I have put a ball into a tree at a hundred yards with one of these pistols, and used the musket successfully as a fowling piece.) It was a bad day for the ill-fated darkies. The horsemen came up with them in the ranges, behind Narracoorte, and saw one fellow carrying poor Brown's gun, and a lubra wearing his coat. They opened fire, and many of the blacks went under. They made no show of resistance, but scattered and ran for their lives" (Hamilton, cited in Cannon, 1990, pp 154-155).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 547
- LanguageGroup
- Buandig
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- SA
- PoliceDistrict
- Adelaide
- KnownDate
- 2 July 1845
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-36.757 Longitude141.831 Start Date1845-07-01 End Date1845-07-31
Description
After Aborigines had attacked Baillie's station near Mt Arapiles, the Native Police, led by Henry Dana, shot at least three and wounded many others who later died (Critchett, 1990, p 254).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 548
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Dyurrite
- LanguageGroup
- Mardidjali
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Portland
- KnownDate
- July 1845
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-37.74 Longitude148.549 Start Date1846-12-20 End Date1846-12-20
Description
In 1846, rumours reached Melbourne that a white woman, the possible survivor of a shipwreck on the Gippsland coast, had been kidnapped by Kurnai people and become the trophy of a headman, Bungalene. After the failure of an expedition led by Crown Lands Commissioner Charles Tyers, to find the white woman, two other expeditions were organised. One, a private expedition, led by Christian de Villiers and James Warman, along with six Aboriginal warriors from Westernport, and three from Gippsland and three colonists, Mr Brodie, Mr Peters and Thomas Hill, set off from Melbourne on foot in early December 1846. The other, a division of Native Police led by William Dana left headquarters at Narre Warren east of Melbourne on November 21, 1846. Historian of the Native Police, Marie Hansen Fels who provides the most detailed account of the events at the Snowy River, says that what Dana and his division did in the weeks between leaving Narre Warren and prior to the incident on 20 December is unknown (Fels 1988, p 188). The two parties met up on 15 December at Eagle Point on Lake King, where de Villiers suggested to Dana that they join forces and make the sixty miles journey to the Snowy River by water where it was believed the white woman and Bungalene were camped. But Dana refused and de Villiers and his party left that evening at 6pm (Fels 1988, p.188).
Foul weather led de Villiers to split his party in two: Warman and the three colonists would wait until the weather improved and 'proceed then to the Snowy River by boat... while he pressed on overland' with the Westernport and Gippsland Aborigines (Fels 1988, p 188). On 21 December, de Villiers' party came upon Dana and his detachment of Native Police at the Snowy River at the reed beds in Lake Curlip country between Marlo and Orbost. Dana told de Villiers 'that he had surrounded several camps of natives, and taken five prisoners, an old man, and an old woman, and three children.' (Fels 1988, p 189).
Later the Aboriginal guides with de Villiers told him that Dana and his police had shot some of the Snowy River natives (Fels 1988, p 189). The next day the two parties separated, with Dana retracing his steps to the border police station, while de Villiers proceeded up the Snowy River, where his suspicions were alerted by the unusual sight of a large area of 'trampled reed-beds' and finding 'the dead and decomposing body of a very stout Aboriginal male, about thirty years of age,' with severe wounds to the head, leg and breast, 'which his blacks told him were gunshot wounds', inflicted by the Native Police. 'Upon his return to the Tambo River three days later, de Villiers heard from a Richard Hartnett that local Aborigines had said that Mr Dana's party had shot some blacks on the Snowy River.' (Fels 1988, p 189). James Warman, added further details regarding a carbine that he found, belonging to the Native Police, which was 'bloodied and broken, with tufts of black hair clinging to it' (Fels 1988, p 189).
Corporal Owen Cowan, a border policeman who accompanied Dana and the Native Police, said that on 19 December, he had 'a hand to hand struggle' with the Aborigines, and that 'he was speared in the hand, knocked to the ground and that he had lost his carbine, fired his pistol, then regained his carbine, hit his assailant over the head with it and barely escaped with his life.' (Fels 1988, p 189).
He also said that 'At the time, the police force was split three ways around the islands and the lake at the mouth of the Snowy River, and he had only one trooper with him' (Cowan in Fels 1988, p 190). Even so, they 'rushed' an Aboriginal camp but retreated under 'a shower of spears' (Cowan in Fels 1988, p 190). The following night, December 20, Cowan surrounded another Aboriginal camp, 'coming upon' it at sunrise (Cowan in Fels 1988, p 190). But he did not say what happened next. Nor did he say whether the entire group of Native Police were involved, although Dana did say that he considered that this was the only way he could determine whether the white woman from Gippsland was with them (Fels 1988, p 190). Warman's account indicates that at least five Aboriginal people were shot ('Port Phillip Herald', February 25, 1847). Fels is not persuaded that the attack on 20 December constitutes a massacre because only one Aboriginal person was recorded killed and that the number 'became some as the story was transmitted orally, and a slaughter when it appeared in the newspapers' (Fels 1988, p 193). However, she does admit, 'It is not satisfactory now that William Dana's original report (if it existed) is missing' (Fels 1988, p 191). That the missing report did exist is demonstrated by a cover letter from Dana to Police Magistrate Lonsdale, reading, '...a copy of a report of Mr William Dana Commanding 2nd Division Native Police Gippsland respecting a collision with the natives of that District while in search of the white woman...'(Dana to Latrobe, 1847). Commissioner Tyers considered that Dana did not act with prudence and Governor Gipps questioned both Dana's authority for acting as he did and his explanation – which was 'Not satisfactory'; he acted 'with great want of discretion, to say the least of it.' (quoted in Fels 1988, p 191).
According to Gippsland historian Peter D. Gardner, the number killed by the native police overall was between 15 and 23 (Gardner 1983, p.72). The event was much debated in the media at the time. Sergeant R. McLelland of the native police argued that one person was killed, and that the eight bodies in a camp that he and the native police and then de Villier came across were not murdered but were being carried around in accordance with Aboriginal funeral customs (McLelland, 16 February 1847). Warman responded that he had never seen more than one deceased person in a camp at one time and suggested Sergeant McLelland explain why there might be eight (Warman, 23 February 1847). A close reading of Warman's published reports indicates that nine Aboriginal people were killed in the period 20-21 December 1846 (Warman, 1847). Twelve years after the expeditions, Crown Lands Commissioner C.J. Tyers, to whom the police involved reported, while answering questions under oath for a Select Committee of the Legislative Council on the Aborigines, stated, "At least fifty were killed by the native police and other aborigines attached to the parties in search of a white woman supposed to have been detained by the blacks, and a few by collision with the white people, from ten to fifteen years ago." (Tyers 1859, p 77)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 550
- LanguageGroup
- Tatungalung or Krauatungalang
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Gippsland
- KnownDate
- 20 December 1846
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 50
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Alleged kidnapping of white woman
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0cb0 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=550 SourceDana to Lonsdale (letter), 18 January 1847, correspondence 47/105 in file 47/1394, VPRS19/P0000/Box 94;
Editor, Port Phillip Herald, 18 February, 1847, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=EVKlETVVbN8C&dat=18470218&printsec=frontpage&hl=en;
McLelland, Port Philip Patriot, 16 February 1847 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/22217009;
Tyers, 1859 in Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council on The Aborigines 1858-9, https://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/digitised_collections/remove/92768.pdf;
de Villiers letters,
Port Phillip Patriot 22 January 1847 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226351370;
de Villiers, 13 February 1847, 'Gipps Land Expedition',
Port Phillip Patriot http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article226350982;
de Villiers, 16 February 1847, 'Gipps Land Expedition', Port Phillip Herald, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=EVKlETVVbN8C&dat=18470216&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
Warman, 21 January, 1847, 'To the Editor of the Port Phillip Herald', Port Phillip Herald, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=EVKlETVVbN8C&dat=18470121&printsec=frontpage&hl=en;
Warman, 22 January, 1847, 'Gipps Land Expedition', Port Phillip Patriot, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article226351382;
Warman, 23 February, 1847, 'To the Editor of the Port Phillip Herald', Port Phillip Herald, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=EVKlETVVbN8C&dat=18470223&printsec=frontpage&hl=en;
Warman, 25 February, 1847, 'Gipps Land Expedition', Port Phillip Herald, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=EVKlETVVbN8C&dat=18470225&printsec=frontpage&hl=en;
Warman, 2 March, 1847, 'Gipps Land Expedition', Port Phillip Herald, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=EVKlETVVbN8C&dat=18470302&printsec=frontpage&hl=en;
Christie, 1979; Fels 1988, pp 170-192; Fels, 1986; Gardner 1993, p 133; Meyrick, 1939; A.G.L. Shaw, 1996; Shaw, 1989;
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:20 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-16.565 Longitude131.006 Start Date1894-08-01 End Date1894-08-02
Description
Mounted Constable William Willshire, who was notorious for killing Aboriginal people, wrote the following account alluding to the massacre of a group of people and the capture of young women (1896, p 47), 'A civilised blackboy belonging to a Justice of the Peace in the Lower Victoria district was murdered by the wild natives of the Gregory River. I started out from Gordon Creek with the native police to arrest the offenders if possible. On arriving in the locality the first thing we observed was a beautiful savage maiden, who in her startled movements was a graceful as a stag. She ran screaming through the gnarled overhanging branches to escape capture and warn the male portion of our advent. But let me inform my readers that this untutored beauty was too late. The black trackers were on the spot before she could give warning by her screams. She had only seen me in the first place; the auxiliaries were in ambush, and closer to her than I was. When all was over my boys brought her and some others to our camp.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1064
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinyman, Karrangpurru, Nungali, Malngin, Wardaman, Ngaliwurru, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek
- KnownDate
- 1894
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-38.058 Longitude141.913 Start Date1847-07-01 End Date1847-07-31
Description
In 1857 historian James Bonwick travelled to western Victoria and recorded a story told by two settlers of the region about a massacre at Mt Eccles (also known as Mt Eeles) ten years prior (circa 1847). Gunditjmara people had long used this region as a base for the guerilla resistance and, according to Bonwick, when colonists were finally able to attack in this region around 1847 the people there were 'almost exterminated' (Bonwick, 1970 , p 170).
'The Stony Rises of Eeles could reveal many a tale of rapine and murder.
It was to these pathless solitudes that the Blacks were
accustomed to drive sheep pillaged from the flocks of the early
Settlers. Secure within such stony intricacies, they would break
the legs of the animals to prevent them straying, and thus at their
leisure indulge their love of mutton. Again and again was the trail
followed by indignant shepherds; but the mighty barriers of basalt
reared their crests, piles of boulders rose in all directions, caverns
gaped before one, and the man who ventured into such a realm of
wildness found no small difficulty to escape therefrom, while he
was exposed in his stumbling career to the spear of his concealed
enemy.
Some ten years ago, however, the nest of robbers was gained, and
the tribe almost exterminated under the following circumstances.
A shepherd was murdered, his hut was rifled, and his fleecy charge
was driven off by the Eeles mob. Vengeance was demanded. The
arm of the law was too slow and weak to grasp the
offenders. The neighbours assembled, armed, and set off in pursuit.
Upon the return of the expedition, the coat and pocket book of the
shepherd were exhibited. Resistance was said to have been offered,
and shots were fired. Being interrogated as to the result of the
conflict, as to what natives were killed, the only reply obtained was,
that 'really there was such a smoke that they could see nothing.'
Having, however, heard another tale upon this journey, being in
company with one of the visitors of that region of stones upon that
occasion, I venture to unfold the mystery, or, rather, to give
another version.
The party, who, though few in number, mustered in rifles and
pistols about fifty shots, secured as guide to the Stones a half
civilized native, and were lucky enough to fall upon a stray wild
Blackfellow, who indicated the entrance into the fastnesses, and
the route of the marauders. Camping for the night without fire
within a mile or two of their unsuspecting victims, they resolved
to make an onslaught upon them at the early dawn. Rough
travelling delayed the march, and when they broke cover the
poor creatures were taking their morning meal. Without a word of
warning, the bullets of destruction were poured in among them.
Some fell at the first discharge, others snatched up their children
and tried to fly, and some warriors turned round in desperation
and seized their spears to defend their families. But all resistance
was in vain. The christians were too quick and too formidably
armed for their heathen antagonists. Mothers, husbands, babes lay
about the stones shrieking in maddening pain, moaning in dying
struggle, or still in the sleep of death. More than thirty are said to
have been thus laid low.' (Bonwick, 1970, pp 169-171)
Bonwick's informants also told him that during the massacre one of the Aboriginal guides tried to strike one of the colonists with a waddy but was himself shot, and that the other guide murdered a baby with a rock and finished off some of the dying with a weapon fashioned from a broken pair of shears (Bonwick, 1970, p 171).
[Note: this massacre was previously confused with an incident at Mt Napier in which 2 people were killed after the killing of a shepherd named Edwards, recorded in Augustus Robinson's journal entry of 2 Sep 1847 (Clark 1998f, v6, p 172).]
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 552
- LanguageGroup
- Gunditjmara, Wulluwurrung or Djabwurrung or Gai wurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Portland
- KnownDate
- July 1847
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-35.221 Longitude143.559 Start Date1848-06-01 End Date1848-06-30
Description
According to Michael Cannon (1990, p 231), in June/July 1848, 'ugly rumours began to spread that up to twenty natives had been poisoned on the Beveridge family's run between today's Swan Hill and Piangil. The original information came from a shearer on the Murray, who, according to Assistant Protector Parker, "stated in a neighbouring wool shed that a Mr Beveridge had 'settled' the blacks by leaving a quantity of poisoned flour in their way, and that numbers had been killed by it"' (Parker cited in Cannon 1990, p 231). 'Parker despatched some of his Station blacks to the junction of the Loddon and Murray to "make enquiries". They returned with almost identical information from blacks on Edward Curr's and Archibald Campbell's runs: "they were informed that seven or eight natives had been destroyed"' (Cannon, 1990, p 230).
'The story fitted fairly precisely with rumours heard by Dr James Horsburgh at Goulburn River Aboriginal Station. …Parker was commissioned to obtain further evidence if he could. In February 1849 he was told by natives from Lake Bael Bael that "a number of the blacks of Tarrkgoondeet tribe [the 'reed-spear tribe' of the lower Murray] have been poisoned some months since by white men at a place called Bapparrinok"' (Parker cited in Cannon, 1990, p 230-231). When La Trobe pressed for more 'information to the Bench of Magistrates at Moulamein, north-east of Swan Hill, on the Sydney side of the Murray River, Patrick Brougham JP, replied that he "certainly some months ago heard a report of the same [alleged poisoning], but took no notice of it, as groundless rumours have frequently been spread of natives having been killed"'(Brougham cited in Cannon, 1990, p 231).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 553
- LanguageGroup
- Wemba Wemba or Wadi Wadi
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Murray
- KnownDate
- June 1848
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Poison
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-18.485 Longitude129.001 Start Date1925-06-15 End Date1925-06-16
Description
Darrell Lewis (2021, p 140) wrote: "While managing Sturt Creek station in the 1920s or 1930s some desert blacks threw spears into his [Wayson Byers'] camp. He escaped unscathed and in the morning he tracked the blacks into the desert. He caught up with them and, in his own words, 'evened the score'. It may have been this event that caused him to 'disappear' into the desert… This story was confirmed and expanded during the Tanami land claim hearing in late 1990 when elderly Aboriginal men told the hearing that several of their named relations had been shot by 'Wayzshen Pile'. An old Territory cattleman, Dick Scobie, former owner of Hidden Valley station and friend of Byers, said that Byers told him of this incident and that he had shot twenty-six blacks at Sturt Creek... Given the relative absence of hiding places on the generally flat and open desert plain, the mobility afforded by horses and the virtual certainty that Byers had modern repeating firearms, a massacre of twenty-six Aborigines would be quite possible."
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1067
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara, Pililuna
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Timber Creek
- KnownDate
- 1925
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 26
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-37.443 Longitude148.214 Start Date1850-01-01 End Date1850-12-31
Description
'Kurnai people were surprised' by a party of stockmen 'while feasting on the banks of the lagoon' behind the rugged limestone outcrop called Pyramids. I [Macleod] killed a bullock for them and they ate until they were sick.' (MacLeod cited in Gardner, 2001, pp 76-78) Then stockmen and Aborigines from outside the region trapped them against a bluff, and 15-20 were shot and killed and the bodies 'thrown in the river at a spot where the river flows under the hill' (Armstrong cited in Gardner, 2001, p 80). It would appear that this massacre occurred before the Brodribb River massacre and was a closely guarded secret. Gippsland historian Peter Gardner suggests that it is possible that an Aboriginal youth, possibly Charlie Hammond, survived the massacre.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 554
- LanguageGroup
- Tatungalung or Brabralung
- Colony
- VIC
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Gippsland
- KnownDate
- 1850
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimNotes
- 15 to 20 killed and bodies burned.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-38.072 Longitude141.795 Start Date1850-01-01 End Date1860-01-12
Description
The massacre at Murderers Flat near Lake Condah Mission is recorded in the oral history of Gunditjmara people (Hope, 2021).
Reconstructing from oral records, Clark believes the incident happened in the early 1850s at a site 'known to the Kerup gundidj (more commonly known as the Kerreupjmara) as Murderers Flat,' or Darlot's Creek, Lake Condah Mission (Clark, 1995, p 52). Aboriginal woman Rose Donker nee Lovett (Donker, 1985, p 18, cited in Clark, 1995, p 52) has recounted what she knows of the massacre: '"My grandmother was Hannah MacDonald [later Lovett]. When she was small she walked with her brother Alfred and her mother from Macarthur to Condah Swamp. My grandmother was carried on her mother's back. They were looking for some place to live. They came to the Condah Swamp and there they found other Aboriginal people and families living there. There was a massacre there and they hid with their mother in the reeds until the fighting was over and then they headed off looking for somewhere safe. We were always told that Murderers Flat was where the fighting was. They were taken in and lived on the Condah Mission. I then understood they lived there as children, then as time went on they grew up there"' (Donker, 1985, p 18 cited in Clark, 1995, p 52). According to Clark, 'In Jo Sharrock's reminiscences of Lake Condah (see Savill, 1976, cited in Clark, 1995, p 52), he refers to "Harelip" Johnny Dutton, who claimed to have been one of the few survivors of the "Murdering Waterhole Massacre" as a small boy. He hid in the water among the reeds' (Savill, 1976 cited in Clark, 1995, p 52). As both accounts refer to hiding in the reeds in the same area, they most likely are two accounts of the same incident (Clark, 1995, p 52).
The date of this massacre is difficult to estimate from oral history. Accepting that Hannah McDonald and her brother were children when they witnessed the massacre with their mother, Clark notes estimates of the date this occurred vary from 1842 to 1875 (Clark, 1995 p 52). Clark calculates dates between 1849 and 1854 based on Hannah McDonald's age of 91 at death in 1940 (Clark, 1995, p54). Connor, on the other hand, notes that she died in 1946 and estimates Hannah McDonald was born either in 1855 or, based on marriage certificates, in 1859 and her brother in 1860 (Connor, 2021). If she were 5 at the time of the massacre, and she was 91 when she died in 1946 (Portland Guardian Aug 22, 1946, p 4), the massacre would have occurred in 1860. No birth certificate for Hannah McDonald is available so her age is not certain. As this is a late date for a massacre in this region, 1860 or earlier is most likely.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 556
- LanguageGroup
- Dhauwurd wurrung
- Colony
- VIC
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Portland
- KnownDate
- Early 1850s
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-36.978 Longitude141.068 Start Date1854-11-01 End Date1854-11-30
Description
In a letter dated 5 December 1854 by James Dixon from Keilor Station, Victoria, to S Wilson of Surrey Lane, Battersea Surrey, England, Dixon, wrote: that he had been stationed 300 miles 'in the Country from Melbourne' where there were 'plenty of black natives. They are very treacherous. We had a great battle with them a month ago, their [sic] was eighteen killed and two of our men. They throws [sic] spears that penetrate right through you which is verry [sic] dangerous.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 558
- LanguageGroup
- Jandwadjali
- Colony
- VIC
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Wimmera
- KnownDate
- November 1854
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 18
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 2
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-38.202 Longitude146.332 Start Date1840-01-01 End Date1840-12-31
Description
This incident was a massacre of Aboriginal people carried out by another Aboriginal group armed with muskets. The account was provided by J.M. Clow in 'Letters from Victorian Pioneers', 'After four days' march through the barren mountains which separate Western Port district from Gippsland, then on the fifth day sighted the smoke of some fires on the skirts of the beautiful pastoral district there. On the following day, about mid-day, they surprised the camp, making prisoners of all in it, which consisted only of some old men and some children. They then went in search of the able-bodied men whom they espied busily fishing on the banks of a large river not far off. They managed to sneak up on them within ten or twenty yards, and then blazed into them, killing and severely wounding every one of them, seven in number. Those who escaped the first volley jumped into the river and swam across, but the second volley brought them all down. After cutting out their kidney fat, they took as much of the carcasses as they could carry on their return route, and having mustered their forces at the camp where they had captured the old men and their children, they dispatched them also, and then commenced their retreat' (Clow cited in Bride, 1983, p 359).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 560
- LanguageGroup
- unknown
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Gippsland
- KnownDate
- 1840
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Unknown
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-15.879 Longitude129.206 Start Date1913-06-01 End Date1913-07-30
Description
Argyle Station stockman, sly grog dealer and seller of Aboriginal women Richard (Rudolph) Augustus Pilchowski was fatally speared as he camped alone at Eight Mile Creek near Cockatoo Spring [this was possibly Woorrilbel or Cockatoo Lagoon now located in the Keep River National Park] on the NT-WA border in June or July 1913 (Lewis, 2021, pp 5-6). A punitive reprisal expedition was mounted, stockman JRB Love noting that "There are now enough men out to catch half the blacks in the Territory, but they have let the blacks get a fortnight's start, which does not look very smart police work" (Lewis, 2021, p 7). The police party, comprised of Constable McKillian, Constable Carr, Special Constables M Prior, N Durack and A Martin as well as a Mr McDonough, went "east of the Keep River". Constable McKillian's official report, dated July 1913, is silent on the matter of Aborigines killed (Lewis, 2021, pp 7-9). However, "Durack did not find any official records to indicate that any Aborigines were shot by the police party, but she cites a letter written by a local stockman, Roy Phillips, who suggests that this was the case: 'You will be glad to hear that Philchowski [sic] was amply avenged, though I would not say anything about it if I were you.' (Durack, 1983; 290)" (Lewis, 2021, p 9).
An Aboriginal man, Jellibine, was found guilty and sentenced to death for Pilchowski's murder (Northern Times, 27 December 1913, p 3).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1074
- LanguageGroup
- Miriwoong and Gajirrabeng
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Wyndham, WA
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Richard (Rudolph) Augustus Pilchowski
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-33.592 Longitude150.821 Start Date1794-09-01 End Date1794-09-01
Description
This incident is the first recorded frontier massacre in Australia. According to David Collins (Collins in Fletcher 1975, p 326), 'At the Hawkesbury, … a settler there and his servant were nearly murdered in their sleep by some natives from the woods, who stole upon them with such secrecy, as to wound and overpower them before they could procure assistance. The servant was so much hurt by them with spears and clubs, as to be in danger of losing his life. A few days after this circumstance, a body of natives having attacked the settlers, and carried off all their clothes and provisions, and whatever else they could lay their hands on, the sufferers [on 1 September 1795] collected what arms they could, and following them, seven or eight of the plunderers were killed on the spot.' (Collins in Fletcher 1975, Vol.1, p 326) Historian Ian Turbet notes that this 'was the largest recorded number of Aborigines killed in a single encounter since the arrival of the First Fleet' (Turbet, 2011, p 81). According to historian Stephen Gapps, Parramatta magistrate Richard Atkins also recorded the massacre, and said that six Bediagal were killed (Gapps 2018, p.109).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 561
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Dyarubbin
- LanguageGroup
- Bediagal
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Parramatta
- KnownDate
- 01/09/1794
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Sword(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-33.561 Longitude150.876 Start Date1805-04-27 End Date1805-04-27
Description
According to the 'Sydney Gazette', 5 May 1805, p.3, on the previous Sunday 28 April 1805, 'several groups [of Aboriginal people] were assaulted near the Mountains, among whom Yaragowhy, Charley and four or five others are said to have fallen.' On page 1 of the same edition of the 'Sydney Gazette', Acting Secretary G Blaxcell stated that Governor King was distributing detachments from the New South Wales Corp in response to murders by the 'natives' among the out-settlements, that settlers were required to assist each other in repelling visits by the natives, and that any settler harbouring a 'native' would be prosecuted. On 12 May 1805, further information about the pursuit and the massacre appeared in the 'Sydney Gazette' and about Yaragowhy in particular, who was well known among the Hawkesbury settlers. According to historian Stephen Gapps the number killed in the massacre 'may have been higher than seven or eight' (Gapps, 2018, p 173).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 563
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Dyarubbin
- LanguageGroup
- Bediagal/Dharug
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Green Hills (Windsor)
- KnownDate
- 27/04/1805
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s), Settler(s), Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-15.285 Longitude145.313 Start Date1879-02-16 End Date1879-02-16
Description
Following the killing of a cedar cutter, Sub-Inspector O'Connor and 6 troopers captured 28 Aboriginal men and 13 women in a gorge at Cape Bedford. 24 men were shot and 4 men escaped by swimming but were thought drowned. The women were released.
'We have been favored by Mr. W. H Campbell with the following account of the prompt retribution visited upon the blacks near Cooktown for their unprovoked and wanton attack upon Messrs. Hartley and Sykes:
"Your readers have already been made acquainted with the particulars concerning the recent outrage of the blacks at Cooktown, when Captain Sykes and Mr Hartley were severely wounded in an attempt to bring off a cedar log from the north shore of Cooktown harbor. I can now give a history of subsequent events in what has proved to be a tragedy of no mean interest. On February 7 (the day following the affray), a party of three crossed the harbor with the intention of securing and bringing back the articles left behind by Captain Sykes. The party consisted of Mr Browne of the Herald office, a boatman named Harris, and myself." The group found and followed tracks for some time and found recently abandoned gunyas before returning to their boat and sailing for Cooktown.
'A party of six native troopers and two Europeans, who started out the night previous, and crossed the Endeavor twenty miles above us, never reached the scene of the affray, the intervening swamps being uncrossable by the horses. On Thursday the 14 instant [February], sub-Inspector [Stanthorpe] O'Connor with 6 troopers crossed the harbour in a boat at night and by moonlight picked up the tracks of the blacks. The latter however, discerned the approach of the troopers, and retreated across the ranges to the ocean beach. The inspector then divided his forces, and with one party, made a detour in the direction of Cape Bedford, and by Sunday morning [16 February], had hemmed the blacks within a narrow gorge, of which both outlets were secured by the troopers. There were twenty eight men and thirteen gins thus enclosed, of whom some of the former escaped. Twenty four were shot down on the beach, and four swam out to sea. The Inspector and his men then sat down on the beach, and waited for the swimmers to return, but without success, and after several hours they were lost sight of, it is conjectured they were drowned. One woman also swam out from the land, and after remaining four hours in the water, was captured by a trooper, who went in after her. The men [troopers] hunted up the remainder of the gins, and having found a meerschaum pipe and tomahawk in their possession belonging to Mr Hartley, the inspector was satisfied he had not killed innocent people. This was explained to the lubras, and they were permitted to go away. Mr O'Connor returned to the north shore on Monday afternoon [17 Feb], and lighted a large fire as a signal of success, a boat was sent across the harbour to bring him back to Cooktown."' (Brisbane Courier, 1 March 1879)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1076
- LanguageGroup
- Guugu Yimidhirr
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cooktown
- KnownDate
- 16 February 1879
- AttackTime
- Morning
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 24
- VictimNotes
- men and women
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-37.066 Longitude149.905 Start Date1806-03-01 End Date1806-03-01
Description
Sealers (a vessel crew of 11) killed nine Aboriginal men allegedly in reprisal from an Aboriginal day time attack seeking the return of at least one Aboriginal woman abducted by the sealers. 'To intimidate them, it was thought advisable to suspend those that fell, on the limbs of trees, but before daylight the next morning, they were taken down, and carried off'. (SG, April 6, 1806, p 2)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 564
- LanguageGroup
- Thawa or Djirringany
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Sydney
- KnownDate
- 01/03/1806
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimNotes
- men
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Whaler/Sealer(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-34.23 Longitude150.742 Start Date1816-04-17 End Date1816-04-17
Description
At 1:00 am on 17 April 1816, a party of the 46th Regiment led by Captain James Wallis came across an Aboriginal camp on the cliffs above a creek. According to military historian, John Connor, 'Wallis ordered his troops into a line and advanced into the camp in the moonlight, killing seven Aborigines…. Wallis did not send any men around the camp to cut off people fleeing the advancing line and according to Wallis a further seven "met their fate by rushing in despair over the precipice".' (Connor 2002, p.51) According to Connor, 'Two women and three men were captured.' 'The bodies of two men, Durelle and Kanabygal, who were allegedly Aboriginal chiefs, were hauled from the creek and hanged on McGee's Hill near Boughton's farm' (Connor 2002, p 51).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 565
- LanguageGroup
- Gundungurra
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Parramatta
- KnownDate
- 17/04/1816
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 14
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Foot Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Sword(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-15.886 Longitude136.451 Start Date1910-07-01 End Date1910-07-15
Description
The date of this massacre is unclear, but the perpetrator has been identified. Lewis (2021, np) provided these details:
"On the McArthur River some 60 km upstream from the McArthur River Mine is Dungginmini: a permanent waterhole which is a Gurdanji sacred place...John Avery recorded a narrative of a massacre at this place from a land claim informant during 1977:
"There was a mob of Aboriginals camping here in the old times, poor buggers, when Top Station was up. Frank Meagan came out with pack horses, plant, trailing horses and rifles. They been hunting around for people to shoot. They left their horses north of the spring and swung around the spring. They ran into them and shot them all. They shot the whole mob. Some fellas got out, some got up the steep cliffs. The waterhole was all blood—girls and boys, old women and men were shot. They did the same all around right down to Kilgour and Amelia Spring. Frank Meagan also poisoned people at Warunguri'."
Roberts (2005, p 184) clarified 'Meagan's' identity. He was most likely Reading Littler 'Frank' Meeking who worked on McArthur River and Elsey Stations.
In 1903 he was the sole applicant for 100 square miles of land under pastoral lease north-west of Borroloola (NTTG, 25 Dec 1903, p 4) and by 1914 was advertising as a saddler in Darwin (NTTG, 10 Sept 1914, p 16).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1080
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Dunginmini
- LanguageGroup
- Gurdanji
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Borroloola
- KnownDate
- 1910 circa
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Poison
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-35.942 Longitude144.95 Start Date1843-12-15 End Date1843-12-15
Description
Following the killing of two employees at Horatio Spencer Wills' station 'Calimo' (Tumudgery) on the Edward River near present day Deniliquin in NSW, and the loss of several hundred sheep at other stations along the River Murray, on 24 November 1843, Superintendent La Trobe ordered Henry Dana, of the native police, Crown Lands Commissioner Henry Smythe and his Murray District border police, to each take a detachment of their mounted men to the Murray River at Barmah and Moira Lakes, to investigate (Robinson 24 November 1843 in Clark 1998, pp. 213-214). La Trobe was responding to a letter from Henry Bingham, Commissioner of Crown Lands, based at Tumut in NSW, seeking help. Dana and Smythe and their detachments were accompanied by settlers Henry S. Lewis, Edward Hogg and John Oldbury Atkinson and by a detachment of Bingham's border police led by Sgt James. (Franklin 2021, p.49) The entire party is estimated to have comprised about 20 horsemen.
An encounter took place in the Moira Swamps on 15 December 1843. When Dana returned to Melbourne he sent a brief report to La Trobe on 1 January 1844, saying that he had joined Smythe's party 'on the Murray' and that his men had 'behaved exceedingly well and were of the greatest use in the expedition.' (Dana in Franklin 2021, p. 45)
However Assistant Protector William Thomas had already heard that several people were killed and confronted Dana about it. In response Dana 'abused him...in a violent manner, damned and threatened to kick him.' (Robinson 3 Jan 1844 in Clark 1998, p. 1) On 8 January 1844, the Geelong Advertiser reported that Thomas had charged Dana with 'the murder of several natives!' and that an investigation was under way. On 4 January 1844, Dr James Allen, Robinson's son-in-law and medical officer at Narre Warren Aboriginal station, told Robinson that 'the blacks had told him that a number of men also women were shot by Dana's party at the Murry [sic] and the children were knocked on the head with carrabines. They first sent a party to look for the natives and then went and planted themselves in a scrub and sent two or three troopers to round or drive them up like sheep to be large party carrelled; they then commenced firing and shot some of them in the river etc.' Dana told Robinson that 'he had had a brush with the natives. He went to the Murray by the Campaspe [River] and returned said 20 men, one woman, five children were shot.' (Robinson 5 January 1844 in Clark 1998, p.2)
The inquiry exonerated Dana but did not record the number of people killed. (Port Phillip Gazette 31 January 1844). However, on 17 April 1844, former Sergeant Edward Broderick of Smythe's mounted border police, wrote to La Trobe complaining of his recent dismissal from the force and that he had kept quiet about the illegal shootings of Aboriginal people at the Murray River on 15 December 1843. Smythe and his men had attacked an Aboriginal camp and shot men, women and children 'indiscriminately' and that his evidence could be supported by the three settlers and Sgt James. (Broderick to La Trobe 17 April 1844 in Franklin 2021, pp. 46-49) La Trobe demanded an explanation from Smythe and the three settlers. However, they all said that they fired in self-defence and there was no indiscriminate firing. Smythe said that two Aboriginal men were killed and one woman was wounded in the wrist. Edward Hogg said that Broderick did most of the firing. (Smythe to La Trobe 26 April 1844; Statement by Edward Hogg, 5 June 1841 in Franklin 2021, pp. 54-9).
The inquiry came to an end in August 1844, when the Colonial Secretary in Sydney said that Governor Gipps could see 'no reason to suppose that Mr Smythe encouraged or sanctioned the exercise of any unnecessary severity towards the Natives, on the unfortunate occasion of his collision with them in the Swamp called "Moira"'. (Col Sec to La Trobe 16 August 1844 in Franklin 2021, p. 61) This incident is one of very few that led to two formal inquiries. In each case, the ringleaders, Dana and Smythe, were exonerated.
Colonial records refer to Aboriginal people in this area as 'Bangerang'. Today, some Aboriginal people in this area prefer to be recognised as Yorta Yorta and some as Bangerang.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1081
- LanguageGroup
- Yorta Yorta, Bangerang
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Murray
- KnownDate
- 15/12/1843
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 26
- VictimNotes
- 20 men, 1 woman, 5 children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Border Police, Mounted Police, Native Police
- Transport
- Foot, Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 employees of Horatio Spencer Wills
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Sword(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-32.548 Longitude149.524 Start Date1824-09-11 End Date1824-09-11
Description
According to historian of the Bathurst Wars, Stephen Gapps, Theophilus Chamberlain, convict overseer to George and Henry Cox's cattle and sheep runs at Dabee Farm (later 'Rawdon' near Rylstone) in the Mudgee area and two convict stockmen were attacked on or about 10 September 1824 by a party of about 30 Wiradjuri warriors led by 'Blucher' north west of Mudgee. After a battle with boomerangs and muskets, Chamberlain shot dead 'Blucher' and two other warriors (Gapps 2021, pp.6-7). The following day, Chamberlain and the two stockmen were returning to Mudgee, when they encountered about 40 Wiradjuri warriors and after a battle, 16 were killed.
'It appeared that the whole of the natives had been engaged in burying the three men that had been killed the preceding day. The party immediately dismounted, and heaped the whole of the arms on the fires; and, whilst they were in the act of burning the same, a large number of natives (men, women, and children), came suddenly towards them. The overseer and his two men immediately mounted their horses and retreated, followed by about 40 native men; but they had few arms with them, which they threw with great fury. The overseer, warily watching the natives, and finding that they had nearly expended their arms, he and his men dismounted, tied their horses together, and faced about, commencing a fire of musquetry on the natives, then charged them with the bayonet until they were completely routed and dispersed. The natives left sixteen men dead on the field, and their weapons were completely destroyed.' (Sydney Gazette, 30 September, 1824, p2)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 568
- LanguageGroup
- Wiradjuri
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Bathurst
- KnownDate
- 11 September 1824
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 16
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s), Overseer(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-33.078 Longitude149.939 Start Date1824-09-18 End Date1824-09-30
Description
In his Reminiscences 1825-1826 LE Threlkeld, a missionary, wrote that,
'There were many European
stock-holders who had suffered severely from the
depredations of the Aborigines, and consequently were
infuriated against the Blacks. One of the largest holders
of sheep in the Colony, maintained at a public meeting
at Bathurst, that the best thing that could be done, would
be to shoot all the Blacks and manure the ground with
their carcases, which was all the good they were fit for!
It was recommended likewise that the Women and
Children should especially be shot as the most certain
method of getting rid of the race. Shortly after this
declaration, martial law was proclaimed, and sad was the
havoc made upon the tribes at Bathurst. A large number
were driven into a swamp, and mounted police rode
round and round and shot them off indiscriminately until
they were all destroyed! When one of the police enquired
of the Officer if a return should be made of the killed,
wounded there were none, all were destroyed, Men
Women and Children! the reply was; - that there was
no necessity for a return. But forty-five heads were collected
and boiled down for the sake of the skulls! My informant,
a Magistrate, saw the skulls packed for exportation in a
case at Bathurst ready for shipment to accompany the
commanding Officer on his voyage shortly afterwards
taken to England' (Threlkeld in Gunson, 1974, pp 48-9).
The 'mounted police' mentioned by Threlkeld were not formed until after 1824 but Threlkeld would have assumed these to be the forces involved through his familiarity with their activities in the Hunter Valley (Connor, 2002 pp 62-69).
The incident described most likely occurred during Commander Morisset's expeditions in Wiradjuri country around Bathurst in September 1824. This expedition included divisions led by magistrates Mr Lawson, Mr Ranken, and Mr Walker (Gapps, 2021, p 172). The magistrate mentioned by Threlkeld is probably one of these, though Stephen Gapps suggests it could have been Lieutenant Percy Simpson, commandant at Wellington in 1824 (Gapps, 2021, p 188). Gapps also notes that Commandant Morisset returned to England in 1825 (Gapps, 2021, p 189) and so was most likely the 'commanding Officer' mentioned.
According to military historian John Connor (Connor 2002, p59-61), following the declaration of martial law in the Bathurst District in August 1824, about forty soldiers from the 40th Regiment led by the Commandant at Bathurst, Major Morisset, three magistrates and three mounted settlers and some Aboriginal guides set off for the region north of Bathurst. Morisset made no report of the entire Bathurst operation (Connor, 2002, p59). Gapps also notes that, 'It is likely that Morrisset made a verbal report to Governor Brisbane when he went to Sydney after the campaign - or a written report has not survived' (Gapps, 2021, p 174).
According to Gapps, 'With extra soldiers having now arrived from Sydney, making eighty-five men under his command, Morisset had enough military strength to send out a strong punitive expedition.' This force was divided into three divisions and departed on or about the 18th of September, 'in a great sweep of the terrain up to 160 kilometres around Bathurst' (Gapps, 2021, p 172).
This was reported in the Sydney Gazette:
'The Commandant, with four Magistrates, about forty soldiers, and six mounted settlers, left Bathurst for Mudgee a few days after; and as the overseer and several of the mounted settlers know that part of the country well, there is every reason to hope that they will come up with the natives and put an end to this sanguinary and desultory warfare' (The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 30 Sep 1824, p 2).
One of the members of the expedition, Magistrate Ranken, wrote in a letter that they had not encountered their enemy on this expedition, but that 'Morriset goes off to Bathurst tomorrow with Lawson, the rest of us scour the country between this and Wallerawang, where Morisset and Lawson will join us, and I shall immediately start for home' (Ranken in Gapps, 2021, p 176). Gapps notes that 'While the last few days of Morisset's campaign are not reported anywhere and have been seen as a "killing spree" by some, there is no historical evidence to support this beyond Lowe's indirect reference. It seems more likely that much of the "war of extermination" was carried out by others' (Gapps, 2021, p 177).
Given that this relatively large force had been amassed and set out specifically to engage the enemy, that there was a popular expectation that this would end the war, that official reports were either not made or went missing, and that there is no record of what happened in the final phase of the expeditions, and Threlkeld's description tend to match this expedition, it is most likely that the massacre described by Threlkeld happened during the last phase of Morrissett's expedition.
Furthermore, there is no reason Wiradjuri people and their allies would have ceased their successful resistance unless there had been a catastrophic event to cause it. Only a month after reporting that Morisset's expedition had set out, the Sydney Gazette reported Wiradjuri people coming to Bathurst to make peace.
'A respectable settler from Bathurst only very
lately, informs us, that the day prior to his setting
out for the capital, two tribes of the natives, comprising about 60 in number, came in to Bathurst on
the usual peaceable footing. Saturday [Windradyne], who has
rendered himself so notorious in the aboriginal
annals, still thinks it prudent to keep out of reach,
and has not even been heard of' (The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 28 Oct 1824, p 2).
In late December 140 Wiradjuri people, including Windradyne travelled to Parramatta for an annual feast held for Aboriginal people (Gapps, 2021, p 197).
The Sydney Gazette reported that, 'Between one and two
o'clock, a reinforcement of the Bathurst tribe arrived, which was supposed to have increased the
number to near upon 400 - by far the greatest
number ever known to have assembled on any similar occasion.'
and that 'Saturday [Windradyne] wore a
straw hat, on which was affixed a label, with the
word "PEACE" inserted, besides a little branch
representing the olive' (The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 30 Dec 1824, p 2). Windradyne had not come willingly, 'He had been prevailed
upon to come by one of the constables, we believe, of the district, and was accompanied over the Mountains by two or three
gentlemen, who experienced some difficulty occasionally in getting him forward.' and, in spite of the hat, maintained his dignity, 'There
is a grandeur of expression in his face — a dignity and grace in
his manner, which civilised majesty could not exceed' (The Australian, 30 Dec 1824, p 3).
It was Morisset's unrecorded in person report that convinced the governor that the peace was real enough to end martial law (Gapps, 2021, p 196). This suggests Morisset had information that could not be made public but was of a decisive nature and which he was privy to. Killing was carried out by colonists in this war as well as by government forces (Uncle Bill Allen in Gapps, 2021, p 181). John Connor suggests that the sudden surrender after an otherwise effective resistance could be explained by a massacre a week before Morisset arrived in the area, in which an 'overseer at Mudgee, and two stockmen killed sixteen Wiradjuri, probably all at men, including a leader known by the settlers as "Blucher"' (Connor, 2002, p 61). This would have had a major impact, however, Wiradjuri forces were divided into seperate operational groups and Blucher's group were not the only one. Windradyne, a wiley, proud and tenacious leader, was still at large. The earlier massacre at Mudgee accounts for why Morisset's force could not engage Wiradjuri forces in the north - they would have evaded them elsewhere by then. Descriptions of killings in various specific locations surviving in Wiradjuri oral history (Gapps, 2021, p 189) suggest that more incidents occured than were recorded in writing by colonists. Although attacks beyond the law could be brutal and devastating, it is most likely not sporadic skirmishes and attacks from colonists against Wiradjuri people that brought an end to the war. Although Morisset often complained of a lack of horses because foot soldiers could easily be evaded, the divisions included 'a mounted reconnaissance arm, and a cavalry element' (Gapps, 2021, p175). It is more likely that the war was ended by a combination of attacks from colonists with a decisive attack made by the combined military and militia force that set out on a methodical campaign with the specific purpose of engaging their enemy and ending the war that ended the war.
Locating this massacre is difficult with the scant information available. Threlkeld indicates only that it occurred in a swamp. There are many places in Wiradjuri country that could be the swamp. Gapps notes that the locations of killings recorded in Wiradjuri oral history 'on the Cudgegong at Dabee, the Bogee Swamp, or the Brymair Valley all fit the description of a "swamp"' (Gapps, 2021, p 189). One of these stories involves 'redcoats' (Descendent of Jimmy Lambert in Gapps, 2021, p 185). These are in valleys far to the east. These regions would be an ideal area for a resistance force, with a 10km region including wetlands surrounded by a horseshoe of steep ranges, and adjoining the impregnable Wollemi region. It took Ranken 10 days to reach the Hunter Valley after separating from Morisset and meet him again at Mudgee. It is unlikely that Ranken's division would have been able to make it this far east through more rugged country on the way to Wallerawang.
A traveller in 1832 reported that King's Plains were 'swampy' and that in 1824, settlers and soldiers had been called together 'under the direction of the then Commandant, Colonel Morisset', and a 'slaughter' had occurred (The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 19 Jan 1832, p 3). However, it's not clear whether the reference is to Colonel Morisset's command at that time generally or a specific expedition. When Ranken and Morisset left Mudgee, Morisset went south towards Bathurst and Ranken went south east to rendezvous at Wallerawang. It is possible if riding hard but unlikely that Morisset's force would have ridden south to Bathurst then west to King's Plains, before riding east to Wallerawang for the rendezvous with Ranken.
Having failed to engage the enemy in the north, it's likely Morisset took the most direct route back to Bathurst, which is similar to the main road between Mudgee and Bathurst today, following the Cudgegong River before heading to Bathurst (Baker & Mitchell, 1843). He may have encountered Wiradjuri near the Turon River on the way [note: this massacre site was previously marked at Turon River]. Morisset and Ranken's forces probably separated at the Cudgegong River where it turns east, with Morisset taking valleys to the south west and Ranken heading through valleys to the south east.
William Lawson, who had preceded Morisset as commandant at Bathurst had written that he was 'afraid we shall never exterminate them, they having such an extensive mountainous country for them to flee from their pursuers' (Lawson in Gapps, 2021, p 151). Swamps near mountains would be ideal for Aboriginal warriors evading colonial forces, being a cornucopia of food, requiring local knowledge to navigate around wetter parts, and offering a retreat into mountains. Directly on the route through the valley between the Cudgegong River and Wallerawang is a large area named 'Round Swamp', feeding into the Turon River, within 4 kilometres of mountain ranges on either side, with the Capertee Ranges on the eastern side being especially rugged. W.H. Suttor describes two massacres that are different in their details to Threlkeld's description, but also mentions more generally that, 'Under this condition of things [martial law] the blacks were shot down without any respect. Getting the worst of it, most of them [Aboriginal people] made into the deep dells of the Capertee country, and, although some escaped, many were killed there' (Suttor, 1887, p45). Given that Wiradjuri warriors had not been detected by 3 groups sweeping the north as far as the Hunter Valley, it's reasonable to think they had evaded detection in the ranges and valleys further east. Given that Morisset dispatched Ranken in that direction it is likely this was also Morisset's surmise. Ranken's disappointment at not encountering enemies suggests that if he did encounter them he would have attacked with full force. While there are various possibilities, it seems most likely that the large massacre Threlkeld speaks of occurred near Round Swamp between the Cudgegong River and Wallerawang.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 569
- LanguageGroup
- Wiradjuri
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Bathurst
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 45
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Foot Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0cd2 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=569 SourceGunson, 1974; Connor, 2002; The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 30 Sep 1824, p2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2183259;
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 28 Oct 1824 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2183320;
Baker & Mitchell, 1843 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2236343516;
Suttor, 1887 https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-656531177;
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 30 Dec 1824, p 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2183548;
The Australian, 30 Dec 1824, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/37071644/4248457;
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 19 Jan 1832 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2204528
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-15.931 Longitude142.056 Start Date1864-12-16 End Date1864-12-16
Description
In December 1864, the brothers Frank and Alexander Jardine were leading a cattle droving expedition from Rockhampton to Somerset, Cape York, where their father was police magistrate. According to the brothers' account, 'Whilst they were engaged in marking a line for a crossing place for the cattle, they saw some blacks, and tried to avoid them, these however ran in the direction of the cattle, and brandishing their spears laughingly, defied the horsemen, beckoning them to come on. With this they complied, and turned them back over the creek, and then sat down awaiting the arrival of the cattle. They were not allowed to remain long in peace, for the natives, having left their gins on the other side, swam over the creek and tried to surround them. Being thus forced into a 'row,' the Brothers determined to let them have it, only regretting that some of the party were not with them, so as to make the lesson a more severe one. The assailants spread out in a circle to try and surround them, but seeing eight or nine of their companions drop, made them think better of it, and they were finally hunted back again across the river, leaving their friends behind them. The firing was heard by the cattle party, but before they could come up, the fray was over.' F .J. Byerley, the editor of the Jardine Brothers' journals, noted that, 'In this case, as in all others, the collision was forced on the explorers, who, as a rule, always avoided making use of their superior arms' (Byerley, 1867, np).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1082
- LanguageGroup
- Kunjen / Kokomini
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Somerset
- KnownDate
- 16 December 1864
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 8
- VictimNotes
- 8 or 9 men
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- The attackers were the brothers F and A Jardine, being ahead of the rest of the party.
- AttackerDescription
- Explorer(s), Overlander(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
- MassacreGroup
- 1864: Mitchell River, QLD
Details
Latitude-22.855 Longitude131.828 Start Date1928-08-28 End Date1928-08-30
Description
This massacre occurred at the time same Mounted Constable George Murray was leading the Coniston reprisals, but did not occur as part of the Coniston expeditions.
Kimber (2003, np) wrote that Fred Raggatt, then owner of Glen Helen, discovered that Warlpiri people had killed and butchered one of his draught horses. Raggatt, "his only long-term mate George [Paddy] Tucker, Archie Giles of neighbouring Redbank station, and [Harry] Tilmouth [part-owner of Napperby Station] had followed their tracks." The likely number of people estimated by both Kimber and Warlpiri man Dinny Japaltjarri, was 10 to 15.
He continued: "…the families took their horse-meat and their fire-sticks into some rock shelters, perched a little way up on a range section west of Central Mount Wedge. Dinny believed that, as the station men approached, a draft of wind had caused the fire-sticks to flare and given their hiding place away. The station men had taken up position among the boulders beneath the rock shelters, from which there was no escape other than coming out into the open. Their rifles had poured the bullets in, and ricocheting bullets had been deadly. After a time the shouts of the men, and the screams of the women and children, ceased. No one ever came out of the rock shelters alive, and Dinny's family never used them again."
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1083
- LanguageGroup
- Warlpiri
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Alice Springs
- KnownDate
- August 1928
- AttackTime
- Afternoon
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimNotes
- Warlpiri families.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Horse killing
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-11.249 Longitude132.421 Start Date1827-07-30 End Date1827-07-30
Description
According to archaeologist John Mulvaney (1989, p 69), on 30 July 1827, Captain Henry Smyth, 39th Regiment Commandant at the British Settlement at Fort Wellington, Raffles Bay, exasperated by 'habitual pilfering' by the Iwaidja, 'and following the wounding of a soldier [James Taylor]…responded by ordering an indiscriminate attack' on the Iwaidja encampment with an 18 pound cannon and killed up to 30 men, women and children.
The settlement [Fort Wellington] had been established only a year earlier, following clashes with the Tiwi people at Fort Dundas on nearby Melville Island. John Sweatman, the clerk on board HMS Bramble which visited the fort in 1846, recorded both the event and the effect the killings would have had on the Iwaidja: 'Here [at Fort Wellington] the party again found the natives hostile and after being perpetually attacked, Capt. Smythe, the commandant, determined to try the effect of a severe lesson; he accordingly turned his people out and in one night shot about 30 of the natives, the rest flying for their lives. The consequence of this decisive measure may be imagined, when it is remembered that the severest conflicts of the natives themselves often involve the loss of more than one life, and even that is sufficient to throw a whole tribe into the deepest sorrow and frenzy: it quite settled the matter, no more natives were seen for some months' (Allen & Corris, 1977, pp 135-136). See also the
Fort Dundas massacre.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 571
- LanguageGroup
- Iwaidja
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Sydney
- KnownDate
- 30/07/1827
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Foot Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Cannon(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0cd6 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=571 SourceMulvaney 1989, p 69; Allen & Corris 1977, pp 135-136. See also: HRA, III, Vol v, pp 816-20 https://doi.org/10.26181/22300321.v1; HRA III, Vol vi, p 777 https://doi.org/10.26181/22300324.v1; Wilson 1968, p 148; Connor 2002, p 74; McKenna 2016, p 73; Powell 2016, p 90-91; The Colonist, August 4, 1838, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31721457. See also Powell, 2016, pp 90-91.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-27.36 Longitude153.426 Start Date1831-07-01 End Date1831-07-01
Description
At dawn, on the edge of the freshwater lagoon close to Moreton island's southern extremity, Captain Clunie, with a detachment of the 17th Regiment, surrounded a Ngugi camp and killed up to twenty people. George Watkins recorded: 'nearly all were shot down. My informant, a young boy at the time, escaped with a few others by hiding in a clump of bushes' (Watkins, 1892, p 43).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 573
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Ngugi
- LanguageGroup
- Guwar
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Brisbane
- KnownDate
- 01/07/1831
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Foot Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-33.404 Longitude149.602 Start Date1824-05-15 End Date1824-05-20
Description
According to W.H. Suttor, 'a foreigner named Antonio [Josea Antonio Roderigo, former assigned servant to William Cox], had cultivated a patch of land [100 acres at Bila Wambuul flats] on the Macquarie River, opposite the town of Bathurst. Among other things he grew some potatoes. One day, as a large number of the black tribe [Wiradjuri] of the place came by, Antonio, moved by the spirit of good nature, gave some of his tubers to these people. Next day, they having appreciated the gift, appeared at the potato field and commenced to help themselves. This was not to Antonio's liking, who roused the people from the settlement on his behalf. They rushed down and attacked the blacks, some of whom were killed and others maimed.' (Suttor 1887, p.44) Stephen Gapps considers the Wiradjuri Camp [in Birch Close, Kelso] to be the massacre site (Gapps 2021, p.136).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1088
- LanguageGroup
- Wiradjuri
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Bathurst
- KnownDate
- May 1824
- AttackTime
- Evening
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Cutlass/Cutlasses, Fowling Piece(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-34.586 Longitude142.47 Start Date1836-05-27 End Date1836-05-27
Description
According to The Australian, 8 November 1836, p 2, 'We are sorry to be called upon to animadvert upon circumstance attending [Major Mitchell's ] expedition, which, in our opinion, more than counterbalances any advantage the Colony may derive from the results of the journey [to Australia Felix], in other respects; we allude to the Australian Aborigines by the party in question. It appears that Major Mitchell having, or fancying he had reason to apprehend danger from a numerous tribe who followed close upon their tracks for above two hundred miles, laid in ambush with his party in a thick scrub bordering upon the river, sending the bullock-drivers on cracking their whips so as to induce a belief that they had proceeded onwards. The natives having unconsciously advanced into the middle of an ambush, were set upon and fired at, a large number being killed on the spot, and the remainder taking the river, into which they plunged, swimming to the other side, the Europeans firing at and killing several more in the water. It is said that at least thirty were slain; how many escaped with wounds does not appear.'
Major Thomas Mitchell wrote to Colonial Secretary McLeay that he divided his group (exploring party) into two parties and that when they attacked, 'the whole [Aboriginal people] betook themselves to the River – my men pursuing and shooting as many as they could. Numbers were shot in swimming across the Murray, and some even after they had reached the opposite shore, as they ascended the bank. Amongst those shot in the water was the Chief (recognised by a particular kind of cloak he wore, which floated after he went down). Thus in a very short time the usual silence of the desert prevailed on the banks of the Murray, and we pursued our journey unmolested.' (Mitchell to Colonial Secretary McLeay cited in Milliss, 1992, p 130)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 575
- LanguageGroup
- Kureinji or Dadi Dadi
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Goulburn
- KnownDate
- 27/05/1836
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Explorer(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0cdc Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=575 SourceThe Australian, 8 November, 1836, p 2 - https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/4258629; Mitchell 1839 vol. II, pp 101-2; HRA, I, xviii, p 590-1 https://opal.latrobe.edu.au/articles/book/Historical_records_of_Australia_Series_I_Governors_despatches_to_and_from_England_Volume_XVIII_July_1835-June_1837_edited_by_Frederick_Watson_/22300279; Milliss 1992, pp 128-136; Baker, DWA, 'Mitchell Sir Thomas Livingstone (1792-1855)' in ADB, Vol 2, 1967 np https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mitchell-sir-thomas-livingstone-2463.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-29.792 Longitude149.451 Start Date1838-01-26 End Date1838-01-26
Description
On 26 January 1838, twenty six mounted police under the command of Lt Cobban and accompanied by several stockmen and settlers drove a party of Gamilaraay warriors into Snodgrass Lagoon, now known as Jews Lagoon, and shot and killed at least forty of them. The massacre was allegedly in reprisal for the spear wound of a mounted police trooper two hours earlier. The massacre took place at the end of a month-long operation by mounted police in search of Aboriginal warriors led by Major J W Nunn (Milliss 1992, pp 183-96). In the ensuing inquiry into the massacre, Sergeant John Lee said that 'from forty to fifty blacks were killed.' (HRA, I, XX, p 251). A party of local squatters who visited the site later reported that 'sixty or seventy' Aborigines were killed, 'some of them ... shot like crows in the trees.' (SMH, 2 July 1849, p 2) The Rev. L. E. Threlkeld, (Gunson 1974, vol 1, p 145) in his annual report for 1838 to the NSW Colonial Secretary, said that 'two or three hundred' were killed. This number could be the tally of Nunn's month long operation against Gamilaraay people in the region.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 577
- LanguageGroup
- Gamilaraay
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Wallis Plains (Maitland)
- KnownDate
- 26/01/1838
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0ce0 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=577 SourceGunson 1974, vol. I, p. 145; BPP 1839, vol. 34, Paper 526; HRA, I, XX, 244-57; https://doi.org/10.26181/22300285.v1; SMH, July 2, 1849, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28646745; Milliss 1992, pp 175-77, 183-96; Ryan 2003, pp 33-43; Town and Country Journal, 28 February, 1874.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-29.708 Longitude150.333 Start Date1838-05-01 End Date1838-06-07
Description
On the 10th of September, 1838, Edward Denny Day sent a letter from the Muswellbrook Police Office to the Colonial Secretary in relation to the Myall Creek massacre. This letter described a 'war of extermination' in the area around the time of the Slaughterhouse creek massacre: 'It will be my duty in my next letter to offer with the permission of his Excellency some observation on the present lawless state of the neighbourhood of the Big River [Gwydir River]. Indeed I am almost justified in stating that a war of extermination has been carrying on there against the blacks who neglect no opportunity of retaliating by destroying the cattle of the settlers' (Day, Letter to Colonial Secretary, 10 September 1838). 'Big River' was the early colonial name for the Gwydir River.
On the 5th of September, 1839, Day as Police Magistrate of Muswellbrook gave evidence to the Committee on Police and Gaols. He spoke of the country being in a state of warfare and mentioned three massacre sites prior to the massacre at Myall Creek: Vinegar Hill, Slaughterhouse Creek and Gravesend, committed by groups of mounted and armed stockmen:
'I was engaged during part of the last year in inquiring into the circumstances of the murder of a number of blacks, at the Big River, between two hundred and three hundred miles from the settled districts. I was engaged in the investigation and journey forty-seven days. That part of the country appeared to me to be in a most unsettled state; the whites seemed to feel that they were in an enemy's country, and were afraid to move out of their huts without fire arms, and the huts were provided with loop-holes, to fire through, in the event of their being attacked. The blacks had at that time committed many outrages; I think four stockmen or shepherds had been murdered, and cattle speared in great numbers on many of the runs; and sheep had also been driven away; but I have reason to know that these outrages had been fully and fearfully avenged. It was represented to me, and I believe truly, that the blacks had been repeatedly pursued by parties of mounted and armed stockmen, assembled for the purpose, and that great numbers of them had been killed at various spots, particularly at Vinegar Hill, Slaughter-house Creek, and Gravesend, places so called by the stockmen, in commemoration of the deeds enacted there. The murder I was sent to investigate took place at Myall Creek, Mr. Henry Danger's cattle station, where twenty-eight blacks—men, women, and children—were killed. The whole party of stockmen, twelve in number, who were engaged in this dreadful deed, were apprehended, except one; and seven of them were executed. At the time of my visit, the blacks and whites were alike exasperated against each other; in fact, the country was, I may say, in a state of warfare. It had been then occupied not much more than two years, and as the blacks were decidedly friendly at first, as was shown by their assisting in forming many of the stations, by stripping bark and in other ways, I can only account for the hostility that existed subsequently, by attributing it to the interference on the part of some of the stockmen with their women, which the blacks revenged on the first unprotected white persons who fell in their way' (Day, Evidence to Committee on Police and Gaols 5.9.1839, V&P 1839, p 224).
According to the author of the Wallabadah manuscript, most likely William Telfer, an early colonist in the area, 'the stations on the Mcintyre were not long occupied when the aboriginals began to be very hostile and to be agresive to the whites the cause was the Masacre of the blacks at slaughter house creek on the Big River where they ran the blacks into the Stockyard and destroyed them without mercy' (Telfer, 1980, p 37).
According to historian RHW Reece, (Reece, 1974, p.34), the Slaughterhouse Creek massacre was part of 'The Bushwhack or The Drive' that took place in the months following Major Nunn's expedition and the Waterloo Creek massacre on 26 January 1838.
A massacre at Slaughterhouse Creek is widely recorded in local oral history and folklore. Roger Milliss summarises the various accounts in his book Waterloo Creek (Milliss, 1992, pp 198-203) noting that some involve a detailed chronology. These accounts suggest that 'The Bushwhack... continued without let-up for four to five weeks, with men in the saddle day after day pursuing the hunt. But towards the end of May or early in June, as they swept across the east past Terry Hie Hie, they suddenly realised the blacks had slipped through the net.' Hearing of a hidden ravine, 'A party of fifteen heavily armed stockmen, so the story goes, made their way through the bush in the dead of night and quietly surrounded the gorge, in much the same way as Nunn and Cobban had set up their nocturnal ambush on the Namoi five months earlier. A large number of Aborigines, several hundred apparently, were asleep in the bed of the creek below. When daylight came the fifteen whites positioned on the steep slopes on either side opened up on them with muskets, carbines and shotguns, then clambered down and completed their murderous work with pistols, swords and cutlasses. Up to 300 people are said to have perished' (Milliss, 1992, p 202). As it was a long expedition, it is possible that killing occurred at both the stockyard mentioned in Telfer's account and the ravine mentioned in local oral history, or that the story has changed over time. While the number 300 may be an exaggeration, considering that there was a sustained period of killing, or that in both versions the victims were trapped in a small space and killed by a well-armed and coordinated group of colonists, the death toll would be high.
According to Milliss there are various versions of the folk tradition of a long campaign covering a large area of Gomeroi country (Milliss, 1992, pp 200-201). One of these is by C.F. Boughton in his serialisation of Moree history in the North West Champion in 1949 and 1951. Broughton wrote, 'I have mentioned the foregoing facts because they give a better understanding of what led up to the Slaughterhouse Creek massacre, that, like the Umbercollie attempt to settle differences, was a reprisal on a larger scale than any other that we have any knowledge of in this district. It was undertaken by district squatters and their stockmen. By the use of slashing whips, and with guns in reserve, the natives were driven into a yard and then shot. From my father, who got the story from those who came to the district before him, I understand that a large number of natives were slaughtered, and in my early boyhood heard men say that bones were still to be seen strewn around the scene of the massacre. My father told us that those guilty were brought to trial, and on some fault in the indictment were acquitted, but on a second trial were found guilty and condemned to death. The creek and the run on which these things occurred now bear the name of Slaughterhouse Creek. The Gwydir Highway crosses this creek about a mile eastward from Biniguy, but the tragedy took place several miles upstream from where the highway crosses the creek' (North West Champion, 20 Oct 1949, p 10).
There are two main locations mentioned in relation to Slaughterhouse Creek where a large amount of people were killed. One is at a stockyard near the junction of Slaughterhouse Creek and the Gwydir River, and the other is at the headwaters of Slaughterhouse Creek in a ravine. The narratives in local 'folk' history (Millis, 1992, pp 198-203) say that there was killing at multiple locations, which accords with the official evidence of a 'war of extermination' and roving bands of armed mounted colonists who would shoot on sight, so it's reasonable to think killing occurred at both these distinct sites, and possibly more. Police Magistrate Day's evidence mentions 'Vinegar Hill'. There is no information available indicating a place of that name in the area. In his notes on p 811, Milliss suggests 'Vinegar Hill' may be Biniguy or 'Binegar'. The word is phonetically similar, so colonists may have, after the massacre, euphemistically corrupted the name to associate it with the Vinegar Hill uprising in the early colony of Sydney, named in turn after a battle in the Irish uprising, or Denny Day or the committee scribe may simply have misheard it as 'Vinegar'.
Edward Mayne estimated the population of Gomeroi people in the area to be 2,000 and 3,000 persons and had seen 700 gathered at a time (Mayne, Evidence to Committee on Police and Gaols 5.9.1839, pp 22-24). These high populations and concentrations indicate a high death toll is reasonable, particularly considering the confined space with little avenue of escape and that the colonists had assembled a large, mounted and well armed force for the purpose of finding and killing Aboriginal people.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 578
- LanguageGroup
- Gamilaraay
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Scone
- KnownDate
- March 1838
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 200
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s), Cutlass/Cutlasses
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1838: Slaughterhouse Creek
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0ce2 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=578 SourceReece 1974, p.34; Telfer, 1980; Day, Letter to Colonial Secretary, 31 July 1838, SRNSW CSO CSR 38/9458 Telfer, 1980; Milliss 1992, pp 200-3; Day, Letter to Colonial Secretary, 10 September 1838, SRNSW CSO CSR 38/9458; Mayne, Evidence to Committee on Police and Gaols 5.9.1839, pp 22-4, NSWLC V&P 1839; Day, Evidence to Committee on Police and Gaols 5.9.1839, p 224, NSWLC V&P 1839; North West Champion, 20 Oct 1949, p 10 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184173250
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-33.578 Longitude149.756 Start Date1823-06-01 End Date1824-06-02
Description
Following the Wiradjuri killing of seven workers in a 24 hour period on the Bathurst frontier, a detachment of the 40th regiment and an unknown number of armed and mounted settlers, overseers and stock keepers, set off in revenge. According to historian Stephen Gapps, the posse found some of the Wiradjuri people at Eight Mile Swamp Creek. '[A] volley was discharged in their midst; and ... some of them dropped, but whether males or females then they did not know.' One of the perpetrators thought that 'one was an old woman, but of the age or the sex of the others, they pleaded ignorance' (Gapps, 2021 p 145) The bodies of three women were found.
In the aftermath, six of the men who discharged their muskets were arrested and charged with manslaughter and five of them were sent to Sydney for trial. The Attorney-General Saxe Bannister, said that the action against the women was not an act of self-defence and that the law held no difference between individuals white or black. (Gapps 2021, pp.164-5). At the trial in early July 1824, magistrate William Cox said that the killing was justified because 'the natives may now be called at war with the Europeans, and that in his opinion, resistance is justifiable.' (quoted in Gapps 2021, p.166). He also argued that Governor Macquarie's Proclamation of 1816 which said that Aboriginal people must stay away from the frontier, was still in force. The jury said they did not find enough evidence to convict the accused and acquitted all five men (Gapps 2021, p.166).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1090
- LanguageGroup
- Wiradjuri
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Bathurst
- KnownDate
- June 1824
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- At least 3 women
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Convict(s), Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Wiradjuri killing seven workers in a 24 hour period, comprising six assigned servants, Richard Taylor, John Dowden, James Florid, James Buckley, James Donnelly and Joseph Rae and free worker, David Brown.
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Sword(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-22.719 Longitude133.382 Start Date1890-01-01 End Date1890-04-01
Description
Ryan's Well was sunk as a stock well in 1889 by Ned Ryan's team who had a contract with the SA Water department, hence the name. The date of this massacre is unclear, but is referred to by Pastor Friedrich Wilhelm Albrecht, who arrived in Central Australia in 1926, in these terms (1981, pp5-6): 'Still, off and on, we found quite old people, perhaps 70 or 80 years of age, yet still able to walk quite long distances. During the winter months, we sometimes found whole groups with a cough. After they had come to know that we had medicine better than their witch doctors had to offer, they lined up soon after we had arrived at a camp, asking for medicine. One morning, after most of the people had received a dose of Fryars Balsam in a little water, one tall, strong man came up. Looking in the medicine glass, into which I put some drops the medicine which made the (illegible) curdle, he hesitated. Then, after looking at me very intently, he piped up "Might be paason (meaning poison)". I replied: "Him poison alright." Another intense look, when I tried to remain as unmoved as possible, he continued: "Me takem all same." This little incident is related to show how these primative [sic] people had gained confidence quickly with white people, even if some of them had been with white people and had made some unpleasant and in the case of the Ryans Well massacre, even horrifying experiences.'
The South Australian Museum holds information that Pastor Albrecht estimated that 30 people were massacred.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1092
- LanguageGroup
- Arrernte
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Alice Springs
- KnownDate
- 1890s
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Unknown
- CorroborationRating
- **
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0ce6 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1092 SourceNorthern Territory Government (1999) 'Ryan's Well Historical Reserve Plan of Management'; Albrecht, FW (1981) 'Following God's Tracks in Central Australia' (typed manuscript), pp 5-6; SA Museum 'Ryan's Well incident as related by Pastor Albrecht.' Series 662/086, 1925-1929.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-29.778 Longitude150.717 Start Date1838-06-10 End Date1838-06-10
Description
In the absence of William Hobbs, the overseer of Myall Creek station on the Gwydir River, twelve horsemen galloped into the station late on Sunday afternoon 10 June 1838 and tied up 28 Wirayaraay old men, women and children and forced them to walk to an area out of sight of the station huts. The horsemen then fired at the tied up people with pistols and fowling pieces and then hacked and bludgeoned them to death with swords and cutlasses. Then they rode off and returned next day and burnt the bodies. The massacre was led by settler John Henry Fleming and eleven stockmen; John Russell, Charles Kilmeister, Edward Foley, Charles Toulouse, James Oates, William Hawkins, John Johnstone, James Parry, John Blake, Edward Palliser and William Lamb. When Hobbs returned to Myall Creek station three days later, he was told about the massacre by hut keeper Charles Anderson and after viewing the burnt bodies, Hobbs wrote a letter reporting the massacre to the Colonial Secretary in Sydney who ordered an investigation by magistrate Edward Denny Day. The ringleader, John Henry Fleming disappeared before Day arrived in the region, leaving the 11 stockmen to take the rap. They were arrested and charged with murder and taken to Sydney for trial in the Supreme Court. However two trials were required before seven of them were convicted and hanged on 18 December 1838. This is the only known case in NSW where perpetrators of a frontier massacre of Aboriginal people were convicted and hanged. Myall Creek is the best known massacre event in Australia. Beginning in 2000, the massacre is acknowledged every June in a public ceremony of remembrance at the massacre site. The ceremony is attended by, among others, descendants of the perpetrators and victims in a gesture of reconciliation. (Based on Lydon and Ryan, 2018).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 579
- LanguageGroup
- Wirayaraay (Gamilaraay)
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Scone
- KnownDate
- 10/06/1838
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 28
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s), Fowling Piece(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0ce4 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=579 SourceHRA, I, xix, p 700-7 https://opal.latrobe.edu.au/articles/book/Historical_records_of_Australia_Series_I_Governors_despatches_to_and_from_England_Volume_XIX_July_1837-January_1839_edited_by_Frederick_Watson_/22300282?file=39667741; The Australian, July, 17, 1838, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/36854124; November 17, 1838, p 2 - https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/36859766 and December 1, 1838, p 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/36860246; SMH, July 2, 1849 p2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28646745
Tedeschi, 2016; Lydon and Ryan, 2018.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-30.948 Longitude152.188 Start Date1840-05-20 End Date1840-05-31
Description
On 10 June 1840 the Sydney Herald reported that Mr Freer, 'traveling from New England down the bed of the Macleay River with a large flock of sheep, and having one afternoon at a crossing place missed three hundred and seventy of them, he returned to search, accompanied by a stockman and a mounted black. The latter soon discovered that the stock had been driven in the direction of the mountains by' Aboriginal warriors. 'after following the tracks for about eight miles, they came to a precipitous rock, where they turned down a creek, on the sides of which they discovered from two to three hundred' Aboriginal people 'busily engaged in roasting not kangaroos but mutton. The instant they perceived Mr. Freer and his party they took to their spears and boomerangs, retiring to the ranges, but on discovering the weakness of their pursuers, endeavoured to surround them, threatening them and abusing them in tolerable English while daring them to come on. The party being badly armed, Mr Freer prudently retreated, and traveling all night and reached next day a station of a Mr Steele's JP [evidently Towel Creek] where he was furnished with the assistance of three horsemen.' Upon returning to the place he last saw the Aboriginal people, here 'he found the remains of about sixty sheep and three stockyards most ingeniously constructed.' Following their trail, 'Mr Freer and party proceeded about twelve miles up Kundering [Coonderang Creek] Brook,' where they found the Aboriginal people 'had again turned across the Mountains.' Continuing the trail, the party ultimately found the Aboriginal people 'in the act of preparing mutton; on being fired upon they speedily decamped, and the pursuing party were rewarded for their praiseworthy conduct by the satisfaction they felt on recovering two hundred and twenty sheep alive.' (SH, June 10, 1840 p 5) It is stated that the owners of the sheep were Messrs. Betts and Panton, who were at the time occupiers of Long Flat station on the Macleay River. Henderson, 1851, Vol. 2, p 5 states that 'two to three dozen men were slaughtered'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 581
- LanguageGroup
- Dhanggati
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Macquarie
- KnownDate
- late May 1840
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 24
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-37.467 Longitude142.257 Start Date1840-08-12 End Date1840-04-12
Description
'On 12 August 1840, a further ten Aborigines were shot by Wedge and his brothers near the Grampians.' (Reece 1974, p 22, cited in Clark, p 157). In a list of killings of Aboriginal people, in the entry for 'Collisions with Messrs. Wedge' which records 10 deaths, Reece notes 'Depends partly on statements of Aborigines' (p222, Reece, 1974). This is a copy of 'Return of Aboriginal Natives killed by the Whites in the District of Port Phillip, distinguishing the numbers East and West of the River Hopkins' (V&P, 1844, 718).
In a letter to Governor Latrobe, Charles Wedge wrote,
"I, with my brothers, removed our stock to the country at the foot of the Grampians, now known as the Grange, on the creeks forming the river Wannon in the Australia Felix of Major Sir Thomas Mitchell... Up to this time we had but little trouble with the aborigines, but they now began to attack our shepherds, whom they drove from their flocks, which they took into the mountains known as the Victoria Range, where they disposed of many hundreds of them by killing, maiming by breaking three of their legs, and otherwise mutilating them in a cruel manner to prevent their escape, and resisting (their numbers giving them confidence) recovery. At this time they also killed a valuable horse and cow belonging to me, and drove away the whole of my milking cattle and working bullocks, some of which returned with spears in them ; and these depredations did not cease till many lives were sacrificed, and, I may say, many thousands of sheep destroyed." (Bride, 1899, p 163)
See also the 'Victoria Valley' massacre.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1096
- LanguageGroup
- Djabwurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Shepherd(s), Pastoralist(s)
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-10.707 Longitude142.213 Start Date1869-07-01 End Date1869-01-31
Description
Following the massacre of people aboard the shipwrecked Sperwer at Prince of Wales Island, Police Magistrate and Commissioner of Crown Lands, John Jardine of the Native Police led an expedition, witnessed bodies of the victims and returned with some items from the shipwreck. Memmott et al summarise several accounts of what happened during Jardine's expedition, which indicate a reprisal massacre took place (Memmot et al, 2021).
Jardine reported that '... I requested the use of two boats with their crews from Captain McAusland, of the schooner Melanie, which i got, and went over with four native troopers to the Prince of Wales Island...' (The Brisbane Courier 9 November 1869, p 3) but did not report any reprisal killing. However, by the time this was published, a journalist, R. Thatcher, had already reported that Captain McEnroe had visited the island to trade and that, 'He returned to Cape York and told Mr. Frank Jardine, the police magistrate, what he had seen and that gentleman, being a Queensland magistrate, and consequently not hampered by any absurd aboriginal protection instructions, immediately organized a party of mainland natives (Zardigans) and assisted by some Tanna men from the Melanie went over to the island, crept on the dastardly wretches at daylight, and "dispersed" the men of the tribe, justly avenging a most brutal and unprovoked outrage' (The Herald, 30 Oct 1869, p 3).
Soon after, in 1870, a letter from Chas. Edwards was published, in response to 'many incorrect statements' about 'the capture of the Sperwer' which described what happened when he arrived with Jardine: 'On anchoring near Prince of Wales Island, we found the natives unaccountably shy, contrary to their usual habit... at last we got into intercourse with them, and after buying a lot of tortoise-shell from them, they said they had a lot more in their camp, on which Mr Jardine and Captain MacAuslin started inland for the camp, much against the natives' will.' There they found the Sperwer's log book and other items. Edwards then says that a camp was rushed but some were spared in the 'skirmish' as they were related to the mainland Aboriginal people with Jardine. 'After searching Wednesday and the surrounding islands, and not finding any traces of a wreck, Mr Jardine considered it his duty to search Prince of Wales Island... Returning to Somerset, Mr. Jardine mustered a party of native police, and some natives of a neighbouring tribe; we, on Mr. Jardine's requisition, furnishing two boats with their crews, in charge of the master and mate, for transit of the party to Prince of Wales island. On arriving there the old camp was found to be deserted, and for two days the party had a toilsome search; at last the new camp was found and rushed, and a quantity of cabin gear, cooking utensils, clothes, books, some Dutch florins, &c., and amongst other things a pair of baby's worsted stockings and some exercises in algebra, written in a boy's hand, were found, but nothing else that would testify to the presence of a woman on board. Some of the island natives were related to the natives from the mainland, and were protected by them in the skirmish, and returned with the party' (The Inquirer and Commercial News, 5 January 1870, p 3).
Following this Police Magistrate Henry Chester travelled to the island with troopers and executed a further three people (Memmot et al, 2021, p 38). Memmot et al also provide later sensationalised accounts of the reprisals by the showman Archibald Meston (Memmott et al., 2021, pp 40-2).. The massacre is also recorded in Kaurareg tradition. 'Kaurareg leader Milton Savage has described a large camp on Prince of Wales Island named "Adai", aka "Thaimerau Karai" (a village campsite) in a gulley between two hills near Port Lihou Channel; "Our people survived in other campsites all around the island, but this one, the large campsite, was totally massacred"' (Memmot et al, 2021, p 42).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1098
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Adai / Thaimerau Karai
- LanguageGroup
- Kaurareg
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Somerset
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Torres Strait Islander(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Crowns Land Commissioner, Native Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- Transport
- Boat
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 17
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-29.631 Longitude152.812 Start Date1841-04-01 End Date1841-04-30
Description
According to historian David Kent, in April 1841, in reprisal for alleged stock theft from Ramornie station on the Clarence River by Bundjalung warriors, CLC Oakes of Clarence PD swore in stockmen as special constables to surround a Bundjalung camp at night and at daybreak charged and killed indiscriminately Bundjalung men, women and children (Kent, 2006, p 36-41). According to Kent a man named Lynch was later charged with the stock theft.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 585
- LanguageGroup
- Bundjalung
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Grafton
- KnownDate
- 01/04/1841
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- More than 20 men, women and children.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s), Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s), Cutlass/Cutlasses, Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-26.884 Longitude152.584 Start Date1842-02-01 End Date1842-02-01
Description
On 1 February 1842, flour laced with strychnine was given to a large group of Aboriginal people at Kilcoy station by two shepherds, resulting in the deaths of at least sixty of them. The shepherds were employed by Evan MacKenzie, lessee of Kilcoy station (SMH, December 5, 1842, p 2).
According to Lauer, two escaped convicts, Bracewell and Davis, who had been living with Aboriginal people before being captured, reported that about 14 or 15 tribes had met at Booroon in the 'Great Bunya Scrub' to discuss a response to the poisoning and had formed a council of war resolving on vengeance. (Lauer, 1977, p 47)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 586
- LanguageGroup
- Giggarbarah, Woongunbarah and other groups in transit
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Brisbane
- KnownDate
- 01/02/1842
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 60
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Shepherd(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Poison
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0cef Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=586 SourceLang, 1847, p 279; Marr, 2023, pp 121-126; Qld Parlt Legislative Assembly, 1861(a), p 19 - Select Ctee in to the Native Police; Queenslander, May 21, 1892, p 987, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19824074; SMH, December 5, 1842 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12426931, Lauer, 1977 https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:1dac35b
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-23.528 Longitude147.524 Start Date1861-10-28 End Date1861-10-28
Description
One of the colonists who arrived at Cullin-la-Ringo following the massacre of colonists there, P.F. McDonald, wrote that, 'In one place we saw the tracks of a party of horsemen which I believe to be those of Lieutenant Cave's detachment. I wish some of those misinformed gentlemen who think that the native police are of so little service had been there—if they had felt any sympathy for Cullin-la-ringo victims, they would have seen sufficient reason to entertain a different opinion, and I think their gratification would have compelled them to acknowledge their error. For my part I trust that the Government instead of decreasing the force, will endeavour to strengthen it' (SMH 10 December 1861, p. 5).
To this article the editor appended the news that, 'We are informed that, on the 26th or 27th ultimo, the Native Police overtook the tribe of natives who committed the late outrage at Nogoa, and succeeded in driving them into a place from whence escape was impossible. They then shot down sixty or seventy, and they only ceased firing upon them when their ammunition was expended. One of the blacks who was shot, cried out, "Me no kill white fellow!" showing plainly they well comprehended the proceeding. Some firearms and other property in their possession were recovered' (SMH 10 December 1861, p. 5).
In his summary of the events, Governor Bowen wrote, 'On the 24th of October they [the Native Police] arrived by forced marches at the late Mr Wills' station, and on the following day, Lieut Cave and his eight troopers started in pursuit of the Blacks...
Lieut. Cave's report to his Commanding Officer states that he had followed up the tracks of the murderers for four days, when he came up with them on the 28th October. After a skirmish in broken ground, during which several were killed, "the remainder retreated to the top of a high hill, the front of which was almost perpendicular; and on our riding nearer, the Blacks gave us to understand most unmistakeably their intention of holding their ground. I retired" continues Lieut. Cave, "a sufficient distance to be completely out of their sight, and camped. Towards sundown, knowing the blacks to be still in the same position, I proceeded cautiously with the Troopers on foot. Two I posted in front of the hill; and with the others I climbed quietly to the top at the back. A shot from one of my men was the first intimation the Blacks had of our approach; when finding themselves surprised and nearly surrounded, they made no[?] stand. Their loss was heavy; and I consider that many were killed from falling over the cliffs' (QSA GOV/23/61/74 (DR110747) ITM17671, pp 125-126). The location provided is an estimate based on the description but there are many sheer cliffs within 4 days' ride of Cullin-la-Ringo.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1100
- LanguageGroup
- Gayiri
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Taroom
- AttackTime
- Evening
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 60
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 19
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Sword(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1861: Cullin la Ringo Aftermath, QLD
Details
Latitude-31.562 Longitude147.177 Start Date1841-10-01 End Date1841-10-31
Description
In October 1841, William Lee's overseer, Andrew Kerr, with a party of stockmen were sent to establish a new station on the Bogan River beyond Mount Harris. One of the requirements of the licence of occupation of Crown lands was to leave water sources for the Ngiyampa people as it was a particularly dry spell. Establishing the new station breached these instructions. The Ngiyampa retaliated by killing Robert Roach, William Moreton and Abraham Fearnham 'and wounded three others' (SMH, August 24, 1842, p 2). A detachment of Mounted Police based at Bathurst led by Corporal Reilly and assisted by squatter Joseph Moulder, William Carr (stockman on squatter William Lee's run at the Bogan River), Andrew Kerr and other stockmen, avenged the death of the three men, killing 12 Ngiyampa and arresting three of the alleged killers, one of whom escaped 'and two were committed to take their trials' [later released] (SMH, August 24, 1842, p 2). CLC William Allman investigated the case and charged the two Ngiyampa men with murder, brought them before the Circuit Court in March 1842, and secured their discharge for lack of evidence. Allman recommended that Lee's pastoral lease be withdrawn and not renewed, and Governor Gipps agreed. Outraged that a settler of Lee's standing should be treated in this way, a group of settlers at Bathurst petitioned Gipps to restore Lee's licence. The matter was raised by James Macarthur in the NSW Legislative Council on 22 August 1842 and in the debate on 23 August, Gipps justified his decision on the grounds that Lee had failed to observe instructions not to squat on the Bogan river and to leave water for the Ngiyampa. The debate was reported in full in the SMH on August 24 1842.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 587
- LanguageGroup
- Ngiyampaa
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Wellington
- KnownDate
- 24/10/1841
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 12
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police, Stockkeeper(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 3
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Sword(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-29.139 Longitude151.101 Start Date1842-09-11 End Date1842-09-11
Description
On 11 September 1842, one of the Irby brothers recorded a night time attack on a camp of 100 Anaiwan people located between '2 terribly steep ridges, about 20 metres above a gully. We completely routed them and remained in possession of the camp and all their traps. There were 102 sheep left. We made a large fire and burned everything belonging to them. We got home at 4pm next day, well satisfied with our success.' (Irby, 1908, pp 60-63) Carried out by Edward and Leonard Irby, John Windeyer, overseer Collins and one other on horseback and three other men on foot. Carried out in reprisal for the killing of a stockman.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 588
- LanguageGroup
- Guyambal or Ngarabul or Marbal
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Armidale
- KnownDate
- 11/09/1842
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-27.854 Longitude151.386 Start Date1842-10-01 End Date1842-12-31
Description
According to historian Maurice French, in late 1842, squatter Sydenham Russell, and stockmen Ralph Gore and Domville Taylor 'surprised a large group of natives coolly rounding up a mob of cattle in broad daylight between Yandilla and Tummaville.' (French, 1989, pp 102-103) According to historian HS Russell, 'The blacks had been more aggressive of late than ever. They were harrying and killing cattle wherever cattle were. The shepherds were in a terrible state of "funk," and no wonder. My brother had caught them, when crossing the plain between Yandilla and Tummavil in company with Ralph Gore and Taylor, coolly rounding a mob up in the open, and preparing to kill. A "set-to" was the consequence. The blacks numbered about three hundred, and kept admirable order and showed unusual courage. Upon the firing of a shot, the "ducking" of heads and rush on their assailants were instantaneous, well arranged, and executed. Syd.'s horse was fidgetty; so he jumped off and let him loose. The "brummagem" double barrelled gun which he had—mine, however—burst in his hands without doing damage; and it must have been quite half-an-hour before the mob, which showed a steady line throughout, had retreated, step by step, to the timber which skirted the western edge of the plain, and only then turned tail.' (Russell, 1888, p 328).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 589
- LanguageGroup
- Bigambul?
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Drayton
- KnownDate
- late 1842
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-31.886 Longitude116.786 Start Date1837-06-01 End Date1837-11-16
Description
After the southwest Pinjarra massacre of October 1834 sites of conflict shifted northeast into Whadjuk and Ballardong Aboriginal Noongar country around Northam and York. From 1836 through 1837 tensions escalated with many reprisal killings between Aboriginal people and colonists.
In 1836, the Sydney Herald reported 'by late arrival' that 'The natives in the York district had committed several outrages, and two were shot. Additional military aid, under the charge of Lieutenant Bunbury, was despatched to the settlement' (Sydney Herald, 13 Oct, 1836).
Lieut. Bunbury wrote, in a published letter dated, 10 July 1836
'A few days after my return I was ordered over here [York] with a detachment to make war upon the Natives, who have been very troublesome lately, robbing farms and committing other depredations, even attempting to spear White people.
...I hope, however, it will not last very long as the Natives seem inclined to be quiet since I shot a few of them one night. I have no doubt, however, that ere long they will revenge the death of those we shot by spearing some White men when they can meet them alone and unarmed' (Bunbury, 1930, p 27)
In June 1837 a group speared and killed Isaac Green, a soldier (Perth Gazette, July 22, 1837, p 941).
A letter to the Swan River Guardian alluded to this being a retaliation for attacks on Aboriginal men and women,
'If the Natives have committed it wantonly, they ought to be severely punished. If on the other hand, their wives have been shot at in cool blood, and many of the males killed in a vindictive manner, then, the Natives have only obeyed one of their immutable Laws, which demands blood for blood'
(Swan River Guardian, 1 Jun 1837, p 128).
On 8 July 1837 Edward Jones and Peter Chidlow were working on a property called Katrine when a large group of up to 40 Ballardong Noongar, incensed by the arrest of some of their countrymen for stealing, approached them demanding flour and bread. A fight broke out and both Jones and Chidlow were speared to death (nine and seven spears respectively) in an event creating months of payback conflict (Perth Gazette, 22 July, 1837 p 941).
These killings prompted calls from colonists for reprisals:
'To the Government Resident of York, D. MacLeod, Esq., and Lieutenants Bunbury and Mortimer, of H.M.'s 21st Regt., the difficult task of conciliating or coercing the natives has been confided... The barbarous murder of Jones and Chidlow has called for a severe and well-merited chastisement; the lives of three natives have fallen a sacrifice ... we therefore unhesitatingly, in common with the majority of our fellow colonists, give our full approbation of the proceedings of the government, being strongly impressed with the conviction, that nothing short of a bold and daring display of our superiority of which the distant tribes hold some doubt, construing our acts of kindness into timidity or imbecility will effectually eradicate from the mind of the savage, the impression that we may be plundered and murdered with impunity' (Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, 29 Jul 1837, p 944). This article also lists the names of Aboriginal people accused of murder and livestock stealing livestock.
On 20 July 1837 a writer in the Swan River Guardian commented, 'Some parties advocate an indiscriminate slaughter of the Blacks, in the York district, others transportation of the Natives, from the Main Land, to one of the neighbouring Islands...Unnecessary cruelty ought not to be inflicted, but the deaths of Chidlow and Jones must be avenged, and we say that ample justice ought to be dealt against their Murderers in the first place, as a terror to their assistants or abettors, and in the next place let us enquire what salutary measures can be adopted to civilize the Natives, and make them acquainted with our Laws, our Religious, Civil and Military Institutions, and their own rights as British Subjects. A general Massacre would be offensive to the Laws of God, as well as those of Man, because the innocent might then be sacrificed to atone for the crimes of the guilty... The Murder of Chidlow and Jones calls aloud for vengeance, but Justice should be tempered with mercy, indiscriminate slaughter of inoffending Tribes can never be palliated' (Swan River Guardian, July 20, 1837 pp 205-206).
Another article warned, '... for so long as the British Government withhold protection and assistance from this Colony, a continual warfare will exist between the whites and blacks' and 'let us never forget that a general warfare must end in an utter extermination of one or other of the contending powers...' (Swan River Guardian, 20 July, 1837).
In November 1837 Reverend Louis Giustiniani wrote a series of letters to the Swan River Guardian saying in one that 'The huts of the Natives have been wantonly fired into during the night by Mr McLeod, and his assistants and the Kangaroo Cloaks of the poor creatures tossed into the fire' (Swan River Guardian, 16 November, 1837, p 248), and elsewhere that, 'The death of Jones and
Chidlow has required eighteen innocent victims, (that is the complaint of the Aboriginal British Subjects). They have been immolated to the vengeance of a party in the most cruel manner. Every Soldier had received a carte blanc from Lieutenant Bunbury and Mr Mc Leod, to shoot the Natives in all directions, and they have been faithful to their mission; but none of those victims had been previously tried, nor even the least evidence brought against them, before the deadly weapon of the armed European prostrated them to the ground. Barbarities of the middle age have been committed even by boys and Servants, who shot the unarmed woman, the unoffensive child, and the men who kindly showed it them the road in the bush; the ears of the corpses have been cut off, and hung up in the kitchen of a gentleman, as a signal of triumph!' (Swan River Guardian, 16 November, 1837, p 249).
Violence continued after this massacre. In May 1839 Sarah Cook and her infant child were killed at York by Nyungar people and there were attacks on Aboriginal groups subsequently (Green 1984 p 214). An attack by a posse in June 1839 reportedly resulted in one dead and two wounded and there was an attack on the York Encampment in July 1839 by a posse in which three were reported as wounded (Green 1984, p 214). Green cites 'C. S. O. 1839, Bland, 26 August' for the first and 'C. S. O. 1839, 74 Bland, 31 July' for the second. The link between the killings of Sarah Cook and her child and the June-July attacks, and the ideas that the attacks were on Ballardong people, and were organised by Lieutenant Mcleod, Government Resident at York, come from Mary Blight (Blight 2024) rather than from Green. Green, however, does say that McLeod was responsible for 'a new wave of violence' at York when he ignored an existing truce between the Nyungar and the colonist Heal (Green 1984 pp 122-3).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1101
- LanguageGroup
- Whadjuk, Ballardong
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 18
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 3
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0cf6 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1101 SourceSydney Herald, 13 Oct, 1836 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/12862021; Perth Gazette, July 22, 1837, p 941 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/639907; Swan River Guardian, July 20, 1837, pp 205-206 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214041794, November 16, 1837, p 249 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214041771; Bunbury, 1930, p 27 https://library.dbca.wa.gov.au/static/FullTextFiles/628354.pdf; Borowitzka, 2011 p 367; Lieut Bunbury Odds and Ends book, Battye Library, MN 2575, Papers of the H.W. (Henry William) Bunbury, ACC 327A, 6895A, 7146A https://purl.slwa.wa.gov.au/slwa_b1845344_1; The Swan River Guardian, November 16, 1837, p 248 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/23543294; The Swan River Guardian November 16, 1837, p 249 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/23543295;
The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal July 29, 1837, p 944 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/639896/1010;
H.W. Bunbury, 1834-37 in Cameron and Barnes, 2014; Blight 2024 https://maryblight.com/2024/02/25/massacres-on-noongar-boodjar-from-1830-onwards/; Green 1984
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-16.76 Longitude136.981 Start Date1872-07-20 End Date1872-07-21
Description
'Among the first to follow in the tracks of Cox and Uhr in 1872, and not far behind them, were Joe Walker (aka Joe Pettit), Tommy McBride, both horse thieves, with Billy Banks who followed soon after Cox and Uhr' (Roberts 2005, p 24). Arthur Ashwin knew both Walker and McBride and spoke about their 1872 overland journey from Qld to the NT in his Reminiscences: 'They had a very rough time with the niggers' (cited in Roberts 2005, p 24). Roberts re-tells the story, with interspersed direct quotations from Ashwin: 'One night, possibly near the Queensland border, the men saw figures in the darkness and began shooting. The Aboriginals then attacked, but after suffering casualties they ran off and all was quiet until the morning: "then they came in strength and Joe and Billy [Banks] made sure of a nigger every shot and told [McBride] not to fire and waste cartridges. They soon dispersed them". That night, while camped at what appears to have been the Robinson River, they noticed Aboriginals gliding silently across to the other bank on pandanus logs, a method widely used in the Gulf country and elsewhere in the north to protect against crocodiles. The men assumed another attack was underway "…just as the moon was going down there was a good mob there and Joe and Billy fired into them as fast as they could. They had two Colt revolvers each and did good work. Tommy McBride did not have a shot. Joe had a shot or two at niggers' heads as they swam back; they splashed a lot to frighten the alligators"' (Roberts 2005, p 25).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1102
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Mungoobada
- LanguageGroup
- Garawa, Gunindiri
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Opportunity
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-27.557 Longitude152.584 Start Date1843-09-01 End Date1843-10-31
Description
Soldiers, settlers and stockmen chased a large group of Aboriginal people led by Multuggerah into the Rosewood Scrub, following the 'Battle of One Tree Hill'. Carried out by Crown Lands Commissioners Christopher Rolleston and Stephen Simpson, with a vigilante group of settlers, and Lt Johnstone and 10 soldiers from the 99th Regiment (Copland et al, 2006, pp 25-26). Copland estimates that 12 Yugarah people were killed (Copland et al, p 26).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 592
- LanguageGroup
- Yugara or Garumngar
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Brisbane
- KnownDate
- Sept - Oct 1843
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 12
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s), Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s), Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-28.632 Longitude150.388 Start Date1844-01-01 End Date1847-12-31
Description
Thomas Crampton was the first white man to occupy land near Goondiwindi in 1837 and held a working share in the Merewah run, owned by James Howe, a settler from the Hawkesbury and Hunter Rivers. One day Crampton went to check on the cattle at Crampton's corner and found some Aboriginal men in the tops of some trees armed with spears. He shot and killed 'no less than fifteen blacks' (Browne, 1922, pp 22-24; Copland, 1990, pp 18-19).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 594
- LanguageGroup
- Gawambaraay or Bigambul?
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Warialda
- KnownDate
- 1844 - 1847
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Repeating Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-28.097 Longitude151.798 Start Date1845-01-01 End Date1845-12-31
Description
This attack, by owners and station hands at Talgai Station on the Southern Darling Downs, was carried out to prevent the station from becoming the collecting point for other Aboriginal clans. The account given by French (1989, p 99) relates that 'two uninitiated Aboriginal youths from southern New South Wales, in the employ of a local squatter, had raped several women of the McIntyre (Bigambul?) tribe. When the tribal warriors gathered to punish the transgressors, the reprobates informed the settlers at Talgai Station that the McIntyre tribe was planning a raid on the station. The whites promptly carried out a pre-emptive attack, killing several Aborigines: thereafter the McIntyre tribe had good cause for resisting the white invasion.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 595
- LanguageGroup
- Geynyan?
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Warialda
- KnownDate
- 1845
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-30.844 Longitude152.674 Start Date1845-01-01 End Date1845-12-31
Description
Geoffrey Blomfield (1981, p 37) cites a paragraph from Mrs H A McMaugh's, 'Early Settlement of the Upper Macleay' (p 6). 'In 1845, Kunderan station was the property of Captain Goblin and he had two shepherds and their wives there, and they were found dead, murdered by the blacks but it was quite a week after the bodies were found and about eight hundred sheep also missing, the matter was reported to the [Crown Lands] Commissioner [Robert] Massie at Kempsey and he in company with John McMaugh and several men from the station tracked the sheep to where the blacks had driven them. They found a large number of them camped under a cliff they immediately showed fight and a battle ensued but the whitemen were well armed and a great number of blacks were killed but the only casualty on the other side was a horse, the men took cover behind the trees and fired at the murderers, a few of the sheep were found but the blacks were so numerous that they killed and ate twenty a night.' Blomfield also heard two separate accounts of the massacre from Aboriginal men, Victor Shepherd and Laurie O'Keefe (Blomfield 1981, p.38).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 597
- LanguageGroup
- Dhanggati
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Macquarie
- KnownDate
- 1845
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Crowns Land Commissioner, Government Official(s), Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-34.726 Longitude143.217 Start Date1846-01-01 End Date1846-12-31
Description
To 'clear' the area of Aboriginal people for a pastoral station for William Ross, 70-80 Aboriginal men were trapped on both sides of the Murray River and shot by Frederick Walker, Edmund Morey, William Ross, John Scott, the Jackson brothers, Williams, Lee and 'two fine Murrumbidgee natives – Robin Hood and Marengo' and Mr Yeomans from the other side of the river and others. 'This broke their spirit'. (Morey, 1952 cited in Collins, 2002, p 49)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 599
- LanguageGroup
- Dadi Dadi or Weki Weki
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Albury
- KnownDate
- 1846
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 70
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-27.265 Longitude152.931 Start Date1847-04-10 End Date1847-04-20
Description
On 13 April 1847, p 3, The Australian published the following: 'A few days ago, a servant of Captain Griffin, [at the Pine River], named Brown, went to the Police Magistrate and stated that, when Captain Griffin's men left the station for the lambing season, they mixed together a quantity of arsenic and flour, and then left it in the hut, expecting the blacks would visit and make use of the mixture. On their return, they found that the mixture had been eaten. Brown mentioned the name of a fellow servant (Brady) then in Brisbane, who said he knew more of the matter than himself, although he rather thought he would be an unwilling witness. Brady was brought up, but denied at first all knowledge of the matter. However, on being sworn, he recollected himself, and confirmed Brown's statement, naming two other servants who were also aware of the fact - namely, the hutkeeper who had been wounded [earlier by a 'black fellow'], and another named Coppin, the latter of whom he said had mixed the arsenic with the flour. On learning what had occurred, Captain Griffin, who was then in Brisbane, started for his station. The Police Magistrate also dispatched a constable to bring in the other two men. Captain Griffin was, however, the first to reach the station, and was on his way back to Brisbane before the constable arrived at the Pine River. When the constable at length reached the men, they were of course prepared to accompany. They had not absconded, but came down at once. They denied that any mixture had been deliberately made of the flour and arsenic by any one, but admitted that a quantity of flour only had been left in the hut, and that the blacks themselves had mixed it in a dish in which there were some remains of arsenic that had used in the preparation for the sheep. The evidence of these persons has been sent to the Attorney-General, [in Sydney] who will probably institute some further inquiries on the subject. ' '[N.B.-To have left flour on the floor, and arsenic in the identical vessel in which flour is always thrown before it can be made into damper, was only another way of "doing the trick". ED. AUST.]'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 600
- LanguageGroup
- Buyibara or Yugarabul
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Brisbane
- KnownDate
- mid-April 1847
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 50
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Servant(s)
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Poison
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-28.725 Longitude150.552 Start Date1847-09-12 End Date1847-09-30
Description
Aboriginal people killed James Marks's son, 'Johnny', on 10 September 1847 in retaliation for his shooting and killing an Aboriginal messenger 'boy' at 'Goodar' station on the Weir River a week earlier. James Marks gathered a posse of settlers and stockmen and rode south to 'Boonall' station on the MacIntyre River where they 'found forty Aboriginal people encamped in the bend of the river' (Telfer, 1980, p 39). It appears that they shot them all and then burnt the campsite. There is no indication that the Aboriginal group was involved in the killing of Marks's son (Telfer, 1980, p 39). This was the first of several revenge killings and massacres led by Marks over more than six months in reprisal for the killing of his son.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 601
- LanguageGroup
- Bigambul or Gawambaraay
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Warialda
- KnownDate
- 12-30 September 1847
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Johnny Mark
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Double-barrelled Purdey(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d03 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=601 SourceBligh, CCL, Gwydir to CCCL, 10 Jan 1849; SRNSW, 2/7634; Watts, 1901, p 20; Webb, 1922, pp 7-12; Telfer, 1980, p 39; Copland, 1990, pp 52-54.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-29.932 Longitude152.868 Start Date1847-11-29 End Date1847-11-29
Description
In December 1847, Crown Lands Commissioner, Oliver Fry, based at Grafton, was told by a stockman and at least one Aboriginal man that on 29 November 1847, squatter Thomas Coutts had poisoned 23 Aboriginal people by offering them damper laced with arsenic at his station at Kangaroo Creek. In January 1848 Fry set off for Kangaroo Creek Station to investigate. He found human remains at the Aboriginal camp on the station but they were too decomposed for analysis. He ordered the arrest of Coutts, charged him with murder and sent him to Sydney on the ship Phoenix under armed guard. In the Sydney magistrate's court he was bailed for 1,000 pounds to appear in the Supreme Court in May 1848. In May however, he was discharged for lack of evidence. The stockman who reported the crime was under arrest for another crime and the Aboriginal witnesses were prevented by law from presenting evidence in court (MMHRGA, February 2, 1848, p 3). However, the Attorney General, J.H. Plunkett, was 'in no moral doubt' that Coutts had poisoned the Aboriginal people and caused their deaths (Lydon, 1996, pp 159-60).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 603
- LanguageGroup
- Gumbaynggnir
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Grafton
- KnownDate
- 29/11/1847
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 23
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Poison
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-27.589 Longitude148.722 Start Date1848-01-01 End Date1848-12-31
Description
According William Telfer (1980, p 71), after a stockman named Tierney was killed by the Bigambul at Warroo station on the banks of the Balonne River, a number of 'white men were cooped up and besieged for a week in the hut without ammunition or provisions...the whites Escaped at night it being very dark and they made their way to the head Station down the other side of the River the blacks never missed them till next day the aboriginals Encamped there fisching (sic) and killing some of the Cattle and having a Great Feast to celebrate their victory but the whites only went for help returning the Second night after leaving with twenty five men well armed and plenty ammunition also having as allies the tribe of aboriginals on the western Side of the River to the number of 1 hundred and fifty warriors the Enemy were encamped in fancied Security having no sentries went to sleep from which they were surprised and shot down like so many sheep if they Excaped (sic) from the whites they were masacred (sic) by the savage tribe of aboriginals very few Escaped they said there were fully two hundred slain those were all buried in one large pit in front of the old hut the large mound was there when i (sic) passed that way covered by green grass...' (Telfer, 1980, p 71). The discrepancy between 25 colonists with 150 Aboriginal allies, and 200 claimed victims, suggests this might be an exaggeration, and perhaps about 100 people were killed.
The location 'Warroo' should not be confused with another historical pastoral station of the same name near Stanthorpe. Telfer is clear the location is the banks of the Balonne. An advertisement from 1859 describes a run including 'Burgurrah' and 'Warroo' on the Balonne near Surat (SMH, 27 Sep 1859, p 8). A 1940s map of Queensland pastoral runs marks 'Warro' just north of North Burgurrah, both being on the Balonne north of St George (Robinson, 194?).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 605
- LanguageGroup
- Bigambul from north of the Macintyre
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Surat
- KnownDate
- 1848
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 100
- VictimNotes
- 100 to 200
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- stockman, Tierney
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-26.603 Longitude148.395 Start Date1848-10-01 End Date1848-10-31
Description
Revenge for Aboriginal killing of John Gore and William Lowe at Mt Abundance Station, carried out by settler Alan McPherson and party (Collins, 2002, p 27) .
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 607
- LanguageGroup
- Mandandanji
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Surat
- KnownDate
- 01/10/1848
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- John Gore and William Lowe
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-28.624 Longitude149.981 Start Date1849-05-01 End Date1849-05-31
Description
The massacre was carried out by 14 native police and 20 squatters and their men, led by Frederick Walker, as revenge for deaths of stockmen in the region (Collins, 2002, p. 63). W B Tooth, MLA, the local member, participated in the event. He said in evidence to an inquiry that 'Mr. Walker met the blacks killing cattle close to my camp, and they had a stand up fight for it. The blacks were so completely put down on that occasion and terrified of the power of the Police, that they never committed any more depredations near there. The place was quiet at once, and property became fifty per cent more valuable' (NSWLC V&P 1858 vol 2 p 880). The estimate of 100 Aboriginal people killed comes from the drover William Telfer, Jr (cited in Collins, 2002, p 63).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 609
- LanguageGroup
- Wiriyaraay or Gawambaraay
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Warialda
- KnownDate
- 01/05/1849
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 100
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-24.974 Longitude152.181 Start Date1849-06-01 End Date1849-07-31
Description
On 4 June 1849, following the Aboriginal killing of the Pegg brothers, employed as shepherds on Gregory Blaxland's Gin Gin station, Blaxland and his nephew William Forster organised a punitive party of over 50 station hands and squatters including the Thompson Brothers of Walla Station They travelled downstream and located a large Aboriginal camp in dense scrub, in an area that has since become known as 'The Cedars'. Clem Lack reported: 'The white man attacked at piccaninny dawn. More than 100 myalls were asleep, gorged with roast mutton, in groups around the ashes of burnt out fires, half a mile away from the waters of the Burnett. The affray was one of the bloodiest in Queensland frontier history, although no white man was killed. Many of the Aboriginals escaped by plunging into the Burnett and swimming to the other side. Some were picked off by marksmen and sank beneath the surface. More than half a century later, ploughmen at The Cedars…brought to light grim relics. Skulls, bones, some tomahawks, boomerangs, and other weapons...' (Lack, 1967).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 611
- LanguageGroup
- Taribelang
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Maryborough
- KnownDate
- June/July 1849
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 60
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 Pegg brotthers, shepherds at Gin Gin station.
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Carbine(s), Cutlass/Cutlasses
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-26.548 Longitude149.931 Start Date1850-03-04 End Date1850-03-04
Description
On 15 March 1850, the Superintendent of Wallann Station, James Bennett, said in an affidavit: "Mr Marshall [an officer in charge of a detachment of native police]...arrived here about the beginning of the month, and I called on him for assistance… Mr John Ferrett (a co-owner) of Wallann and myself accompanied by Mr Marshall and the Native Police, on the tracks of the Blacks -- and in three days came up on them -- some blacks ran away, and a portion of them remained and resisted Mr Marshall's endeavours to apprehend them -- It was therefore deemed necessary to fire upon them, and an affray took place, in which some fell -- Having dispersed the Natives we examined their camp, and found several articles ...taken from this station when it was burnt down in April last [i.e. 1849, before Walker's first Lower Condamine patrol] -- We also recognised amongst the Blacks who had fallen two natives who were present on the occasion referred to when I may add that the Hut Keeper was murdered -- I did not count the number of natives slain' (Bennett cited in Collins, 2002, p 96).
The Moreton Bay Courier reported that 'the natives were dispersed with some loss, and I have no doubt, from the lesson taught them, that it will render the safety of this part of the country permanent, as their resistance on this occasion has proved of no avail' (MBC, April 6, 1850), indicating that a large number of people were killed.
Historian Patrick Collins (2002, pp 96-101) considers that the massacre was an 'encounter of major proportions and that many Aborigines died, rather than the tiny number implied by Bennett in his affidavit', an encounter in which Aboriginal people were 'pursued through the scrub' (2002, p 97). Collins suggests the attack was in preparation for putting the station up for sale and to assure potential buyers that it was safe from Aboriginal attack (2002, pp 96-101). The attack was carried out by Lt Richard Marshall and his detachment of native police with support from James Bennett and John Ferrett, in reprisal for the Mandandanji attack on Wallann Station and burning it down in April 1849.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 613
- LanguageGroup
- Mandandanji or Barunggam
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Surat
- KnownDate
- 04/03/1850
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Manager(s), Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Sword(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-25.599 Longitude153.09 Start Date1851-12-24 End Date1852-01-03
Description
According to Lauer (1977), after almost a decade of conflict between colonists and Aboriginal people in the 'Wide Bay' region, Aboriginal people had established K'Gari (Fraser Island) as a base of operations:
'Following these engagements, the Aborigines withdrew to Fraser Island, which, according to the whites, they seemed to be using as a convenient natural fortress, for the avoidance of European reprisal raids. At a meeting of the three Native Police officers with Magistrate Bidwell and local squatter, Edward B. Uhr, in mid-February 1851, it was maintained that on previous occasions the natives had retired to the island "after committing murders" and that this place was tactically regarded by them "as a stronghold from which they can issue at any time to commit fresh crimes."' (Lauer, 1977, p 52)
Between 24 December 1851 and 3 January 1852 a punitive expedition led by Commandant Frederick Walker, Lt Marshall and Sgt Major Dolan, and 24 troopers along with the captain and crew of the schooner 'Margaret and Mary', who were all armed and sworn in as special constables, was carried out on Fraser Island to 'break up' Aboriginal clans that had sought sanctuary on the island. According to Lauer, Walkers report cautious in it's details, unbelievable in parts and did not account for many days, even though 'This campaign of 1851-2 - the largest Native Police manoeuvre in the Northern Districts to that date - seems to mark another turning point in frontier relations.' (Lauer, 1977, p54) Walker did report that 'on the 24th, his troopers fired on retreating boats of natives, and "several balls struck", as well as how, on the night of the 27th, the Fraser Islanders "made frequent attempts to surprise the Native Police camp", again suffering casualties in doing so.' (Lauer, 1977, p54)
According to colonists at the time Aboriginal people were 'driven into the sea, and kept there as long as daylight and life lasted' (Lauer, 1977).
Some comparable details, such as the deputisation of colonists, the killings on the beach and victims driven into the water, suggest this may be the same, or related to a massacre written from oral history by Vic Collins. According to Vic Collins a massacre took place just to the south of K'Gari on the mainland at Teewah Beach, north of Noosa: 'The convicts were given their freedom provided they donned a red uniform (Red Coats) to keep the blacks in order. Stationed at Maryborough word came of a tribe of blacks stealing sheep from Mannumbar Station (on their way bay from Bunya Mts) Noosa blacks were blamed. The Red Coats track them to Teewah Beach. They were ordered to ride out on the beach and shoot the men (single shot muzzle loaders) then use swords on the remainder which they did. But children took to the water, so the officer in charge ordered the red coats to ride their horeses into the surf and trample the children till they drowned.' (Collins, 2000)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 615
- AboriginalPlaceName
- K'Gari
- LanguageGroup
- [Butchulla] or a collection of clans that had sought refuge on the island
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Maryborough
- KnownDate
- 24 Dec 1851 - 3 Jan 1852
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 50
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-27.146 Longitude149.056 Start Date1852-05-05 End Date1852-05-08
Description
According to Collins (2002, p 164), native police officer Sergeant Richard Dempster permitted a stockman named Johnston from Yamboucal station to lead native police troopers and other stockmen in a 'collision' with the Mandandanji people, one and a half kilometres from Surat, the headquarters of Crown Lands Commissioner Henry Whitty and Clerk of Petty Sessions Luke Sibthorpe. According to Collins (2002, p 164), on 20 April 1852 Dempster and his detachment of six native police were ordered by Lt George Fulford to visit William Ogilvie junior's Wachoo station where the 'blacks are killing and disturbing the cattle'. 'Should any collisions occur...with the hostile blacks you will use every endeavour upon your part to prevent the unnecessary effusion of blood and sacrifice for life' (Fulford in Collins 2002, pp 164-165). Between 9 and 15 May 1852, Dempster 'and some of his troopers became sick and rested at Wachoo. While they were recovering, Dempster allowed a station worker...Johnston to lead the remainder of the troopers in pursuit of the wanted Mandandanji' (on Yamboucal station). According to Collins, when Commissioner Whitty became aware of a 'collision' between the native police led by Johnston and the Mandandanji at Yamboucal station, and warned Dempster to call in his troopers at once (Collins, 2002, p 171), because he could be accused of breaking the law in allowing a civilian to lead a native police detachment. Collins believes that an investigation was carried out into Dempster's behaviour and that he was suspended for three months but the affidavits and the report are missing from the archives. Collins considers that a witness to the Yamboucal massacre, George Neale, told of the massacre to explorer Hovenden Hely who was in the area at the time, conducting a search for the missing explorer, Leichhardt (Collins, 2002, pp 173-179). It is unknown how many Mandananji were killed on Yamboucal station.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 616
- LanguageGroup
- Mandandanji
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Surat
- KnownDate
- between 5 and 8 May 1852
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- More than 6 ‘station blacks’ at Yamboucal station of T.S.Hall near Surat.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-27.147 Longitude149.009 Start Date1852-11-01 End Date1852-11-30
Description
This was an alleged reprisal for Yiman people having killed a shepherd employed by Mr Scott on the Dawson River and for local station managers complaining of stock theft. The massacre was carried out by a detachment of native police led by Sgt James Skelton and supported by stockmen Paddy McEncroe and D.W. Duncomb (Collins 2002, p 204).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 618
- LanguageGroup
- Mandandanji
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Surat
- KnownDate
- 01/11/1852
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- More than 6 men including Bussamarai, the Yiman man from Dawson River and four other men.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-30.816 Longitude152.356 Start Date1856-01-01 End Date1856-12-31
Description
'Two settlers had been scouting' Aborigines for days 'and finally located them in the upper reaches of Towel Creek. According to Stanley Murray, elder tribesman who repeated the story to Victor Shepherd about 1930, the two settlers sat up till well past midnight making lead slugs for muzzle-loading rifles.' 'The settlers had an Aboriginal servant working for them called Jimmy Taylor, who had acquired a sufficient knowledge of English to become aware of what was going to happen.' That night he went to the camp to warn his tribesmen and 'they immediately moved camp upstream and took shelter in a rain forest, some climbing to the tops of trees and laying down in the thick matted vines covering the tree tops, while others continued on towards the tableland. It would appear that Jack Scott's mother tried to hide in some bushes so fell an easy victim to the hunters. Unfortunately for those hiding in the vines, one man coughed. This at once betrayed their hiding place with disastrous results. It is doubtful if there is any record of how many lost their lives at Towel Creek. The place of the massacre is shown as being about a third of the way up to Jimmy Taylor's gully which is marked on the Comara map.' (Murray cited in Bloomfield, 1981, pp. 45-6)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 620
- LanguageGroup
- Dhanggati
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Grafton
- KnownDate
- 1856
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Foot, Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Muzzle Loading Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-32.697 Longitude151.638 Start Date1827-02-22 End Date1827-02-25
Description
On 3 March 1827, the Sydney newspapers, the Australian and the Monitor, reported that Aboriginal people's dogs had been attacking sheep and that a shepherd on EG Cory's estate at the Paterson River in the Hunter Valley had killed a dog belonging to Aboriginal people (Wonnarua). In reprisal, Wonnarua warriors wounded the shepherd and set fire to grass and wheat on Mr Cory's estate. The newspapers added that 2 mounted police dispatched after the event were ineffective. On 22 March the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser reported that, 'about a dozen black natives have been shot in the neighbourhood of Hunter's River, within 10 or 12 miles of Mr. Magistrate McLeod's estate;' and lamented that no Justice of the Peace was near enough to investigate. It added, 'The natives were in the act of retreating, laden with produce of the maize field, and were so courageous and impudent as to irritate the whites and attack them with spears, when, in self-defence (we believe) twelve of the blacks were left dead on the field.' Two days later on 24 March, the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser connected this incident with Mr Cory's property, saying that flocks had been attacked by dogs and spears were thrown at the shepherd. After retreating to a hut the shepherd was joined by another servant, and they shot and killed 12 Aboriginal people (although it seems unlikely that 2 men could kill so many Aboriginal people in one operation). The incident was clarified fifty years later. On 25 August 1877, the Maitland Mercury recorded that, 'a man who was present, as he admits, when a party had formed for the purpose of punishing the blacks for pulling cobs of maize in the field, and carrying it off in their nets to their camps. Observing some smoke rising from the midst of the Wallalong Brush, they armed themselves with muskets, and reached unobserved to the camp, where a considerable number of men, women and children were. They fired at once upon them, killing some and wounding others. The rest fled through the bush, pursued by the whites, and then the whole of the natives took to the water intervening between the brush and the high land, towards which it gradually deepened, and some of the poor creatures drowned. My informant, now a very old man, while expressing regret as to occurrence, said the worst part of the whole all was, they afterwards discovered, that not one of those who were "wanted" was among them.' (Maitland Mercury, August 25,1877, p10) The witness appears to have been an overseer at the Cory estate in 1827 and waited until Cory in died on 7 March 1873 before revealing his involvement in the massacre.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 625
- LanguageGroup
- Wonnarua
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Newcastle
- KnownDate
- 23/02 /1827
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 12
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Shepherd(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d17 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=625 SourceThe Australian, March 3, 1827, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-page4249109.pdf; The Monitor, March 9, 1827, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31758262;
Sydney Gazette, March 22, 1827, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2187895; March 24, 1827, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2187904;
Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, August 25, 1877, p.10.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18831954
Debenham, 2020, pp 10-13.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-30.645 Longitude150.85 Start Date1835-01-01 End Date1835-12-31
Description
Sixteen armed stockmen on horseback were in an alleged battle with Gamilaraay warriors. More than six Gamilaraay people were killed, and the stockmen suffered no casualties (Reece 1974, p 28-9).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 627
- LanguageGroup
- Gamilaraay or Nganyaywana
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Wallis Plains (Maitland)
- KnownDate
- 1835
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-31.895 Longitude115.958 Start Date1829-01-01 End Date1829-12-31
Description
In 1914 a local historian, 'C.B' described an increase in conflict in 1831, during which sheep were driven off from the farms of Mr Brown and Mr Bull. 'The opening months of the year 1831 passed without any serious outbreak, but in September and October there was a recrudescence of the depredations. At this period The Most Serious Raid chronicled up to then took place on the stock at the Upper Swan. Nearly 100 sheep were looted from the locations of Messrs. Brown and Bull, and a strong party of natives being detected in the act. The natives were driven off, but not before half of the captured stock had been killed and eaten' (Western Mail, 16 Jan 1914, p 53). C.B. says that no aboriginal people were killed in these reprisals, but earlier sources indicate a massacre or massacres occurred in the aftermath.
Early colonist Captain Charles Fremantle wrote of an incident in the Swan Valley after over 40 of Peter Brown's sheep were taken by local Noongar people in what they clearly considered an act of reciprocity and exchange of food. Local Noongar approached the farm shouting 'Kangaroo, Kangaroo!' suggesting exchange of sheep for the kangaroo the colonists had killed (Fremantle cited in Carter, p 78).
Another account by Jane Dodd provides more detail about the reprisal. Lilian Heal in her book on the colonist Jane Dodds (1788-1844) quotes from a letter written by Dodds which was extracted in The Morning Herald (London), 4 September 1832:
'Tom sends you a kangaroo skin, two spears and one throwing board, the latter the natives never part with but with life. You have, no doubt, heard bad accounts of them, but in almost every instance the settlers have been the aggressors; the one I am about to record you may rely on is true. A party of natives drove off several of Mr Browne's sheep, in sight of the shepherd, calling "Kangaroo, kangaroo", which was a plain way of saying "you have killed our kangaroo, now we must have yours", but the sequel is dreadful to contemplate; they were followed, and the soldiers and others fell in with them about midnight (it was supposed their number exceeded two hundred men, women, and children), seated around several large fires, at which were roasting about ten sheep; the followers all fired into the midst of the thickest groups, killing some, and wounding many; however, the others fled in the greatest confusion, leaving all they possessed behind them, and among the rest the spears in question. In the course of a day or two some of the natives returned, and murdered the shepherd, which created no small sensation in our neighbourhood, but it appears they will have a victim should any of their party fall, and they always aim at the quarter from whence the blow comes upon them, so that the innocent often suffer with the guilty' (Heal, 1998, p 60).
George Fletcher Moore wrote of the sheep raid at Mr Bull's but did not indicate that Aboriginal people were killed: 'Proceeding upwards in a due north course, we passed a fine reach of perhaps a mile and a half in length, having some very rich ground on its banks, which seemed so admirably adapted for a farm, that we gave it the name of "Homestead Reach." A little above this we crossed the river, finding the way almost impracticable for our horses, from the stony nature of the ground. From this, proceeding still due north, we passed a dry rocky broad part of the bed of the river, which was recognised as the spot to which nearly 80 sheep of Mr. Bull's were formerly driven by the natives, and on which many of them were slaughtered' (Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 27 May 1834, p 4).
In 1833 Baron Von Huegel wrote that the raid of Mr Bull's sheep lead to the killing of Aboriginal people: 'For instance, Mr [Henry] Bull, the settler at the furthest reach of the Swan River, lost a flock of 70 sheep. This attack, however, had grave consequence for the savages. A detachment of troops pursued them as they carried off their booty. They finally drove them into a valley surrounded by cliffs and fired at them at will until they cried out for mercy' (von Hügel, 1994, p 28).
It's unclear whether there was a single massacre after the two raids, or whether the sequence of events was the first raid at Mr Brown's, a first reprisal massacre at a large campsite at Swan Hill, the killing of a shepherd in retaliation, the second raid at Mr Bull's followed by another massacre in a narrow stretch of river at Success Hill.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 884
- LanguageGroup
- Whadjuk Noongar
- Colony
- SRC
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Perth
- KnownDate
- 1829
- AttackTime
- Evening
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- 20-30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-28.859 Longitude153.586 Start Date1853-12-31 End Date1854-01-31
Description
This massacre was carried out by native police in 1854 as reprisal for the alleged killing of two white men north of the Tweed River. There was no evidence that the Bundjalung at Angel's beach were involved in the alleged killing of the white men. Ainsworth estimates that 30 Bundjalung were killed (Ainsworth 1987, p45-6). A Memorial to the massacre was erected at Angel's Beach in 2001.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 629
- LanguageGroup
- Bundjalung
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Lismore
- KnownDate
- 1853/54
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- Men, women & children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-31.929 Longitude115.826 Start Date1830-05-03 End Date1830-05-05
Description
On the 3rd of May, the commandant of the Swan River Colony's 63rd regiment Frederick Irwin received a message 'soliciting Aid against the Natives on the Part of Inhabitants of the West End of the Town' (Irwin to Stirling, CO 18/7 p 119). The message included a description of raids and a violent encounter between three soldiers and Nyungar people who had occupied the house of a man named Paton. Later newspaper reports summarise the increasing tension and violence in the region at that time (Western Mail, 9 January, 1914, p 38 and 20 March, 1914, p 52). At Paton's house, when colonists tried to drive the Noongar people away, spears were thrown and a man who 'appeared the Chief, shewed unequivocal Gestures of Defiance and Contempt. On the Muskets being presented, the People now fired, and this Man was seen to fall wounded, falling a second time after rising. The Natives now made a rapid Retreat, leading him off' (Irwin to Stirling, CO 18/7 p 119). Ensign Dale and some guards went there ahead of Irwin and more men.
Irwin wrote in his report to Lieut. Governor Stirling: 'This daring and hostile Conduct of the Natives induced me to seize the Opportunity to make them sensible of our Superiority, by shewing how severely we could retaliate their Aggression, but that we had no Wish to injure them. With this View I continued the Pursuit, directing a Shot should not be fired but in Self-defence' (Irwin to Stirling, CO 18/7 p 119).
Two groups of colonists, one led by Ensign Dale and the other by Irwin tracked a group of Noongar people to a Lagoon. Ensign Dale was injured with spear wounds and a Noongar warrior shot in the jaw. After a twenty minute 'parley' Ensign Dale's group opened fire. Irwin included the following details:
'While observing the Natives here, several Shots were fired towards us from the opposite Bank by Mr. Dale's Party. On calling out for an Explanation, and to order the firing to cease, I learned that a Volley of Spears had been thrown at them while penetrating the Swamp to where the Natives were. Three Spears had pierced the Arm of the Acting Serjeant Major, and the Party fired in return. One of the Natives now called out from a Tree he had ascended, and gave us to understand that their Women and Children were with them, and seemed earnest in his Entreaties that we would leave them. I now told the Party to leave the Swamp, and for about Twenty Minutes we held a Parley; the Natives pressing us to leave them, and we in vain trying to encourage them to come out to us. At this Period, hearing a trampling in the Lagoon, I proceeded alone down the Bank, and distinctly heard the Groans of the wounded, whom they were carrying past; but the Height of the Reeds concealed them, except the Tops of their Spears. Considering the Object I had in view as now fully accomplished, of impressing a salutary Dread of our Superiority and Arms, while we shewed them we did not wish to injure them, after getting them and their Families completely in our Power, we left them, at Sunset, apparently on Terms as friendly as usual.
'During the night nothing was heard of them, but next Morning they were seen to cross the River at the Islands, with their Families, in considerable Numbers.
'A Patrol I sent out for the Purpose brought in Three Natives they had surprised. These Men had been often seen in the Cantonment, and willingly accompanied the Soldiers. They intimated, by Signs, that some of their People were dead or wounded in the Lagoon, after Yesterday's Fire. When this was told me, I took them off to the Lagoon, but they could show none, and I concluded they meant only to signify that some of their people had fallen there.
'On our Return we observed a Body of about Forty, including Women and Children, moving Westerly; some came towards us, on being called; and with these and our Guides to the Swamp we parted on very good Terms'
(Irwin to Stirling, CO 18/7 p 119).
Irwin did not report the number of people killed.
A letter from W.H. Mackie to Colonial Secretary Brown summarised the initial confrontation at Paton's house in more detail, indicating that two Noongar men were shot there, prior to the pursuit to the swamp:
'...they however stood boldly on the defensive, and when a gun was pointed at them laughed in a scornful manner and made signs of defiance - upon this a shot, or as some say two or three, were fired at them. One man is stated to have fallen, but whether from fear or a wound has not been ascertained. The shots however were ineffectual, for the Natives immediately rushed forward with loud cries upon the settlers, who, amounting at that time to only three or four, ran back, followed by a volley of spears and were pursued as far as Minchins.' The Noongar people collected their spears and returned to the house. The colonists called on their neighbours who came with firearms. 'A charge of small shot was then fired, but without effect, at the nearest of the savages, who instantly rushed on to the attack as before, throwing their spears as they advanced; but the settlers, amounting by this time to more than twenty, advanced to meet them, firing as they advanced, (by which fire another of the savages is said to have fallen) when the latter suddently wheeled round, and ran off at full speed' (Mackie to Brown, 1830).
Mackie then described the pursuit to the swamp at which more were killed:
'At this moment the
military who had been sent for by several of the settlers came up and joined in the pursuit
which was continued to a swamp about two miles to the North West of the camp, into
which the natives ran, and in which they were surrounded by the settlers and military by
both of whom (although strict orders had been given to the latter not to fire 'till ordered)
several short shots were fired and more than [note: "more than" is crossed out in the
original text] one or two of the natives are said to have fallen. They were seen also to carry
off some wounded or dead into the interior of the swamp and the moans of the wounded
were distinctly heard' (Mackie to Brown, 1830).
An article on the incident published in London reported seven were killed: 'In such situations they were shot at with facility; but they feared not the thunder and lightning of the Europeans; and seven of their number were killed' (The Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, 11 December 1830, p.805).
Historian Dr Chris Owen and Dr Clint Bracknell, a Noongar man, note that Irwin 'had reason to downplay the violence and the extent of the killing. Governor Stirling had proclaimed Noongar people as British subjects and therefore subject in law to the same protections as white subjects' and that 'Fabricating and minimising the numbers of Aboriginal people killed would become a resonant theme throughout Western Australian history. This culture of suppression was echoed across the continent and was later lamented as a "conspiracy of silence" by a 1927 royal commission into the Forrest River massacre in the Kimberley' (Owen and Bracknell, 2021). Irwin's narrative points out that the shooting was conducted not by his group but by the detachment under Mr Dale, in a spot he could not see, and states that the Noongar people carried away their dead and wounded, meaning that they could not be counted. Owen and Bracknell state that in Noongar oral history there is a 'near-uniform insistence that "a lot of Noongar were killed there"' (Owen and Bracknell, 2021).
John Morgan, WA Colonial Storekeeper to Under-Secretary for Colonies, recorded an estimate of at least 30 killed or wounded in a letter to Robert W Hay, dated 14 July 1830: 'The Natives, – have been very troublesome at Perth since I wrote, and in a skirmish with a strong party, who were evidently determined upon mischief, – several of the detachment 63rd Regt were wounded with spears, – and report says, – (for it was impossible to ascertain the fact) that thirty, or forty of the natives were kill'd or wounded' (Morgan to Hay, CO 18/7 pp.333-339; see also the summary in Buchanan and Buchanan, 2004 p 16).
Morgan's number of 30 or 40 killed or wounded differs greatly from other reports of how many were killed. The detailed reports of Irwin and Mackie make it clear that those killed could not be observed and so their numbers are indeterminate. Morgan's report may be biased against Irwin as they were in dispute over accounts related to the use or misuse of soldiers (Irwin to Stirling, 1830). This may equally be a reason to inflate the figures, as it may be to break the code of silence over how many were killed. Morgan was not present, but reported what he had heard. This could suggest either that his figure was exaggerated, or that he was reporting the 'off the record' numbers he'd heard from others.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 885
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Galup
- LanguageGroup
- Whadjuk Noongar
- Colony
- SRC
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Perth
- KnownDate
- 3 May 1830
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- 30-40 killed or wounded
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Military, Settler(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Retaliation for what were considered as acts of aggression on colonists' stock.
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d1d Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=885 SourceIrwin to Stirling, CO 18/7 p 119 https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2030475659/view;
Irwin, Frederick Chidley, 'Correspondence 1808-1844' https://librarycatalogue.vincent.wa.gov.au/client/en_GB/search/asset/3405/0;
Carter, 2005, pp 67-74;
Western Mail, January 9, 1914, p 38 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/44879885/3479435;
Western Mail, March 20, 1914, p 52 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37967507;
'Letter from W.H. Mackie to Col. Sec. P. Brown SROWA, Cons. 608 1 WA S1243 https://librarycatalogue.vincent.wa.gov.au/client/en_GB/search/asset/3422/0;
SROWA CSR ACC 36, Vol 6, p 146;
The Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, 11 December 1830, p.805 https://books.google.com.au/books?id=AxwCRa2weagC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false;
Owen, C and Bracknell, C (2021) A Buried History https://www.samedrum.com/research;
Morgan to Hay, CO 18/7 pp.333-339 https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2030343777/view;
John Morgan to Robert W Hay 72/6, 14 July 1830 in Buchanan and Buchanan, 2004 https://www.wa.gov.au/system/files/2023-04/Guide-SwanRiverPapers.pdf; Irwin to Stirling 5.1.1830 CONS 36 v.4/24 pp.24 – 26
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-31.953 Longitude115.861 Start Date1833-04-01 End Date1833-09-01
Description
In September 1833 an article appeared in the Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (September 7, 1833, p 142), describing how Noongar leaders Migo and Munday expressed a desire to meet with Noongar interpreter Methodist Missionary Francis Armstrong. Armstrong and the pair could converse sufficiently to come to an explanation that the Noongar people 'wished to come to an amicable treaty with us, and were desirous to know whether the white people would shoot any more of their black people. Being assured that the white people would not, they proceeded to give the names of all the black men of the tribes in this immediate neighbourhood who had been killed [Names not included in article], with a description of the places where they were shot, and the persons who shot them. The number amounted to sixteen, killed, and nearly twice as many wounded; indeed it is supposed, that few have escaped uninjured...They seemed perfectly aware that it was our intention to shoot them if they "quippled"…committed theft, they said then no more white men would be speared' (The Perth Gazette September 7, 1833, p 142).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 886
- LanguageGroup
- Whadjuk Noongar
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Perth
- KnownDate
- April-September 1833
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 16
- VictimNotes
- 16-25 killed, and nearly twice as many wounded.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-29.113 Longitude153.445 Start Date1843-01-01 End Date1843-12-31
Description
Rory Medcalf interviewed people in the Bundjuling community at Box Ridge and drew on the reminiscences of J T Olive of Woodburn whose father had been 'a squatter on the lower Richmond in the 1840s and took part in the Evans Head massacre' (Medcalf, 1993, p 5) to give a detailed account of a massacre at Goanna Headland.
According to Medcalf's narrative based on these sources, after Bundjuling people killed five white men at Pelican Creek in 1843, a group of 11 stockmen attacked a Bundjalung camp at Evans River and drove the Aboriginal people towards Goanna Headland where two schooners were sheltering from the southerly gale. The sailors on board joined in the shooting: 'Once within striking distance of the blacks a volley was poured into their ranks. Then the men aboard the schooners rushed for their guns and also opened fire on the tribe, who were mown down, the survivors fleeing in the distance. Altogether 100 darkies were killed on that headland, and for years afterwards the skulls could be picked up on the spot' (Olive in Medcalf, 1993, p 6).
Elder Mrs Mary Cowlan of Box Ridge said, 'Then the white men, they came along and shoot people ... I don't know the reasons ... they (the whites) didn't know blackfeller rules ... they had no pity, they killed women, men, children, babies' (Cowlan in Medcalf, 1993, p 6).
Elder Janet Gomes, said, 'Whitefellers started firing shots. There was no way out ... they (the Aborigines) were chased across the river from the Bundjalung Reserve' (Gomes in Medcalf, 1993, p 6).
Summarising the Bundjuling narratives, which are similar in many details to the colonist version, Medcalf wrote, 'It says the killings started at the riverbank campsite, and that the Aborigines were chased east to the headland, where at least one boatload of armed sailors was waiting.
The tribal group was all but annihilated, it says. They were the Birihn clans ... According to Douglas Cook, an Aboriginal elder from the Cabbage Tree Island community, who died in 1987, only two Birihn children survived the massacre' (Medcalf, 1993, p 6).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 632
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Dirawong
- LanguageGroup
- Bundjalung, Birihn
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Grafton
- KnownDate
- 1843
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 100
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s), Sailor(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 5
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-29.957 Longitude146.855 Start Date1859-01-01 End Date1859-02-24
Description
Journalist A. Norton was in Brewarrina soon after the visit of the steamer Gemini in 1859, and noted 'the native police had been there before my visit, and it was common rumour that the blacks had been shot down without mercy through the district' (Norton cited in Dargin, 1976, p 55).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 634
- LanguageGroup
- Pooncarie/Parkantyi
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Walgett
- KnownDate
- Jan/Feb 1859
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Unknown
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-28.896 Longitude114.683 Start Date1854-06-03 End Date1854-08-11
Description
This incident relates to retaliation for threats of cattle killing and threats on the lives of colonists including the spearing of shepherds. The local Aboriginal group made threats to Lockyer Burgess that they would kill his sheep 'when they wanted.' Deputy Superintendent of police, John Nicol Drummond, with a group of station hands from nearby property holdings conducted a massacre of the Aboriginal people who had allegedly been killing stock from the Bootenall (Greenough) area, with Drummond and his force attacking their refuge at Bootenall swamp/springs. Over the next couple of months follow up raids occurred on the Aboriginal people living on the Irwin, Bowes and Chapman Rivers around Geraldton (Pashley, 2002, pp 53–56).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 890
- LanguageGroup
- Naaguja, Nanda
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Geraldton - Midwest region
- KnownDate
- June- August 1854
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimNotes
- 15-30
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Shepherd(s), Police
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for alleged cattle killing and threats to kill shepherds
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Sword(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-34.11 Longitude141.897 Start Date1839-11-11 End Date1839-11-11
Description
Buchanan, (1922-3, p 72) an overlander, says that his party 'we from the opposite bank fired upon them also and killed the old chief, when they all took to the Murray and we kept firing as long as they were within shot. There were five or six killed and a good many wounded.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 637
- LanguageGroup
- Tati tati
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Goulburn
- KnownDate
- 11/11/1839
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Overlander(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-18.684 Longitude121.777 Start Date1865-04-04 End Date1865-04-06
Description
In 1865 Frederick Kennedy Panter, aged 28, James Richard Harding, aged 25, and William Henry Goldwyer, aged 34, set off from Roebuck Bay to explore the La Grange coastal area. They did not return from the trip and the local colonists suspected they had been killed by local Yawru Karajarri people. Noted explorer Maitland Brown led an expedition to search for the men. In April 1865 they found them speared and clubbed to death (Scates, 1989). The expedition party including David Franciso and Lockier Burges launched a punitive expedition with one member George Leake stating 'it is our bounden duty to ascertain how and where they have fallen: and if by violence, avenge them' (Forrest 1996, p 18). On 6 April 1865 the party engaged a local group and killed up to 20 people (Leake cited in Scates, 1989, p 28). A large monument was erected in Fremantle Park to Goldwyer, Painter and Harding. In the early 2000s, the monument was altered to acknowledge the Aboriginal people killed in the reprisal massacre (Mills and Collins).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 891
- LanguageGroup
- Yawru, Karajarri
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- La Grange Bay - West Kimberley
- KnownDate
- April 1865
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimNotes
- 15-30
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Aboriginal Tracker(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for disappearance of Panter, Harding and Goldwyer.
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d27 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=891 SourceScates, 1989, pp 21-31; Forrest, 1996, pp 15-16; Australian News for Home Readers, 25 August 1865, pp 1 & 9;
Mills and Collins https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-29/explorers-monument-added-to-not-torn-down-or-vandalised/8853224; Drake-Brockman, H 'Brown, Maitland (1843–1905)', ADB, Vol 3, 1969. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/brown-maitland-3080
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-20.581 Longitude116.807 Start Date1868-05-01 End Date1868-05-15
Description
On 7 February 1868 Jaburara (or Yaburara) people Coolyerberri, Pordigin, Woolgelgarry, and eight others were identified as killing Police Constable William Griffis, his Native Assistant Peter and a pearler named George Breem. Despite three local Jaburara men being charged and convicted of the killing, Local Magistrate and Government Resident Robert Sholl authorised two parties of punitive expeditions - one led by Alex McRae and seven others, and one by John Withnell and eight others. In one incident on the 17 February there were at least 15 Aboriginal people including children shot dead. This punitive expedition went on for weeks. The 'conspiracy of silence' about these events minimised fatalities. The actual number of Aboriginal people killed was erased from a letter from McRae to his sister. However local David Carley wrote 'it is very well-known by all old hands about Nickol Bay, and the 'Flying Foam Passage' that in one day there were quite sixty natives, men, women and children shot dead. The natives themselves have shown me the skulls of 15 who were shot. Three of the skulls were those of children, and two of these small skulls had bullet holes through them' (Carley, SROWA, Cons. 388, File 13). Historian Peter Gifford has recently described how the punitive party 'harried the Yaburara mercilessly, killing indiscriminately for weeks on end until the Resident Magistrate who had licensed this retribution, Robert John Sholl, now sickened by it, put an end to it' (Gifford 2017, p xii). There is a brass plaque to the massacre located at Burrup Peninsula and a stone arrangement acknowledging the massacre at Murujuga.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 892
- LanguageGroup
- Jaburara (or Yaburrara, Yapurarra)
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Roebourne - Pilbara region
- KnownDate
- May 1868
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 60
- VictimNotes
- 15-150
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Shepherd(s), Police, Pastoralist(s)
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for killing PC Griffis
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d29 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=892 SourceThe Inquirer and Commercial News, April 1, 1868; 3, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/6579813; 'The Governor – Statement
of D Carley (ii) re: slaughter of natives at "Flying Foam" passage (3679/86)',
SROWA, Cons. 388, File 13; Gara, nd; Gara, 1983; Dyson, 2002; Owen, 2016, pp 135, 144, 147; Gifford, 2013; Birman, W 'Sholl, Robert John (1819–1886)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 6, 1976.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-18.2 Longitude127.509 Start Date1886-07-01 End Date1886-09-01
Description
In June 1886, Halls Creek gold miner Fred Marriot was speared to death by Jaru or Kija people. Police reports attributed the killing to Aboriginal aggression although the reason for this attack was the miner's abduction of an Aboriginal woman and keeping of her for sexual purposes. Other oral history accounts state that the miner gave Aboriginal people poisoned flour (Kimberley Languages Resource Centre 1996, p 37). In July 1886, a group of Halls Creek prospectors organised a punitive expedition and as Robert Tennant Stow Wolfe, a member of the party, stated: 'We all went out and dispersed those niggers' (Clement 2000, p 6; Clement & Bridge 1991, p xiii). Aboriginal oral history accounts and private accounts of this incident differ from the official statistics in the numbers of Aboriginal people shot. In 'Moola Bulla: in the shadow of the mountain', the authors draw from oral accounts and suggest 'as many as 100 Jaru or Kija killed in reprisal for the killing of Merriott [sic] a miner' (Kimberley Languages Resource Centre 1996, p 37). Then there is the private diary of a young prospector, George Hales, who wrote that: 'A number of diggers went out to take revenge. Having bailed up a large number of blacks in a gully who showed fight, they proceeded to slaughter them with repeating rifles. It is certain that a great many were killed, some say at least a hundred' (Hales cited in Green, 1995, p 59).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 893
- LanguageGroup
- Jaru, Kitja, Wawarl
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Halls Creek - East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- July-September 1886
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- 20-100
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- Fred Marriot
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for killing of Fred Marriott.
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Pistol(s), Poison
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d2b Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=893 SourceClement, 2000, p 6; Clement and Bridge, 1991, p xiii; Kimberley Languages Resource Centre (eds), 1996 Moola Bulla: In the shadow of the mountain, Magabala Books, Broome, p 37; WAPD, Report by Sergt Troy from R. McPhee regarding death of Fred Marriot, Derby Police Station, 3 July 1886, SROWA, AN 5, Acc. 738/3; Lamond, 1971, pp 29-30; Owen, 2003, pp 129-156; Owen, 2016, pp 225-231; Green, 1995.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-32.141 Longitude151.721 Start Date1835-01-01 End Date1835-12-31
Description
Binghi people were shot dead and leapt or were thrown over a cliff in retaliation for them killing five convict shepherds at Robert Ramsay Mackenzie's property at Wattenbakh on the western bank of the Barrington River, two miles from Rawdon Vale, at the time known as 'Kiripit'. Survivors fled and were caught and killed on a flat at Bowman River (Wingham Chronicle, April 25, 1922, p 2).
A later article from 1935 claimed 6 shepherds were killed in the lead up to this massacre, and decribed the massacre at McKenzie's Cliffs as follows: 'The settlers from the Williams
River side came across to the head
of the Gloucester, driving the blacks
before them, while the settlers on
this side drove all the blacks up the
river and at last cornered them on
the small flat above McKenzie's cliffs
where they shot men, women and
children without mercy or consideration. Those who escaped the bullet
were killed by falling over the cliffs
and being smashed on the rocks below. Thus was the whole tribe of
blacks, with one or two exceptions,
who inhabited this part of the district exterminated' (The Gloucester Advocate, 22 Mar 1935, p 1).
According to Geoffrey Blomfield, 'The massacre has a strong oral tradition' (Blomfield 1981, p 121-2).
The location marked here is purposefully not the location of the massacre. Please note that 'The Aboriginal community has requested that the actual site is not promoted and visitation is discouraged' (NSW Parks and Wildlife Service. Barrington Tops National Park, Mount Royal National Park and Barrington Tops State Conservation Area: Plan of Management. Parramatta, NSW: Environment and Heritage: Department of Planning and Environment, 2022, p 22).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 640
- LanguageGroup
- Binghi
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Gloucester
- KnownDate
- 1835
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Shepherd(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 5 shepherds
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d2f Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=640 SourceBlomfield, 1981, p 121-2; Wingham Chronicle, April 25, 1922, p 2; Newcastle Morning Herald, July 25, 1964; The Gloucester Advocate, 22 Mar 1935 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/159633029; NSW Parks and Wildlife Service. Barrington Tops National Park, Mount Royal National Park and Barrington Tops State Conservation Area: Plan of Management. Parramatta, NSW: Environment and Heritage: Department of Planning and Environment, 2022 https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/-/media/OEH/Corporate-Site/Documents/Parks-reserves-and-protected-areas/Parks-plans-of-management/barrington-tops-mount-royal-national-parks-barrington-tops-sca-plan-of-management-220192.pdf
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-15.502 Longitude128.346 Start Date1886-11-17 End Date1887-01-11
Description
John Durack and his cousin John Wallace Durack of the Ord River pastoral station were allegedly ambushed by a group of Aboriginal men about 97 kilometres from their camp. John Durack was fatally speared. Colonists across the Kimberley including Michael Durack, Sergeant George Trusclove, PC Strickland a man called Kelly, Special Constable Reen, an unnamed Native Assistant, and a party of unnamed men that numbered twenty in all, formed a punitive expedition. Official reports declared that only two men were killed. Later reports from solicitor Richard Septimus Haynes described, in a letter to The West Australian: '...when 100 or 150 natives were slaughtered in cold blood, happened within the last six years, some little distance inland from Derby, and was related to me by an eye-witness' (The West Australian, November 14, 1892, p 3). A police file note stated 'that he [was] with others about the time J. Durack was murdered, rounded about 120 natives up and shot a large number consisting of men, women and children' (WAPD, 'East Kimberley, Wyndham Station, Death of John Durack by Natives). Later P.M. Durack, a descendent, writing in 1933, recalled the incident for the Royal Western Australian Historical Society: 'Later on a punitive force of police and volunteers were sent out by the government and a lot of the blacks were shot' (Durack, 1933, p 43). According to Aboriginal oral history via Jack 'Banggaiyerri' Sullivan as told to Bruce Shaw: 'When they started forming the stations, Johnnie Durack would ride around from the old station with a pack, round and round to find the good places. One day he was in the lead while another fella drove his pack, and he put down to where he was going to cross a creek. That was where he ran into the blackfellers. Instead of frightening them away he straightaway pulled out a gun – bang bang bang bang – and chased one feller down to the creek. The blackfeller ducked around and as Johnnie passed him, looking out for him, of course he let drive from the side and got him. When his mate found out he was speared he just galloped away leaving the pack horses there. If he had let the blackfellers go it would not have happened, but they all had the bloody wind up' (Shaw, 1983, p 68).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 896
- LanguageGroup
- Worla, Jaru, Kitja
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Halls Creek - East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- November 1886 - January 1887
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 120
- VictimNotes
- 120
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- John Durack.
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police, Settler(s), Pastoralist(s), Miner(s)
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for the killing of John Durack.
- WeaponsUsed
- Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1886: John Durack Massacres, NT/WA
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d30 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=896 SourceWAPD, East Kimberley Wyndham Police Station. Ambush of John Durack and Party by natives, 17/11/86 to 12/12/86', report 11 January 1887, 'Report from P.C. Ritchie of the wilful shooting of 'Young Jacky' and 'Monday' by 'Nipper'. J.J. Durack implicated. December 28, 1897, SROWA, AN 5/1, Cons. 430, File 298/1887; West Australian, November 14, 1892 p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3042051/804064; WAPD, 'East Kimberley, Wyndham Station, Death of John Durack by Natives, Undated Note Signed 'Gurney', Det, Received by the Police Dept, 15 November 1892', SROWA, AN 5/1, Cons. 430, File 2108/1892, p 3; SROWA Acc 741/1, Wyndham Police Occurrence Book, 1886-1888, Entries 26 Nov 1886 and 1 Dec 1886; Durack, 1933, p 43; Owen, 2003, pp 135-145; Owen, 2016, pp 225-232.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-25.761 Longitude149.993 Start Date1857-11-01 End Date1857-11-23
Description
After the Yiman massacre of the Fraser family at Hornet Bank in October 1857, three large scale reprisal massacres were carried out. The first was carried out by a posse of 12 settlers known as 'The Browns', who tracked down Yiman people across the Upper Dawson Valley and shot down 80 of them. The posse included Ernest Davies, 'Arthur (or John) McArthur, George Serocold, Peter Piggot, Thomas Murray-Prior, Alfred Thomas... a man named Olton and two Aboriginal trackers from Brisbane, known as Billy Hayes and Freddy' (Richards, 2008, p 63). Historian Jonathan Richards quotes from a letter Serocold wrote to his brother in England: "Whatever you do be careful as I do not wish anybody to be able to read what I have written ...Twelve of us turned out and taking rations with us, we patrolled the country for 100 miles round for three weeks and spared none of the grownup blacks which we could find" (Richards, 2008, p 64). Settler George Lang, in a letter to a relative Gideon Scott Lang, said that local squatters and their 'confidential overseers' shot 'upwards of eighty men, women and children' (Lang, 1858).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 641
- LanguageGroup
- Yiman
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Taroom
- KnownDate
- 01/11/1857
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 80
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Hornet Bank massacre
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1857-1858: Hornet Bank Reprisal Massacres, NSW/QLD
Details
Latitude-15.584 Longitude128.349 Start Date1888-04-01 End Date1888-04-30
Description
In September 1888, on what appeared 'a routine police patrol to investigate horse spearing, PC Graham and others, including his native assistant Banjo, shot and killed Aboriginal people at Goose Hill' in the East Kimberley (Owen, 2016, p 236). After rumours circulated that a lot more people were killed, more evidence came out. There were five more colonists including a man called Howard and another called Liddelton with the police party and they had all agreed to launch a punitive expedition to 'teach them a lesson' for spearing colonists' horses. Police officer Richard Troy charged all the men with murder which caused outrage in the town of Wyndham and there were fears the townspeople would try and break the accused out of prison. Though charged, none were convicted due to 'lack of evidence.' When Howard was confronted with the charge of 'murdering five natives', he told police that he thought the killings might have 'blown over', remarking that 'I cannot see that I have done much wrong' (CSO, 'Government Resident Wyndham - Natives (5) shot by PC. Graham & others in April 88). It is possible that over sixteen times more Aboriginal people (including women and children) were killed than the ones mentioned. The Sunday Times September 13, 1908 corroborates much of the detail and suggested that 'as many as eighty natives may have been butchered' (Sunday Times, September 13, 1908, p 3).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 897
- LanguageGroup
- Kitja, Worla
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Halls Creek - East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- April 1888
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- 6- 80
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Police, Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for spearing of a horse.
- WeaponsUsed
- Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d32 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=897 SourceCSO, 'Government Resident Wyndham - Natives (5) shot by PC. Graham & others in April 88. Report,' File Note G.B. Phillips, Commissioner of Police to Hon. Colonial Secretary, enclosing reports from Sergeant Troy and statements from PC Graham and native assistant Banjo, 2 October 1888, SROWA, AN 24, Acc. 527, File 2776/1888; Sunday Times, September 13, 1908, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/57585524/4330457; Owen, 2016, pp 236-240.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-17.5 Longitude124.75 Start Date1892-06-01 End Date1892-08-31
Description
On 8 June 1892 Kerralin, Meralmaddie, Merrigal, Yemin, Jinkymarra and a man named Packer, an ex–station hand from Lillamaloora Station, speared Robert Henry, Robert Allen and Thomas Henry with Robert Allen and Thomas Henry killed. A police party led by PC Armitage took over a month to find Packer and shoot him. They then shot another seven Aboriginal men and arrested one more. PC Armitage, who had previously been arrested in late 1889 for unlawful killing, pointedly stated 'the natives were camped in a very rough place and it was a matter of impossibility to effect the arrest of them alive' (Owen, 2016, pp 231-233).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 899
- LanguageGroup
- Bunuba, Nyikina
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Fitzroy Crossing - West Kimberley
- KnownDate
- June-August 1892
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for the killing of Robert Allen and Thomas Henry.
- WeaponsUsed
- Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d35 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=899 Source''Two men murdered and third wounded by natives on the Leopold Ranges - Police Corporal Holmes, Derby, [Thomas Henry; Robert Allen; William Amitage; Robert (?) Goodridge; Thomas Yates; Robert Henry; 'Barrier Station;' Ernest Black]', SROWA, AN 24, Cons. 527, File 939/1892; Owen, 2016, p 296-297; Western Mail, June 18, 1892, p42 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33075265.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-25.047 Longitude149.727 Start Date1859-11-12 End Date1859-11-12
Description
Following the Hornet Bank massacre, in June, 1858, under the heading 'Border War. Continuation of the Dawson Murders', the Moreton Bay Courier published a request from a squatter, Mr Sericold, for 'the Government, to take further steps for the suppression of the murders which are being continually perpetrated on our helpless shepherds on the Dawson River.' Sericold described a 'labyrinth' of cliffs and gorges in a large horseshoe shape around the upper Dawson, used by Aboriginal people to elude colonists. He added that 'from a communication I have just had with some of the Cockatoo tribe, I find that there has been a great "yabba," which has resulted in all the gins, picaninnies, and old men being sent into the Burnett, and the fighting men deciding on war' (MBC, 9 June 1858, p2).
A Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly recommended deployment of additional mounted police, Native Police and a militia of settlers to the area, and that the troopers be 'under military law' (The Darling Down Gazette and General Advertiser, 26 Aug 1858, p 4).
After a colonist was killed, on the 12th November, 1859 Second Lieutenant Carr with Native Mounted Police went 15 miles from Glenmore station (near Rockhampton) to the scene of the killing, and then another 15 miles in the direction of 'Coonoomoo' (possibly Commooboolaroo, south west of Dauringa) where they encountered a camp in scrub near the river bed. Second Lieutenant Carr wrote, 'On our approach the Blacks rushed from the camp, and were pursued by the Troopers, two Blacks were killed and sixteen Prisoners taken.' Lieutenant Murray returned with 3 captives and from their information obtained warrants for 'King John', 'Bueen', 'Billy' and 'Motzie' (QSA COL/A26/1860/79).
On 18 November 1859, Second Lieutenant Murray (not to be confused with Lieutenant John Murray) reported that 'having received information on the 8th of a mob of Blacks being in the vicinity of one of Messrs Kelmans and Duttons Sheep Stations I proceeded in that direction.' (QSA COL/A26/1860/79) He reached their camp 10 miles from these stations.
'I ascertained there was one amongst them named "Billy Billy"; as I hold a warrant for a Black of that name I tried to prevent them making with the scrub which was close to, but failed in doing so. On the troopers passing into the scrub in pursuit, the Blacks made a rush and attacked them.' Hand to hand combat followed and 'The Blacks got one of the troopers down, and gave him several blows on the head with a "nulla nulla"... The Blacks stood their ground for about half and hour, when we succeeded in dispersing them, leaving six of their number dead, and many more wounded. The one named "Billy Billy" was shot in the act of throwing a waddy at one of the Troopers' (QSA COL/A26/1860/79).
An article on the origins of placenames in Central Queensland records that 'COORADA Station, Upper Dawson, until 1856 portion of Ghinghindah Station held by Kelman, who, in that year sold the portion to Blaid and Hobler' (The Central Queensland Herald, 24 Aug 1950, p 16). Murray's letter mentions that he tracked survivors the next day to Zamia Creek, which is north west of Ghinghindah (Robinson, 1933). This suggests the massacre occurred in scrub about 10 miles north west of Ghinghindah. On writing the letter on the 18th, he said that he had been away 9 days, and having left on the 8th, the massacre may have been around the 12th November, 1859.
In a letter to the Commandant in Brisbane, dated 8 December, 1859, Lieutenant John Murray wrote that, 'From every appearance of affairs, in this River [the Dawson], I am of opinion that the Blacks are determined to lose no opportunity of murdering and robbing and it is almost impossible to deal satisfactorily with them.' He requested a boat and 12 double barrelled carbines, saying that with these, 'much more work could be done and with fewer men' (QSA COL/A26/1860/79).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 645
- LanguageGroup
- Yiman
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Curtis
- KnownDate
- Nov 1859
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-26.461 Longitude149.411 Start Date1860-03-05 End Date1860-03-08
Description
According to Patrick Collins, historian of the Mandandanji Land War in the Maranoa District, 18 Yiman people were killed by native police on Bendemere Station in East Maranoa in March 1860 in revenge for the Yiman killing of three stockmen.
On 5th March, 1860, William Simms wrote from Bendemere Station to the Leiutenant of Native Police, 'I beg to inform you that there a number of Blacks which I believe to be Dawson, on the upper part of this run, annoying the shepherds, and demanding their rations and amongst them I hear is one of the Dawson murderers named Beilba.
I shall esteem it as a great favor, by you comgin or sending some troopers over to disperse them at your earliest convenience.' (QSA COL, ITM3681990, 60/381)
On 8 March 1860, Second Leiutenant Carr of the Native Police reported that on recieving this letter he went with 7 troopers to Bendemere Station, adding that the messenger said, 'that if I did not reach the station at once he believed there would be some outrage committed that night.' Within 2 miles of the station he found a camp. 'Following on the tracks I came on the Blacks (a mob of upwards of 100) all of the Upper Dawson Tribe encamped within 1/4 of a mile of the huts on the station. On my approaching the camp the Blacks gathered in a bod and commenced a most determined assualt on the Police. I myself recieved a wound from a nulla nulla, and several troopers were struck with weapons of one kind or another. I directed the Troopers to fire on the Blacks, but although they did so, and with great effect still the Blacks for more than an hour showed no symptoms of giving in, fortunately they did so at last, just as my ammunition was nearly all expended. During the affray fifteen Blacks were shot amongst others one "Baulie" a notorious Black who is beleived to have been the leader in the Hornet Bank murders.' (QSA COL/A2/1860, 60/381. (DR110779) ITM 846732)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 646
- LanguageGroup
- Yiman
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Surat
- KnownDate
- March 1860
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 3 stockmen
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-15.494 Longitude128.354 Start Date1893-10-01 End Date1893-11-24
Description
'On the 18th September, whilst police were endeavoring to arrest some natives for horse and cattle killing, Constable Collins was speared through tho body. He died next day and was buried on the spot, on the Bow River, 110 miles from Wyndham.' (The Daily News, September 27, 1893, p 2) Police reports indicate that after PC Collins' death, a large-scale punitive expedition was sent out to catch Collins' killers. It comprised Sergeant Brophy, PCs Rhatigan, McCarthy and Lucanus, and native assistants Rocket, Willie, Mickey and Dickey. Over nearly two months from 1 October to 24 November 1893 they travelled 1091 kilometres and, as their reports indicate, shot thirty Aboriginal people (SROWA, AN 24, Cons. 527, File 90/1894). This patrol consisted of incidents such as this: On 14 October 1893 Sgt Brophy who was in charge of a police patrol reported killing four men and catching 'a few old men and women who could not run away' and instructed his native assistant to tell them that if they kept killing cattle or breaking insulators on the telegraph line 'all the natives would either be shot or put in gaol'. The following day the police patrol came across another group along the Ord River and because he 'could plainly see that the natives intend to fight it out', six more who he wrote were 'notorious cattle killers' were killed. On 19 October four more were killed. On 23 October 1893 the patrol discovered a group camped whom Brophy described as 'the most treacherous in the district'. Each officer took thirty rounds of ammunition and they waited until daybreak to raid the camp. In the dawn raid the 'women and children ran away' but all the men took to the rock hideaway with spears. Brophy wrote: 'It was not until 10 were shot dead that they made any attempt to run away. In all my experience with natives I have never known them to make such plucky and determined fight as those blacks' (SROWA, AN 24, Cons. 527, File 90/1894). From July 1893 (when Trooper Collins was killed) to 24 November 1893 police recorded shooting and killing at least eighty-one Aboriginal people.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 901
- LanguageGroup
- Kitja, Jaru, Mirrawong
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- October-November 1893
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal Tracker(s), Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for alleged stock losses
- WeaponsUsed
- Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d39 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=901 SourceCSO, 'Journal of a trip by Sergt Brophy and party in pursuit of natives who are killing cattle on the Ord, Osmand and other rivers 1 October 1893–24 November 1893', SROWA, AN 24, Cons. 527, File 90/1894; The Daily News, September 27, 1893, p 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/77380675; Owen and Choo, 2003, pp 135-145; Owen, 2016, pp 348-350.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-18.074 Longitude125.721 Start Date1894-12-13 End Date1894-12-26
Description
In one of the police actions following the death of PC Richardson in November 1894, PC Richard Henry Pilmer went on patrol into Geikie Gorge on 13 December that year 'and according to his record of events, by 26 December had killed anywhere between seven and twenty people' (Owen 2016, p. 316). '[Inspector William] Lawrence's telegram to [Commissioner of Police George] Philips recorded a death toll of seventeen, four being prisoners who had escaped when PC Richardson was murdered' (Owen 2016, p 317).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 903
- LanguageGroup
- Bunuba
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Fitzroy Crossing - Kimberley
- KnownDate
- December 1894-January 1895
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 17
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisals following killing of PC Richardson
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d3c Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=903 SourceWAPD, 'Capture of Wild Natives in the Oscar and Barrier Ranges', 26 January 1895, SROWA, Cons. 430, File 3548/1897. See telegram from Inspector Lawrence to Commissioner of Police, January 5, 1895; West Australian, January 8, 1895, p 2, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3071337/810682; Western Mail, January 12, 1895, p 13 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33111918; Owen, 2016, pp 315-316.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-26.15 Longitude147.949 Start Date1861-10-19 End Date1861-10-19
Description
On 6 December, 1861, John O'Connell Bligh, Commandant of the Native Police, reported from the Headquarters at Rockhampton to the Colonial Secretary that during his inspection of the 3rd Division on the Bungil Creek, Lieutenant Carr and 2nd Lieutenant Moorehead returned from patrol and 'reported a collision between the Detachment under the command of 2nd Lieutenant Marlow and the Aborigines on the head of the Maranoa where a new Police Station is now being founded' (Bligh to the Colonial Secretary, 6 December 1861 in Inwards Correspondence, p 164).
Lieutenant Carr's report of 30th October, 1861 stated that there had been an '... affray with Blacks, which took place at the Native Police Camp on the Maranoa River' and that '... the Blacks dispersed and went towards the head of the river, nothing has been heard of them since, I have however instructed Mr Marlow to make a patrol in that direction to ascertain something of their movements' (Carr to Commandant of the Native M. Police, Rockhampton in QSA COL/A23/61/3266, (DR 57342.pdf) ITM846753, p 169).
Second Lieutenant Marlow's report of 22 October, 1861 stated that on the 19th of October 6 unarmed Aboriginal people approached the police camp. With one of the native police interpreting, he explained to them that they should not come near the police camp and they left immediately. 'I believing that these six men were merely spies from the main body came up according to the usual customs of the wilder tribes, I prepared for the result should they return armed in force. I did not saddle up as I wished to show them that the camp was safe without the horses, and as I had no charge against them I would have let them go in peace if they would let me.
Shortly after the first lot thirty apparently picked men came up, fully armed, they gave me no opportunity of speaking to them but at once commenced an attack upon us. I accordingly led my men to close quarters and after a sharp struggle dispersed them with a loss of ten men on their side. I was insensible for a short period during the engagement from a wound on the head, one of the men also got struck but not severely' (Marlow to Carr, 22 Oct, 1861 in QSA COL/A23/61/3266, (DR 57342.pdf) ITM846753, pp 170-171).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 649
- LanguageGroup
- Gungabula
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Taroom
- KnownDate
- 19/10/1861
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-24.235 Longitude149.215 Start Date1861-12-14 End Date1861-12-14
Description
Following the Cullin-la-Ringo massacre on the Nogoa River and immediate reprisals of colonists and the Native Police, reinforcements of Native Police under Captain Bligh were ordered to the area (QSA GOV/23/61/74 (DR110747) ITM17671, p 127).
In his report of 2nd December, 1861, Captain Bligh described the 3 main patrols despatched: 'There is a force of eighteen troopers now stationed on the Nogoa and Comet; six of whom under 2nd Lieut. Moorehead are engaged in patrolling the stations to the east of Expedition Range, six more under 2nd Lieut. Cave are patrolling the neighbourhood of the late massacre, and the remainder under 2nd Lieut. Williams will also patrol there' (QSA COL/A23/61/3038 (DR57340) ITM846753, p 140).
In his report 2nd Lieutenant W. Moorehead of the Native Mounted Police wrote, 'I continued following their tracks until the morning of the 14th inst when a little after daylight, I came upon and found the Blacks (which I had followed 17 days) in their encampment, in a Brigalow scrub, eastwards of Expedition Ranges, and about 9 or 10 miles westward of Mer Masters Station. Upon seeing the Police they (the Blacks) at once .... every disposition to fight - brandishing their tomahawks and throwing several Nulla Nullas at the men and seeing that I could not disperse by quiet means - I was forced to order the Police under my command to fire upon them. Finding they were reluctant to leave the vicinity of their encampment. I made the Police [illegible] & follow the Blacks for some hours thro' the scrub. Before leaving I found that nine of their number were shot by the Police.' Native Police and some colonists were frustrated that Aboriginal people were sheltered at some stations. Moorehead added that survivors had fled to two neighbouring stations where one station owner said that 'he would protect them to the utmost of his power' (QSA COL/A26/62/823, ITM 846756. pp169-177).
In his report of 28 December, 1861, Bligh wrote 'I have abundant evidence to disprove W Dutton's assertion that the Blacks do not cross and recross Expedition Range, upon which he would ground his argument that his Blacks and all those inside his station could not have been concerned in the Nogoa massacre. I enclose a copy of a Report from 2nd Lieutenant Cave on the subject - and would further state that Blacks who had been wounded in the late affray and on the western side of that Range have been seen being carried by their accomplices across W Govern[?] Run on the Mimosa Creek, thirty or forty miles inside W Duttons and within one hundred miles of Rockhampton' (QSA COL/A25, DR110722, ITM3682016).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 650
- LanguageGroup
- Mandalgu
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Leichhardt
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1861: Cullin la Ringo Aftermath, QLD
Details
Latitude-24.168 Longitude149.476 Start Date1861-12-10 End Date1861-12-10
Description
Following the Cullin-la-Ringo massacre and immediate reprisals of colonists and the Native Police, reinforcements of Native Police under Captain Bligh were ordered to the area. Governor Bowen wrote,
'Captain Bligh, the Commandant of the Native Police Corps (a grandson of the celebrated Bligh of the "Bounty" and who was afterwards Governor of New South Wales,) was ordered by my Government to march in person with re-inforcements to the Nogoa River. He reports that the country is now perfectly quiet, and that three patrols are traversing it in various directions' (QSA GOV/23/61/74 (DR110747) ITM17671, p 127).
In his report of 2nd December, 1861, describing the 3 main patrols despatched, Captain Bligh added, '...I heard of two or three other large war parties, and recieved many complaints from squatters, travellers and others, particularly from W Thompson of Roxburgh. I have consequently sent NP Cadet Johnson with a strong detachment to that locality he left here this day' (QSA COL/A23/61/3038 (DR57340) ITM846753, p 140).
In a letter dated 22 December, 1861, to headquarters in Rockhamption Native Police Cadet Johnson wrote that while patrolling the lower Dawson,
'I visited "Roxborough" & was informed that a very large mob of Blacks had been gathering, for some time, in a large scrub near that Station; for the purpose of holding a "Boora", & that they had stolen 30 sheep & threatened to murder the shepherds. On the 6th I proceeded to the scrub to disperse them as soon as they saw me coming up - the Blacks numbering about 300 attacked me, and I was compelled to fire upon them. They then retreated I followed to be certain that they dispersed.
On the 7th I again came up with the Blacks when they at once made off in two mobs - I followed the party that made up "Ramsay" Creek, & on the 8th came up with, & effectually dispersed them. I then followed on the tracks of the other party towards the Comet & on the 10th came up with them on Mimmossa Creek. The Blacks again attacked me, & I was obliged to fire upon them, 10 fell, & the rest dispersed; from the number of their "Tomahawks" & other articles in the possession of the last mob of Blacks, & from the direction in which they were going I am of opinion they were some of the Murdering of Mr. Will's party' (QSA COL/A26/62/823, (DR 112352.pdf pp1-3) ITM 3682014).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 651
- LanguageGroup
- Mandalgu
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Leichhardt
- KnownDate
- 10/12/1861
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1861: Cullin la Ringo Aftermath, QLD
Details
Latitude-16.662 Longitude128.588 Start Date1896-09-22 End Date1897-01-30
Description
Police reports documented that: from 22 September 1896 until January 1897 PCs Rhatigan and Freeman and four native assistants (Pluto, Corriway, Paddy and Wallily) patrolled Rosewood, Ord River and Lissadell runs on several different police patrols (see sources for detailed list). Their diaries describe deaths under the guise of "skirmishes" and "resisting arrest" or "escaping". Legal use of firearms was unchecked, there were never attempts to arrest "ringleaders", and many people were shot only for "being in possession of beef", with the evidence often found after people had been killed. Others were killed simply because they were there. On every patrol a fight ensued with an unspecified number of Aboriginal people shot – often referred to in the record as "several". Police did, however, record expending several hundred rounds of ammunition in what would have been recurrent shooting. In another case, Orme reported to Phillips of one of PC Rhatigan's late January 1897 patrols when he arrested a total of seven people but expended sixty rounds of ammunition in doing so (SROWA, Cons. 430, File 3689/1896; Owen 2016, pp 364-367).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 906
- LanguageGroup
- Kitja, Worla, Jaru, Mirrawong
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Argyle - East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 22 September 1896 - 30 January 1897.
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 50
- VictimNotes
- 50-80
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for alleged cattle killing.
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d41 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=906 SourceWAPD, 'Copy of PC Rhatigan's Journal for September 1896', Argyle Camp, 15 September 1896, SROWA, Cons. 430, File 3689/1896; WAPD, Copy of PC Freeman's Journal from Wyndham to Argyle Police camp, 24 October 1896, SROWA, Cons. 430, File 3688/1896; WAPD, Copy of PC Rhatigan's Journal whilst travelling from Argyle camp to Wyndham from the 5 October to the 22 October 1896', 5 October 1896, SROWA, Cons. 430, File 3690/1896; WAPD, PC Freeman's Journal whilst on Patrol on Ord River and Lissadell Runs', 25 December 1896, SROWA, Cons.430, File 1344/1897; WAPD, 'PC Freeman's Journal whilst on Patrol on Ord River and Lissadell Runs', 6 January 1897, SROWA, Cons. 430, File 1344/1897; WAPD, 'Journal of P.C. Rhatigan patrolling the Argyle, Lissadell and Ord River Stations - January 17 to 22, 1897', Argyle Police Camp, 15 January 1897, SROWA, Cons. 430, File 1345/1897; Owen, 2016, pp 364-367.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-18.708 Longitude125.035 Start Date1896-08-14 End Date1896-08-14
Description
In May 1896 police reported that groups of Aboriginal people, possibly the Unggarangi people on the flat Fitzroy River floodplains, attacked the manager of Noonkanbah Station, William Cox, and stole firearms, and that Noormandie (aka Albert) and Darbelin speared a boundary rider named Duncan. Sub Inspector Craven Ord, along with native assistants and PC Phillips, went after the offenders on 27 July 1896. PCs Pilmer and Nicholson from Fitzroy Crossing joined up later. After tracking them for over ten days they came upon the group and killed three unnamed individuals, the rest escaping into the 'almost inaccessible stronghold in the St George's Range'. They continued tracking the group until 14 August when they surprised them in a dawn raid and 'dispersed the mob', killing six and wounding two although 'the alleged ringleaders escaped punishment' (SROWA, Cons. 430, File 2301/96).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 907
- LanguageGroup
- Bunuba, Nyikina, Unggarangi
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Fitzroy Crossing -West Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 14 August 1896
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for attacks on colonists.
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d43 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=907 Source'Native Troubles on the Fitzroy,' West Australian, August 21, 1896, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3098102; WAPD, Telegram to Commissioner of Police from Sub Inspector Ord. 7 August 1896, SROWA, Cons. 430, File 2301/96; McGregor, 1985, pp 103-122; McGregor, 1993, pp 63-82; Muecke, et. al, 1985, pp 81-100; Owen, 2016, pp 326-330.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-18.208 Longitude139.89 Start Date1861-12-01 End Date1861-12-01
Description
Encounter by Frederick Walker's expedition in search of Ludwig Leichhardt and Burke and Wills with Aboriginal people at Leichhardt River. 'My men shot two ducks in the river; and a couple of blacks were watching them a little down the river. After dinner, or a make-shift for one, my men went over towards the river, in hopes of getting some ducks; but as they were crossing the plain they saw two mobs of blacks approaching. As their appearance looked hostile, they returned to camp. I directed Mr Macalister, Mr Haughton, Patrick, Jungle, Rodney and Coreen Jemmy, to get some horses saddled. In the meanwhile Jemmy Cangara mounted a tree, to observe the movement of the blacks. He reported that they were stretching out in a half moon, in three parties. This move, which my men term stockyarding, is, I believe, peculiar to blacks throwing spears with a woomera, the object being to concentrate the shower of spears. It was one long familiar to me, and I directed Mr Macalister to charge their left wing. The result was that the circular line doubled up, the blacks turned and fled. Their right wing which was, I think, the strongest mob, got over the river, and were off, but their centre and left wing suffered heavy loss' (The Argus, 16 April, 1862, p 7).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 652
- LanguageGroup
- Ngawun
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Burke
- KnownDate
- 1 December 1861
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Explorer(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-10.746 Longitude142.612 Start Date1869-06-01 End Date1869-06-30
Description
In June 1869, Police Magistrate Frank Jardine orchestrated an ambush party comprising a boatload of marines and at least five others on shore to ambush four Gudang turtle hunters on the beach at Pabaju Albany Island opposite Kaleebe (Somerset). The surgeon Dr Richard Cannon accompanied the party on shore. The four turtle hunters were shot dead and later that day a further six Gudang were chased in their canoe and also shot (Sharp, 1992, p 39).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 656
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Pabaju Island
- LanguageGroup
- Gudang
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cook
- KnownDate
- June 1869
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Military, Sailor(s)
- Transport
- Boat
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-18.111 Longitude125.698 Start Date1894-11-19 End Date1894-11-19
Description
According to Chris Owen, 'On 19 November 1894 PC McDermott and Joseph Blythe (the owner of Brooking Gorge Station who as acting as a special constable) pursued a group of Aboriginal people into the Geikie Gorge. Blythe was injured in a fight where seven Aboriginal people were shot' (Owen 2016, 316).
This massacre was part of the cycle of violence following the killing of PC William (Bill) Richardson on 3 Nov 1894 at Lillamaloora Police Station by Jandamarra (also known as 'Pigeon') 'in concert with another Aboriginal man called Captain... from Esperance' who then 'released the thirteen prisoners that Richardson had just arrested' (Owen 2016, p. 312).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 909
- LanguageGroup
- Bunuba, Nykina, Goonyiyandi
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Fitzroy Crossing - West Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 19/11/1894
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisals in the search for Jandamarra
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d46 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=909 SourceAPB, 'Correspondence, Report for the Secretary of the Aboriginal Protection Board of Western Australia from Mr George Marsden on Oobagooma Cattle Station, 21 December 1896', SROWA, AN 1, Cons. 495, Item 44; WAPD, 'Capture of Wild Natives in the Oscar and Barrier Ranges', 26 January 1895, SROWA, Cons. 430, File 3548/1897. See telegram from Inspector Lawrence to Commissioner of Police, 5 January 1895; The West Australian, January 8, 1895, p 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3071337; Western Mail, January 12, 1895, p 13 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/33111918; Clement and Bridge, 1998, pp 47-79; McGregor, 1985, pp 100-122; Pederson, 1995, pp 132-142; Owen, 2016, pp 315-330.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-15.069 Longitude129.141 Start Date1890-01-01 End Date1899-12-31
Description
Jack Sullivan explained: 'I lived on the Keep river, which goes right from the coast to Newry Station. There were all Gadjerong people along the coast until the white men shot them. Half of them died and some of the young men were brought into the stations to quieten them and to learn the horses, like me. All the Gadjerong people were taken out of their country or were put on the stations or were killed' (Shaw, 1983, p 35).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 910
- LanguageGroup
- Mirrawong Gadjerong
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 1890s
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- 40 to 60
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Removal of Aboriginal people from Cattle stations
- WeaponsUsed
- Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-17.008 Longitude128.468 Start Date1908-01-01 End Date1908-12-31
Description
Hector Chunda told Helen Ross of the Texas Downs massacre: 'Lot of people bin get killed longa Texas Downs. Right longa where that house is (present homestead). Right under there. He never bin have em house there then. They bin have em bamboo, what they make spear with, that kind of thing bion grow there. Shoot them and burn em up there. And next time they bin go over to Mirririji there, another creek. That's the station Creek, another creek there. Just not to far away from house. Shootem there shoot em there, finish em up. Some young women they bin tie em up, bring em here (Turkey Creek). Young women, for working. Some kartiya bin married to him, black woman, young girl. They bin have em for wife or something like that. That's the way plenty half-castes now' (Hector Chunda cited in Ross and Bray, 1989, p 20).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 911
- LanguageGroup
- Worla, Kitja, Jaru
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 1908
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimNotes
- 9-15
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for alleged cattle killing
- WeaponsUsed
- Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-26.458 Longitude153.08 Start Date1862-02-01 End Date1862-04-30
Description
Walter Taplock Chippindall, Manager of Yandina Station, Richard Jones, sen. stockman John Farquarson and four other men ambushed and killed about 25 Gubbi Gubbi men fishing in canoes at Murdering Creek, Lake Weyba, during the bunya season (Gibbons, 2014, pp 142-7; 282).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 658
- LanguageGroup
- Gubbi Gubbi
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Moreton
- KnownDate
- 1862
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 25
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Manager(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Shotgun(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-27.086 Longitude152.955 Start Date1862-08-01 End Date1862-08-31
Description
According to The Courier, the Native Police under Lieutenant Wheeler massacred seven Aboriginal people, including Harry Pring, who had done nothing to provoke this action. Lieutenant Wheeler did not deny this but claimed that he had been instructed to 'disperse' Aboriginal people where ever they gathered.
'The result of our investigations has been the establishment of the truth of all that we previously asserted, and the confirmation of the impression that the attack upon the blacks was most wanton and unprovoked. It appears that, upon the occasion of the massacre, the blacks were holding a corroboree, and that, while they were so engaged, the Native Police surprised their camp, fired upon them, and killed seven men and one gin, besides wounding others, one of whom, an old gin, has not yet recovered. Most of the bodies have been removed by the blacks themselves, but two were still lying at the scene of the slaughter when one of our informants last visited the spot. One of the men shot was well known about town by the soubriquet of Harry Pring, and was not altogether an immaculate being, but we are not aware that his murderers were justified in shooting him down in cold blood, together with seven of his companions. We cannot gather that the blacks had lately been troublesome in the locality where the massacre occurred; our informants state positively that they had been very peaceably and quietly disposed of late, and had done nothing to justify the attack made by the Native Police. Lieutenant Wheeler, the officer in charge of the detachment, we are told defends his conduct on the ground that his instructions compel him to disperse the blacks wherever they may have congregated, but we have yet to learn that those instructions warrant such an act as that to which we refer.' (Courier, October 4, 1862, p 2).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 659
- LanguageGroup
- Buyibara
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Moreton
- KnownDate
- August 1862
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-16.961 Longitude128.192 Start Date1915-05-01 End Date1915-06-30
Description
In 1915 Constable John Franklin Flinders reported to Inspector Drewry (who in turn reported it to the Colonial Secretary) that Mick Rhatigan, who was a telegraph linesman and former East Kimberley Policeman, with his two Aboriginal workers, Nipper and Wyne, had 'shot and burned five or six Aborigines'. The 'charred remains' of two bodies were found at Mistake Creek and the bodies of five others named 'Hopples, Nellie, Mona, Gypsy and Nittie' were found some distance away. (The Advertiser, April 2, 1915, p 8.) This massacre was in reprisal for the supposed killing of Rhatigan's cow which was later found alive (Owen, 2016, p 438). The Sisters of St Joseph erected a small monument at the foot of the old boab tree at Mistake Creek to mark the place where the massacre occurred (Monument Australia).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 913
- LanguageGroup
- Kitja, Worla
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- May-June 1915
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimNotes
- 7-10
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d4d Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=913 SourceWAPD, Aboriginal Native Tracker 'Nipper'. From C. of P. SROWA, Cons. 430, Item 1854/1915; Western Mail, April 2, 1915, p18 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44758490; The Advertiser, April 2, 1915, p 8 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5455967/970938; Clement, 2003(a), pp 199-214; Clement, 1989(b), pp 17-18; Owen, 2016, p 438; Ross and Bray, 1989, pp 73-75; Monument Australia https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/93363-mistake-creek-massacre
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-16.804 Longitude126.004 Start Date1921-01-01 End Date1921-11-30
Description
In 1921, stockman Harry Annear was speared on Bedford Downs station. The reason, an Aboriginal witness called Lightberi stated, was that Annear was raiding camps and stealing young women (SROWA, Cons 430 file 7871/1921). 'The police responded when Police Constable Cooney, a "volunteer" Jack Wilson and five native assistants, proceeded to shoot and terrorise Aboriginal people at Mt Barnett to such as extent that they sought sanctuary in the Forrest River mission. This episode prompted missionary Ernest Gribble to write the first of many letters to Chief Protector of Aborigines A.O. Neville, alerting authorities to what was happening' (Owen, 2016, p 439). Gribble wrote: 'the native trackers [pursuing Annear's killers]… after making themselves friendly to a large camp of natives, had suddenly shot them all in a ravine difficult to escape from. They further state no white police were there only "police boys" [Native Assistants] (SROWA, Cons. 430, File 7871/1921).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 915
- LanguageGroup
- Kitja, Worla
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- January 1921
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimNotes
- 10-20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s), Vigilante/Volunteer(s)
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for spearing of Harry Annear.
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d51 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=915 SourceWAPD, 'Gribble to Chief Protector of Aborigines', SROWA, Cons. 430, File 7871/1921; See also Department of the North West, 'From Rev. Gribble: Re alleged shooting of natives by Police boys, "Quartpot" and "Long Billy", near Durack River', SROWA, Cons. 653, File 655/1922; WAPD, 'Statement by Lightberi Alias Kitty', SROWA, Cons. 430, File 7871/1921; Green, 1995, p 75; Owen, 2016, p 439.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-17.443 Longitude145.221 Start Date1884-10-01 End Date1884-10-31
Description
'Native police led by Sub-Inspector William Nichols and Cadet Roland Garraway killed at least six Aboriginal people at Irvinebank, inland from Cairns' (Richards, 2008, p 33). 'Mr Mowbray [and] Dr Bowkett . . . visiting the scene of the slaughter, not a vestige of human remains were visible, a large fire having been evidently built on them the previous night' (Brisbane Courier, November 14, 1884, p 5).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 662
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cairns
- KnownDate
- Oct 1884
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- Men, women, chiildren
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-19.284 Longitude127.889 Start Date1922-10-01 End Date1922-10-31
Description
According to oral testimonies passed down within dozens of local families, and backed up by handwritten diaries of the time, a police party toured the area on horseback in October 1922 searching for an Aboriginal man named Banjo, who was thought to have murdered pastoralists Joseph Condren and Tim O'Sullivan as O'Sullivan had taken his wife, Topsy. In the first subsequent massacre at Kaningarra, between Wells 48 and 49 on the Canning Stock Route, a police punitive expedition came across an encampment where Aboriginal people were cooking camel meat, and kept shooting into the encampment until they ran short of ammunition. Those who survived were led off and tethered by neck-chains to a site called the 'Goat Yard' at Denison Downs. The second massacre soon after, took place at the former Denison Downs homestead on the Sturt Creek Station, in a site referred to as Chuall Pool, where many Djaru, together with Walmajarri, were slaughtered. The victims were the survivors of the Kaningarra massacre (Smith, 2016, p 124). Subsequent archaeological evidence has provided proof of incineration of human bones at this site. Grant Ngabidi recalls the first incident: 'Four Halls Creek Policemen and three other white men came out. Someone told them who the two blackfellas were and they went low down looking among the bush people.' They told them, 'Oh big mob there, longa billabong, longa Wolf junction', and they sneaked up. There may have been about twenty or thirty police boys too. They did not tie them up or take them to the jail house; they murdered the whole lot of them, shot them all: Balgo mob, Sturt Creek mob and Billiluna mob; women, piccaninnies, dogs, old people, young people, middlesized people — finished them. I was there when it happened but they did not shoot me because I came from this other way and I was a stockman' (Shaw, 1981, p 47). A monument to this massacre was erected at Sturt Creek in 2011.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 916
- LanguageGroup
- Tjurabalan, Walmajari, Jaru, Pililuna
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Halls Creek - East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- October 1922
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 12
- VictimNotes
- 12-20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Tim O'Sullivan and Joseph Condren
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-15.2 Longitude127.85 Start Date1926-06-20 End Date1926-07-31
Description
Allegations of a massacre at Forrest River or Oombulgurri in the North Kimberley in 1926 were made by Reverend Ernest Gribble. These allegations generated such sensational national reporting that it led to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Alleged Killing and Burning of Bodies of Aborigines in East Kimberley and into Police Methods when Effecting Arrests chaired by George Tuthill Wood (Wood, 1927). The 'Forrest River massacre', in reality a series of massacres, was sparked when in May 1926, Lumbia speared a stockman of Nulla Nulla Station, Fred Hay, allegedly because Hay had raped one of Lumbia's wives. In mid-1926, in the wake of the killing, two police parties consisting of 13 men – Leopold Rupert Overheu (part-owner of Nulla Nulla Station with Hay), Daniel Murnane (a veterinary surgeon), two special constables (Bernard Patrick O'Leary, a pastoralist from Gallway Valley Station, and Richard John Jolly), seven armed native assistants and forty-two horses led by PCs Dennis Regan and James St Jack – went on a six-week pursuit of Lumbia. The party had between 400 and 500 rounds of ammunition and each man carried a 0.44 Winchester rifle. During the expedition through late June and early July, Aboriginal people were shot and burned. Estimates of the number killed vary widely. In 1968, the brother of Overheu told historian Neville Green that his brother had admitted to killing 300 people though this figure is unlikely and is in dispute (Green 1995, p 206). In the subsequent Royal Commission Inspector Douglas himself was 'satisfied' and gave evidence that 'sixteen natives were burned in three lots: one, six and nine' (The Daily News, May 5, 1927, p 2). Commissioner Wood reduced this figure and found that eleven people had been murdered and their remains burnt (Owen, 2016, pp 439-444).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 918
- LanguageGroup
- Yiiji
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Wyndham - East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- June/July 1926
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 11
- VictimNotes
- 11- 50
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for the spearing of a colonist accused of raping Aboriginal women.
- WeaponsUsed
- Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d56 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=918 SourceWood, 1927 https://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/catalogue_resources/93281.pdf; Daily News, July 8, 1926, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/84162412/8406726; Sunday Times, March 13, 1927, p 18 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/58325091/4346136; The Advertiser, July 16, 1928, p 13 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/49398848/2483931; Sydney Morning Herald, March 8, 1927, p 11 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16359964/1209517; Brisbane Courier, March 9, 1927, p 15 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/21121887/1643178; The Mullewa Mail, September 9, 1926, p 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240326539/26067489; The Daily News, May 5, 1927, p 2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78743784; Shaw, 1981, pp 157-163; Green, 1995, p 206; Auty, 2004, pp 122-155; Owen, 2016, pp 439-444.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-17.802 Longitude128.699 Start Date1896-01-01 End Date1896-12-31
Description
David Turner told Helen Ross about a massacre at Linnekar Gorge: 'Well, we got [story] some of them people got shot la Linnekar Gorge (On former Turner Station). Kartiya [white people] bin come there to shoot blackfellas for no reason. Gather all the blackfellas and tie em up with chains. Told em blackfellas to get all the wood. Stack em on the wood heap. With the chains - started shooting the blackfellas with the chains (still on). They had a bottle of kerosene and just pour em on and burn it up' (Turner cited Ross and Bray, 1989, p 19).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 919
- LanguageGroup
- Kitja, Jaru
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 1896
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimNotes
- 10-15
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Removal of Aboriginal people from Cattle stations
- WeaponsUsed
- Incineration
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-12.017 Longitude142.166 Start Date1902-01-01 End Date1902-12-31
Description
After the remains of 'several Aboriginal men' were found on the Ducie River, an investigation followed. 'Suspicion had pointed to Constable Hoole and the native police patrol which was in April last in the neighbourhood of the place where some of the remains had been subsequently found. Dr. Roth gave lengthy evidence of having had certain things shown him, and produced certain exhibits.' (The Brisbane Courier 30 Sep 1902,
p 5). According to Richards, the bodies were burnt to remove the evidence (Richards, 2008, p 35).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 664
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cook
- KnownDate
- 1902
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-23.248 Longitude150.183 Start Date1867-07-07 End Date1867-07-07
Description
After Sub-Inspector Aubin 'received information of the blackfellows robbing a shepherd's hut on the Messrs. Archer's station; that they were were creating distubances at Morinish, and in one instance had threatened to strike the wife of a miner with a tomahawk...' (Brisbane Courier, 18 Jul 1867 p 3), on 7 July 1867, a native police detachment of four troopers, led by sub-Inspector Myrtil Aubin killed 'several "quiet" Aboriginal people' at dawn, camped at Morinish gold diggings, west of Rockhampton. Local residents were horrified by the killings and the incident was reported in the Rockhampton press (Queensland Times, 20 July 1867). An inquiry led by Lieutenant Murray from the native police at Rockhampton, was conducted and his report, together the statements by the Morinish residents, Davis, Wilson, Cunningham and one other, and the statement by Aubin, were sent to the Police Commissioner in Brisbane (Brisbane Courier, 18 July 1867, p.3).
While the exact number of dead is not known, witnesses found two campsites with blood and saw the bodies of a man named 'Tommy', a girl and young boy pulled from a waterhole. (Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland Advertiser, 16 July 1867 p 2) The Queensland Times added to this that, 'The body of the old man has since been found dead on one of the heights in the neighbourhood of the town' and 'Scattered over the bush were to be seen several black troopers belonging to the Native Police, in close pursuit of the fugitives...' (Queensland Times, 20 July 1867)
At the inquiry Mr. Aubin said that 'it was necessary to make the troopers feared by the natives, and he had only done his duty' (Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland Advertiser, 16 July 1867 p 2).
According to Jonathan Richards, a historian of the native police, Aubin was dismissed by the Executive Council shortly afterwards (Richards, 2008, p 48).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 665
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Rockhampton
- KnownDate
- 1867
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-18.594 Longitude127.641 Start Date1890-01-01 End Date1899-12-31
Description
Ruby Plains Massacre 1 is a painting by Rover Thomas. "It relates the story of a massacre in which the station owner shot dead several Aboriginal men in retaliation for the killing of a bullock. Some days later, Aboriginal stockmen were drawn to the killing site by crows circling above and found the decapitated heads of the men in a hollow tree trunk. Thomas depicted this on the right of the painting, one of the few figurative elements in any of his works. The stockmen left the station in protest and, without labour, it was forced to close. This incident was part of the pattern of frontier violence in the region, from when settlers arrived in the East Kimberley in the 1880s in pursuit of gold and pastoral land, through to the 1930s. Aboriginal people were denied access to their country, as well as food and water resources. Killing cattle was a strategy to repel the invaders, as well as a food source. Such resistance from Aboriginal people was met with shocking violence, euphemistically described as 'dispersal'. These stories were well known and preserved via oral history among Aboriginal people." (Thomas, 1995).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 920
- LanguageGroup
- Kitja, Jaru
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 1890s
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for alleged cattle killing
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-17.858 Longitude146.116 Start Date1872-03-06 End Date1872-03-06
Description
Sailors led by Lt Sabben RN and another officer were sent with a detachment of sailors from Brisbane to Mission Beach to recover any survivors of the brig Maria which had been wrecked on Bramble reef on 26 February 1872. Some survivors had reached the British settlement at Cardwell but the captain and 13 crew were killed by Djiru people at present day Mission Beach. Sabben and his men landed at Clump Point, Mission Beach and were confronted by about 120 Djiru people.
'Whilst engaged in cooking we
were suddenly surprised by a terrific yell from
about 120 natives who rushed out from the mangrove bushes,
300 yards from the boat, with the intention of capturing
her. This, however, was frustrated by my crew getting
there first, and when the nearest of the natives were
within eighty yards I opened fire on them, but at the first
volley three of the six rifles missed fire, and on examination
it was found all the powder had got wet, as it had
rained a great deal during the morning, and we had also
shipped some water in the boat on our way up. We had
now only our own three Sniders to trust to. Our first
volley was returned by the natives (who were each armed
with a sword, shield, and boomerang) with a volley of
stones, which they kept up to the end of the fight with
great rapidity, but, strange to say, not a stone struck any
of us, though there were several narrow escapes. After
half-an-hour's fighting the blacks retreated into the scrub,
leaving behind them eight killed and eight wounded.' (Sydney Morning Herald, 6 Apr 1872, p 8)
According to Moresby: 'Suddenly there was a yell, and about 120 natives, making hostile demonstrations, rushed from the mangrove bushes 300 yards off the boat, and made for her; Mr. Sabben and his men ran also, gained her first, and opened fire on the blacks at eighty yards, who returned it with a volley of spears, and took to their heels after a while, leaving eight dead and eight wounded behind them' (Moresby, 1876, ch 4).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 667
- LanguageGroup
- Djiru
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cardwell
- KnownDate
- March 1872
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 8
- VictimNotes
- 8 dead and 8 wounded
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Military
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1872: ‘Maria’ reprisal massacres, QLD
Details
Latitude-16.461 Longitude128.215 Start Date1900-01-01 End Date1900-12-31
Description
Hector Chunda told Helen Ross: 'Some Kartiya [White People] bin round em up the blackfellas long bush, put em chains around their necks. They used to bring em, camp along the road, footwork, drive em like a mob of cattle. They took em to the right place, Jail Creek.
'They went up to the rock hole there, having the camp dinner. Then they were carting wood, take em back to the place where they were camping, then tie them up, like a dog.
'Right all the kartiya get em their guns, line em up every girl and boy and shoot em down got a rifle. Whang all the children on the rocks [smash their skulls on the rocks]. Chuck em kerosene, put em on the firewood and chuck all em them dead bodies in the firewood place, put em
kerosene and chuck em matches.
'Burn em up them, finished, they all there. That's the way (that's why) thy bin call em Jail creek.
'Boy and girls and children, all bin burn em up, shoot em down, get em all the kids like this one, hang em long tree. That's the way not much Kija people and Mirriwoong longa this country. They bin finish em up. Kartiya bin finish em up, killed the lot' (Hector Chunda cited in Ross and Bray, 1989, p18).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 921
- LanguageGroup
- Worla, Kitja
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 1900
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 50
- VictimNotes
- 50-100
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for alleged cattle killing
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s), Stone(s), Incineration
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-20.288 Longitude139.877 Start Date1884-09-01 End Date1884-09-30
Description
There are many later accounts of this incident, some of them sensationalised.
According to Richards' research, a detachment of six Native Police led by Sub Inspector Frederick Urquhart and assisted by settler Alexander Kennedy set out to avenge the killing of 'a Chinese shepherd on Granada station 70kms north of Cloncurry.' They encountered 150 Kalkadoon warriors on a hill and called on them to surrender. There was an affray in which 'an unknown number of men, women and children were killed.' None of the attacking party was wounded (Richards, cited in Bottoms, 2013, p 166). Urquhart's report is in Urquhart to Ahern, 15 March 1885. QSA A/41765. ID 290473.
In 1965 Wittington summarised that after the massacre at Battle Gorge which was a response to the killing of Powell, 'The Kalkadoons were, however, by no means subdued. Soon afterwards, at a lonely outpost on Granada Station, they raided and burnt the camp and killed the Chinese shepherd. Urquhart, with Hopkins, the owner, and a strong force of Native Police, tracked the Kalkadoons to Prospector's Creek, some 60 miles north-west of Cloncurry.
In one of the few recorded pitched battles between whites and aborigines, the Kalkadoons fought to the bitter end. Most of their warriors were wiped out in repeated charges against the rifles of the firmly established police force.' (Wittington, 1965 p519)
This conflict was mentioned in 1900 in the Brisbane Courier, 'In their day the Kalkadoons formed the most warlike and desperate of the tribes that the early pioneers had to contend with. They occupied the mountain ranges, and knowing all the country round, terrorised the blacks of the lowlands, always making good their escape to their mountain fastnesses. At
Battle Mountain they kept a certain police
inspector at bay for the greater part of the
day. One of the survivors of the encounter
is "Tabby," still on Glenroy, and still wears
a bullet wound on his head.' (Brisbane Courier, 13/10/1900, p 6)
A description of the 'Battle of Kalkadoon' published in 1951 remarked that 'On the battlefield as late as the writer's time out there (early in this century) sunbleached
shank bones and pieces of blackfellows' skulls were to be found lying amongst the spinifex' (The Beaudesert Times, 17 Aug 1951, p 5).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 669
- LanguageGroup
- Kalkadoon
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cloncurry
- KnownDate
- Sept 1884
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- This has become a relatively well known story with some versions having much higher death tolls.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Chinese shepherd on Granada station
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-22.057 Longitude139.612 Start Date1879-02-01 End Date1879-02-28
Description
Between 12 and 21 January 1879, a large group of Yalarrnga and Pitta Pitta warriors who were conducting major ceremonies at Wonomo Waterhole on Sulieman Creek, killed stockman Bernard Molvo and three others. It appears that the stockmen were witnessing 'secret' ceremonies and abducting Yalarrnga and Pitta Pitta women for sex. In February, Sub-Inspector Ernest Eglington led a detachment of native police, and 'a white vigilante group' (Bottoms, 2013, p 162) of settlers including Alexander Kennedy and Robert Currie from Buckingham Downs Station, William Paterson from Goodwood Station. During February they carried out at least five reprisal massacres of the Yalarrnga and Pitta Pitta people. The massacre sites included: Buckingham Downs; Sulieman Creek; Goodwood Station; Monastery Creek; and The Monument. It is estimated by the Yalarrnga descendants of the massacre survivors that more than 100 men, women and children were killed. This would suggest that about 20 Aboriginal people were killed at each of the five sites.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 670
- LanguageGroup
- Yalarrnga
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Burke River, Boulia
- KnownDate
- February 1879
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Bernard Molvo and three stockmen at Wonomo Waterhole in January 1879Waterhole
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Repeating Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1879: Selwyn Range, QLD
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d64 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=670 SourceBrisbane Courier, March 5, 1879, p 3 'Murders in the Far West" http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article898062; Evening News, March 10, 1879, "Massacres by Queensland Blacks" http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article107155604; Morning Bulletin, March, 1, 1879, "Blackall" http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51991181; Queenslander, January 8, 1921, "Sketcher. Early Days in North-West Queensland" http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22608264; Townsville Daily Bulletin, June 29, 1917 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62574187, January 27, 1931http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61581906, August 16, 1948 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63372166; Fysh, 1961, pp 94-96; Bottoms, 2013, pp 162-164; Davidson et al, 2020, pp 1-16.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-17.885 Longitude127.891 Start Date1880-01-01 End Date1899-12-31
Description
Biddy Malingal 1888 [Related to the George Barnett Massacre] told Helen Ross of massacres occurring at Lightman Creek, Violet Valley and Panton Creek.
'They came from the west
A big mob of people came from Moola Bulla, from Halls Creek and from Turner.
To the ceremony place at Lightman Creek
That's the biggest place for young men's ceremonies.
They all called out
All the Lunka [also known as Kija] people from the west, then from the east.
All the Jaru people
Mirrawong people from the north
They had a fight then
'Then there' all the kartiya coming!'
Kalpany, Klaykuny and Punjinygany three brothers ran away
They chased them west.
They kept chasing the right across the roses yard
Half way the kartiya got tired and thirsty so they came back
They went back and shot all the babies, kids and teenage girls
And all the old ladies their mothers and grandmothers, and all the old men.
They had all climbed up trees poor things
They shot them down like birds and they fell down like birds.
Finished
They got all the wood and piled it up
They pulled all the people and put them on top of the
Wood put kerosene on it and lit the fire.' (Ross and Bray, 1989, p 9)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 924
- LanguageGroup
- Worla, Kitja
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 1880s-1890s
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimNotes
- 10-20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Removal of Aboriginal people from cattle stations
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-21.167 Longitude135.446 Start Date1889-01-01 End Date1897-12-31
Description
In her PhD thesis (2006) on the life of Alexander Donald (Pwerle) Ross, Whitebeach interviewed a descendant, Don Ross, who said: 'Old Frank MacDonald, old Scotsman, was with [the other] mob, with the Coulthards, those brothers. They went to Elkedra, that mob. A thousand cattle each, I think they had. Frank MacDonald worked out there at Elkedra for a while. Alyawarr lived out there. They'd kill you, all right, so they [white cattlemen] used to shoot them [Alyawarr]. He [Frank MacDonald] used to see them coming down with the firestick. They were looking for him, to kill him. And I said, "Did you shoot at 'em'?" He said, "Did I? I threaded the bastards, just like putting thread through a needle". He got through the lot, he reckoned. He stopped a while [at Elkedra], then drifted away from there. He was gone by the time Riley and Kennedy had Elkedra' (Ross cited in Whitebeach, p 175).
Groom, cited in Bell (1978, p 36, fn 12), said: 'In the 1880s, the Willowie Pastoral Company took up the lease at Elkedra. The station was abandoned after an incident with the local Aborigines which convinced the manager that he was not welcome within their country.' William (Billy) Coulthard was the Manager of Elkedra in the Frew River region for the Willowie Pastoral Co.
Trish Lonsdale's oral history interview with Bill Riley (Reel 3) includes: 'He [Billy Coulthard] was greatly impressed with the Frew River and the reason they left there was the blacks were too bad and any cattle they did not kill – and they did not kill them to eat, either…The blacks were trying to hunt them out of the country. In fact, old Billy [Coulthard] had more boomerang marks on him than any blackfella I have seen. The blacks were trying to murder them. …The reason they left there was on account of the blacks…they sent in a report to their company and there was only one thing to do and that was to start to shoot, but the Willowie Pastoral Company decided that rather than resort to murder they would abandon the whole project. It would be something inside of four years that the whole thing would last.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 925
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Imperrenth
- LanguageGroup
- Alyawarr
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Alice Springs
- KnownDate
- 1891
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- Warriors seeking to drive out pastoralists.
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-15.29 Longitude144.698 Start Date1873-11-05 End Date1873-11-05
Description
In October 1873 government mining engineer McMillan and Cooktown police magistrate St George set off from Cooktown with a party of 90 miners and 18 others including Black tracker Jerry, an unknown number of native police troopers and 31 horses on the track to the Palmer River gold field. En route, they killed between 80 and 150 Gugu-Warra in a lagoon on the road to the Palmer River (Bottoms, 2013, pp 117-119). The massacre was first reported in the Brisbane Telegraph on 22 January 1874, which prompted an inquiry by the Queensland government. The inquiry was conducted by Cooktown magistrate, James Hamilton. He interviewed 16 miners who were in the party and they all denied that any Aboriginal people were killed. In 1922, R. Logan Jack included an account of the massacre by Billy Webb, one of the 16 miners interviewed by Hamilton. Webb recounted that on Wed 5 November 1873, a large group of Gugu-Warra Warriors approached the party, and the native police shot at them until they ran away. In 1937, another miner, JJ Hogg, also previously interviewed by Hamilton, prepared his account of the 'massacre'. He said that the leaders of the party surprised a large encampment of Aboriginal people 'preparing their breakfast and shot them all' (Telegraph (Brisbane) January 22, 1874, p 3):
The journal of a member of the party was reported as saying, "November 3. —
Started over the spur of the range running to
E; came to Normanby River (15 miles);
started a mob of blacks; shot four and hunted
them; fine river. November 4th.— Started,
15 miles; Surprise Lagoons; camped 5th for
spell. November 6th. — Blacks surprised us at
day-break, about 150, all were armed; got
close to camp before any one heard them; great consternation; shot several; they ran into the water holes for shelter, where they were shot; traveled then unmolested for two or three days to Kennedy River; crossed the Lorenzo River; plenty of running water all the way; good country about Kennedy; course, N.W.; followed River Kennedy up course S., 15 miles; camped; had an encounter with the blacks; shot a lot; camped next day on head of Kennedy; came over ridges next day to Palmer, 12 miles below diggings; plenty of game and fish; camped one day, fishing; came to diggings on Friday;" (Telegraph (Brisbane) January 22, 1874, p 3). The site became known as Battle Camp.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 671
- LanguageGroup
- Gugu-Warra
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cooktown
- KnownDate
- 5 Nov 1873
- AttackTime
- Morning
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 80
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s), Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 miners in an earlier party.
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s), Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-17.046 Longitude139.496 Start Date1918-01-01 End Date1918-12-31
Description
According to Tim Bottoms, 'In 1914 a man named John McKenzie made an unauthorised attempt to settle on Bentinck Island' (Bottoms, 2013: 169). Dibirdibi (Roma Kelly), a Kaiadilt descendant from Bentinck, told linguist Nicholas Evans what her parents told her, which was that 'During his short time on Bentinck Island, McKenzie systematically tried to eliminate the Kaiadilt, riding across the island on horseback, and shooting down everyone but the girls he intended to rape' (Kelly and Evans, 1985, p. 45). From oral sources Norman Tindale compiled a detailed genealogy from which he estimates that in about 1918 eleven people were killed 'by a white raid' (Tindale, 1962b, p 305). Kelly and Evans estimate this to be 'about 10% of the Kaiadilt population' (Kelly and Evans, 1985, p 45). Tindale gives details of McKenzie's time on Bentinck and Sweers Islands in another article (Tindale, 1962a, pp 266-7).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 673
- LanguageGroup
- Kaiadilt
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Burketown
- KnownDate
- 1918
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 11
- VictimNotes
- Men, women, children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-17.065 Longitude129.987 Start Date1894-06-01 End Date1894-06-05
Description
Mounted Constable William Willshire, having been acquitted of a Central Australian murder at a trial in Port Augusta, was posted to the Victoria River District between 1893 and1895 where, according to Mulvaney (1990, np), he was able 'to commit mayhem at will'.
Willshire, writing in 1896 (pp 40-41), said: 'In the month of June, 1894, we came across some tracks of natives that had been recently killing cattle on the Victoria Run…They scattered in all directions, setting fire to the grass on each side of us, throwing occasional spears, and yelling at us. It's no use mincing matters — the Martini-Henry carbines at this critical moment were talking English in the silent majesty of those great eternal rocks. The mountain was swathed in a regal robe of fiery grandeur, and its ominous roar was close upon us. The weird, awful beauty of the scene held us spellbound for a few seconds'.
Rose (1992, p 12) quoted Lindsay Crawford, the first Manager of Victoria River Station, in 1895: '"…during the last ten years, in fact since the first white man settled here, we have held no communication with the natives at all, except with the rifle. They have never been allowed near this station or the outstations, being too treacherous and warlike"'.
The Gurindji referred to massacres on their land in their 1967 petition to the Governor-General following the Wave Hill Walkoff. Zach Hope, reporting in the Northern Territory News, 19 Aug 2016 (p 12) wrote: 'According to [Darrell] Lewis, Willshire talks of several violent encounters in his memoirs Land of the Dawning. One of those encounters was at Black Gin Creek, not far from Tartarr...'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 927
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Lartajarni, near Tartarr.
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek
- KnownDate
- 1894
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Martini-Henry Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d67 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=927 SourceRoberts 2009; Willshire, 1895, pp 40-41; Morrison, https://australianfrontierconflicts.com.au/; Hope, NT News, 19 Aug 2016, p 12 'Bones tell of past steeped in horror'; D. J. Mulvaney, 'Willshire, William Henry (1852–1925)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 12, 1990; Meakins, 2017, pp 75-77; Rose, 1992, p 12.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-28.196 Longitude143.339 Start Date1865-01-01 End Date1865-12-31
Description
In September 1865 reports emerged that John Dowling of Paroo in the Warrego District had been murdered by his Aboriginal assistant and guide, Waddy Galo, of the Buela River and that Mr William Hall and Mr George Podmore with an Aboriginal assistant had tracked them to where they found his body with his belongings and with his skull crushed (Sydney Mail, 2 Sep, 1865, p 4).
Long after the event, in 1922, E.O. Hobkirk claimed to have been at a massacre led by John Dowling's brother, Vincent Dowling, and attempted to sell his story for 10 shillings at the Home Secretary's Office. He wrote:
'When Mr Vincent Dowling heard the sad news, he was very math [sic] as well as may be expected and cut up.
A short time after he received the sad tidings, he came to Thouringowa Station. I was informed that he (Mr
Dowling) had written to the Queensland government authorities concerning the murder and the reply was "to
take whatever measures he thought best to revenge the murder" as there were no Native Police at that time in the District
to see to the matter.
The following procedure was adopted. All the men in the neighbourhood who were available and willing (not
including myself) were banded together, armed with revolvers and rifles, set out to revenge the blacks' camp,
which was close to the homestead and when doing so there they found belonging [sic] of the murdered man consisting of
his hat, coat, blankets, tomahawk, sheath knife etc.
Mr V Dowling who could talk the blacks' lingo pretty well asked several of them "who killed white fellah?
brother belonging to me." They one and all answered "they knew nothing about the murder." He also enquired,
"Where Pimpilly." This they also confessed "that they knew nothing whatever about him." Mr Dowling then said, "If
you do not tell me, I will shoot the lot of yous." Still they all remained silent. Mr Dowling and the others, then set
to work and put an end to many of them not touching the lubras and young fry. This I know is true as I helped
first to burn the bodies and then to bury them. A most unpleasant undertaking but as I was only a jackaroo on
Cheshunt station at the time, I had to do what I was told. Later in the day the party went to another camp of blacks
about 20 miles down the river and there again shot about the same number.
After the massacre, the whole tribe of blacks left the river frontage and that locality and went miles away out
in the ranges and elsewhere. We found it hard to prevent the few that were employed on the stations from doing
likewise as they were so scared at what had taken place that we had to lock them up in the hut that was used as
a store for a short time. For many months there was not A single black to be seen for miles around excepting
the few already mentioned among these was an elderly man who was deaf and dumb' (Hobkirk in Dillon, 2019, pp 108-110).
Although arguing against the veracity of details reported in this massacre, Dillon has researched and published many relevant sources (Dillon, 2019).
Hobkirk also tried to sell other stories, and Dillon highlights many discrepancies in details between his stories and other evidence. As Hobkirk was an old man recalling an event after 57 years and is trying to sell his story we should expect some details to be misremembered or exaggerated. None the less, it is most likely that his story has some basis in real events. Hobkirk's story begins with a verifiable event - the killing of John Dowling.
As well as the full text of Hobkirk's story, Dillon provides sources on a controversy in the press prior to John Dowling's murder that provides important context. In 1864 and 1865, a series of letters were published in newspapers beginning with a claim made by a correspondent referred to as 'Bourke' in 1864 that Mr Dowling had been killed by Aboriginal people (Dillon, 2019, pp 95-103).
About a year prior to the murder of John Dowling an article appeared stating that 'Mr Dowling, son of Judge Dowling' had been murdered along with three or four of his men. This appears to refer to either Vincent or John Dowling, though no first name was used, as their father was a judge. According to this article 3 or 4 men were murdered with Dowling and the Native Police and colonists were 'stuck up' and held under siege at Thom's station by Aboriginal people. Another group of Native Police came to reinforce them after 'dispersing' Aboriginal people at Tooth's run (The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser, 25 Jun 1864, p 4)
This was contradicted by Vincent Dowling, who wrote that he was alive and that 'The blacks on the Paroo are the quietest I know in the colonies' (Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 12 July, 1864, p 3). 'Bourke' replied that it was a shepherd also named 'Dowling' who had been killed (Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 9 August, 1864, p 3). The exchange then focuses on whether the region is safe or dangerous, with Vincent Dowling arguing that '...many of those paragraphs are not only untrue in themselves, but calculated to seriously injure the character of the district... The Warrego district, which is, without exception one of the largest and most valuable possessed by Queensland, is not the lawless state your correspondent would evidently lead your readers to believe... I have no hesitation in asserting that the blacks are, as a body, perfectly inoffensive, quiet, and well disposed... This immunity from crime will, I think, convince every impartial member of the community that in this far distant portion of the Queensland territory there is greater security both for life and property than in any part of New South Wales...' (Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 1 April, 1865, p 5) Bourke's response stated that Mr Dowling (the shepherd) and others had died and lists the names of five men who had died of thirst, adding, 'And your correspondent did his duty in warning travellers against coming into this waterless country... We are only working men; but we read the papers, and know what is the truth and what is the untruth.' The letter from 'Bourke' is signed by 6 men of the Warrego River (Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 6 June, 1865, p 3).
From other news it appears that Vincent Dowlings was misrepresenting the situation. There was a drought in the region. It affected some more than others (The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 7 Dec 1865, p 4) but was bad enough to force some pastoralists off their runs (The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 14 Sep 1865, p 3). Vincent Dowling seems to be no exception to the hardships in the region as
Maxwell's short biography of Dowling says that, 'During his life in the far west it may be said that he fought with nature to achieve success. Many times he suffered agonies from thirst, on one occasion having been for seventy hours without water, and then just getting back to the settlement when at the last stage and almost dying. His knowledge of articles of food is very extensive, having been acquired under the pressure of starvation' (Maxwell, 1889, p 386).
Pastoralists in the Warrego were keen to sell parts of their runs which they could not fully utilise (Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 9 Jul 1868 p 3). This is probably why Vincent Dowling was concerned over the reputation of the region and motivated to portray it favourably. Contrary to Vincent's claims, there was conflict with Aboriginal people in the region. That Vincent's own brother John Dowling was murdered by his Aboriginal servant in 1865 (after the correspondence around Dowling the shepherd being killed) belies his insistence that the region was safe. Two articles calling for more protection from the Native Police show that, far from being peaceful, in 1864 and 1865 there was conflict between Aboriginal people and colonists including murders and stock raids:
'Information has just reached Brisbane, by a gentleman whose veracity is unimpeachable, that two shepherds of Mr. Cameron's, a father and his son, have been very recently murdered on a creek which runs nearly midway between and parallel with the Mungalarla and the Angelarla
Creeks and from the same source I learn that a flock of sheep belonging to Messrs. Humphries and Bullmore, on the Ward river, had been taken from a shepherd, and before they could be rescued from the blacks over 130 had been killed, and that the blacks were getting very
troublesome all over the district. These outrages, I believe, result more from the way in which the Native Police are distributed
throughout the western districts, than from any want of more police or officers. The Warrego is a very remote and large district, and
the aborigines cannot be depended on in any part of it for the protection of life and property' (The Brisbane Courier, 9 Dec 1864 p 2).
Another article states:
'That this district has received no protection from the hostile natives - with which it swarms - except a small force of native police, under Lieutenant Lambert, who, although a very meritorious officer, finds it impossible with his force to guard efficiently a district extending in length to 500 miles' (The Age, 20 Apr 1865, p 5).
This is important context as the stress on resources created by drought, Aboriginal resistance and conflict including murders and stock theft, and the killing of Vincent's brother amount to a situation similar to events leading up to many other massacres throughout the history of frontier conflict in Australia. It also corresponds with Hobkirk's statement that Vincent and other colonists proceeded without police assistance as there were no Native Police available in the area, bearing in mind that although Native Police were sometimes active in the area, the complaint was that they were too few and too remote to be adequate.
In 1888 Charles F Maxwell wrote in a biography of Vincent Dowling that, 'Although exposed to frequent attacks from the blacks, he escaped without hurt, but not without some close shaves, as on one occasion he had a spear driven through his hat; and on another a boomerang thrown by a wild man cut open the ribs of the mare he was riding. Yet he did not retaliate, and not until 1865, when his brother John was murdered by the blacks, did he ever shed a drop of blackfellow's blood' (Maxwell, 1889, v1, p 185).
According to Hazel McKellar in Matyu-mundu one of these massacres is recorded in Kullilla oral history, 'Some whites say these people belonged to the "Bitharra" tribe but Peter Hood, a Kullilla descendant, is certain they were his people. He says the site of this massacre was further south towards Bulloo Downs' (McKellar, 1984, p. 57). This is most likely the second massacre mentioned by Hobkirk which he said was further south (See
Bulloo Downs).
Various later accounts of this massacre claim the death toll of these massacres was as high as 300 (Bottoms 2013, p64). An estimate of 30 killed at each campsite is thus conservative. Although details may be uncertain it is most likely that the massacres described by Hobkirk and recorded in Kullilla oral history occurred.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 675
- LanguageGroup
- Kullilla
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Bedourie
- KnownDate
- 1865
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d6e Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=675 SourceSydney Mail, 2 Sep, 1865 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/16551220;
Dillon, 2019;
The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser, 25 Jun 1864, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/188349532;
Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 12 July, 1864, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18705276;
Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 9 August, 1864, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/139549;
Sydney Morning Herald, 28 March 1865, p 6
Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 1 April, 1865, p 5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/140033;
Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 6 June, 1865, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18706592/140167;
The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 7 Dec 1865, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18700008;
The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 14 Sep 1865, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18701195;
Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 9 Jul 1868 p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/123355190;
The Brisbane Courier, 9 Dec 1864 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1265443;
Dillon, 2020 https://pauldillon.org/2019/04/08/the-murder-of-john-francis-dowling-and-the-massacre-of-300-aborigines/; Maxwell, 1889, v1;
McKellar, 1984, p 57
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-25.908 Longitude142.301 Start Date1872-01-01 End Date1872-12-31
Description
According to historian Timothy Bottoms (2013, pp 65-66), some time in 1872 stockman Maloney, aged 18, who was one of two stockmen on Alex Reid's station at Wombunderry, was killed when fishing in one of the tributaries of Cooper's Creek by Birria people for shooting one of their dogs. Richard Welford of Welford Downs, who had arrived from England in 1869, was also killed in 1872. A stockman rode to Charleville to report the death of Welford. Meanwhile, John Costello send news of Maloney's murder to Thargomindah. When sub-inspector Gilmour and a detachment of native police arrived at the station and found Maloney's body in the creek, they shot an entire camp of Kungkari at Wombunderry waterhole.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 676
- LanguageGroup
- Kungkari
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Bedourie
- KnownDate
- 1872
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-17.502 Longitude130.974 Start Date1890-08-15 End Date1890-08-16
Description
Ronnie Wavehill Wirrpngayarri (cited in Charola & Meakins 2016, pp 43-44): 'They were spearing the cattle. The kartiya [whitefellas] came and surrounded the ngumpin [Gurindji]. There was no hope; they were only going to shoot... The ngumpin at the creek went running across the plain, running the way they used to be able to run. The others on horseback tried catching up to them but they couldn't. They followed them, shooting from behind. Some of the old people couldn't run so fast and got shot.
Hope reported in the Northern Territory News (19 Aug 2016, p. 12): 'Locals say Wirrilu, or Blackfella's Creek, about 25km away from Tartarr, was an earlier (perhaps late 1800s) and more brutal event. Here white men on horses picked up frightened toddlers and flung them into rocks, they say. The bodies are reportedly still next to the creek, underneath still-visible mounds of stone'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 930
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Wirrilu
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek
- KnownDate
- 1890 (est)
- AttackTime
- Afternoon
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-12.817 Longitude136.477 Start Date1911-01-01 End Date1913-12-31
Description
Following the massacre at Gan Gan, Aboriginal people killed two colonists at Trial Bay. The attackers went to Trial Bay and then to Birany Birany where they massacred men, women and children again, though many escaped. He returned later to collect skulls. See also
Gan Gan.
According to Galarrwuy Yunupingu, 'At Gan Gan these men on horseback performed their duties and killed an entire clan group – men, women and children. They shot them out and killed them in any way they could so that they could take the land. These men on horseback then rode to Birany Birany and killed many of our Yarrwidi Gumatj, the saltwater people who cared for the great ceremonies at Birany Birany. There are few places in our lives as sacred as Gan Gan – from its fresh waters all things come – and Birany Birany.' (Yunupingu, G 2016)
According to Bronwyn Wuyuwa Yunupingu, 'Again Harney came back. He went to Trial Bay, there our people killed two of his men. And after being at Trial Bay, he went to Biranybirany on the coast. There he and his men shot women gathering nuts But most people survived by running into the bush. And he went back, and the next year he came back for the skulls.' (Yunupingu, B p 15).
In the Preface to Bronwyn Wuyuwa Yunupingu A True, Bad Story Devlin wrote: 'The Bilayni or Bill Harney of this story is not to be confused with the man of the same name who was at one stage Protector of the Aborigines in the late 1940s and who later became an authority on Aboriginal matters'. Devlin said he had interviewed Birrikitji Gumana (the father of Gawirrin) who 'asserted without hesitation' that the Bilayni of the Gangan story 'came, murdered and was never seen again'. Using genealogical methods Devlin concluded the Gangan incident took place 'possibly a little before the war (1914-18)'. He therefore concluded that the Bilayni of the story was not the Bill Harney 'who was in the Gove area in 1946' (Yunupingu, B p i).
In the Preface to Bronwyn Wuyuwa Yunupingu A True, Bad Story Devlin wrote: 'The Bilayni or Bill Harney of this story is not to be confused with the man of the same name who was at one stage Protector of the Aborigines in the late 1940s and who later became an authority on Aboriginal matters'. Devlin said he had interviewed Birrikitji Gumana (the father of Gawirrin) who 'asserted without hesitation' that the Bilayni of the Gangan story 'came, murdered and was never seen again'. Using genealogical methods Devlin concluded the Gangan incident took place 'possibly a little before the war (1914-18)'. He therefore concluded that the Bilayni of the story was not the Bill Harney 'who was in the Gove area in 1946' (Yunupingu, B p i).
The events described indicate a high death toll, but that more escaped at Birany Birany, so the number of victims at Birany Birany may have been lower than at Gan Gan. Other massacres with recorded death tolls in this region and time, tend to average around 20 to 30. Warren Snowdon, when speaking of the death of Dr Gumana, said that, 'Dr Gumana spoke about a vengeance massacre of up to 30 of his people at Gangan when he was a young boy' (Snowdon, 2016). Galarrwuy Yunupingu said that 'an entire clan group' was killed and Bronwyn Wuyuwa Yunupingu indicated two groups were at the ceremony. The minimum size of a viable a clan group is about 20 (Mann, 2013 p 167-183) and they may be much larger. Since this was a large massacre, and there may have been two clan groups, 15 killed at Birany Birany is a conservative estimate.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 932
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Birany Birany aka Gunyangara
- LanguageGroup
- Yolngu – Dhalwangu and Gumatj people
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Darwin
- KnownDate
- 1911
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimNotes
- More than 30 Aborignal men, women and children.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-28.037 Longitude152.67 Start Date1861-01-01 End Date1861-01-31
Description
Lt Frederick Wheeler responded to a letter from settler John Hardie asking for assistance to 'disperse' Aboriginal people in the Dugandan Scrub. Wheeler led a detachment of native police and attacked a Yuggera camp and killed nearly all of them (Bottoms, 2013, pp 23-24).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 678
- LanguageGroup
- Yuggera
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Brisbane
- KnownDate
- January 1861
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-26.367 Longitude152.361 Start Date1861-01-01 End Date1861-12-31
Description
According to historian Timothy Bottoms, RR Morisset and a detachment of native police shot 'more than 8' Aboriginal people near Manumbar Station, 50 km south east of Murgon (Bottoms, 2013, pp 6, 51).
The shootings at Manumbar were reported as part of the Select Committee on the Native Police Force, 1861. On 6 July, 1861 E.M.V. Morisset, Esq., Commandant of the Native Police was called in and examined about several incidents, including the following details about the massacre:
'It appears from the evidence of Mr. Mortimer and another, that the detachment in charge
of Lieutenant Morisset was sent up on the remonstrance of Mr Parkinson and some others,
and that they killed a number of blacks, and left them lying dead about his run - we have
heard of at least eight found dead in that way. Do you think this a justifiable act under the
circumstances? Yes, I think so; perhaps I may be allowed to explain. I received a report
from Mr. Morisset (Vide appendix B) which is now in the Colonial Secretary's office; he was
on his way to head-quarters with a number of horses, and when he got to this district on his
way up to Wide Bay, he was informed by several squatters that the blacks were very troublesome killing cattle, and that they threatened to attack the horses. He reported this to Mr.
Murray, when he got to Wide Bay, and Lieutenant Murray sent him back with a detachment
of his own men. When Mr. Morisset got back, he found the blacks in large numbers at the
Bunya Bunya, and, I think, he first dispersed them there, and then met them again somewhere
else - at least, the blacks found he was following them, and went in towards the station of
the Messrs. Mortimer, and got close to it, when the Police came up with them. I believe they
thought the Police were coming to shoot them, and made the first attack, the report that
has been sent in to the Colonial Secretary has not explained that as fully as I have done, as I
collected more particulars from my brother afterwards, having examined him when he came in
to head-quarters' (QP V&P LA 1861(b), p 144).
The report of the incident is included
in Appendix B. 'Officer's Report, &c., In Reference To An Attack On The Blacks At Manumbar', as follows:
'Rockhampton, 10th April, 1861.
Sir I have the honor to inform you that I arrived here yesterday, with (32)
thirty-two horses, the same having been purchased by me for the use of the Native Police.
On my way up from Brisbane I found it necessary to rest the horses for some time
at "Wide Bay, and in consequence of the numerous complaints sent in by the squatters, of
the frequent and daring outrages of the blacks at the Bunya Bunya, I received instructions
from Lieutenant Murray to patrol the district with a detachment of men. I found the
blacks collected in several places in very large numbers, and also that they had been killing
cattle at nearly all the stations in that district; and on two or three occasions I found it
necessary to fire upon them before they would disperse.
At Messrs. Frazer and Parkinson's, and also at Mr. Lawless' cattle station, they
were spearing cattle even while I was on the station.
I have the honor to enclose brands and descriptions of horses purchased by me.
I have, &c.,
(Signed) E. V. MORISSET,
Second Lieutenant Native Mounted Police.'
(QP V&P LA 1861(b), p 152)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 680
- LanguageGroup
- Waka Waka
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Maryborough
- KnownDate
- 1861
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 8
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-24.45 Longitude148.605 Start Date1862-01-01 End Date1862-12-31
Description
According to former Native Police Commandant Frederick Walker, by then part-owner of the nearby Planet Downs station, in 1862 a detachment of native police led by Second-Lieutenant Alfred March Patrick drove off Gayiri people from Christopher Rolleston's station at Albinia Downs (Bottoms, 2013, p 49). 'Frederick Walker wrote to the Colonial Secretary stating that the "peace was broken by the Native Police under Mr Patrick, attacking and killing and wounding several of the friendly blacks at Mr Rolleston's station" ... There is no record of how many were killed or wounded, but the peace had been irretrievably broken' (Bottoms 2013 p. 49).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 682
- LanguageGroup
- Gayiri
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- KnownDate
- 1862
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Sword(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-26.685 Longitude139.504 Start Date1890-01-01 End Date1899-12-31
Description
In the 1890s a punitive expedition of pastoralists and stockmen was undertaken in reprisal for Mindiri and Wardumba people killing bullocks. According to Wardumba man Ben Murray, who was told of the massacre by his uncle, Rib Bone Billy, the massacre was large scale. Linguist Luise Hercus recorded Ben Murray's account of the massacre in the 1960s and published in 1977 (Hercus, 1977, pp 56-62).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 686
- LanguageGroup
- Wardumba
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- SA
- PoliceDistrict
- Innaminka
- KnownDate
- 1890s
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- More than 40.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s), Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Repeating Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-17.352 Longitude130.744 Start Date1886-04-01 End Date1886-06-30
Description
The NT News (Hope 2016, p. 12) reported: 'According to his stories [Phillip Yamba Jimmy], Seale Gorge is not just a resting place for the murdered, but a massacre site in itself. "Two (white) men heaped up wood until there was a large pyre," he said... Author and historian Darrell Lewis wrote extensively of the region's violence in his book A Wild History[: Life and Death on the Victoria River Frontier] and knew the stories. "I don't know of any documentation, but it doesn't mean it's myth and legend" he said'.
Ronnie Wavehill Wirrpngayarri, (cited in Charola & Meakins 2016, pp 32-39) recounted: 'This happened right at the start when kartiya (Europeans) found the place on the east side of the Victoria River (the site of original Wave Hill Station) and they made their camp...'
As this was in the early years of colonisation at Wave Hill Station, it may related to spearings of Victoria River Station workers on 30 April 1886 and 1 May 1886 reported in The North Australian (April 30, 1886, p 3) and NTTG (May 1, 1886, p 2)
According to Ronnie Wavehill Wirrpngayarri,
'Those kartiya had a lot of rifles and they had men with them too, Aboriginal men. Where could they have been from? Maybe Darwin or Queensland — Aboriginal people who used to live alongside kartiya. They came to shoot. 'Well,' they asked each other, 'where to go from here?' 'We can go up west to Warluk (upstream from Daguragu).' Right here to the west they went on horseback, along the river at Daguragu, going to Seale River (Steven's Creek)... Early in the morning they ambushed people there and shot all the ngumpin there. They shot the whole lot of them right there at the yards at Warluk... Then they went back down to the river. But in the afternoon, two of the kartiya returned. 'You two young blokes go back!' Why did they go back there? What for? They went up-river to the same place near the yard, that very clearing where the dead bodies remained: children, grown men and women who had been shot dead en masse. They had been killed off like dogs from their own country... They just left them there, dead on the ground. The two men heaped up wood until there was a large pyre... They threw them all on the fire.' Two Aboriginal men then speared and killed the two kartiya men by the fire: 'Then they dragged them over to the fire and threw them on top, burning both of them... That's how ngumpin would sometime get their own back.' (Charola & Meakins 2016, pp 32-39).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 940
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Warluk
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Palmerston
- KnownDate
- 1886
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 2
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d7a Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=940 SourceCharola & Meakins, 2016, pp 32-29; North Australian, April 30, 1886, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47995543; NTTG May 1, 1886, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3159411; Zach Hope, NT News, 'Bones tell of a past steeped in horror', 19 August 2016, p 12 http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/news/2000s/2016/ntnews19aug2016.pdf (Accessed 26 January 2020).
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-24.078 Longitude132.272 Start Date1921-01-01 End Date1921-12-31
Description
Bowman quoted Tjuki Tjukanku Pumpjack's story (2015, p 89): '"Out in the middle there, over there on Angas Downs, in the middle, this side of Wilpiya, naked Anangu showed up at an old waterhole. You know, they didn't know about trousers, don't know clothes. Those naked Anangu they came from the west, came along when there were rations. They started getting rations, clothing, everything. Nowadays they're a bit flash, almost whitefellas. Yes, they sat and ate, naked. They speared a lot of cattle. They didn't understand properly. You know, they were spearing cattle those naked men, long ago. And McNamara, he shot them. Pow! Pow! Long ago, this side of Areyonga. Today they say he shot many. It happened a long time ago. They come from that way, Ayers Rock way was their country".'
This is corroborated by Rowse (1998, pp 63-64), who wrote: 'Bowman's memoirs, evidently written in the 1980s, do not reveal him to have been an advocate or practitioner of violence against Indigenous people, but he told Mervyn Hartwig in 1960 that, ultimately, "good" relationships had flowed from the shootings around Coniston. Guns are known to have been used in 1921, when the pastoralist McNamara killed an unknown number of people (estimates range from six to twenty-five) at Bowson's Hole – because a milking cow was speared'. From Pearce (cited in Davis and Prescott, 1988, np): 'It was also in about 1921 that McNamara shot a number of Aborigines (between six and 25, according to varying accounts) who had speared one of his milking cows…The incident had a profound effect on the people of the region, and it is still spoken of with awe. There can be little doubt that its disturbing effect was profound at the time'.
Palmer (2016, p 94) noted that 'Anangu know the incident as the "Old [Angas Downs] Station killings".'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 941
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Areyonga
- LanguageGroup
- Anangu
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Alice Springs
- KnownDate
- 1921
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimNotes
- Between 6 and 25 were killed.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Repeating Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d7b Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=941 SourceBowman, 2015, p 89; Davis & Prescott, 1988, np; Long, 1989, pp 9-43; Rowse, 1998, pp 63-64; Palmer, 2016, p 94; Palmer, 2022, p 60.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-26.139 Longitude139.313 Start Date1890-01-01 End Date1899-12-31
Description
The massacre was in reprisal for the Wanganuru murder of a white man who had raped a Wanganuru woman (Hercus, 1977, p 56). The incident was the third massacre in the region told to linguist Luise Hercus in the 1960s by Wardumba man Ben Murray, a nephew of Rib Bone Billy who was alive at the time of the massacre (Hercus, 1977, p 56). Journalist George Farwell was also told of the massacre on his journey through the region in the 1940s (Farwell, 1950, pp 38-40).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 687
- LanguageGroup
- Wanganuru
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- SA
- KnownDate
- 1890s
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- More than 40.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Repeating Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-30.067 Longitude151.883 Start Date1852-08-01 End Date1852-08-31
Description
According to settler Joshua Scholes, after Baanbay warriors killed Mrs Sullivan, the wife of a shepherd, at Aberfoyle Station, Constable Michael Clogher from Kempsey Police Station and a party of armed settlers set off on horseback in pursuit. They followed Baanbay people to Paddys Land where they surrounded them 'and shot down as many as they could' (Uralla Times and District Advocate, 19 April 19, 1923, p 1). Clogher had a cavalry sword and was an excellent shot with pistols (Daily Examiner, October 28, 1942, p 1). There are various spellings of the name of the constable in the sources. Some use 'Clogher' while others use 'Clogger'. The name 'Constable Michael Cloggan' (Uralla Times and District Advocate, 19 April 19, 1923, p 1) appears to be a confusion of 'Clogher' with the name of the 'Coghlan' family in the area, and also the author of some of the anecdotes (Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate, 27/10/1939).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 942
- LanguageGroup
- Baanbay
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- New England
- KnownDate
- August 1852
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimNotes
- 'shot down as many as they could'
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Mrs Sullivan, shepherd's wife at Aberfoyle station
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d7d Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=942 SourceUralla Times and District Advocate, April 19, 1923, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174406980; Don Dorrigo Gazette, October 27, 1939, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article171867043, and August 3, 1945, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173132006 and September 25, 1953, p 9 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173137674; Daily Examiner, October 28, 1942, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article194065802; Dungog Chronicle, June 7, 1932, p 4 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141145816; Clayton-Dixon 2019, p 95.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-32.909 Longitude150.703 Start Date1825-11-15 End Date1825-11-30
Description
Following the killing of two shepherds at Mr Laycock's Farm at Putty in early November 1825, a party of soldiers and constables was deployed from Windsor to 'intercept' the Aboriginal killers, who were widely believed to comprise warriors from Wollombi Creek and Singleton as well as Wiradjuri from Bathurst. The party from Windsor encountered a group of Aboriginal people camped at Garland Valley near Putty and in a dawn attack, killed at least six of them. According to naval surgeon and author, Peter Cunningham, it was later discovered that they were a friendly Aboriginal group. (Cunningham, 1827 cited in Dunn, 2020, p158-9 and Milliss, 1992, p 55)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 944
- LanguageGroup
- Wonnarua, Wiradjuri
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Windsor
- KnownDate
- mid-November 1825
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Foot Soldier(s), Police
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 shepherds
- WeaponsUsed
- Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-17.354 Longitude145.602 Start Date1890-01-01 End Date1890-03-31
Description
Following the Aboriginal killing of a miner, Frank Paske, at Waraimba Creek, near Peeramen, Fred G Brown, George Clark, George Goodson, Willie Joss, Aleck Neilsen, an unnamed police sergeant and two black trackers, set out to avenge his death. They came across 'a dozen or so' tracks of an Aboriginal group making camp near present day Malanda, and at dawn the following morning, they attacked the camp, shooting six of them (Townsville Daily Bulletin, February 2, 1933, p 10). Fred Brown captured a little boy aged five or six years of age who was orphaned in the massacre. A few weeks later he gave the little boy to Scottish taxidermists, Robert and Elizabeth Grant, who were collecting specimens for the Australian Museum in Sydney. They named the boy Douglas Grant. He grew up with the Grant family in Sydney, fought for Australia in World War I and died without issue in Sydney on 4 December 1951 (Ramsland 2019, pp 46-49).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 947
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Kennedy
- KnownDate
- 1890
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal Tracker(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for Aboriginal killing of miner, Frank Paske
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Revolver(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-27.725 Longitude152.222 Start Date1843-01-01 End Date1843-12-31
Description
'In the 1840s when the teamsters used to go through from Moreton Bay to Toowoomba, the blacks were very troublesome along the route, and English soldiers (from the 99th Regiment) were stationed near Helidon for the protection of travellers. Once when a party Aboriginals was giving trouble, the soldiers attacked them and drove them across to the creek at Tent Hill, and beside a big water-hole near Armstrong's Crossing shot them all and left them lying there' (Queensland Times 26/11/1927, p 13). 'The Crossing was at Blackfellows Creek and Blackfellows Gully so named because of the great quantity of bones found there' (Gardner, 1854, vol 2, p 124).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 949
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Moreton Bay
- KnownDate
- 1843
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Muzzle Loading Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-31.342 Longitude138.553 Start Date1852-03-17 End Date1852-03-17
Description
On 14 March 1852 stockman Robert Richardson was killed by Yura warriors at Aroona station in the Flinders Ranges. Two Yura men, 'Billy' and 'Jemmy' were arrested for the murder, but were not brought to trial for lack of evidence. In 1929, the reminiscences of Richardson's employer, Johnson Frederick Hayward, were published in the 'Proceedings' of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (South Australia Branch).
According to Foster and Nettelbeck (2001, p 102), in the aftermath of the Richardson killing, Hayward 'with several companions ascertained where the Yuras were camped, in a gorge between the Heysen and ABC ranges, about four miles from Youngoona and thirteen miles south of Aroona homestead [and in Hayward's words] "determined to attack them at dawn" and capture the males, among them those suspected of Richardson's murder'... Hayward describes "a good fusillade" on the Yura camp' (Foster and Nettelbeck, 2001, p 102). Initially Hayward insisted that most had escaped and a few were wounded but in a later account in his own hand he states '... that we had killed 40, 50 or 60 blackfellows' with the numbers crossed out and replaced with '15 or 20'. The number killed appears as 15 in the final publication of this account (Foster and Nettelbeck, 2001, p 102).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 695
- LanguageGroup
- Yura - Adnyamathanha
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- SA
- PoliceDistrict
- Hawker
- KnownDate
- 17 March 1852
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s), Revolver(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-26.574 Longitude139.226 Start Date1890-01-01 End Date1890-12-28
Description
The massacre was in reprisal for killing of the station cook 'who was guilty of rape.' Linguist Luise Hercus recorded an account of the massacre in the 1960s from Ben Murray, the nephew of a survivor, Rib Bone Billy. It took place when a large number of Mindiri and Wardamba people had gathered for a ceremony. 'It made a huge impact on the Aboriginal community' (Hercus, 1977, p 56). Journalist George Farwell was also told of the massacre during his travels along the Birdsville Track in the 1940s. It was one of 'several' and 'no official enquiries were ever held into these massacres which appeared to have been common morality of the day' (Farwell, 1950, p 132).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 697
- LanguageGroup
- Mindiri and Wardumba
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- SA
- KnownDate
- 1890.
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s), Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- station cook
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Repeating Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-30.413 Longitude152.914 Start Date1841-06-01 End Date1841-06-10
Description
When Major Oakes, Crown Lands Commissioner for the Clarence McLeay Pastoral District, and a party of mounted field police were returning from the Clarence River to Head Quarters at Kempsey in June 1841, they reported that they were attacked by a large group of Aboriginal people (Bundjalung) and, in self-defence, they killed and wounded 20 of them. A Government Inquiry was proposed (Sydney Herald, 19 July, 1841, p 2), but if it was held, there is no extant report.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 950
- LanguageGroup
- Gumbaynggirr
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Kempsey
- KnownDate
- June 1841
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Border Police, Crowns Land Commissioner
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Unknown
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-30.47 Longitude152.956 Start Date1895-06-07 End Date1895-06-07
Description
According to the National Advocate (Bathurst), 'the trial of John Frederick Kelly on a charge of having at Fernmount, [on the Bellinger River, north coast NSW] on June 7, [1895] slain Tommy Doyle by giving him poison, was concluded on Friday afternoon. The Jury, after a short retirement, found the accused not guilty and he was discharged. Tommy Doyle was one of the half-dozen aborigines who died from drinking poison supplied to them for rum.' (National Advocate, August 5, 1895, p 3) This is one of the first cases of poisoning Aboriginal people in NSW with poisoned alcohol.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 951
- LanguageGroup
- Gumbaynggirr
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Kempsey
- KnownDate
- 7 June 1895
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- Poisoning of Tommy Doyle and 5 others, by drinking poison instead of rum.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Poison
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-13.341 Longitude135.866 Start Date1875-08-08 End Date1875-08-09
Description
The NTTG reported on 30 October 1875 (p 1), that Tom Walker and his gold prospecting party left Union Camp on 1 June 1875. The Government provided five horses (of 15) and three months' provisions. At 11pm on 17 June, an Aboriginal group surprised the camp and wounded Charles Bridson. On 7 August the party reached Blue Mud Bay and on 9 August, Aboriginal people, who they thought had been friendly, attacked the camp, striking Walker, who died the next day, and David Marshall, who was severely wounded. The attacks were kept up for the ensuing nights, including attempts to burn the camp out. By the time the government cargo vessel Woolner from Port Darwin reached Union Camp at Blue Mud Bay on 21 October with a party of more prospectors, more than 40 Aboriginal people had been killed. Marshall and Bridson recovered. Four government horses were lost. No gold was ever found (Reid, 1990, p 69; NTTG 18 Dec 1875, pp 1-2). Roberts (2009, np) noted the blood lust from the Northern Territory Times and Gazette in response: "Shoot those you cannot get at and hang those that you do catch on the nearest tree as an example to the rest".
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 699
- LanguageGroup
- Yolngu
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Darwin
- KnownDate
- 09/08/1875
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- More than 40 Aboriginal people.
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 1
- AttackerNotes
- Thomas Walker, Gold prospector
- AttackerDescription
- Explorer(s)
- AttackerNames
- Thomas 'Tom' Walker
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d93 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=699 SourceNTTG, 30 October, 1875, p1. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144523; NTTG, 18 December, 1875, p. 1 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3144651; Reid, 1990; Macknight, 1981; Roberts, 2005, pp 120-121; Roberts, 2009, np.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-21.476 Longitude146.899 Start Date1864-01-01 End Date1864-01-31
Description
Following the killing of two shepherds by Aboriginal people at Hermitage Station, recently leased by Mr Raymond and Cuthbert Featherstonhaugh, a native police detachment under the command of Sub-Inspector Reginald Uhr, and a party of volunteers, set off on a punitive expedition in search of the Aboriginal perpetrators. Ten days later the expedition came across the Jangga in the scrub near the junction of the Suttor and Belyando Rivers and shot 12 of them. According to historian Tim Bottoms, (2013) several women were also captured and Fetherstonhaugh and Uhr then shared their dinner surrounded by the corpses and the bound and roped women.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 953
- LanguageGroup
- Jangga
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- KnownDate
- Jan 1864
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 14
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for the killing of shepherds Charley Sadlier and Dan Smith and
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d90 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=953 SourceMaryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, April 1, 1865, p 2http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article147933024; Fetherstonhaugh, 1917, pp 272-274; Richards, 2008, p 264; Bottoms, 2013, pp 109-110.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-22.047 Longitude146.618 Start Date1866-09-28 End Date1866-09-28
Description
Two weeks after the Aboriginal killing of Henry Clark on the Belyando River, 83 miles (133 km) from the native police camp at Mt McConnell, a detachment of 18 native police troopers led by Reginald Uhr and Frederick Murray, and accompanied by Mr Bulgin, manager of St Anne's station on the Suttor River, arrived at the Belyando and 'proceeded on their tracks, and after some days' pursuit, overtook, and succeeded in shooting eight or ten of the blacks' (Brisbane Courier, November 2, 1866, p 2). It appears that the massacre took place at Dunjarrobina Waterhole.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 955
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- KnownDate
- 28 September 1866
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 8
- VictimNotes
- 8-10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Henry Clark
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-22.076 Longitude139.76 Start Date1879-02-01 End Date1879-02-28
Description
Between 12 and 21 January 1879, a large group of Yalarrnga and Pitta Pitta warriors who were conductng ceremonies at Sulieman Creek killed stockman Bernard Molvo and three other stockmen at Wonomo Waterhole. In reprisal, a detachment of native police led by Sub-Inspector Ernest Eglinton and assisted by settlers Alexander Kennedy and Robert Currie from Buckingham Downs pastoral station, William Paterson from Goodwood station and others, conducted five separate massacres of the Yalarrnga and Pitta Pitta people in February 1879. Sulieman Creek is the second in the series. It is estimated by descendants of the Yalarrnga survivors that more than 100 Yalarrnga and Pitta Pitta men, women and children were slaughtered. It is estimated that about 20 Aboriginal people were killed at each site. The reprisal campaign was widely reported in the press at the time.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 956
- LanguageGroup
- Yalarrnga
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Burke River, Boulia
- KnownDate
- February 1879
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for the killing of stockman Bernard Molvo and three other stockmen
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Repeating Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1879: Selwyn Range, QLD
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d96 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=956 SourceBrisbane Courier, March 5, 1879, "Murders in the Far West" https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/898062/73354; Morning Bulletin, March 1, 1879, "Blackall" https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/51991181; Evening News, March 10, 1879, "Massacres by the Queensland Blacks' https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/107155604; Queenslander, January 8, 1921, "Sketcher Early Days in North West Queensland" https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/22608504; Townsville Daily Bulletin, June 29, 1917 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/62574187, January 27, 1931 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/61581906, August 16, 1948 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63372166; Fysh 1961, p 94; Bottoms 2013, p 162-4; Davidson et. al. 2020, p 1-16.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-23.241 Longitude140.345 Start Date1879-02-01 End Date1879-02-01
Description
Following the killing of stockman Bernard Molvo and three other stockmen at Wonomo Warerhole on Sulieman Creek between 12 and 21 January 1879 by a group of Yalarrnga and Pitta Pitta Warriors who were conducting a major ceremony nearby, a detachment of native police led by Sub-Inspector Ernest Eglington and assisted by settlers, William Paterson, Alexander Kennedy and Robert Currie and others, carried out at least five reprisal massacres of Yalarrnga and Pitta Pitta people during February 1879. Goodwood Station is the 3rd massacre. Descendants of the massacre survivors estimated that more than 100 were killed overall. This would suggest that about 20 Aboriginal people were killed at each site. The reprisal massacres were reported in the press at the time and many decades later.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 958
- LanguageGroup
- Yalarrnga, Pitta Pitts
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Burke River, Boulia
- KnownDate
- February 1879
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s), Stockkeeper(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Stockman Bernard Molvo and 3 other stockmen
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Repeating Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1879: Selwyn Range, QLD
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d98 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=958 SourceBrisbane Courier, March 5, 1879, "Murders in the Far West" http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article898062; Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton), March 1, 1879, "Murders in the Far West" http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51991181; Queenslander, January 15, 1921, "Sketcher. Early Days in North West Queensland" http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22608504; Townsville Daily Bulletin, June 29, 1917 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62574187, January 27, 1931 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61581906, August 16, 1948 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63372166; Fysh, 1961, p 94; Bottom, 2013, pp 162-164; Davidson, et al, 2020, pp 1-16.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-21.696 Longitude140.034 Start Date1879-02-01 End Date1879-02-28
Description
Following the killing of stockman Bernard Molvo and three other stockmen by Yalarrnga and Pitta Pitta warriors at Wonomo Waterhole on Sulieman Creek between 12 and 21 January 1879, a detachment of native police led by Sub- Inspector Edward Eglington, assisted by settlers Alexander Kennedy, Robert Currie, William Paterson and Frederick Margetts and some stockmen, set out in early February 1879 in search of the alleged perpetrators. (Townsville Daily Bulletin, June 29, 1917, p 2; January 27, 1931, p 4) They carried out five reprisal massacres of men, women and children from the Yalarrnga and Pitta Pitta at five different sites. Monastery Creek is the 4th site. It is estimated that 100 Aboriginal people were killed overall, indicating that about 20 were killed at each site. The reprisal massacres were reported in the press and in settler memoirs (Fysh, 1961) and by interviews with Aboriginal descendants (Davidson et al, 2020) .
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 959
- LanguageGroup
- Yakarrnga, Pitta Pitta
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Burke River, Boulia
- KnownDate
- February 1879
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Stockman Bernard Molvo and 3 other unnamed stockmen
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Repeating Rifle(s), Machete(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1879: Selwyn Range, QLD
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d99 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=959 SourceMorning Bulletin (Rockhampton), March 1, 1879, "Blackall [From our Correspondent]"http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51991181; Brisbane Courier, March 5, 1879, "Murders in the Far West"http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article898062; The Queenslander, January 15, 1921, "Sketcher. Early Days in North-West Queensland" http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22608504; Townsville Daily Bulletin, June 29, 1917, p 2http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62574187; January 27, 1931http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61581906; August 16, 1948http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63372166; Fysh, 1961, p 94; Bottoms, 2013, pp 162-164; Davidson et al, 2020, pp 1-16.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-16.8 Longitude135.883 Start Date1886-04-01 End Date1886-05-31
Description
Roberts (2009, np) wrote: 'Ted Lenehan (a stockman on McArthur River Station) was "hunting blacks" in March 1886 when he was killed (speared). His body was dismembered in a practice performed by the Ngarnji tribe "for particularly violent men, to prevent their spirit from continuing to perform evil deeds". After Lenehan's death, Sir John Cockburn, minister for the Northern Territory in the Downer Government in South Australia, ordered Constable William Curtis and five native police based at the Roper River to investigate. In May 1886, they met with the station manager, Tom Lynott, and 15 stockmen, including the notorious Tommy Campbell. [There were] Aboriginal stockmen from Queensland, whose tracking skills were invaluable…One of the massacres that followed occurred on top of the Abner Range, a hundred kilometres from where Lenehan had been killed. After picking up the fresh tracks of about 70 or 80 fleeing Aboriginals, the party of 22 galloped after them. The blacks were travelling so fast that some of the old ladies couldn't keep up and were left behind. Charley Gaunt, one of the white stockmen, later wrote a detailed account of what happened, but was silent on whether the old ladies were shot.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 705
- LanguageGroup
- Garawa, Ngandji
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Roper River
- KnownDate
- 1886
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 25
- VictimNotes
- Men, women & children.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- Ted Lenehan, a stockman on McArthur River Station.
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Aboriginal Tracker(s), Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Ted Lenehan, a stockman on McArthur River Station
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1886: Abner Range, SA/NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d9c Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=705 SourceRoberts, 2009, np; O'Brien & Adams, 1999, p 7; NTTG, April 24, 1886 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3159378; Costello 1930, pp 164, 167; Northern Standard, October 16, 1931, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48050361; May 29, 1934 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49494183 and June 1, 1934 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49494267 p 508 & p 517; Bottoms, 2013, pp 156-158.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-21.749 Longitude139.906 Start Date1879-02-01 End Date1879-02-28
Description
Following the killing of stockman Bernard Molvo and three other stockmen at Wonomo Waterhole on Sulieman Creek between 12 and 21 January 1879 by Yalarrnga and Pitta Pitta warriors who were conducting a major ceremony, Acting Sub-Inspector Edward Eglington set off in early February with a detachment of native police, settlers William Paterson, Alexander Kennedy, Robert Currie, Frederick Margetts and some stockmen in search of the alleged perpetrators. Over the next few weeks, according to Yalarrnga descendants of the survivors, the posse slaughtered more than 100 Yalarrnga and Pitta Pitta men, women and children in five separate massacres known as the Selwyn Ranges massacres (Bottoms, 2013, 162-164). The Dajarra Monument is the last massacre in the site group. The reprisal massacres were reported in the contemporary press, in settler memoirs (Fysh, 1961), and in interviews with Aboriginal descendants (Davidson et al, 2000).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 960
- LanguageGroup
- Yalarrnga, Pitta Pitta
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Burke River, Boulia
- KnownDate
- February 1879
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Stockman Bernard Molvo and 3 other stockmen
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Repeating Rifle(s), Machete(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1879: Selwyn Range, QLD
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d9b Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=960 SourceBrisbane Courier, March 5, 1879, "Murders in the Far West" http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article898062; Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton), March 1, 1879, "Blackall. [From our Correspondent] http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51991181; Queenslander, January 8, 1921 "Sketcher, Early Days in North-West Queensland" http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page2524752; Townsville Daily Bulletin, June 29, 1917 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/62574187, January 27, 1931 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61581906, August 16, 1948 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63372166; Fysh, 1961, p 94; Bottoms, 2013, p 162-164; Davidson, 2020, pp 1-16.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-21.741 Longitude133.669 Start Date1928-09-04 End Date1928-09-13
Description
There is little information about the second Coniston massacre expedition, which occurred over 9 days from 4 September to 13 September, 1928.
According to Kimber, 'The prospectors Young and Carter, who had met Fred Brooks a few days before his murder, had reported the news of threatening Warlpiri to Sergeant Noblett, who had reported it to Cawood. Michael Terry had told of seeing Walmulla warriors in war-paint; shootings at marauders (without effect) by Randal Stafford and Jack Saxby on the 31st August; and passed on a further appeal from Randal Stafford for urgent assistance in dealing with those who were causing the depredations' (Kimber, 2003-2004, Part 10).
Almost immediately after delivering the prisoners Padygar and Arkirkra to Alice Springs, Mounted Constable Murray was sent out again, to attend to complaints of cattle theft at Pine Hill, and 'For the period between 4 and 13 September, the list noted only that Murray had "left Alice Springs to investigate alleged cattle killings at 'Pine Hill' and 'Coniston Stn'", that he "returned with two prisoners" and that he had travelled 395 miles. That is, an average of some 44 miles per day' (Bradley, 2019, p 94).
Historian Dick Kimber, who knew the area well and had interviewed numerous people in the area, reasoned that this expedition included police trackers Paddy and Major, one or two Pine Hill station volunteers, Randal Stafford, Jack Saxby, Alex Wilson and Billy Briscoe (Kimber, 2003-2004, Part 10).
Based on oral accounts, Kimber estimates 7 encounters in which killings are likely to have occurred: 'Oral histories, which can only be approximations in time, indicate that, as might be expected, the patrol travelled north along the Hanson River from Pine Hill, having three encounters; from Coniston travelled north along the Lander River country where two more encounters took place; then followed down the Lander and had two more encounters in the general Coniston area.' He estimates the minimum death toll to have been 12: 'On the basis of two deaths every other encounter, which is the lowest number of deaths at all other encounters, 12 more men are likely to have been shot. Many more are, in fact, likely to have died, but there is absolutely no written account from 1928 to indicate that any at all were shot.'
The Alice Springs Police Station Day Journal recorded that from this expedition there were two prisoners, Ned and Barney (Bradley, 2019, p93) though they were not later tried for Fred Brooks's murder (Kimber, 2003-2004, Part 10), as were Padygar and Arkirkra.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 709
- LanguageGroup
- Warlpiri, Anmatyere, Kaytetye
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Barrow Creek
- KnownDate
- 1928
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- Some estimates say more than 60.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- William John (Nugget) Morton, co-owner of Broadmeadows Station, reported that he was attacked by 15 Warlpiri on 28 August.
- AttackerDescription
- Manager(s), Stockmen/Drover(s), Police, Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse, Camel
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Fred Brooks
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Tomahawk(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1928: Coniston, NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0da3 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=709 SourceWoodward, 1973, p 82; Read & Read, 1991, pp 33-37; Bell, 1993, pp 67-68; Toohey 1979; Edmond, 2013, p 104; Morrison www.australianfrontierconflicts.com.au; Schubert, NT News, August 25, 2018, pp 24-25 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-24/nt-police-apologise-for-state-sanctioned-coniston-massacre/10162850; Wilson & O'Brien, 2003, pp 59-78;
Bowman, 2015 https://www.clc.org.au/every-hill-got-a-story/;
Bradley, 2019, pp93-94, pp123-131;
Kimber 2003-04, part 10 https://alicespringsnews.com.au/2018/08/15/the-coniston-massacre-remembered/;
Making Peace with The Past https://digitalntl.nt.gov.au/10070/660392/0/4
Northern Standard 3 March, 1933 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48058883
Robinson, 1945 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-410786254;
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-20.349 Longitude148.934 Start Date1878-08-01 End Date1878-09-20
Description
The schooner Louisa Maria was wrecked on the Whitsunday Islands in late August or early September 1878, and the crew attacked by Aboriginal warriors. One of the crew, Johnston, was tomahawked and his body thrown into the sea. Sub-Inspector George Nolan led 10 troopers and Captain McIvoy from the Louisa Maria, to Dent Island, a stronghold of the Aboriginal people, spent a week there and 'permanently dispersed' them (BC, Sept 21, 1878, p 6).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 963
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cardwell
- KnownDate
- 1878
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Boat
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Johnston, passenger on the Louisa Maria
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-17.131 Longitude139.614 Start Date1872-01-01 End Date1872-12-31
Description
In 1872, a small party of colonists, including employees at the Normanton Customs Station, landed on Sweers Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria 'and a number of Blacks were shot' (Richards, 2008, p 57). According to Timothy Bottoms, 'a magisterial inquiry' held early the following year', revealed that the incident was purely opportunistic but no one was arrested for their involvement (Bottoms, 2013, p 169).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 965
- LanguageGroup
- Kayardild
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Normanton
- KnownDate
- 1872
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- 'a number'
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s)
- Transport
- Boat
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-12.104 Longitude134.911 Start Date1889-01-01 End Date1896-12-31
Description
Read and Read (1991, p 24) printed a story of a massacre at Mirki as told by an anonymous person at Milingimbi, trancribed from Gupapuyngu:
Aboriginal people from a camp at Mirki were killing cattle on Florida Station, near Milingimbi. After confessing to cattle killing, an Aboriginal person was murdered. Attempting a surprise night attack on people singing and dancing at a ceremony, the colonists left their horses and surrounded them. But Aboriginal lookouts saw the horses and, thinking they couldn't escape without being seen, hid in the trees. 'Into a tree they climbed, all of them. They sat there, they didn't say anything, nothing. They were very careful for each other' (Read & Read, 1991, p 22). The colonists saw them in the trees and opened fire. 'Think about the noise that those guns made, shooting up into the trees. Shooting, shooting, shooting, up in to the trees. They all fell down into the ground, and just lay there all over the ground, every one of them, until they were all dead. But one of them was still alive. The horses had passed him on the way there. He saw them, and he hid in the cycad palms, underneath them' (Read & Read, 1991, p 22).
The following day the 'boss' of the colonists took a repeating rifle, found the children, formed them into two lines and shot them. 'Every one of them, just lying there, and not only a few, lots of them' (Read & Read, 1991, p 24).
Gaunt said that Jack Waston was in that area at that time, along with Joe Bradshaw and others, 'Before closing this article I wish to say soon after Jack Watson left Florida Station he was at the Katherine' and indicated that shooting Aboriginal people was common, 'The shooting of blacks in the early days was necessary to the men who opened up the country. Self-preservation is the first law of nature and with very little police protection we had to take the law in our own hands, or be massacred in cold blood by the abos' (Northern Standard July 10, 1934, p 6).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 713
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Mirki
- LanguageGroup
- Yolngu, Djinang
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Darwin
- KnownDate
- 1889-1896
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- Certainly dozens of Aboriginal people from a camp named Mirki.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-19.713 Longitude143.457 Start Date1872-01-01 End Date1872-12-31
Description
In 1872, according to historian Jonathan Richards (2008, p 22), following the killing of John Cook by Ngawn people, 160 km from the Norman River, and most likely near the Woolgar River, Robert Gome, a witness to the killing, led Sub-Inspector Alexander Salmond and five native police troopers to the 'scene of the outrage' and then 'followed the tracks, came up with the blacks and dispersed them'. Salmond admitted that he 'found nothing' that would 'connect them with the outrage' (Gome and Salmond cited in Richards, 2008, p 22).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 967
- LanguageGroup
- Ngawn
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cloncurry
- KnownDate
- 1872
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- At least six killed.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- John Cook
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-17.52 Longitude146.059 Start Date1872-03-17 End Date1872-03-22
Description
Following the wreck of the 'Maria' and the killing of eight Djiru people by Lt Sabben RN and a group of sailors at Mission Beach, Lieutenant Gowlland set sail on the steamer 'Governor Blackall' to search for survivors 'having on board thirteen relatives or friends of the castaway crew — [these gentlemen proffered their services on this occasion
as volunteers] — as well as a crew of Water Police, with a supply of arms and ammunition' (The Queenslander, 6 Apr, 1872, p 9). At Cardwell he was joined by 'Sub-lieutenant Jones, from the Basilisk... and a detachment of native police under the command of Mr. Johnstone' (The Queenslander, 6 Apr, 1872, p 9). This group set out after the voyage of the Peri on 17 March, 1872 and so was the third expedition to rescue survivors and kill Djiru people at Mission Beach.
According to Gowlland 'Each boat's crew detached an armed landing
party, who walked along the beaches, and over
the rocks, and whenever feasible, made excursions in various directions through the dense
scrub and jungle which fringed the shore of the
mainland.
A strong party of volunteers, reinforced by
the native trackers, forced their way inland
along the banks of the river which falls into the
sea at the spot marked Shoalhaven on the plan,
through an all but impassable country, and in
their passage intersected the footmarks ot blacks
in numerous directions.
Every native camp between Cardwell and
Point Cooper [north of Johnstone River], a distance of about fifty miles,
was visited and minutely searched for any traces
of white men that might permit us to hope that
some of our missing countrymen might even still
be alive, though languishing in captivity.
A second party with two boats, and accompanied by Mr. Johnstone and the native police
were sent to examine the banks of a large river,
still further to the northward [Mulgrave River], marked on the
plan as Shoal Rivulet. They were absent about
two days, but with the exception of a felt hat
found in a native encampment four miles north
of the river, no traces of the existence of living
white men in this neighborhood were discovered' (The Queenslander, 6 Apr, 1872, p 9).
Gowlland's report published in the Queenslander does not include details of any people killed. Dr Tate, a surgeon who was on board both the Peri and the Governor Blackall expeditions wrote that 'Lieutenant Gowlland, of the Governor Blackall, for reasons unknown to me, was so inconsiderate as not to send me, the only surgeon on board his vessel ashore, for the purpose of examining the different bodies found, though I had repeatedly requested him to do so' (The Queenslander, 13 Apr 1872, p 8).
According to Timothy Bottom's footnotes, a later report provides details of the people killed on this expedition. This report is cited as 'Sub-Inspector Johnstone to Captain Gowlland, Ship "Governor Blackall," 22 March 1872, Annexure No.3, p.5 of J T Gowlland RN, "New Guinea Expedition per Brig 'Maria.' (Correspondence Respecting Rescue and Arrival of Survivors of.)", NSW Legislative Assembly Votes & Proceedings (NSWV&P), 1872.' According to this report, 'On 21 March 1872, R A "Johnstone and his trackers having given a very good account of the sixteen he came across" (p.21) and the next day "Mr Johnstone's trackers [ie troopers] shot 27 of the Blacks in the Camp" (p.22)' (Bottoms, 2013, p 234). Based on this report Timothy Bottoms writes, 'A week later Johnstone confirmed to Lieutenant Gowlland the killings that had already occurred: "I have also to state that I have severely punished the guilty parties having found the property of the missing men in their possession." Johnstone and his troopers shot a total of 43 Djiru' (Bottoms, 2013, p 135).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 968
- LanguageGroup
- Djiru
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cardwell
- KnownDate
- March 1872
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 43
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Sailor(s), Police
- Transport
- Boat
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 14 crew of the 'Maria' shipwreck
- WeaponsUsed
- Muzzle Loading Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1872: ‘Maria’ reprisal massacres, QLD
Details
Latitude-14.674 Longitude145.46 Start Date1881-10-01 End Date1881-10-31
Description
On Lizard Island in October 1881, following the killing of a Chinese workman and the burning down of a cottage by Aboriginal warriors from the mainland at her absent husband's beche de mer station, Mary Watson, aged 21, together with her baby son, Ferrier and a wounded Chinese servant, Ah San, left the island in a cut down ship's water tank. Eight days later all three perished of thirst after reaching Number 5 island which they thought had no water. Mary Watson kept a diary of the dreadful voyage, which was found some months later among the mangroves. When passing vessels reported the destruction of the cottage and fires fiercely burning across Lizard Island, it was assumed that Mary Watson had been kidnapped and/or killed. In reprisal, 2nd class inspector Hervey Fitzgerald set off from Cooktown with a detachment of native police for Lizard Island and when they arrived 'dispersed' 150 Aboriginal people at Snake River. According to Falkiner and Oldfield, 'there are no official records remaining of the police reprisals on Lizard Island. The only repository is the memory of the Guugu Yimidhirr people' (Falkiner & Oldfield, 2000, p 115). They claim that Lizard Island was the site of a bora ground and the Chinese worker was killed 'for disturbing sacred ground.' They also claim that the black troopers were from Fraser Island (Falkiner & Oldfield, 2000, p 115).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 969
- LanguageGroup
- Guugu Yimidhirr
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cooktown
- KnownDate
- October 1881
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 150
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Boat
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Mary Watson, son and Chinese servant
- WeaponsUsed
- Martini-Henry Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-42.604 Longitude147.831 Start Date1829-06-01 End Date1829-06-30
Description
In early June 1829 in a series of raids on huts for food, at the Carlton River, Pittwater, 15-20 Oyster Bay people killed two stockkeepers, James Turtin and Edward Harthill and wounded at least three others. James Gordon, the magistrate at Sorell, dispatched a party of soldiers from the 40th Regiment and field police in pursuit and they returned with Aboriginal weapons and items belonging to the missing men. Gordon reported that the 'particular object of this non-commissioned officer [was] to capture ...without loss of life, but as they fled on the approach of the Party, I am [sorry ] to state that it is supposed eight or ten of the natives were severely wounded' (Gordon to Col Sec 16 June 1829, TSA CSO 1/321). The 'Hobart Town Courier', 20 June 1829, p 2, provided more details. ' After the late outrages at the Carlton, it appears that the natives proceeded towards Prossers Plains. The settlers, with the constables and military stationed in that neighbourhood, suspecting that their movements would be made in that direction, were fortunately on the alert. A man named Douglas Evans (Hibbins) succeeded in observing them encamp for the night on Friday last [13 June 1829] under a hill called 'the Three Thumbs' on very rocky ground, with thick brush. A party of ten set out about 11 o'clock [at night] in hopes of surrounding them and taking them alive. On arriving within 300 yards of the spot, about one o'clock, they advanced very cautiously in order to avoid giving alarm, but within 20 yards, one of the dogs which was with the blacks began barking, and they all instantly rose up, and the attacking party rushed on them, threatening to shoot them if they did not surrender. But they fled precipitously in all directions. Six of the party immediately fired at them (the guns carried by the other 4 missed fire). Douglas Evans (Hibbins) pursued them alone into the brush for a few minutes, and fired a second shot, having then been surrounded by them on separating from his companions. The night being very dark, all further pursuit was fruitless. When daylight appeared, 49 spears, 24 waddies, 2 shirts, a jacket, a number of knives, shears, and razor blades, many of them (besides 2 dogs) belonging to the men lately murdered at the Carlton. Not a native was to be seen all around, though for a considerable distances marks of blood appeared on different parts on the ground. There were some 30 or 40 of the blacks.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 461
- LanguageGroup
- Oyster Bay
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Sorell
- KnownDate
- June 1829
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 stockmen
- WeaponsUsed
- Cutlass/Cutlasses, Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-42.278 Longitude147.45 Start Date1815-11-01 End Date1815-11-30
Description
On November 8, 1815, Colonial Chaplain Robert Knopwood recorded in his diary that Oyster Bay warriors had killed 930 sheep at Scantlands Plains. In 1830 settler James Hobbs in testimony to the Aborigines Committee, recalled that 300 sheep were killed and that the next day a detachment of the 48th Regiment shot 22 Oyster Bay people in reprisal. Nineteenth century historian John West, said that 'seventeen were slain' (West, cited in Shaw, 1971, p 265).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 463
- LanguageGroup
- Oyster Bay
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- KnownDate
- November 1815
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 17
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Foot Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- sheep
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Sword(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-17.97 Longitude137.16 Start Date1892-02-03 End Date1892-02-03
Description
See also Corella Creek massacre.
This was the second massacre, led by Tom Perry and pastoralists/station workers in reprisal for Aboriginal people known to colonists as 'Walter' and 'Monkey Boy' killing George William Clarke and Charles Deloitte at Creswell Down Station on 30 January 1892.
The massacre took place at Fish Creek on the Nicholson River.
Gaunt, in the Northern Standard of 19 February 1932, (p 3) described the previous 'Corella' massacre as 'one of the largest, if not the largest, in the history of the Northern Territory' and said that 'dozens' of Aboriginal people were killed, including 'bucks, lubras and picanninies'. This massacre appears to be of similar if not greater proportions.
'They slaughtered the blacks with the same zeal that they killed the blacks on Corella Creek. Following the natives up from camp to camp, killing on sight until the blood lust was appeased. The slaying was big and with the massacre of the Corella blacks combined the number must have been very great. I cannot give any statistics as I don't know the numbers.' (Gaunt, 1932)
Aboriginal oral histories record: 'All the old ladies couldn't run fast enough. Well, those few ladies, mother of this mob …So they shottem, shot all these old ladies. Shottem. (and burnt them)' (Read & Read, 1991, pp 26-28).
After the massacre Perry took one of the boys whose parents had been killed, made him a servant and named him 'Peter'. 'He (Perry) used to abuse and punish the boy on any pretext, and I remarked to Tom Perry one day, "That boy, when he gets a little bigger, will do you in Tom." Perry only laughed at this warning. I spoke only too true. Later, the boy Peter one night shot Tom Perry dead, was brought to Darwin, and sentenced to ten years in Fanny Bay gaol.' (Gaunt, February 19, 1932, p 2)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 717
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Nudjabarra
- LanguageGroup
- Garawa, Yanuwa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Borroloola
- KnownDate
- 1892-1896
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Manager(s), Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- George Williamson Clarke and Charles Deloitte
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1892: Bowgan, SA/NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0db0 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=717 SourceRead & Read, 1991, pp 26-28; GSNT Record 579; NTTG, March 4, 1892, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3320941; NTTG, Dec 25, 1896, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3333508; NTTG, 18 Dec 1896 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3333451/826807; NTTG, Mar 5, 1897, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4165959; Gaunt Northern Standard, (Darwin) February 19, 1932 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49488610; NTRS 2710/P1 Borroloola Police Day Book - Memo, Foelsche to MC Power - 12 March 1892
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-14.935 Longitude144.229 Start Date1896-05-01 End Date1896-05-31
Description
Following the Aboriginal killing of Macdonald (or Donald) Mackenzie, owner of Lakefield station at the head of the saltwater on the Normanby River, 75 km north east of Laura, a special train transported detachments of native police from Cooktown, Musgrave, and Maytown to Deighton and then by track to Lakefield station (Queenslander, May 9, 1896, p 871). On the track they 'came across the dead bodies of some blacks who had evidently died of poison.' Constable David Hardie surmised that they had 'used the arsenic stolen after the murder from Mackenzie's house, believing it to be baking powder' (Queenslander, June 6, 1896, p 1063).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 971
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cooktown
- KnownDate
- May 1896
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- Poison
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Macdonald Mackenzie, owner of Lakefield station
- WeaponsUsed
- Poison, Arsenic
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-42.735 Longitude147.589 Start Date1826-12-09 End Date1826-12-09
Description
When a mob of Oyster Bay people led by Black Tom (Kickerterpoller) the most feared Aboriginal warrior in Van Diemen's Land were seen in the Pittwater area on 9 December 1826, the District Constable, Alexander Laing, four soldiers of the 40th regiment and some stock-keepers, killed 14 of them and captured ten others, including their leader, Kickerterpoller. The capture was reported by magistrate at Sorell, James Gordon, to the Colonial Secretary in Hobart later that day and reported in the two Hobart newspapers a week later (Gordon to Col Sec, 10 December 1826, TAHO CSO 1/331, pp 194-195; CTTA, December 15, 1826; HTG, December 16, 1826). However neither Gordon nor the newspapers acknowledged the massacre. Yet Kickerterpoller who was wanted for murder, was released on 9 January 1827, along with his nine compatriots. A coverup had taken place. In March 1830, Chief District Constable Gilbert Robertson was the first to mention the massacre in evidence to the Aborigines Committee and stated that: 'The Richmond Police in 1827, killed fourteen of the natives, who had got upon a hill, and threw stones upon them. The police expended all their ammunition, and then charged with a bayonet.' (BPP, 1831, p 221) In 1948, local historian Roy Bridges (1948, p 69) provided more information: 'Black Tom and his force of natives, after a succession of outrages through the Richmond Police District and beyond, were chased by Chief District Constable Lang [sic] and his men up the Sorell Valley, overtaken and destroyed near the head-waters of the rivulet.' Lyndall Ryan and Robert Cox have each reconstructed the events leading to the massacre (Ryan, 2012, pp 87-89; Cox, 2021, pp 90-101).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 464
- LanguageGroup
- Oyster Bay
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Pittwater
- KnownDate
- 09/12/1826
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 14
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Foot Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-15.201 Longitude135.554 Start Date1872-07-01 End Date1872-07-02
Description
An exploration party comprising Dillon Cox, Wentworth Darcy Uhr, James Barry, William Harvey, James Broderick, Jimmy Soo and Ah Choo were at a place they named Calico Creek (there is nothing by that name now) at the Cox River en route from Burketown to Port Darwin. The number of deceased is unclear but was described by Roberts (2005, p 18): 'Shortly after the party had resumed their journey, through the scrub beyond the river, the leading cattle turned and rushed back as they approached a creek. The men galloped to the front to investigate and were "saluted with a shower of spears"'. The Brisbane Courier (27 Oct 1874, p. 3) quoted Barry: 'Quickly unslinging their rifles, they retaliated with a brisk fire, the Westley Richards telling with deadly effect even at 350 and 400 yards. Still the blacks showed a bold front, and were not driven back without an obstinate resistance. When they had at length been fairly driven off the field, the victors ran the creek upwards and downwards till the camp was discovered deserted, and there found numerous bundles of spears, nulla-nullas and boomerangs, which were quickly broken up and burnt'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 720
- LanguageGroup
- Yanyuwa, Garrwa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- No police presence at that time (Borroloola Police Stn not established until Oct 1886).
- KnownDate
- September 1872
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimNotes
- Yanyuwa warriors.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- NA
- AttackerDescription
- Explorer(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Revolver(s), Rifle(s), Boomerang(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-24.777 Longitude139.133 Start Date1879-04-01 End Date1879-04-30
Description
Following the Annandale station massacre of 5 March 1879, 'Sub-inspector Kaye afterwards patrolled up the Herbert to Glengyle, where he dispersed a large camp of niggers as punishment for the murder of a stockman named Scott, about a month previously.'
(Queenslander, 1879, p 668).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 975
- LanguageGroup
- Pitta Pitta
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Bedourie
- KnownDate
- April 1879
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children - 'a large camp'.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- a stockman named Scott
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1879: Channel Country, QLD
Details
Latitude-14.699 Longitude134.316 Start Date1875-07-24 End Date1875-07-24
Description
See also Crescent Lagoon, Harris Lagoon, Calder's Range and Mole Hill massacres. A range of sources (see below) detail this series of massacres. On 29 June 1875, Charles Henry Johnston, Abram Daer and Charles Rickards from the Daly River Telegraph station were attacked by Mangarrayi men at Roper Bar. Johnson died the next day. Too weak to bury Johnston, Daer and Rickards wrapped the body in canvas and oilskin and placed it together with a note under the foot of a tree and set off for Daly River Telegraph station, which they reached on 13 July. Daer died from his wounds on 7 August. While punitive expeditions were being organised to avenge the deaths, an overlanding party to Queensland, led by George De Lautour and William Batten, arrived at Roper Bar on 19 July and found Daer's note and Johnston's body and immediately set off in search of the Mangarrayi people. They left their own note for the police party dated 24 July 1875 saying they had 'found natives mustered strongly at Mount McMinn', that they 'dispersed them and did their best to avenge Johnston's death' (telegram from JAG Little cited in NTTG, September 18, 1875, p 2). The police parties arrived at Roper Bar on 2 August 1875, found the notes from Daer and the overlanding party and buried Johnson's remains on 3 August 1875 ('Roper River Expedition' NTTG, September 18, 1875, p 2).
A later article reported the 'hunting of natives' in the area, 'Whilst great regret has been felt at the loss of valuable lives like that of Mr. Johnston and Daer, not a little indignation has been expressed at the aimless nature of the Roper expedition and the indiscriminate "hunting" of the natives in the region. It is, of course, very desirable to strike terror into the hearts of the natives, in order to show them that the lives of the white men cannot be taken with impunity, but there ought to be a show of reason in the measure of vengeance dealt out to them.' (NTTG, 04 December, 1875).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 721
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Yutpundji-Djindiwirritj
- LanguageGroup
- Mangarayi
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- No police district at that time.
- KnownDate
- 24 July 1875
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- Charles Henry Johnston and Abram Daer
- AttackerDescription
- Overlander(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2
- WeaponsUsed
- Revolver(s), Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1875: Roper Bar, SA/NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0db9 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=721 SourceReid, 1990, p xi, pp 66-67;
NTTG, July 17 1875, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144292;
NTTG August 14, 1875, p 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144352;
NTTG, September 18, 1875, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144448;
NTTG December 4 1875, p 2
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-17.109 Longitude129.043 Start Date1890-01-01 End Date1890-12-31
Description
Austin (1992, p 17) and Shaw and McDonald (1978, p 130) relate oral histories of how 60 Aboriginal men were in chains under police escort from the Victoria River region to Wyndham for alleged cattle stealing. At Mistake Creek, police received a telegraph instructing them to release the prisoners because the culprit (who allegedly killed one bullock) had been found elsewhere. Police shot the prisoners and burnt the bodies.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 723
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Mistake Creek
- LanguageGroup
- Malngin and Nyinin
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek and Wyndham
- KnownDate
- about 1890
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 60
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- NA
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-21.065 Longitude149.025 Start Date1880-01-01 End Date1880-12-31
Description
After Aboriginal people killed four shepherds on Mt Spencer Station, one the lessees, Henry Stormont Finch-Hatton is alleged by Tim Bottoms (2013, pp 87-89) to have poisoned 100 Aboriginal people at the Long Lagoon outstation. Carl Lumholtz (1889, p 373) mentions Long Lagoon in his memoir. Finch-Hatton's brother Harold gave details of the poisoning in his memoir:
'One day, when he [Henry Stormont Finch-Hatton?] knew that a large mob of Blacks were watching his movements, he packed a large dray with rations, and set off with it from the head station, as if he was going the rounds of the shepherds' huts. When he got opposite to the Long Lagoon, one of the wheels came off the dray, and down it went with a crash. This appeared to annoy him considerably; but after looking pensively at it for some time, he seemed to conclude that there was nothing to be done, so he unhitched the horses and led them back to the station. No sooner had he disappeared than, of course, all the Blacks came up to the dray to see what was in it. To their great delight it contained a vast supply of flour, beef and sugar. With appetites sharpened by a prolonged abstinence from such delicacies, they lost no time in carrying the rations down to the waterside, and forthwith devoured them as only a Blackfellow can.
Alas for the greediness of the savage! Alas for the cruelty of the white brother! The rations contained about as much strychnine as anything else, and not one of the mob escaped. When they awoke in the morning they were all dead corpses. More than a hundred Blacks were stretched out by the ruse of the owner of the Long Lagoon. In a dry season, when the water sinks low, their skulls are occasionally to be found half buried in the mud' (Finch-Hatton 1886, pp 132-133).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 977
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Sarina
- KnownDate
- 1880
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 100
- VictimNotes
- Poisoned
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 4 shepherds
- WeaponsUsed
- Poisoned Flour Laced with Strychnine
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-20.078 Longitude143.967 Start Date1861-10-30 End Date1861-10-30
Description
Frederick Walker the leader of a mounted exploration party of about 10 men, including at least three Aboriginal men and 40 horses, in search of the explorers Burke and Wills, wrote in his diary for 30 October 1861: 'The mounted party met about thirty men, painted and loaded with arms, and they charged them at once. Now was shown the benefit of Terry's breech-loaders, for such a continued steady fire was kept up by this small party that the enemy never was able to throw one of their formidable spears. Twelve men were killed, and few, if any escaped unwounded' (Walker, 1863). An excerpt from Walker's diary was published in the Melbourne Argus, 15 April 1862, p 7. Walker's journal is available online. See below.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 978
- LanguageGroup
- Mbara
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Curtis
- KnownDate
- 30 October 1861
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 12
- VictimNotes
- Males
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Explorer(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Breech Loading Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-18.891 Longitude146.172 Start Date1864-01-01 End Date1864-12-31
Description
A retired native police trooper told James Cassady that he was part of the detachment that was responsible for 'dispersing' nine Aboriginal people at Waterview Station, south of Ingham, in reprisal for killing two white men near Strathalbyn station and that the skeletons could still be seen. Cassady wrote of the incident in a letter published in the The Queenslander on 23 October 1880, p 530. Historian Tim Bottoms considers that the incident took place in 1864 (Bottoms 2013, p 114).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 979
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Denison
- KnownDate
- 1864
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimNotes
- Men
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- two unnamed white men
- WeaponsUsed
- Repeating Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-42.12 Longitude147.837 Start Date1828-07-01 End Date1828-07-30
Description
A settler, Robert Ayrton wrote to the Aborigines Committee on March 1, 1830 about an 'affray' between soldiers and Aboriginal warriors that took place in the Eastern Tiers in July 1828. 'On this occasion not less than sixteen of them [the Aborigines] were massacred and gathered into heaps and buried.' Two weeks later he repeated his claim in a deposition at the Launceston Police Office: 'A party of soldiers of the 40th Regiment and some constables went in quest of the Aborigines. On the return of the party (to Oatlands) I heard many of them boast, that they had killed sixteen of the natives, one man in particular boasted that he had run his bayonet through two of them, and that they gathered them into a heap and burned their bodies. I think that Constable Danvers stationed at Oatlands was one of the number, the soldiers do not recollect this.' The two guides were never questioned about this incident. By March 1830 the 40th Regiment were preparing to depart for India. This incident does not appear to have been a reprisal killing.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 470
- LanguageGroup
- Oyster Bay / Big River
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Oatlands
- KnownDate
- July 1828
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 16
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Military
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-13.008 Longitude130.956 Start Date1884-09-27 End Date1884-09-27
Description
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)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 724
- LanguageGroup
- Ngan'gikurrunggurr
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Yam Creek
- KnownDate
- 1884
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- Men, women, one child
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- NA
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Miners John Landers, Henry Hauschildt & Johannes Noltenius and their cook Thomas Schollert.
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Revolver(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1884: Mt Hayward Copper Mine, Daly River, SA/NT
Details
Latitude-13.117 Longitude142.99 Start Date1889-06-01 End Date1889-06-15
Description
On 11 May 1889, a group of Kaanju warriors were alleged, in a night time attack, to have killed Edmund Watson, a worker at Pine Tree Station (now Archer River Roadhouse) near Mein Telegraph station on Cape York Peninsula and severely wounded another station worker, James Evans (BC, 28 May 1889, p 5). On 18 May Sub-Inspector Frederick Urquhart, left Thursday Island for Mein Telegraph Station (BC, 20 May 1889, p5) and when he arrived, he put together a party of 40 armed men on horseback, comprising three detachments of native police, Watson's brother and overseers and stockmen in the region. In early June the party set off to disperse the Kaanju on the right hand side of the telegraph line in the Batavia (Wenlock) River area. Over the next two weeks, the party carried out five massacres of the Kaanju (Bottoms, 2013, p 124).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 981
- LanguageGroup
- Kaanju
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cooktown
- KnownDate
- June 1889
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Stockmen/Drover(s), Overseer(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Edmund Watson
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
- MassacreGroup
- 1889: Batavia (Wenlock) area, QLD
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0dc3 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=981 SourceBrisbane Courier, 20 May 1889, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3496350; 28 May 1889, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3496688; Queenslander, The, 1 June 1889, p 1013 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19814504; Vogan, 1890, p 137; Loos, 1982, p 61; Bottoms, 2013, p 124.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-42.244 Longitude147.118 Start Date1830-08-22 End Date1830-08-27
Description
According to the Colonial Times on September 3, 1830, p 3: 'One day last week a servant of Captain Wood, of the Clyde, brought to Hobart Town an Aboriginal prisoner which he had captured. It appears from what we have heard, that a mob of of these misguided wretches rushed on the man in question, who took shelter in a stock-hut where fortunately for him there happened to be some fire-arms ready loaded, which he put immediately to requisition and in the course of a short time, as we are informed, killed several of the Natives, and took the one in question, prisoner. On arriving in Hobart Town, Captain Wood's man conveyed the black to the Police Office, of course expecting to be immediately paid the reward offered by Government for the apprehension of the Natives, but he was there desired to leave the man, and his case would be in due course be laid before His Excellency. The man was apparently not very well satisfied in his own mind about the time which might elapse before his reward would be forthcoming, and he therefore refused to deliver his prisoner without payment there and then. Ultimately a letter was written to His Excellency by the magistrate, and handed to the man, who attended at Government House accompanied by his prisoner. His Excellency ordered that one of the black Natives who are under the charge of Mr Robinson of the Newtown Road, to be sent for to act as interpreter, and by his assistance endeavoured to obtain some information from the prisoner, but we understand that all that could be got from him was that the white man had destroyed several of his companions, and that he had most reason to complain; that when the tribe attacked the hut it was in order to obtain food, and such articles and such articles as the whites had introduced amongst them, and which now instead of being luxuries as formerly, had become necessaries, which they could not any other way procure. ...the reward was given instantly.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 472
- LanguageGroup
- Big River
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Clyde
- KnownDate
- 22-27/08/1830
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockkeeper(s), Servant(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-42.231 Longitude147.792 Start Date1828-12-06 End Date1828-12-06
Description
After Aboriginal people killed settler Adam Wood and two shepherds, on 6 December 1828 an armed party of nine soldiers of the 40th Regiment, two constables, and guides, John Danvers and William Holmes, surrounded an Aboriginal camp at Tooms Lake at daybreak. Three days later, the guide, John Danvers, reported to Thomas Anstey, the police magistrate at Oatlands: 'One of them getting up from a small fire to a large one, discovered us and gave the alarm to the rest, and the whole of them jumpt [sic] up immediately and attempted to take up their spears in defense, and seeing that, we immediately fired and repeated it because we saw they were on the defensive part, they were about twenty in Number and several of whom were killed, two only were, unfortunately taken alive' (Danvers to Anstey, 10 December 1828, TAHO CSO 1/320/7578, p 22). The Hobart Town Courier (December 13, 1828, p 2) also reported the incident: 'The party of the 40th regiment which was led into the bush by John Danvers and William Holmes, is returned, bringing with them a black woman and her boy, the only prisoners made in the attack upon the Aborigines at the Great [Tooms] Lake at the source of the Macquarie River. Ten of the natives were killed on the spot and the rest fled.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 474
- LanguageGroup
- Oyster Bay / Little Swanport
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Campbell Town
- KnownDate
- 06/12/1828
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- settler and 2 shepherds
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-13.238 Longitude142.995 Start Date1889-06-02 End Date1889-06-14
Description
Two weeks after the Aboriginal killing of Edward Watson at Pine Tree Station in early May, 1889, Sub-Inspector Frederick Urquhart arrived at nearby Mein Telegraph station and collected a party of 40 armed men on horseback, comprising three detachments of native police, Watson's brother and settlers and stockmen from the Cape York region and in early June commenced a two-week campaign of dispersal of five Kaanju camps in the Batavia River (Wenlock) area at five sites (Bottoms, 2013, p 124).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 983
- LanguageGroup
- Kaanju
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cooktown
- KnownDate
- June 1889
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
- MassacreGroup
- 1889: Batavia (Wenlock) area, QLD
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0dc7 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=983 SourceBrisbane Courier, 20 May 1889, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3496350; 28 May 1889, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3496688; Queenslander, 1 June 1889, p 1013 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19814504; Vogan, 1890, p 137; Loos, 1982, p 61; Bottoms, 2013, p 124.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-12.91 Longitude142.943 Start Date1889-06-11 End Date1889-06-11
Description
Following the killing of Edmund Watson at Pine Tree station on the Upper Archer River on Cape York by Kaanju warriors in early May 1889, Sub-Inspector Frederick Urquhart was despatched to the nearby Mein Telegraph station where he formed a party of at least 40 armed men comprising three detachments of native police, the brother of Edmund Watson and stockmen from every cattle station in the area with the purpose of giving 'the blacks a lesson' (Vogan, 1890, p 137). According to Timothy Bottoms, in early June the party went to Merluna Station for rations, left there on 9 June and on 11 June 'came up with them on Batavia (Wenlock) River... dispersed them and recovered telegraph wire, iron pins and insulators in their camp'. There were five of these 'dispersals' (Bottoms, 2013, p 124).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 985
- LanguageGroup
- Kaanju
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cooktown
- KnownDate
- 11 June 1889
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
- MassacreGroup
- 1889: Batavia (Wenlock) area, QLD
Details
Latitude-42.037 Longitude147.504 Start Date1828-04-02 End Date1828-04-02
Description
At the end of March 1828, Oyster Bay warriors killed Henry Beames, stock keeper to settler William Robertson on the Elizabeth River. James Simpson, the magistrate at Campbell Town, ordered a party of soldiers from the 40th Regiment along with stock keepers and field police to pursue the culprits. In his report to the Colonial Secretary a few days later he said that: 'it is believed that 17 Aborigines were slaughtered' (Simpson to Col. Sec. April 1, 1828, TAHO CSO 1/316/7578, p 137). The killing of Henry Beams was reported in the Hobart Town Courier on April 5, p 3, but did not mention the reprisal massacre. At the hearings of the Aborigines Committee two years later, Gilbert Robertson, the Chief District Constable at Richmond, testified that 'great ravages were committed by a party of constables and some of the 40th Regiment, sent from Campbell Town; the party consisted of five or six; they got the Natives between two perpendicular rocks, between which there was a sort of shelf on which the Natives got; has heard and does believe that 70 of them were killed by that party; ...the party killed them by firing all their ammunition upon them, and then dragging the women and children from the crevices in the rocks and dashing out their brains; ...believes, from Dugdale's account, who was one of the party, that the whole tribe was destroyed.' However, settler Mr Robertson disputed the massacre and said that 'no bodies were found' (BPP, 1831, pp 48-49). In 1835, Henry Melville, in The History of Van Diemen's Land, (1835, pp 71-72) provided an account of the incident from an eyewitness: 'A mob of some score or so of natives, men, women, and children, had been discovered by their fires, and a whole parcel of the Colonists armed themselves, and proceeded to the spot. These advanced unperceived, and were close to the natives, when the dogs gave the alarm; the natives jumped up in a moment, and then the signal for slaughter was given, fire-arms were discharged, and those poor wretches who could not hide themselves from the light thrown on their persons by their own fires, were destroyed...One man...was shot, he sprang up, turned round like a whipping top, and fell dead; - the party then went up to the fires, found a great number of waddies and spears, and an infant sprawling on the ground, which one of the party pitched into one of the fires.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 477
- LanguageGroup
- Oyster Bay
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Campbell Town
- KnownDate
- 02/04/1828
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 17
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Stockkeeper(s), Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- stock-keeper, Henry Beames
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s), Cutlass/Cutlasses, Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-41.979 Longitude147.49 Start Date1827-04-12 End Date1827-04-12
Description
On May 4 1827 on page 3, the Colonial Times reported that three weeks earlier, Thomas Rawling [Rawlins] and Edward Green, servants of settler Walter Davidson on the Elizabeth River, had been killed by a party of Aborigines led by Black Tom (Kickerterpoller) and "Several persons assisted by a small party of soldiers made immediate pursuit." The incident was also reported in the Hobart Town Gazette. While both newspapers reported the finding of the bodies of Green and Rawlins, accounts of fatalities in the reprisal varied from a tally of 'not less than thirty' (Colonial Times, 11 May 1827, p 2) to the claim that 'not a single Native was killed' (Colonial Times, 25 May 1827, p 4). . Further information appeared in 2002, p 13 in a published memoir of settler James George, who recorded the aftermath: "Having seen their fires in a gully near the River Macquarie, some score of armed men, Constables, Soldiers and Civilians, and Prisoners (convicts) or assigned Servants, who fell in with the Natives when they was going to their Breakfast. They fired volley after volley in among the Blackfellows, they reported killing some two score".
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 478
- LanguageGroup
- Oyster Bay
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Campbell Town
- KnownDate
- 12/04/1827
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Settler(s), Convict(s), Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Thomas Rawling and Edward Green
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0dd1 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=478 SourceHTG May 5,1827 - https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/679817; CTTA May 4, 1827 - https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/679292, CTTA May 11, 1827 - https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/679295, CTTAMay 25, 1827 - https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/679305; BPP 1831, pp 48-49; George, 2002, p 13; Ryan, 2012, p 90.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-11.416 Longitude130.418 Start Date1824-01-20 End Date1828-07-21
Description
Poignant (1996, p 27) wrote that these events are commemorated in a corrobboree by Melville Islanders. This was the first attempt at European settlement in Northern Australia. There is no record of how many Tiwi Islanders were killed, although reports of deaths put the figure as 'minimal' notwithstanding heavy fortification and the posting of sentries. It is reported that the Tiwi consider the abandonment of Fort Dundas as a victory in repelling the English from their soil, which was threatened by grass and tree cutting and voracious use of precious water supplies.
Reid (1990, p 17) wrote that Captain Gordon Bremer arrived on 23 September with fifty marines and soldiers, and several wives and children, but without official instructions as to how he should handle the local people. He had merely been told they were 'understood to be of a ferocious disposition'. Within a month the Tiwi had attacked, and one was shot in reprisal. Thereafter the Aborigines were seldom seen but they tore down huts, speared the livestock, stole the tools of working parties. Warruminguand, in October 1826, killed a white man.
…
In November 1827 the surgeon, Dr John Gold, and storekeeper, John Henry Green, walking near Fort Dundas, were attacked and killed. By this time it was apparent that Apsley Strait was unsuitable as a trading settlement.
...
In 1828 Fort Dundas was abandoned in favour of Fort Wellington, which had been set up at Raffles Bay in July 1828, but where relations with the Aborigines were no better. The commandant, Captain Henry Smyth, possibly mindful of the experience on Melville Island, sent out armed patrols with his working parties.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 987
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Punata
- LanguageGroup
- Tiwi
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Sydney
- KnownDate
- 1824-28
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s), Military
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0dce Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=987 SourcePoignant, R, 1996, p 27; Reid, G, 1990, p 17. See also Powell, 2016, pp 90-91 and Fredericksen, 2024, pp 1-29.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-17.956 Longitude138.833 Start Date1876-12-02 End Date1876-12-20
Description
William Batten, a former assistant to George De Lautour, was returning to 'the settled districts' of Queensland with his colleague Aitken. Both resigned from De Lautour's party (Roberts, 2005, pp 38-39) and reached the Nicholson on 2 December where Batten gave some rations to a large number of Aboriginal people then was killed by six or seven Aboriginal men with nulla nullas while Aitken was 300m down the river fishing for dinner (Queenslander, 26 Jan 1878, p 20). Aitken fired at them, killing one.
These were thought to be the same people who had recently been driven from a station on the Gregory River for cattle killing, 'The scene of the murder is only about thirty-five or forty miles from the Messrs. Watson's station on the Gregory, from which station it is stated the murderers had been driven for spearing cattle.' (Queenslander, 26 Jan 1878, p 20)
Aitken reported to police at Normanton and a punitive expedition led by Sub-Inspector Lyndon Poingdestre (including both Aitken and De Lautour) departed six days later.
The matter was also mentioned by another reporter in The Queenslander: 'This, the Bynoe Native Mounted Police camp, is the basis of protection to the settlers for no less a distance than to the boundary west and Creen Creek east; and shortly after having visited it the officer (Sub-inspector Poindestre), according to instructions, proceeded to the Nicholson, nearly 200 miles distant, upon the news of the murder of Mr. Batten reaching Normanton.' (Queenslander, 10 Aug 1878, p 587
A traveller in the area later reported the site of the Batten's murder (and so the destination of the punitive expedition) to be a lagoon half a mile from the Nicholson River, and about 50 miles south west of Burketown (this could be any number of locations in a broad area), and that the Aboriginal people had been 'deservedly punished': 'Camping at a fine lagoon (Emu), alive with waterfowl, half a mile from the river and about fifty miles south-west of Burketown, close to the spot at which a few weeks later Mr. Batten was murdered by the blacks, for which outrage they have been deservedly punished (his fleshless remains, by the way, have since received Christian burial), we are suddenly disturbed during the night, not by backs, as we at first supposed, but by a large mob of wild cattle as they are making their way to water, and shortly after daylight a few are observed on the plains a long way off.' (The Queenslander, 5 Oct 1878, p 12)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 989
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- No police district at that stage
- KnownDate
- 1876
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- William Batten
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-16.343 Longitude137.666 Start Date1880-10-01 End Date1880-12-31
Description
Roberts (2005, p 53) wrote: 'Another attack at about this time, at the Calvert River, was said to have been punished severely. Dick Moore was a brumby-hunter who made his living from trapping Price Cox's thoroughbred horses and their progeny. Moore and his Aboriginal "boy" were living in a bough and canvas camp on a lagoon near the west bank of the river. They had a clear view on all sides to prevent a surprise attack during the daylight, while cattle dogs guarded at night. One night, not long after Moore settled there, a spear pierced his tent fly. He decided to "get a blow in early that would teach the blacks a lesson", wrote Gordon Buchanan, and: "His Queensland black boy was a good tracker and rifle shot, and for months they followed up and dispersed, so it was said, numbers of natives, and captured and secured…a couple of young gins." Moore is alleged to have shot down "bush blacks" on sight, once killing thirteen while they were crossing a plain.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 990
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Yangulinyina
- LanguageGroup
- Garawa, Mara, Yanyuwa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- No police district at that stage
- KnownDate
- 1880
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Overlander(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-41.62 Longitude146.39 Start Date1827-06-26 End Date1827-06-26
Description
Following the Pallittore killing of William Knight, overseer at TC Simpson's stock-hut at Dairy Plains on 23 June1827, Peter Mulgrave, the Police Magistrate at Launceston, dispatched Corporals William Shiners and James Lingan from the 40th Regiment to Gibson's hut at the Western Marshes (Dairy Plains) where they met Field Constable Williams. Shiners expanded his party to include four stockmen on horseback, Thomas Baker, James Cubit, Henry Smith and Thomas White. At the end of day on 26 June they surrounded a Pallittorre camp of six fires at Laycock Falls (Westmoreland Falls) at the base of Quamby Bluff. They waited until dawn to attack and allegedly killed between 30-60 Pallittorre (Laycock in Mulgrave to Col. Sec. 6 July 1827, TAHO CSO 1/316/7578, p 15-37; Ryan, 2008, p 492). Two different accounts of reprisal killings appeared in the same issue of the Colonial Times (July 6, 1827, p 4). The first account stated that: 'The Military instantly pursued the blacks – brought home numerous trophies, such as spears, waddies, tomahawks, muskets, blankets – killed upwards of 30 dogs, and as the report says, nearly as many natives, but this is not a positive fact.' The second account stated that: 'The people over the second Western Tier have killed an immense quantity of blacks this last week, in consequence of their having murdered Mr Simpson's stockkeeper. They were surrounded whilst sitting around their fires when the soldiers and others fired at them about 30 yards distant. They report there must have been about 60 of them killed and wounded.' The official report of this incident however, said that 'between twenty and thirty of their dogs' were killed and one Aboriginal 'possibly wounded.' When government agent, G.A. Robinson, traveled through the area in September 1830, stock keeper Thomas Johnson told him that William Knight was known to 'kill Aborigines for sport' (Plomley, 1966, p 219; 2008, p 254). Historian Shayne Breen (2001) considers that the accounts in the Colonial Times, relate to two separate incidents.
The massacre is the first of four carried out by the party in an 18 day killing spree known as the Quamby Bluff massacres.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 481
- LanguageGroup
- Port Sorell [Pallittore North]
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Launceston
- KnownDate
- 26/06/1827
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Stockmen/Drover(s), Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot, Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- William Knight overseer
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1827: Quamby Bluff, Western Marshes, VDL/TAS
Details
Latitude-41.595 Longitude146.71 Start Date1827-06-27 End Date1827-06-27
Description
Following the first massacre of 30 Pallittore at Quamby Brook on 26 June 1827, in reprisal for the killing by Pallittorre warriors of stock-keeper William Knight, overseer to settler TC Simpson at Dairy Plains on 23 June 1827. Corporal William Shiner's party included Corporal James Lingren, district constable Williams and stock keepers, Thomas Baker, James Cubit, Henry Smith and Thomas White. They attacked a Pallittore camp at Quamby Brook on 27 June 1827 and allegedly killed 30 of them. This was the second massacre in the 'Quamby Bluff' massacres.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 483
- LanguageGroup
- Port Sorell [Pallittore North]
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Launceston
- KnownDate
- 27/06/1827
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Stockmen/Drover(s), Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- William Knight overseer
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1827: Quamby Bluff, Western Marshes, VDL/TAS
Details
Latitude-25.699 Longitude149.264 Start Date1858-04-01 End Date1858-04-30
Description
Following the massacre of the Fraser family at Hornet Bank station on the Dawson River in November 1857, three large scale reprisals of the Yiman people took place. The first was carried out by a posse of local settlers (see Hornet Bank aftermath (1)); and the second by two surviving men of the Fraser family (Hornet Bank aftermath (2)).
The third was carried out by detachments of native police who hunted the Yiman down from the ranges of the Upper Dawson River in April 1858 (Richards 2008, pp 63-4).
On 15th March 1858 W. Cryand wrote to Government Resident at Moreton Bay saying, '...while the Colonial Secretary is quite prepared to hear, after the numerous murders and other acts of atrocity committed by the Aborigines in the Southern Districts, that summary and severe punishment had ensued, he regrets to notice in the reports of Lieutenants Murray and Powell expressions which he cannot permit to pass by without special notice. Lieutenant Murray in his letter to the Commandant of the 19 January last says "a considerable number of Blacks concerned in the late outrage have been killed by the Police, finding that they were allowed up to the Station and evidently thinking that their evil deeds had been forgotten"; and the expression to which the Colonial Secretary Secretary entertains objection is that portion of the above that is underlined. It, I am to say, would justify the inference that unawares and possibly while entrapped within reach of gun shot, they were in cold blood destroyed. But a still more objectionable expression occurs in Lieutenant Powell's letter of 16th December last, in which he reports that in dispersing a large party of Blacks some of them were shot including "three Gins as they were running away"... The murder of the Fraser Family with the attendant circumstances required that the perpetrators of such monstrous enormities should be punished in the severest manner wherever they could be found; but I am desired to state that there is something abhorrent to the feeling of humanity to read, even on that case, of three Gins being shot dead as they were running away, and the Colonial Secretary trusts that on any future occasion should a similar occurrence be reported, you will make enquiry at once into the matter in order to check the feeling that the lives even of the most ignorant savages may be unnecessarily taken from them.'
(QSA RES/2 58/920 ITM3681987)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 992
- LanguageGroup
- Yiman
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Taroom
- KnownDate
- April 1858
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- Men and women.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 11 members of Fraser family at Hornet Bank
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Cutlass/Cutlasses
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1857-1858: Hornet Bank Reprisal Massacres, NSW/QLD
Details
Latitude-12.241 Longitude132.862 Start Date1875-06-01 End Date1875-06-03
Description
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'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 994
- LanguageGroup
- Kunwinjku
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Darwin
- KnownDate
- 1875 June-July
- AttackTime
- Afternoon
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Overlander(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Unknown
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-41.551 Longitude146.481 Start Date1827-07-13 End Date1827-07-13
Description
Nine Pallittore Aboriginal people were killed in in reprisal for the attempted killing of Thomas Baker, overseer to landowner David Gibson at Dairy Plains. The dawn attack on the Pallittore camp near Quamby Bluff was probably led by Corporals William Shiners and James Lingan, assisted by District Constable Thomas Williams and stock-keepers James Cubit, Henry Smith and Thomas White. This was the 4th reprisal massacre in the cluster known as the Quamby Bluff killings. They were carried out in reprisal for the killing of an overseer and the wounding of another; and the killing of two shepherds. It is estimated that more than 78 Pallittore were killed in the four massacres.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 486
- LanguageGroup
- Port Sorell [Pallittore North]
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Launceston
- KnownDate
- 13/07/1827
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Foot Soldier(s), Stockkeeper(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- attempted killing of stockkeeper Thomas Baker
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1827: Quamby Bluff, Western Marshes, VDL/TAS
Details
Latitude-15.156 Longitude135.636 Start Date1878-12-20 End Date1878-12-22
Description
Following the clubbing death of Travers in his camp, a reprisal was carried out by Nat Buchanan, Wattie Gordon, Sam Croker, Charles Bridson, Tom Hume and Brebner. Roberts (2005, pp 48-50) noted: 'Gordon Buchanan, Nat's son, admitted that the murderers of Travers "met with just retribution", but he was critical of what he called "the ruthless and often insensate methods of Croker to awe the blacks". In 1911 James Beckett, the Chief Protector of Aborigines in the NT, was shown a remote cave north-west of the Limmen Bight River which contained forty to fifty skeletons of people of all ages. Beckett's Aboriginal guide said they had been killed by lightning many years earlier. An aged Aboriginal man told Beckett he had been taken to the site by his parents the day after the tragedy. There was, apparently, no obvious evidence that those in the cave had been shot, but in the first years of contact in the Gulf country it was common for Aboriginals to attribute shooting deaths to lightning. Moreover, the cave was reported to be 100 metres long, 20 metres wide and only '2 feet' (61 centimetres) high, which makes lightning an unlikely factor. In any event, news of the cave was published in the Argus, prompting an old-timer to write: "Somewhere in the locality indicated, in a somewhat similar cave, over 25 years ago, I saw probably 20 bodies of natives who had recently been shot by a well-known Queensland overlander".'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 996
- LanguageGroup
- Yanyuwa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Darwin
- KnownDate
- December 1878
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Overlander(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- William 'Bill' Travers
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-15.817 Longitude137.045 Start Date1886-08-01 End Date1886-08-31
Description
Roberts (2005, pp 190-191) wrote: 'Around midnight on 28 July 1886, a party of Yanyuwa men attacked a cutter named the Smuggler while it was anchored between Vanderlin Island and the Mouth of the McArthur River. Well-known Gulf identity Captain Alfred Toms was killed and members of his crew were wounded...A number of Yanyuwa men, women and children were walking on the beach at a place called Murruba, on the southern tip of Vanderlin Island, as the Smuggler made its way slowly along the coast, between the beach and Little Vanderlin Island which lies a kilometre offshore. A shot from a heavy rifle rang out and a man in the group fell to the ground, bleeding. He died soon afterwards. His companions were puzzled as to why, and some wondered how, but others knew about the white man's deadly, long-range rifles. In later years there was speculation that a Martini-Henry must have been used. About twelve kilometres further along the coast is a narrow stretch of white sand, backed by dense scrub. Here a freshwater creek, containing pandanus-lined waterholes, flows into the sea. The creek, beach and locality are called Yulbarra…Some or all of the men from the Smuggler went ashore and began shooting people, apparently for sport. When the shooting began, the Yanyuwa ran away.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 998
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Yulbara
- LanguageGroup
- Yanyuwa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- No police district at that stage
- KnownDate
- August 1886
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Sailor(s)
- Transport
- Boat
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Captain Alfred Toms
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-38.806 Longitude143.461 Start Date1846-08-01 End Date1846-08-02
Description
In July 1846, surveyor George Smythe was hired to conduct a coastal survey of the Otway Ranges. Having established a base camp on the eastern shore of Cape Otway at Blanket Bay, Smythe and four others in the party marched westward towards the Aire River and when they returned to Blanket Bay six days later, they found that another member of the party, James Conroy, 'had been barbarously murdered' with a tomahawk 'about 200 yards from the tent, where he had gone to cut wood' (GA & SA, August 8, 1846, p 2). Conroy had been visited by some Gadubanud people earlier in the day and it appears he had tried to abduct an Aboriginal woman, and had been killed for his efforts. Smythe and the party buried Conroy's body and made their way back to Geelong and then to Melbourne where Smyth informed Superintendent La Trobe of the incident. Smythe then organised a punitive expedition to avenge Conroy's death, comprising 'a heavily armed posse' (Cannon, 1990, p 147) of pastoralists and stockmen, probably on horseback, and an 'armed detachment of the Barrabool tribe', employed 'under the sanction of government' (Niewojt, 2010, p 201). The party tracked down a group of the Badubanud camped on the opposite bank of the Aire river estuary. Early the following morning, the Barrabool were sent in to attack the Badubanud camp and promptly killed the chief and several women and children. Reports of the numbers killed range from eight to twenty.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 743
- LanguageGroup
- Gadubanud
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Portland
- KnownDate
- August 1846
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 8
- VictimNotes
- 1 warrior, the rest were women and children. Up to 20 were killed.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for killing of James Conroy 26 July 1846 at Blanket Bay.
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Tomahawk(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-12.148 Longitude131.266 Start Date1864-09-08 End Date1864-08-13
Description
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).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 999
- LanguageGroup
- Woolna
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Military settlement
- KnownDate
- 1864
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 1
- AttackerDescription
- Military
- AttackerNames
- Alaric Ward
- Transport
- Foot, Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for pilfering the camp.
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-13.431 Longitude131.548 Start Date1873-10-01 End Date1878-05-01
Description
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).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1000
- LanguageGroup
- Wagiman, Mayall, Arigoolia and Jawoyn
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Howley, Yam Creek, Pine Creek
- KnownDate
- 1874
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for pilfering raids on camps.
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-41.488 Longitude146.686 Start Date1830-04-18 End Date1830-04-18
Description
The police magistrate at Westbury, Captain Moriarty reported on 19 April 1830 that on 18 April, in a clash with stock keepers employed by another magistrate, M.L. Smith, at Whitefoord Hills, at least two Pallittorre warriors were shot, and one stabbed, 'presumed killed' (Moriarty to Co Sec, 19 April 1830, TAHO CSO 1/316/7578, p 489). A later report by Moriarty indicated that in the 'affray', six Aboriginal people were killed by stock-keepers in self-defence (Moriarty to Co Sec 30 April 1830, TAHO CSO 1/316/7578 p 504).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 489
- LanguageGroup
- Port Sorell [Pallittore North]
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Norfolk Plains
- KnownDate
- 18/04/1830
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Shotgun(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-15.352 Longitude130.284 Start Date1895-12-11 End Date1895-12-31
Description
Historian of the Victoria River District, Darrell Lewis (2018, pp 65-66) noted: 'An account of the mass killing of Aborigines on Bradshaw survives as oral history. According to Pauline Rayner (pers. comm.) her father, Peter Murray, who owned Coolibah and Bradshaw from 1958 to 1963 and remained on the station for a further five years, was told the following story by an old Aborigine named Johnson: '"Bradshaw station had continual trouble with bush blacks breaking into the station store and stealing bags of flour, tobacco and so on. Eventually the station whites decided to leave a bag of flour laced with poison in the store. The bag was stolen and a big mob of Aborigines were poisoned"'. The mass poisoning took place in late 1895.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 746
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek/Timber Creek
- KnownDate
- 1895
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimNotes
- 'Big mob' poisoned by flour. No names recorded. Could have been 20 plus.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Poison
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1895-1896: Bradshaw Station, NT
Details
Latitude-23.072 Longitude150.898 Start Date1865-01-01 End Date1865-12-31
Description
In 1865 a party of armed settlers led by 'Mr. R. Ross, Mr. R. Spence, Dr Callaghan, Lieutenant Walter Compigne of the Native Police, two black trackers and four [a]borigines, named Jack, Dundally, Tom and Paddle-nosed Peter' arrived on 'the southern end' of North Keppel Island to see if it was suitable for a cattle run. On the northern side of the island, they ambushed a group of Woppaburra people hiding in a cave (Bird, 1904, cited in Rowland, 2004, p 3). It appears that the native police shot seven or eight Woppaburra men and a woman with a cripple on her back. In his account Dr Callaghan did not mention the killings (see Rowland, 2004, pp 3-5). Two later accounts by R McClelland and Walter Roth, the Aboriginal Protector, were more forthcoming. McClelland said that when he visited the island some years later, 'the blacks showed me a line of bones over one hundred yards long, and told me that they belonged to a tribe of blacks who were shot by a boarding party of whites many years before...[and] and old black named "Jamie" told me all about the brutality of the shooting. He mentioned about an old gin who was trying to escape carrying a cripple on her back, and how both were mercilessly shot down' (McClelland cited in Rowland, 2004, p 5). In the 1890s, Walter Roth noted on his visit to North Keppel that 'the actual camping ground where at least 7 or 8 males were shot down one night in cold blood', was still to be seen, and that 'the father of one of the surviving gins (who described the scene that took place) being butchered while his little girl was clinging round his neck' (Roth cited in Rowland, 2004, p 5). It would appear that at least eight Woppaburra men were shot down along with a woman carrying the disabled child on her back. According to Michael Rowland 'at least one of the skulls from the Keppel Islands, which was held in the Queensland Museum (No. 67) 'contained entry and exit holes possibly caused by a low-velocity bullet' (Rowland, 2004, p 5).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1003
- LanguageGroup
- Woppaburra
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Curtis
- KnownDate
- 1865
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimNotes
- 8 Aboriginal men and an old woman carrying a cripple on her back.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-41.428 Longitude147.296 Start Date1829-03-12 End Date1829-03-12
Description
According to the 'Hobart Town Courier' March, 21, 1829, 'On Tuesday last [10 March 1829], the Blacks made their appearance and robbed one or two huts near the Cataract, and on Friday they were seen on the North Esk river, a short distance from Launceston, where they robbed three or four farm homes and killed a woman [Mrs Miller] and two men [James Hales and Thomas Johnson] at the farm of a man named Miller. They also speared a man in his master's barn [Russell], and another who was on the road at Patterson's plain with a bag of flour on his back; both these persons are badly wounded, and are now in the Hospital. Two stock-keepers are also missing, and are supposed to have been killed by the Blacks in the same neighbourhood. Several parties have been sent in pursuit, but the soldiers and constabulary are unsuccessful. Yesterday morning [Thursday 12 March] a party of volunteers came up with the murderers about 12 miles [20 kilometers] from hence [Launceston] at a place called Bullock's hunting ground, where four men, a woman and a child were killed. One of the men that was shot had a red coat on which was stolen from the Commandant's stock-keeper, in a hut near the Cataract Hills. I am told there is a woman amongst them who formerly lived in Launceston for several months.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 491
- LanguageGroup
- North Midlands
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Launceston
- KnownDate
- 12/03/1829
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockkeeper(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1 woman (Mrs Miller), and two men James Hales, Thomas Johnson
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-40.709 Longitude144.688 Start Date1828-01-01 End Date1828-01-31
Description
Richard Frederick, master of the VDL Co sloop, Fanny, told Mrs Rosalie Hare, wife of the captain of the Caroline, that he and four shepherds had surprised a party of Aborigines at Cape Grim, killing 12 of them before retreating to their ship. Mrs Hare recorded the incident in her diary on 19 January 1828 (Lee, 1927, p 41). Edward Curr, the manager of the VDL Company, acknowledged the attack in a report to his superiors in London on 14 January 1828 but claimed there were no casualties because "the guns mis-fired." (TAHO VDL 5/1 No.2) According to historian Ian McFarlane, the massacre was carried out in reprisal for Aboriginal people killing sheep (McFarlane, 2003, pp 277-298).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 493
- LanguageGroup
- North West
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Circular Head
- KnownDate
- January 1828
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 12
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Shepherd(s), Sailor(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-12.486 Longitude134.935 Start Date1885-01-01 End Date1885-12-31
Description
Gwenda Baker (2018, p 8) recorded the pastoral history of this area: 'The cattle station people arrived in 1885. They were antagonistic towards the Yolngu from the start. Macartney and Mayne set up Florida Station near the present day town of Ramingining. When some Yolngu killed a cow for food, the station owners killed a group of Yolngu with poisoned horsemeat. This started a guerrilla war by the Yolngu. The station workers had guns. Yolngu had spears and knowledge of fire and the country. Yolngu killed station workers and drove off the cattle. By 1893 it was all over. The station was abandoned and the remaining cattle moved south to another location.'
Trudgen wrote (2000, pp 19-20): '... some months later the pastoralists came with one of their wagons, offering horsemeat to many of the clans... That evening they ate, thanking the pastoralists for their good gifts. It was only when some of the people became violently ill that the Yolngu realised the Balanda had tricked them with some strange sorcery... Members of many clans died that day... Yolngu struck back, fighting with spears against muskets and carbines. Soon the skirmishes became running battles'. Men, women and children were killed by the poisoning.
The estimate of 40 killed is for the poisoning incident only. Many more would have been killed in the ongoing conflict.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 748
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Murwangi
- LanguageGroup
- Yolngu, Djinang
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Palmerston (no police presence in Arnhem Land at that time)
- KnownDate
- 1885
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- Yolngu clans poisoned by horse meat distributed by Florida Station manager.
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Manager(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Poison
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-40.697 Longitude144.688 Start Date1828-02-10 End Date1828-02-10
Description
Four shepherds employed by the VDL Co, Charles Chamberlain, John Weavis, William Gunshannon and Richard Nicholson, crept up on a group of Aborigines hunting and shot 30 dead and then threw their bodies to the rocks below. The incident was reported by a VDL Company officer, Alexander Goldie to Lieutenant-governor Arthur in Hobart in November 1829 (TAHO CSO 1/333, p 116-117). Arthur then ordered his agent, G.A. Robinson, to investigate the incident during his visit to the area between June and September 1830. Robinson interviewed two of the four perpetrators who confirmed the number killed and the location of the incident but said that only one woman had been shot (Plomley, 2008, p 206-207). Robinson then interviewed an Aboriginal woman witness, who confirmed the number killed but insisted that many of the victims were women (Plomley, 2008, pp 212-214). However, Edward Curr, the superintendent of the VDL Company, in a dispatch to the Board of Governors in London on October 7 1830, reported that only six Aborigines were killed and several wounded and then revised down the number killed to three (TAHO VDL 5/1, pp 104-105). Historian Ian McFarlane provides the most comprehensive account of the massacre (McFarlane, 2003, pp 277-298).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 494
- LanguageGroup
- North West
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Circular Head
- KnownDate
- 10/02/1828
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Shepherd(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-23.998 Longitude133.368 Start Date1887-01-01 End Date1887-12-31
Description
Alec Ross, Manager of Undoolya Station from 1880, wrote in The Register, (Adelaide) in 1928 (p 6): 'The same trouble was experienced at Owen Springs and all the places mentioned on the Finke. We petitioned to the South Australian Government to allow the police officer at Alice Springs to organize a body of black trackers to assist the trooper in stopping the cattle killers. This was granted, and six of the best boys from southern stations were placed under MC Wurmbrandt who had them well drilled in a short time. It had a wholesome effect, and cattle killing came to an end. I have known the blacks in those days to spear 13 head of cattle at Simpson's Gap, and never took a steak off any of them. To my knowledge, they were never cruelly treated by the whites. It was the custom to kill cattle frequently for the natives, hoping that this would prevent them from spearing so many on the run. It had no effect, as they seemed determined to drive every settler out of the country, but in the native police — like the old saying, "Set a rogue to catch a rogue" — they found that there was no getting away from these boys, and they soon became quiet and useful.'
Sid Stanes (Trish Lonsdale Collection, Reel 22 side 2), an old Central Australian stockman, said this in an oral history: 'When they killed Harry Figg out there [1884, Anna's Reservoir] they brought all the stock in from Frew River, The Reservoir, The Stirling, they shot a lot too. Wurmbrandt [sic] shot a lot of those blacks. He was shooting them wholesale and he was recalled and Cowle took his place'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 749
- LanguageGroup
- Arrernte
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Augusta
- KnownDate
- 1887
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- Alleged cattle killers.
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Martini-Henry Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-20.757 Longitude134.916 Start Date1891-06-24 End Date1891-06-24
Description
From an oral history with Sid Stanes (Trish Lonsale Collection, Reel 15, side 1, p 50), about Frew River Station: 'They were not there more than 2 or 3 years I don't think. Had a great stockade round the place. Eventually the blacks hunted them out. They used to shoot the blacks, of course, but there were too many of them…they built this bloody high stockyard right round the place and they had a lot of dogs, Bloodhounds, tied up at night around the place…'.
Bell (1983, p 65) noted: 'The presence of eight Aboriginal women at the Frew River Station was mentioned by the Adelaide Observer (11 July 1891) as one possible reasons for the attack of June 1891 by Alyawarra and Wakaja. Further attacks occurred and by 1896 the ill-fated station was abandoned. Eylmann wrote "The station dwellers are said to have always treated the Aborigines with the greatest severity and mercilessly shot down every cattle thief they could get hold of. When I was there, I found two human skulls in one piece, one which was pierced by a bullet…". Aboriginal attacks were kept at bay by the "ferocity of a large number of kangaroo and blood hounds which were kept inside the palisades".'
The Evening Journal (6 July 1891, p 2) reported the event: 'So the blacks on the Frew River have made an attack on Mr. Coulthard and his men. This is just what was expected, and as preparations were made for a visit of this sort, I warrant they got a warm reception...an attack such as that which is reported to have taken place on June 24 was fully expected. When the Willowie Pastoral Company took possession the first thing Mr. Giles wisely insisted upon doing—before putting up any buildings—was to build a barricade consisting of posts slanting outwards. The inside station buildings are inside this'.
Trish Lonsdale's notes of her interview with Harry Tilmouth read: 'In the Frew River ones, he described to me that Bill Coulthard came in unexpectedly from the camp to the station which had a picket fence all round and they had some dogs that they used to let loose and the cook was the only person there and these natives knew that the cook was there alone. The dogs were very restless and at midnight, Coulthard got up as he felt that there was something wrong and he saw the lubra, there was a lubra helping in the Station, she was assistant to the cook, and she was talking finger [sign] language and Coulthard found looking through his glasses another native on a hill doing likewise, this I think was before dusk. It was later at midnight that the dogs were restless and this finger language aroused his suspicions and then about midnight when the dogs became noisy he took out his guns, revolver and shotgun, and found outside about 30 or more natives with their fire sticks all round the outside of the barricade waiting to attack. He fired amongst them and they scattered. Later when Wurmbrand was on the scene and they were tracking them, in fact they were tracking one another, the natives were tracking the white men and the white men were tracking the natives. They got to the stage where the white men doubled back on their tracks. The natives always attacked at dawn. The white man never camped on his dinner camp at night. They always moved on and camped. This time, they doubled back on their tracks about half a mile. In the early hours of the morning the natives were coming up following the tracks and waiting for them on the double track. They got them all. They later came across some lubras and children and Wurmbrand said, "They are our enemies; they must go". Coulthard said "No, let's take them back to the station". Wurmbrand said: "No. They are our enemies". And they went to a man. The same thing happened out at the Reservoir. They got down onto a waterhole and they were destroyed' (Tilmouth cited in Trish Lonsdale Collection, Reel 26, p 19).
NOTE: The NT Police History Association records that Wurmbrand resigned on 30 November 1888 so he could not have been involved in this massacre as a serving police officer; he may have been sworn in as a Special Constable. Lonsdale's sources were referring generally to Central Australia and the Willowie Pastoral Company during the 1880s when Wurmbrand was present in Central Australia.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 750
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Litwelepenty
- LanguageGroup
- Alyawarr, Wakaya, Kaytete and Warumungu
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Augusta
- KnownDate
- 24 June 1891
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- Warriors killed attacking the newly established Frew River Station homestead
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Foot, Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0df4 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=750 SourceNTRS 3413 – Lonsdale, Patricia – Records relating to research interviews with Centralians 1963-1986; Bell, 1983, p 65; Evening Journal, July 6 1891, p. 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198412624; NTRS 3414 – Trish Lonsdale Collection – Reel 26, Harry Tilmouth, p19; Reel 3, Bill Riley, p 11; Whitebeach, 2006, p 175; Adelaide Observer, July 11, 1891, p 34 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article160181892.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-17.8729 Longitude139.642 Start Date1868-04-01 End Date1868-05-31
Description
In 1868, the Burketown correspondent of the Brisbane Courier (9 June, p 3) reported that D'Arcy Uhr and his detachment of native police had shot a total of 59 Aboriginal people. The first incident involved killing more than 30 people in reprisal for the spearing of several horses close to Burketown. "I much regret to state that the blacks have become very troublesome about here [Burketown] lately. Within ten miles of this place they speared and cut steaks from the rumps of several horses. As soon as it was known, the Native Police, under Sub-inspector Uhr, went out, and, I am informed, succeeded in shooting upwards of thirty blacks." (The Brisbane Courier, 9 Jun 1868) This was followed by more killing at
Norman River.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 751
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Burketown
- KnownDate
- April- May 1868
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- horses
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0df6 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=751 SourceBrisbane Courier, 9 June 1868, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1299073; Queenslander, 13 June 1868, p 7 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20319067; Loos, 1982, p 36-37; Ashwin, 2002, p 158; Roberts, 2005, p 12.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-42.384 Longitude147.672 Start Date1829-01-31 End Date1829-01-31
Description
In December 1828 by warriors carried out a series of raids on various farms that included the killing of James Shirton, a servant of settler Mr Hawkins and an attack by twelve warriors on John Allen's farm at Great Swanport on 14 December 1828. The attack at John Allen's farm was visually recorded in a sketch (ML, SLNSW). A correspondent from Great Swanport reported that in retaliation two massacres had been carried out, one at St Paul's River 'ten days back,' and then 'about the same time ten were shot and two taken, near the Eastern Marshes.' (Launceston Advertiser, February 9, 1829, p 2).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 497
- LanguageGroup
- Paredarerme / Oyster Bay
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Campbell Town
- KnownDate
- January 1829
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Settler(s), Stockkeeper(s), Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- James Shirton, servant of settler Mr Hawkins
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-42.459 Longitude146.708 Start Date1829-03-28 End Date1829-03-28
Description
Magistrate Thomas Anstey reported to the Colonial Secretary on 8 April 1829, that towards the end of March 1829, in reprisal for Aborigines robbing McPherson's stock hut near Jones' River, digging up potatoes on McPherson's farm and wounding a stockman, a party of shepherds and police pursued them and attacked their campsite, killing nine Aboriginal people. A Black woman was injured and taken to New Norfolk and was not expected to live long. TAHO CSO 1/316/75878/pp 232, 239.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 499
- LanguageGroup
- Big River
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Clyde
- KnownDate
- 28/03/1829
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Settler(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-17.702 Longitude141.095 Start Date1868-04-01 End Date1868-05-31
Description
In 1868 the Burketown Correspondent for the Brisbane Courier reported that
following directly on from a massacre at
Burketown
a native police detachment led by D'Arcy Uhr had 'rounded up' a further 3 groups of Aboriginal people (with 14, 8 and 9 people in each group) and shot them in reprisal for the murder of a man named Cameron and a 'chinaman' (Brisbane Courier, June 9, 1868, p 3).
"No sooner was this done, than a report came in that Mr. Cannon had been murdered by blacks, at Liddle and Hetzer's station near the Norman. Mr. Uhr went off immediately in that direction, and his success I hear was complete. One mob of fourteen he rounded up; another mob of nine, and a last mob of eight, he succeeded with his troopers in shooting. In the latter lot there was one black who would not die after receiving eighteen or twenty bullets, but a trooper speedily put an end to his existence by smashing his skull. In the camp of the last lot of blacks, Mr. Uhr found a compass belonging to a Mr. Manson of the Norman, and a revolver belonging to a Chinaman. He then followed the tracks of the sheep Manson and the Chinaman had a short time before passed with, and in a waterhole found the bodies of poor Manson and the Chinaman cut about and mutilated in a most frightful manner. Cameron's body has also been found. In this expedition I am informed Mr. Uhr was accompanied by Mr Hetzer, who has been very kind and indulgent to the myalls for a long time, but now sees his folly. Everybody in the district is delighted with the wholesale slaughter dealt out by the native police, and thank Mr Uhr for his energy in ridding the district of fifty-nine (59) myalls. Cassidy's station, on the Upper Leichhardt, has also been attacked, and one man speared. Albert Downs station, on the Gregory, was also attacked by blacks a short time back, and all the fire- arms, axes, and chisells [sic] taken off." (The Brisbane Courier, 9 Jun 1868)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 752
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Burketown
- KnownDate
- April-May 1868
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 31
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 (Cameron and 'a chinaman')
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-14.733 Longitude134.699 Start Date1875-08-18 End Date1875-08-20
Description
See also Mt McMinn, Crescent Lagoon, Calder Range and Mole Hill massacres. A range of sources (see below) provide details of this massacre. Following the killing of Charles Johnston by Mangarrayi warriors at Roper Bar on 29 June 1875, two reprisal parties were formed and commenced a six-week campaign of dispersing Aboriginal groups in the region. On 18 August a party departed Roper Bar on foot and attacked an Aboriginal camp at Harris Lagoon, shot people at will and returned to Roper Bar on 20 August. As Roberts noted (fn 13, 2009, np), 'A member of the official party wrote later that the overlanders "dispersed them thoroughly…[and] fully avenged Johnston's death"'. And 'After this, the official party set to work on slaughtering Aboriginals on both sides of the river, upstream from Roper Bar. On 20 August, police reinforcements arrived on a government boat from Darwin and the slaughter continued downstream from the Bar, as far as the river mouth, notwithstanding that those tribes had nothing to do with Johnston's murder. The random kills extended along a 200 kilometer stretch that ran both north and south of the river…The total death toll is impossible to guess, but it was likely in excess of 150 or 200'. Later, in December, 1875 an Aboriginal man, Ural, was tried for the murder of C.H. Johnston and C. Daer, but was not recognised by C.T. Rickards who had escaped the attack at Roper Bar in which Johnston was killed. Ural was released (NTTG December 25, 1875, p 2).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 755
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Yalwarra Lagoon
- LanguageGroup
- Yanyuwa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- No police district at that time.
- KnownDate
- August 1875
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Pistol(s), Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1875: Roper Bar, SA/NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0dfe Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=755 SourceNTTG September 18, 1875, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144448;
NTTG December 4, 1875, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144612;
NTTG December 25, 1875, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144666; Wilson, 2000, pp 221-222; Roberts, 2005, p 140; Toohey, Roper River Police Station Heritage Assessment Report, 2015, pp 9-11; Roper Bar Land Claim Report, 1982, p 3; Austin, 1992, pp 15-16.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-23.777 Longitude133.073 Start Date1915-01-01 End Date1915-12-31
Description
Speaking in 1981 during debate on the Pastoral Land Tenure Inquiry Report (the Martin Report), the Member for MacDonnell, Neil Bell MLA, said: '…let me speak about one of my constituents who lives at Ayers Rock. She is an old lady now. Her name is Myana. I had the privilege during the campaign for the MacDonnell by-election to see her and prior to that I had listened to stories told about Myana. One of the interesting stories - perhaps a little bit terrible - is that Myana as a young girl witnessed from the top of ridges in the western MacDonnell Ranges the murder of 15 or 20 of her brothers and uncles. I am not talking about anything that is recorded. You will not find it in books; you will not find it in police files. It is to be seen nowhere. It is only in the minds of many of the people who live in that corner of the Northern Territory. The Conniston [sic] massacres have been written about but this wholesale slaughter is just one unrecorded incident that is buried deep in the consciousness of people who live in the MacDonnell electorate' (Northern Territory Parliamentary Record 1981, p 877).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1011
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Udepata
- LanguageGroup
- Arrernte
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Alice Springs
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimNotes
- Men and boys.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Unknown
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-42.316 Longitude146.886 Start Date1829-03-10 End Date1829-03-10
Description
In a report on 10 April 1829 to Thomas Anstey, the police magistrate at Oatlands, Jorgen Jorgenson the leader of a roving party between the Clyde and Ouse rivers, said that the leader of another, "fired at a party of natives. He had no recourse left but to fire at them and by the traces of blood some of them were wounded if not mortally." Six Aboriginal people were killed. (TAHO CSO 1/316, p 189).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 500
- LanguageGroup
- Big River
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Clyde
- KnownDate
- 10/03/1829
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Settler(s), Stockkeeper(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-38.275 Longitude141.662 Start Date1833-03-01 End Date1834-03-31
Description
Some time between March 1833 and March 1834, north of Allestree, a group of whalers massacred Kilcarer gundidj people (Dhanwurd wurrung speakers) over claims to a beached whale. A journal entry of Edward Henty indicates that by 27 September 1835 this location had come to be known as 'Convincing Ground' (Peel, 2013).
Chief Protector GA Robinson first heard of the massacre in 1841 from settler Edward Henty during his first visit to Portland, along with two accounts of how the place got its name from Police Magistrate Blair and surveyor Tyers: 'He [Henty] said that some time ago, I suppose two or three years, a whale broke from her moorings and went on shore. And the boats went into get it off, when they were attack [sic] by the natives who drove them off. He said the men [whalers] were so enraged that they went to the head station for their firearms and then returned to the whale, when the natives again attack them. And the whalers then let fly, to use his expression, right and left upon the natives. He said the natives did not go away but got behind trees and threw spears and stones. They, however, did not much molest them after that. There is a spot on the north shore, where the big works are I think, which is called the "Convincing Ground" and I was informed that it got its name from some transactions with the natives of the kind just mentioned. So Mr Blair said. Mr Tyers however said it was because when the whites had any disputes they went on shore and there settled if by fighting. I however thing the former most feasibly, especially after what Mr Henty himself stated' (GA Robinson Journal 16 May 1841, in Clark 1998b, p 211).
The following day Robinson visited the Convincing Ground site and recorded the following observations: 'Now, the cause of this fight, if such an unequal contest can be so designated, firearms [are] certain death against spears, was occasioned by the whalers going to get the whalebone from the fish . . . which the natives considered theirs and which it had been so for 1000 of years previous, they of course resisted the aggression on the part of the white men. It was the first year of the fishery, and the whalers having used their guns beat them off and hence called the spot the Convincing Ground. That was because they [the whalers] convinced them [the natives] of their mistake and which, but for their firearms, they perhaps could not have done' (GA Robinson Journal 17 May 1841, in Clark 1998b, p 214).
Ten months later, on 23 March 1842, Robinson met 30 Aboriginal people from at least five clans in the region at Captain Alexander Campbell's station at Merri River near Port Fairy. Clark comments: 'Presumably these people informed him of the Convincing Ground massacre, for Robinson noted in his journal for that day that it was eight or nine years earlier that the collisions between the whalers and the Aborigines took place...The two survivors in 1841 were Pollikeunnuc and Yarereryarerer' (Clark 1995, p 19). In the official report to Superintendent La Trobe of his 1841 journey into Western Victoria, Robinson mentioned the massacre: 'Among the remarkable places on the coast, is the "Convincing Ground", originating in a severe conflict which took place a few years previous between the Aborigines and Whalers on which occasion a large number of the former were slain. The circumstances are that a whale had come on shore and the Natives who feed on the carcass claimed it was their own. The whalers said they would "convince them" and had recourse to firearms. On this spot a fishery is now established' (Robinson in Clark 1995, p 19).
In 2005, Michael Connor contested Clark's account of the massacre and the origins of the name 'Convincing Ground' (Connor 2005, pp140-155). He made three key claims: that Robinson first heard of the story of the massacre as 'an after-dinner story of violence which he then embroidered on' (Connor 2005, p140); that Robinson relied on second hand accounts and never interviewed any witnesses to the massacre; and that (following a comment by Major Mitchell) Aboriginal people cooperated with whalers rather than fought with them (Connor 2005 pp140-142) [note: a previous statement here that Connor claimed 'the name "Convincing Ground" was coined by Major Mitchell' has been removed].
Clark responded to the claims in 2011. He pointed out that Robinson was an experienced massacre investigator and cited as an example his extensive investigation of massacres in Tasmania (Clark 2011, p 85). Following Edward Henty's account of the Convincing Ground massacre, Robinson visited the site the next day and over the following months, sought further evidence from Aboriginal people and settlers, and then summarised his findings in the report to Superintendent La Trobe in 1842. Finally, Clark pointed out that the name 'Convincing Ground' was first used by Edward Henty in his diary in 1835, at least a year before Mitchell arrived at Portland Bay (Clark 2011, p 94). Clark concluded that the massacre probably took place in the whaling season between March 1833 and March 1834, that is, at least seven months before the Henty brothers arrived at Portland Bay (Clark 2011, pp 101-102).
In Major Mitchell's description of interactions between Aboriginal people and whalers they do not appear to be in amicable cooperation, but instead Aboriginal people avoided contact with whalers and sought only to manipulate them into beaching whales for their benefit: 'The natives never approach these whalers, nor had they ever shown themselves to the white people of Portland Bay but, as they have taken to eat the castaway whales, it is their custom to send up a column of smoke when a whale appears in the bay, and the fishers understand the signal. This affords an instance of the sagacity of the natives for they must have reflected that, by thus giving timely notice, a greater number will become competitors for the whale and that consequently there will be a better chance of the whale running ashore, in which case a share must fall finally to them' (Mitchell, 1839).
Clark summarised three stories of the origin of the place name, 'Convincing Ground': 'Blair's account that it related to a particular massacre; Tyers's account that it originated from the settlement of disputes between whalers; and JG Wiltshire's version connected with the explorer, Mitchell,' adding that, 'As we have seen, Wiltshire's version has been invalidated' (Clark, 1995 p 20).
Connor argues in favour of Tyers's account (Connor, 2005 p 140-156) showing that 'convincing ground' was a term for a place where 'prize or grudge fights are held' (Connor, 2005, p 142). He imagines an elaborate scenario of whalers rowing 6km back and forth to fight over a beached whale which they had little interest in. However, it is equally unreasonable to think that whalers would travel 6 kilometres from their anchorage to conduct a fight when they could easily fight where they were, where their boats were anchored. An 1845 map based on an 1840 survey made by Tyers and Masters in 1840 shows 4 huts in the location of Convincing Ground, though they are not labelled. They are probably very recent constructions as the whale fishery at Convincing Ground was not established until 1841 (Tyers & Masters, 1845). Whale boats were small, fast vessels equipped with both oars and sails. The whalers would have sailed, not rowed, and at 5 knots they could have gone to the head station at Portland and returned to Convincing Ground within two hours.
Mitchell's description shows that the heads of beached whales were economically valuable. An 1843 news article from Portland Bay shows that whalers were quick to seize any opportunity to capture whales that strayed too close to shore: 'Mr. Robertson, in charge of the Messrs. Henty's station at the Convincing ground, observed a whale, of the Hunchback species, which had, got inside a reef near the junction of the first river and was unable to extricate itself. Mr. Robertson, although there was no other person present, immediately dashed through the surf, up to the neck, and by means of a harpoon succeeded in despatching the monster' (The Colonial Observer, 4 March 1843, p 858).
This was not simply a beached whale or a 'castaway', but one which the whalers had done the hard and dangerous work of catching, for it had broken its mooring. It is reasonable to think that if driven off by Aboriginal people, and given the relationships between them were tense, that whalers would not give up the catch easily, even if only the head or bones were viable once on the beach.
For whalers a 'convincing ground' would be any location that a fight is carried out so it is less likely that the location was not so called as the designated location for all whalers to meet and fight. It is more likely that whalers applied it euphemistically to name this specific location where a fight occurred between whalers and Aboriginal people. Connor presents no evidence that whalers used this location for fights, and, among the earliest sources only provides Tyers' speculation on the reason for the name, while there is an earlier account from one of the first colonists in the region, Henty, that there was a conflict between Aboriginal people and whalers and both Robinson and Blair found it most credible that Convincing Ground was named for such a conflict. Although Henty, as recorded by Robinson, didn't use the place name in describing the conflict, Henty did use the place name in his journals.
Importantly, Connor ultimately doesn't conclude there was no fight between Aboriginal people and whalers as described in Henty's story. Connor's conclusions are only that the fight did not take place at Convincing Ground but was more likely at Double Corner, much closer to the Portland whaling settlement; that Convincing Ground was not named after the incident described by Henty (Connor, 2005, pp153 – 154), and that the story of a massacre at Convincing Ground has been embellished and exaggerated in subsequent accounts (Connor, 2005, pp 150-153).
While there has been much speculation around the origins of the name Convincing Ground, there seems no reason to doubt the earliest account given by Henty, recorded by Robinson, that it was named for this massacre.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 503
- LanguageGroup
- Dhauwurd wurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Portland
- KnownDate
- 1834
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Whaler/Sealer(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-14.954 Longitude133.27 Start Date1882-10-30 End Date1882-10-30
Description
Mounted Constable August Lucanus later wrote of this massacre in the following terms (Lucanus cited in Clement & Bridge 1991, p 20): "I arrived there [at Elsey Telegraph Station] in good time and stayed for a few days with Tuckfield, the stationmaster. I let my nigger go with the Elsie [sic] niggers to find out their whereabouts. After a few days' spell we left in the evening for the niggers' camp. About three miles from it we hobbled our horses, and walked up to within 500 or 600 yards and waited for daylight. As soon as we could see, we rushed the camp. Spears and other weapons were all stuck in a big banyan tree. Tuckfield and I guarded the weapons. When the niggers woke up and saw us they tried to rush us and get their spears, but they got a good reception. Charley was one of the foremost and was one of the dead. He still had the mosquito net he had taken from poor Campbell [murdered on 15 July 1882, triggering the Red Lily Lagoon reprisal] and had been sleeping in it that night. We had intended to rush the mosquito net had not the niggers tried to get at the spears. It would have been all up with us if they had succeeded."
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1015
- LanguageGroup
- Mangarrayi
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Yam Creek
- KnownDate
- 30 October 1882
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 12
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Duncan Campbell
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1882: Elsey Station, SA/NT
Details
Latitude-37.769 Longitude144.634 Start Date1836-07-16 End Date1836-07-16
Description
On July 9 1836, following the discovery of the mutilated bodies of Mr Charles Franks, a settler from VDL and his shepherd, Thomas Haines, a party of seventeen men armed with muskets, comprising eight male colonists, four Sydney Aborigines and five 'domesticated' Aborigines from the Port Phillip District (now Victoria), 'proceeded in search of the natives whom they supposed to be the murderers of Mr Franks and his shepherd' (Montagu cited in Cannon & McFarlane, 1982, p 42). The eight colonists were Henry Batman, John Wood, David Pitcairn, Mr Guy, Alexander Thomson, William Winberry, George Hollins and Michael Leonard; the four 'Sydney Aborigines' included Bullett, Stewart and Joe the Marine and the four Port Phillip Aborigines included Benbow, Derrymock, Ballayann and Baitlainge. John Montagu, the Colonial Secretary in Van Diemen's Land, wrote about the incident to his counterpart in New South Wales on 18 August 1836: 'They came up with a tribe, consisting of men, women and children, to the number of about fifty to one hundred, and perceiving upon the persons of some of them articles which were recognised as having belonged to Mr Franks, a rencontre followed. It is not stated however what resistance the natives made, but none of the opposing party were injured, although it is feared that there can be little doubt that ten of the tribe of Port Phillip natives were killed' (Cited in Cannon & McFarlane 1982, p 42). William Lonsdale, magistrate at Port Phillip from late September 1836, was instructed by the Colonial Secretary in Sydney, to investigate the incident. However none of the perpetrators he interviewed would acknowledge the 'rencontre' although it was clear that each of them had something to hide. Those interviewed by Lonsdale were: Henry Batman; John Wood; Michael Leonard; and William Winberry. Winberry acknowledged that a party went after the blacks and that they were found and 'several shots were fired', and that a child was found 'belonging to the fugitives', but he did 'not see that any of the blacks were killed or hurt'. (Winberry cited in Cannon & McFarlane 1982, p 48) Leonard said that the murderers of Franks and Flinders were Aboriginal men, 'Callen and Dundom'. Leonard heard that in relation to the reprisal, 'some were wounded' but he paid 'no attention to it'. (Leonard cited in Cannon & McFarlane, p 49) Was Charles Franks entirely blameless? C.E. Sayers, the editor of T.F. Bride's 'Letters from Victorian Pioneers', notes that settler Robert William von Stieglitz reported that: 'On my way [to the Werribee] I met with a Mr Franks and got some lead from him to make what he called blue pills for the natives, who were very fierce' (Bride 1983, p 88).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 504
- LanguageGroup
- Wathawurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Melbourne
- KnownDate
- 16/07/1836
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children: 10 of the whole clan of 50 to 100.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal, Settler(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 colonists, Charles Franks and Thomas Flinders (killed 09/07/1836) whose mutilated bodies were found.
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-36.734 Longitude145.154 Start Date1837-11-01 End Date1837-11-30
Description
'After the overlander Fitzherbert Mundy and his partner Smyth established the first pastoral station on Taungurong land' in 1837, the drought began and they were harassed by the Taungurang demanding food. Mundy gave the Taungurong flour and according to historian Judith Bassett, 'whilst they were baking it, he and his men rode down upon them, shooting as many as they could. One of the survivors, Bulgertheroon, subsequently told the story of the Mundy Massacre to the Assistant Protector of the Aborigines, James Dredge. Dredge also heard corroborative evidence of the massacre from Mundy himself and duly confided in his diary that he would not be surprised, 'if at some favourable opportunity retributive justice overtakes the culprits.' (Dredge cited in Bassett 1989, p 26)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 505
- LanguageGroup
- Taungurung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Melbourne
- KnownDate
- November 1837
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-14.875 Longitude133.833 Start Date1875-09-02 End Date1875-09-02
Description
Mole Hill is the final of five massacres that took place in reprisal for the killing of Overland Telegraph (OT) Station Master Charles Johnston and two OT workers, Abram Daer and Charles Rickards by Mangarrayi warriors at Roper Bar on 29 June 1875. According to historian Tony Roberts (2005, p 140; fn 13, ), 150-200 Mangarrayi people were killed in the six week reprisal operation from 12 July to 4 September 1875. On 4 September 1875, a posse of volunteers 'with a large amount of ammunition', (NTTG, July 17, 1875, p 1) led by Corporal George Montagu, attacked a campsite of Mangarrayi people at Mole Hill and 'dispersed' a large group of them. It is estimated that 40 people were shot. The chief of police in the NT, Inspector Paul Foelsche, who authorised one of the reprisal parties, called the operation, 'a picnic with the natives' (Wilson, 2001, pp 221-222; Reid, 1990, pp 66-67).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 759
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Gunduburun or Goondburoon
- LanguageGroup
- Mangarrayi
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- No police district at that time.
- KnownDate
- 4 September 1875
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Charles Henry Johnston, Abram Daer and Charles Rickards
- WeaponsUsed
- Pistol(s), Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1875: Roper Bar, SA/NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0e06 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=759 SourceNTTG July 17, 1875, p 1 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3144292/549634;
NTTG September 18, 1875, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144448;
NTTG December 4, 1875, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144612;
NTTG December 25, 1875, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144666;
Wilson 2001, pp 221-222; Roberts 2005, pp 115-120; Roper River Police Station Heritage Assessment Report, 2015, pp 9-11; Toohey, Roper Bar Land Claim Report, 1982, p. 3; Austin, 1992, HSNT, pp 15-16.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-28.689 Longitude122.499 Start Date1908-12-01 End Date1908-12-31
Description
An early account said that eight Aboriginal people had died from poisoning (The West Australian, December 14, 1908, p 5) but a thorough police investigation found that the eight had been killed by a rival group from Darlot (West Australian, 6 Jan 1909, p5). The initial report of poisoning claimed, 'THE MOUNT IDA BLACKS. To the Editor. - Sir,-I see Mr. Nanson has asked the Premier certain questions re the finding of eight dead blacks a mile from the Ida H battery. I think the Minister should refer Mr. Nanson to reports of the Coroner, Mr. Campbell Shaw, who is one of the straightest men in the Commonwealth; Dr. Pritchard, one of the best surgeons living; and the police of Laverton, who are as good men as police can be. 'If those blacks have been poisoned it must have been accidentally. They have possibly raided some poor beggar's camp and got something more to eat than they bargained for. I have known one of those eight niggers for years, and a dirtier, begging, lazy, thieving, and would-be murdering lot never crawled Australia. If there is anybody in the country who should complain of them it is myself, as I have to live among them, and once a year about this time they always make their way to Cosmo Newbury Hills, where they cleared Mr. PD Nash, my partner, out last Christmas' (W. Carr-Boyd, The West Australian, December 14, 1908, p 5).
An investigation by Mr C F Gale found that circumstances related to the alleged poisoning could not be substantiated, but that there was evidence of attacks by spears and nullas. Aboriginal people questioned claimed the attack had been by a rival Aboriginal group and other witnesses had seen the rival group in the area. 'I examined the native woman who identified the bodies of the deceased, and other natives who were in town, and closely questioned them as to the cause of the death of their friends. They all unhesitatingly stated that some Darlot natives had killed them, although I tried to put their thoughts into a groove of suspicion that death was caused otherwise, they were all very positive that the natives were killed by spearing at the hands of some Darlot tribe, and I was absolutely unable to shake their statement.' (West Australian, 6 Jan 1909, p5)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1023
- LanguageGroup
- Wongai
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Goldfields
- KnownDate
- December 1908
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 8
- VictimNotes
- The victims were initially thought to have been poisoned by colonists, but investigation suggested they had been killed with nullas and spears by another Aboriginal group.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Motive
- Unknown
- WeaponsUsed
- Waddies/Nulla-nulla(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-36.312 Longitude144.688 Start Date1839-06-01 End Date1839-06-15
Description
Following the killing of hutkeeper James Neill and shepherd Hugh Bryan, by Aboriginal warriors and their taking about 700 sheep from Capt Charles Hutton's outstation near present day Barnadown on the Campaspe River on 22 May 1839, Hutton and three men set off in pursuit. He is alleged to have retrieved the sheep 48kms away. According to EO Randell, historian of the Campaspe Plains pastoral stations, upon his return, Hutton called on magistrate William Yaldwyn at nearby Barfold Station where a detachment of infantry was camped and asked for protection. Yaldwyn refused saying that Assistant Protector Edward Parker was in the district and it was his duty to address the issue and that foot soldiers would be of little help. Another settler Thomas Thornloe reported the details to GB Smyth Officer in Charge of the Mounted Police in Melbourne and advised that a punitive expedition should be sent against the Aborigines to 'teach them a lesson' (Randell 1982, p 289). 'According to the official version of events, a party of mounted police, led by Sgt Dennis Leary, under orders from Smyth' [and accompanied by Hutton and his overseer James Cosgrove], after four days ride, 'encountered a group of Aboriginal people about 112 kilometers from the place where Hutton's servants were killed. A pitched battle is alleged to have ensued and at least six Aborigines were killed.' The location is present day Restdown Plains station. (Cannon & MacFarlane, 1983, p 668). According to Assistant Protector E.S. Parker 'nearly 40 Aboriginal people were shot; the entire group except one woman and a child.' (Clark, 1995, p 94; Cannon & McFarlane 1983, p 668). Parker continued, 'On a review of the whole affair, I can hold but one opinion - that it was a deliberately planned, illegal reprisal on the aborigines, on principles advocated by many persons in this Colony - that when an offense is committed by unknown individuals, the tribe to which they belong should be made to suffer for it.' (Randall 1982, p 295)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 508
- LanguageGroup
- Djadjawurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Melbourne
- KnownDate
- June 1839
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s), Overseer(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- James Neill and Hugh Bryan employees from Capt. Charles Hutton' station.
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-37.282 Longitude143.546 Start Date1838-07-01 End Date1838-07-31
Description
'In July 1838, Henry Boucher Bowerman, at Mount Mitchell or Burnbank Station on McCallums and Doctors Creeks,' 'had a flock of sheep driven from his run by some Aborigines. While the sheep were being recovered, between 10 and 14 Aboriginal people were shot' by Bowerman's overseer, John M Allen (Clark, 1995, p 89). This was the first of 2 massacres carried out by Allen at Bowerman's station.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 510
- LanguageGroup
- Djadjawurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- KnownDate
- July 1838
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Overseer(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-25.757 Longitude149.407 Start Date1857-10-27 End Date1857-10-27
Description
Minutes after first light appeared on 27 October 1857, a group of Yiman warriors entered the darkened homestead at Hornet Bank, and killed five brothers from the Fraser family along with three male employees, and knocked Sylvester Fraser aged 14, unconscious and left him for dead. Then they induced Mrs Fraser and her two daughters outside and after some deliberation they raped and then killed them. The eldest son, William Fraser was absent on the road to Ipswich. After sunrise, Sylvester escaped to a neighbouring station and raised the alarm (The Age, November 20, 1857, p 5). According to historian Jonathan Richards, the massacre was in reprisal for the Fraser sons' sexual abuse of Yiman women (Richards 2008, p 23). The massacre was widely reported in the Brisbane and Melbourne press. Detailed accounts of the massacre and the reprisals that followed have been sourced by historian Gordon Reid (1980, 1982).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 622
- LanguageGroup
- Gungabula or Yiman
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Taroom
- KnownDate
- 27/10/1857
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Colonists
- VictimsDead
- 11
- VictimDescription
- Settler(s)
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Tomahawk(s), Club(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0e12 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=622 SourceThe Age, November 20, 1857, p 5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/18215858; The Courier, 25 November, 1861, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4602408; Reid, 1980-1: 62-82; Reid, 1982; Richards, 2008, p 23.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-23.829 Longitude150.989 Start Date1855-12-27 End Date1855-12-27
Description
On 18th February, the killing of more than five people at Mr. Young's station was reported: 'the blacks came and murdered every person on the establishment - three men and two women, - besides some other blacks which Mr. Young had on the place.' (SMH 18 Feb 1856, p 5)
Later reports added some details, 'On the 27th December, a large party of these rascals made a rush upon Mr Young's station, and killed a white man ... two others ... A white man and his wife ...' and 'two civilized blacks...' (Empire 28 Jan 1856)
According to Empire this was one of 3 attacks at around the same time, 'For some time past this district may be said to have been in a constant state of aggitation from the repeated and in most instances the successful attacks of the blacks. From the end of September to the end of February - three different times - did the blacks collect in numbers and attack, first, the quarters of the native policemen at Rannes; secondly, they annihilated every living soul on Mr. Young's station near Port Curtis; and thirdly, Mr. Elliott's station on the Fitzroy.' (Empire, 22 April 1856, p 3)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 623
- LanguageGroup
- Gayiri
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Curtis
- KnownDate
- 26/12/1855
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Colonists
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimDescription
- Stockkeeper(s)
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-10.085 Longitude142.164 Start Date1834-08-01 End Date1834-08-31
Description
The wreck of the Charles Eaton led the local Aboriginal warriors to massacre 15 survivors. They included the ship's captain, an Indian army officer, his wife and some of their children. A son and some of the crew survived (The Sydney Herald, October 27, 1836, p 2).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 642
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Brisbane
- KnownDate
- August 1834
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Colonists
- VictimsDead
- 11
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Torres Strait Islander(s)
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Hatchet(s), Axe(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-10.568 Longitude142.202 Start Date1859-12-01 End Date1859-12-31
Description
Eighteen survivors of the shipwreck, Sapphire, were slaughtered by Gudang warriors on Hammond Island also known as Keriri Island, in Torres Strait. See full account in Moreton Bay Courier, March 24, 1860, p 2.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 683
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Keriri Island
- LanguageGroup
- Gudang?
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Curtis
- KnownDate
- December 1859
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Colonists
- VictimsDead
- 18
- VictimNotes
- Men
- VictimDescription
- Sailor(s)
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 1
- Transport
- Boat
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Waddies/Nulla-nulla(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-35.782 Longitude139.306 Start Date1840-07-01 End Date1840-07-14
Description
In late July 1840, news reached Adelaide that 26 survivors of the wreck of the Maria, at a reef off the Coorong, had been slaughtered by the Milmenrura people (SA Register, August 1, 1840, p 2). Sir George Gawler, the governor of South Australia, declared martial law in the Coorong and dispatched a party of mounted police led by police commissioner Thomas O'Halloran to the Coroong and 'enforce summary justice' on the killers (SA Register, August 15, 1840, p 2).
Two Milmenrura men, 'chosen on hearsay, were hung in the sight of the captive members of their clan' (Foster et al, 2001, p 15). However, in the aftermath of the hanging, it is alleged that the police killed a large group of Milmenrua (Hamann, 1973). Twenty-six colonists killed in one operation remains the largest massacre of colonists by Aboriginal people in Australia.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 689
- LanguageGroup
- Milmenrura
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- SA
- PoliceDistrict
- Adelaide
- KnownDate
- July 1840
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Colonists
- VictimsDead
- 26
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Settler(s)
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Spear(s), Club(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0e1a Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=689 SourceSA Register, August 1, 1840 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27441699; August 15, 1840 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27441755; September 12, 1840 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27441838, September 19, 1840 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27441856; News (Adelaide), February 21, 1942, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131950481; SACWM,July 28, 1877, p 17 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90942607; The Australasian, December 15, 1883, p 21 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138647904; South Eastern Times, (Millicent, SA), June 15, 1945 p 1
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article200107455; Clyne, 1981; Hamann, 1973; Foster and Nettelbeck, 2001, pp 13-28; Hetherington, R 'George Gawler (1795-1869)' in ADB, Vol 1, 1966 https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gawler-george-2085; Ross, DB 'Thomas Shuldham O'Halloran (1797-1870)' in ADB, Vol 2, 1967 https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ohalloran-thomas-shuldham-2523.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-12.796 Longitude136.523 Start Date1910-11-15 End Date1910-11-20
Description
In November 1910, Aboriginal people reported that other Aboriginal people had murdered four European prospectors as well as a 'native and his lubra' in their employ. A party of 10 headed by Mounted Constables Kelly and Johns departed Roper River Police Station on 22 November to investigate. On 11 December, two Aboriginal men in custody were shot while escaping.
Dewar (1992, p 8) noted: 'As late as 1910, the Love expedition resulted in a massacre where Police Constable Jim Kelly "had to shoot a couple of niggers" at Caledon Bay '(Love cited in Dewar 1992, p 8).
George Conway, a participant in this massacre, told Keith Willey that "There were two policemen, two other white men, thirteen natives and myself in the team.... We were armed with rifles and revolvers and rode three hundred miles from the Roper across Arnhemland to Caledon Bay and back. The blacks attacked us every night. We had to shoot hundreds of them. Some of their camps contained two or three thousand people. We didn't shoot for the love of it, but because we had to kill or be killed.... They were rugged times all right" (van der Heide, 1985, p 85).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1018
- LanguageGroup
- Yolngu
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Roper River
- KnownDate
- November 1910
- Victims
- Colonists
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- White prospectors & 2 Aboriginal employees.
- VictimDescription
- Explorer(s), Servant(s)
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 6
- WeaponsUsed
- Club(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-11.429 Longitude132.882 Start Date1893-01-01 End Date1893-06-30
Description
Two boat crews of Macassans (six in total) were killed at Malay Bay in 1893 because they had used ceremonial string to make nets, causing offence. A senior Iwaidja man, Wandy Wandy (or Wandiwandi), was found to have played a leading part in the massacre. He was arrested and taken to Darwin where he was convicted of murder. He was then transported to Malay Bay by Deputy Sheriff JAG Little, Inspector Foelsche, Prison Guard Loydon and Wandy Wandy's executioner. He was hanged on the evening of Tuesday 25 July 1893. This was intended by the SA government as a lesson to the tribe (NTTG, 11 Aug 1893, p 2).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 710
- LanguageGroup
- Bahasa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Darwin
- KnownDate
- 1893
- Victims
- Other
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- Macassans
- VictimDescription
- Makassan
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 6
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0e1e Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=710 SourceRead & Read, 1991, pp 16-18; Habeas Corpus 2017: Appendix A: 23; NTTG, August 11, 1893 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3324801/826691; October 21, 1892, p 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3322640/826127; October 28, 1892, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3322681; January 15, 1904, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4315497
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-24.62 Longitude133.972 Start Date1875-01-01 End Date1879-12-31
Description
Justice John Mansfield's Frances Well Land Claim Report No 64 (2016, p. 10) records that 'By 1877, the claim area and surrounding country had been taken up by pastoralists. The pastoral lease now known as Maryvale was at that time called Mount Burrell. Three pastoralists unsuccessfully tried to run sheep, cattle and horses there. TGH Strehlow and other anthropologists spoke to those who remembered or had heard about these early days and recorded that there was often violence between the original Mount Burrell pastoralists and the local Aboriginal people. The local people resented the intrusion of the pastoralists and speared their cattle. In retaliation, the pastoralists carried out shootings in the Aboriginal camps. Other oral reports suggest that Aboriginal women were kidnapped by early white settlers'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1001
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Rtetyikale or Tepethetheke
- LanguageGroup
- Luritja
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- No police district at that stage
- KnownDate
- 1870s
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- Pastoralists
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-29.981 Longitude153.234 Start Date1841-01-01 End Date1841-12-31
Description
On July 19, 1841, the Sydney Herald reported that Crown Lands Commissioner Oakes and a party of border police had pursued and slaughtered a number of Gumbaynggirr people after attacking and robbing a hut at the newly established Glenreagh [Glenugie] Station north west of present day Coffs Harbour. In 1886, Grafton historian Thomas Bawden, said that in 1841 the Gumbaynggirr had 'overpowered a negro while [he] was in charge of a hut' (C&RE&NEA, July 10, 1886, p 3). In reprisal, Crown Lands Commissioner Henry Oakes led a party of mounted border police from Port Macquarie to find the offenders. They 'overtook the blacks at Corindi, where they paid full retribution for their deed.'(C&RE&NEA, July, 10, 1886, p3) 'The massacre began when mounted police entered the camp at Blackadder Creek and started shooting. They then pursued the survivors to the Corindi River where they continued shooting. Some people were then driven off the headland' at present day Red Rock. It is not known the number of Gumbaynggirr people killed. However the number must have been more than six because according to Somerville & Perkins 2010, 24-32, Gumbaynggirr people today recall the massacre from accounts told to them by their grandparents.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1004
- LanguageGroup
- Gumbaynggirr
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Grafton
- KnownDate
- 1841
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Border Police, Government Official(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-21.876 Longitude136.083 Start Date1902-08-01 End Date1902-08-30
Description
William Coulthard's diary of 1903 (Coulthard, 1903) makes frequent references to a band of Aboriginal people killing horses and cattle around Ruby Gap (pp 23, 27, 37, 44, 45, 47, 93, 117, 118-121, 125, 126). On March 13 Coulthard first heard of the horse killing from Harding, who reported 2 Aboriginal people had stolen a rifle and cartridges and that the troopers had failed to apprehend them (Coulthard, 1903, p 33).
In a letter on March 29th, Coulthard wrote that 'Albert has gone out with the trooper & their niggers to catch those other two that are killing horses & cattle as soon as any of the horses make back there these niggers kill them, they are getting quite plucky now as they think the whites are frightened of them, they told some of the other niggers to tell the whites to come & catch them & they will shoot the first one they see, they are saving cartridges to do it, they went down to Prossers place joins Uncle on the East & took all his flour & rations, he came into Arltunga in a great way, but Albert only laughed at the idea of getting shot, he went away prepared for three weeks trip, he says his nigger Sam will track them until he gets them as he has got a set on one of them, one of them is the ringleader that used to kill Uncles horses before, the blacks killed two others themselves, as they reckoned they were the cause of loosing so many friends through the horse filling business.' (Coulthard, 1903, pp 119-120)
On April 1, Coulthard complained of the ineffectiveness of the troopers, and stated he and Albert would have a 'nigger hunt' without them, 'I heard in there that Albert & the trooper came back Monday from hunting those niggers, they found where they had killed two, but they were Hardings & not Uncles so they could do nothing had to come back for Harding to take out a Warrent for them what rot, they tracked them a good day & they were making towards Uncles country so we have a nigger hunt all to ourselves when we go out there mustering' (Coulthard, 1903, pp 44-45)
On April 29 Coulthard wrote about the high cost the horse killing had, 'After we have gone through the horse muster they will know if they have enough for Adelaide & they will start in August with them to get down in September, so if you can get on without me till then I will stop & help them down, poor beggars they need a bit of help for instead of having a 1000 horses as they ought to, they have only about 400, what with the niggers & the drought. After we have finished the horses, Uncle is going out to Irratippara the station they had before where the niggers killed all the horses,' (Coulthard, 1903, p125) and the fear that they causes, 'Walkington & the other fellow are going out to Uncles old station I have always called it Irratipperaa it is Orratippera prospecting & to look for some of his horses that are out there he used to be with Uncle on the Frew so he came to see if Uncle would go with them as a lot of his have gone back, & they are frightened the niggers will get them. so he is going with them' (Coulthard, 1903, p126)
On July 16, Coulthard encountered a group 20 Aboriginal warriors around Ruby Gap, 'After we had gone 5 or 6 miles we met about 20 wild niggers, they told the boys thev were going into Paddys hole to have a fight with the niggers in there, they were quite naked & had spears & Boomerangs & all sorts of Arms they looked a bit savage, they onlv stopped a few minutes talking to the boys then went on, we could see their track all the way to Ruby Gap, & we came across their fire near a waterhole, we got to the yards a little before Sundown, but too late to look round for horses, so we made our camp, & I wrote up this before I made the tea, had tea, got some bushes for a breakwind, made my bed & lay down on it. This is the time to make you think when you are all by yourself, & away out in the wild parts, I got mv rifle Uncles at least & put 6 cartridges in it, & lay it along side of me, then turned in about 7.' (Coulthard, 1903, pp 98)
Sid Stanes, an old Central Australian stockman, said in an oral history, 'Then they went to Orratrippera [sic] and took up that, Coulthard and Wallis. Eventually the blacks killed 60 or 70 horses in one gap in the ranges there and the water was all in the ranges you see, springs. The stock used to go into water and the niggers used to get each side of the range. And as they came along bowl them out. The nigs cleaned up 60-80 horses. After Coulthard and Wallis cleaned up all the niggers that they could find, one of the boys they had with them, they shot all this mob and there was a kid left in the camp, a little one, one of these niggers got hold of him and banged his head in the ground…Then they got cleared out of there and that is when they took up Loves Creek. That is when I was a butcher boy at Arltunga, they came there with about 300 horses to Loves Creek. Undoolya had thrown that up, Paddys Hole and Arltunga, they had previously owned it and they had thrown that part up and only kept the west side of it, Alice Springs and Undoolya, Mt Undoolya, Bitter Springs, Mt Benstead and that is their boundary' (Trish Lonsdale Collection, NTRS 3414/Part 1).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1005
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Irretety Community Living Area
- LanguageGroup
- Alyawarr
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Alice Springs
- KnownDate
- 1902
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-15.349 Longitude130.284 Start Date1896-01-01 End Date1896-12-31
Description
Lewis (2004, p 206) puts the date at between 1894 and 1898: 'Just as had happened on other stations in the region, conflict with Aborigines quickly became a dominant aspect of life on Bradshaw. Not long after the sheep arrived the Aborigines began to spear them, and consequently the Bradshaw stockmen fired on Aborigines whenever they saw them. After one instance of sheep spearing, a number of Aborigines are said to have been shot dead and their bodies burned by John McPhee and Hugh Young'.
The Northern Territory Times and Gazette (18 Sept 1896, p 2) records Jock McPhee as taking up Willeroo Station in1896.
Lewis wrote (2021, p 56) that 'In at least one instance Aborigines who had killed sheep were tracked down and shot by Bradshaw stockmen'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1006
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek/Timber Creek
- KnownDate
- 1896 circa
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- Likely to have been many more.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1895-1896: Bradshaw Station, NT
Details
Latitude-15.352 Longitude130.285 Start Date1896-04-01 End Date1896-04-30
Description
Lewis (2004, p 207), citing the log book of Bradshaw Station, wrote: 'In April 1896, "The Myalls made themselves obnoxious by spearing horses and cows, so had to be dispersed near the stockyard beyond Anglepoint". Possibly the same "dispersal" was reported by a "correspondent" to the Northern Territory Times and Gazette: "The niggers have speared a few more horses and were kind enough to send in word (the messenger standing on top of a cliff and sheltered by a big rock) that they would spear all the horses and then come along and spear all hands. They also tackled me and another man while poking about in the ranges, but they only hurt themselves".'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1007
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek/Timber Creek
- KnownDate
- April 1896
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1895-1896: Bradshaw Station, NT
Details
Latitude-13.179 Longitude131.041 Start Date1895-07-01 End Date1895-07-30
Description
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.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1008
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Perrmadjin
- LanguageGroup
- Kungarakany, Warray
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Howley, Yam Creek, Pine Creek
- KnownDate
- c 1895
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 80
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Servant(s)
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Poison
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-21.531 Longitude133.897 Start Date1873-07-18 End Date1873-07-31
Description
Peter Vallee (2004, pp 103-109) wrote: 'Six months before [the Barrow Creek Telegraph Station attack #2, which was Feb-April 1874], the Kaititj had experienced a dispersal at the hands of the telegraph staff. "We now know where the natives camp is & I want your authority to close off the office one day so as to go out & try & disperse the whole tribe – they are about 15 miles west from station & may do much more harm if not specifically checked"', JC Watson at Barrow Creek wired to Charles Todd in Adelaide on July 16 1873…There is no reply from Todd on this file, but note that the request was not for permission to conduct a dispersal, but for approval to do it at public expense.
Women were abducted and taken to the Telegraph Station, leading to an Aboriginal attack to retrieve them, which in turn led to the Barrow Creek (2) massacre.
Wilson (2000, pp 270-271) noted that Aboriginal oral history indicates that the [Barrow Creek (2)] attack was provoked after the Europeans at the telegraph station had abducted women from the local Aboriginal people. In retaliation, the Aborigines considered 'that mob robben-bout we fella of -of native girl, Ah, we'll have to fight for that mob now'. 'That's what bin happen. They bin fight then. They spearem that mob, because they had rifle'. Subsequently, the Aboriginal view of the attack was that 'Yeah. They [Europeans] bin killem whole lot [of Kaytetye]. Shootem'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1012
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Jemelke
- LanguageGroup
- Kaititja
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Alice Springs
- KnownDate
- July 1873
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
- MassacreGroup
- 1873-1874: Barrow Creek SA/NT
Details
Latitude-21.067 Longitude149.024 Start Date1867-04-10 End Date1867-04-30
Description
According to historian Clive Moore (1990), in February 1867, settler John Cook at Balnagowan station, on the north side of the Pioneer River, found 'one cow dead from spear wounds and one speared and hamstrung but alive.' He telegraphed for the Native Police who did not arrive until April, led by Acting Sub-Inspector Johnstone, a local man from Lansdown Valley. They patrolled for several days 'along the north side of the [Pioneer] River,...coming across several Aboriginal Camps, one inhabited by upwards of 200 Aborigines' (Moore, 1990, p 65). On 24 April, the Mackay Mercury and South Kennedy Advertiser (1867, p 2) reported that: 'they were dealt with in the usual and only effectual mode of restraining their savage propensities by the officer and party, so that we may now hope that life and property will be safe for a time on the other side of the river.' Clive Moore (1990, p 68) concluded: 'There seems no doubt that a massacre occurred at [Mt Mandurana] 'The Leap' in 1867 and that the survivor was a female Aborigine, probably about two or three years old...[and that] the woman and probably others from her tribe were forced to jump. There are caves at the top of the mountain that the Aborigines used, presumably for temporary shelters, while out hunting in pre-1862 years, and also as hiding places when under attack post 1862. They may not have expected the Native Police to pursue them to the top of the mountain, then found themselves with no option but to face the troopers' carbines or go over the precipice.'
It is estimated that at least 50 Aboriginal people were killed during the Native Police patrol.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1014
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- South Kennedy Land District
- KnownDate
- April 1867
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 50
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-14.731 Longitude134.432 Start Date1872-07-24 End Date1872-07-25
Description
As Roberts (2005, p 25) described the event: 'Walker's party [Joe Walker aka Joe Pettit, Tommy McBride and Billy Banks] travelled a good distance the next day, probably into the country of another tribe, and had no trouble. As the men were having breakfast the following morning at first light, they noticed about fifty Aboriginals in the distance jogging along in their horse tracks. Without waiting to see if they were friendly, Walker said he would "give them a lesson". Jumping on a one-eyed horse he kept saddled near the camp, he galloped straight at the leaders. Only one spear was thrown before they all turned and ran. Joe followed and galloped on to them one at a time, the blind side of his horse on the nig, and he emptied his revolvers on them and then turned back…Joe said "I don't think they will trouble us any more". They didn't and the party saw no more Aboriginals until it reached the Roper River'. This was corroborated by Merlan (1978, p 78): 'Commenting on a later incident in which he and a companion shot some Aborigines farther east towards the Roper Bar Ashwin added: "This was the same tribe which stuck Packard up and other parties since at the same camping place. They attacked Joe Pettit, W Banks and Tommy McBride at the camping place and waterhole. Joe Walker was one of the party...and gave them a lesson. He rode a one-eyed horse and galloped at them and then after them revolver in hand. Tommy McBride told me all about that trip over from Cloncurry in 1872"' (Ashwin cited in Merlan 1978, p 78).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1016
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Jowar
- LanguageGroup
- Yanyuwa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Elsey Creek Overland Telegraph Depot
- KnownDate
- 1872
- AttackTime
- Morning
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0e09 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1016 SourceRoberts 2005; Merlan 1978; Ashwin, A.C. Recollections of Ralph Millner's expedition from Kopperamana to the Northern Territory with sheep and horses in 1870-1 (Compiled 1927), South Australian Archives, Adelaide.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-15.463 Longitude131.587 Start Date1892-10-20 End Date1892-10-20
Description
Following the killing of GS Scott, manager of Willeroo station in October 1892, two posses were formed to avenge his death (see also
Willeroo #2). The first was led by station owner Lindsay Crawford who rode to Willleroo Station and when he realised that Aboriginal people had taken guns and ammunition from the store he and the party, 'charged' the Aboriginal camp and retrieved some of the weapons. However he gave no indication of the number of Aboriginal people killed.
Lewis (2004, pp 243-244) noted: 'A decade later Hely Hutchinson, who passed through Willeroo with drover Rose on his epic trek with cattle from Lissadell Station in 1905, and who met many of the early residents, wrote that [Lindsay] Crawford had "found the myalls gloriously drunk and capering about the house like a mob of black devils". Crawford then avenged Scott's death, in a terrible manner, and the "gruelling" he gave the myalls on that occasion is still spoken of by the niggers in those parts as the Israelites of old told to their children the horror of the wrath of the Lord, when he sent plague, pestilence and famine into their lands as a correction for their misdeeds... He and his half-caste dealt out white man's justice with their Winchesters, and when the police arrived from Pine Creek, a couple of days later, they found plenty of employment burying the sons of darkness".'
The police were Troopers Dooley and Freeman.
A John Giles reported to the Northern Territory Times and Gazette(November 11, 1892, p 3) that "There were no niggers visible when Mr. Crawford arrived on the Tuesday morning, but that evening he accidentally discovered there were from thirty to forty camped in the horse paddock, about half a mile from the station. Mr. Crawford and his party [which was not named, but which included Messrs GS Scott, brother of the murdered man, and Sayle, Frayne, Clarke and Diamond] charged their camp and found Mr. WS Scott's saddle and bridle and some other things". It is not stated how many Aboriginal people were killed.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1017
- LanguageGroup
- Bulinara / Wardaman / Karrangpurru
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek
- KnownDate
- 20 October 1892
- AttackTime
- Evening
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- Those killed had looted Willeroo Station and were assumed to be responsible for Syd Scott's murder.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- William Sydney 'Syd' Scott, Manager of Willeroo Station
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1892: Willeroo, Victoria River District, SA/NT
Details
Latitude-28.62 Longitude122.4 Start Date1890-01-01 End Date1890-01-31
Description
A newspaper (The Southern Cross Times of December 24, 1904 p25) reported on the exploits of a 'plucky pioneer' Harold Cocking who was a gold prospector in the Goldfields district in the 1890s. The article reports that following the death of a prospector named Cahill, 30 Aboriginal people were shot in reprisal.
'It took them four days to get there and they had to be extremely cautious and careful as the blacks were very wild and dangerous.
Some of them had murdered a prospector named Cahill and his mate and it was said that a party of whites avenged this by shooting about 30 of the aboriginals' (The Southern Cross Times, December 24, 1904 p25).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1025
- LanguageGroup
- Wongai
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Goldfields
- KnownDate
- 1890
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Miner(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Prospector named Cahill
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-25.097 Longitude117.59 Start Date1886-01-01 End Date1886-12-31
Description
The official government report (The Governor - Statements of Rev J B Gribble (xi) Natives shot at Mounts Clere and Labouchere) to the Western Australian Governor and the Aborigines Protection Board record that Reverend JB Gribble stated '11 Natives shot at Mounts Clere and Labouchere' in the Gascoyne District (SROWA). In his 1886 text, Dark Deeds in a Sunny Land Gribble wrote 'Early this year it was reported that five natives had been shot dead by white men near Mount Clare, and about the same time two more were shot by a party somewhere in the direction of Mount Labouchere' (Gribble, JB, 1886, p 51).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1027
- LanguageGroup
- Yamatji
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Gascoyne
- KnownDate
- 1886
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 11
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Unknown
- WeaponsUsed
- Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-31.952 Longitude115.861 Start Date1830-01-01 End Date1830-12-31
Description
This account was recorded in the London Literary Gazette 1830 (p 805) 'Affray at the Swan River: By accounts in the Indian papers, we learn that there has been a battle royal between the settlers and the natives at the new establishment of Swan River [Colony, Perth]. The quarrel commenced at an attempt at theft by the natives at Perth. The aborigines made a great shew of courage: they dared the settlers to fight: and one of them advanced and quietly knocked down a corporal with his waddie, a stick about two and half feet long, and an inch in diameter. The chiefs ascended the trees like monkeys, and chattered to (the newspapers say harangued) their tribes from the top of the branches. In such situations they were shot at with facility; but they feared not the thunder and lightning of the Europeans: and seven of their number were killed. The whole certainly must have been as unique as everything is connected with this wonderful settlement.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1031
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Boorloo
- LanguageGroup
- Whadjuk
- Colony
- SRC
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Perth
- KnownDate
- 1830
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimNotes
- men
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Military, Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-33.57 Longitude116.08 Start Date1860-01-01 End Date1860-12-31
Description
Eight Mile Well in the shire of Bridgetown is a registered site with the State Government of Western Australia's Heritage Council (Aboriginal Sites and Events, Bridgetown Historical Society Heritage Council of Western Australia). The site is thought to have originally been used as a traditional watering hole by the local Aboriginal Noongar Kaniyang people. In the 1860s conflict was created over access to the waterhole between the traditional owners and the British settlers. The Heritage Council (HC) and others suggest a massacre took place prior to any police being stationed in Bridgetown and was carried out by a group of colonists. The HC write 'The survivors of the attack were reported to have relocated to Three Acre Pool on the Blackwood River above Bridgetown. They subsequently caught chicken pox and in an attempt to cool their fever, they bathed in the Blackwood River, which in turn gave them pneumonia that eventually killed them' (Citing Hadley, P, 1995).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1032
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Geegelup
- LanguageGroup
- Kaniyang / Wardandi
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Bridgetown
- KnownDate
- 1860
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Unknown
- WeaponsUsed
- Breech Loading Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-33.674 Longitude115.358 Start Date1837-07-30 End Date1837-07-30
Description
On 30 July 1837, Wardandi Noongar people were heard shouting on the nearby estuary. Bessie Bussell reported in a day-by-day diary entry (cited in Shann 1978, p 19) : 'Everyone immediately armed themselves, and in a little while we heard the firing of guns. After two hours' absence, they returned amidst crowds of natives. I fear more women were slain than men. All our little party returned safely. All was intended to be right, so I hope this skirmish will turn out for the best. Three women, one man, one boy are known to be dead, but more are supposed to be dying.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1035
- LanguageGroup
- Wardandi
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Busselton
- KnownDate
- 30 July 1837
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-18.875 Longitude125.92 Start Date1927-12-01 End Date1927-12-10
Description
In January 1930 witnesses had come forward saying that in late 1927 Albert 'Bert' Smith and Jim Robinson had caught, shot and incinerated seven Aboriginal men on Christmas Creek Pastoral station in the Kimberley (SROWA WAPD, Acc 4431/1929). Smith was the station manager at Christmas Creek Pastoral Station (260 miles inland from Derby). Smith, a notoriously violent man, and Robinson visited an Aboriginal camp a few kilometres from his homestead and took captive six Aboriginal people (and neck chained them), their names being Comet, Jagabadger aka Jacaticia, Lalvert, Bagga, Maanda and Jolgoo. On that night after being marched eight miles they were chained to the fork of a tree so high up they had to stand all night on toes (SROWA WAPD, Acc 4431/1929). The next day – after a 10 mile trek - they were again chained high up to trees. Comet was subsequently let go but the other five were never heard of again (SROWA WAPD, Acc 4431/1929). Three days later Smith and Robinson did the same thing with two named 'Nyella aka Skinny' and 'Cheetan' (who were chained to a verandah post of the blacksmiths). They went out with them on the chain and returned to their station without them (SROWA WAPD, Acc 4431/1929). Newspaper reports suggested the missing men 'slipped off the face of the earth. They simply vanished' (The Truth, January 19, 1930, p 1). Depositions taken from workers on Christmas Creek through a very thorough investigation by Detective Bert Flanagan tell a different story. The men had allegedly been spearing cattle on the station, so Smith and Robinson murdered them (SROWA WAPD, Acc 4431/1929). Detective Flanagan interviewed 15 Aboriginal witnesses who all asserted the same story. Bert Smith (armed with a revolver and rifle) caught five men then another two chained them to a fork in the tree for two nights with the chain so high they could not sit down. One witness said 'they choke' (SROWA WAPD, Acc 4431/1929). Then the Aboriginal wives were ordered to collect light wood while Smith and Robinson collected large logs. One witness was ordered to fill flour bags with charcoal and tins with kerosene. Every witness said 'I saw them go out I never saw them come back I think they finished' (SROWA WAPD, Acc 4431/1929). Another witness could trace the Aboriginal tracks to a burn site but there were no tracks out. 'We been then looking for whitefellow track and see the track of toe and heel and boots been standing on grass close to where the fire had been.' 'I been hearing long time before this Bert Smith been shoot em boys before…' one said (SROWA WAPD, Acc 4431/1929). Police had enough evidence to charge him, not for murder as no bodies could be found, but for eight counts of assault. However, when the case went to court, on 25 March 1930, there was only one charge that was heard - the abuse of one man, Comet. Smith had no legal representation, simply denied everything and had five white witnesses who testified they had never seen anything untoward at the station. The jury deliberated for 10 minutes and returned a 'not guilty' verdict. The Crown prosecution subsequently withdrew the other seven charges of assault and Smith walked free (SROWA WAPD, Acc 4431/1929).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1036
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Wangkatjungka
- LanguageGroup
- Nyikena
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- West Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 12/1927
- AttackTime
- Evening
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimNotes
- men
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-28.37 Longitude122.24 Start Date1910-09-11 End Date1910-09-11
Description
Newspaper articles attribute this massacre to ongoing 'inter-tribal' fights that had been occurring for several years around Laverton (see Laverton Massacre 1908) between who they described as the 'Laverton natives' and the 'Darlot Natives' (Laverton and Beria Mercury, September 24, 1910, p 3; Clarence and Richmond Examiner, September 22, 1910, p 6).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1038
- LanguageGroup
- Wongai
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Laverton
- KnownDate
- 11/09/1910
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 11
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Inter-se fighting.
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Waddies/Nulla-nulla(s), Spear(s), Club(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-16.525 Longitude137.575 Start Date1885-05-01 End Date1885-05-31
Description
The following are extracts from Letter to Mattie [Martha Earle McCracken (1811-1893)] from her brother Robert [Bob] McCracken of Calvert Downs Station, via Burketown, 1 September 1885: (1) responding to her concern that he should have cause to use pistols, he wrote: 'You have very little notion of what an exciting time a person has here to preserve his own life to say nothing of the cold lead he has to fire away in the endeavour. Of course no one ever troubles about the effect of said lead, each side buries their own and heals the wounded.' (p 3) and (2) 'Then, still more seeing the necessity for having thieves to catch thieves he [Charles Fraser Gardiner, the owner of the station] was continually talking of the matter and when he went away was going to bring some back with him but the "Myalls" in the meantime, finding we were unable to (without Black assistance, and having none) hunt them down became quite cheeky killing cattle and horses within a few miles of the camp and even getting on adjacent rocky hills and shouting and gesticulating defiance at us. Killing odd ones or even twos or threes is no good, they are never missed and nothing but wholesale slaughter will do any good. For instance some time ago one team was on the road and at night was camped with another team having about 40 horses in all. In the night the Blacks attacked the horses wounding three of ours and killing three of the other peoples. The damage was discovered at daylight in the morning and as soon as our horses could be saddled their tracks were followed from where they had cut up the horses, through the wet grass, about 8 miles to their camp on a lagoon. There were five rifles and a Blackfellow with a knife and tomahawk and the result was out of a possible 200, 90 killed and wounded in the camp besides what wounded escaped. That Black with the Tommy was a perfect artist, equal to any two guns in the quantity he polished off…' (pp 5-6).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1040
- LanguageGroup
- Garawa, Mara, Yanyuwa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Borroloola
- KnownDate
- May 1885
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 60
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s), Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-16.483 Longitude130.623 Start Date1910-06-01 End Date1910-06-30
Description
Lewis (2021, p 214) wrote that 'Brigalow Bill' Ward was speared and killed at the homestead in late 1909. "His body was thrown into the river and never recovered (Timber Creek Police Journal (TCPJ), 5-3-1910, 17-4-1910).
A report in the NTTG (8 April 1910, p 2) related news from a correspondent at Willeroo Station: "A poor fellow known as Briglo Bill (J. J. Ward) was murdered by blacks here some time ago. He has been missing in this district for nearly six months, and then the blacks report his murder. I think the police might interest themselves more than they do, especially in this district. The blacks do not fear the police out here in any way, and thousands of cattle are killed by these useless brutes annually." A court report (NTTG, 16 September 1910, p 3) noted the trial of two Aboriginal people for Ward's murder: "As in previous case, the crime was apparently an unprovoked and cold-blooded business, chiefly concocted by a lubra named Judy and a native known as Gordon. As a preliminary to the murder the deceased man's only firearm was cunningly stolen by the lubra Judy, and by her handed to her fellow conspirator, Gordon, leaving their intended victim practically at their mercy. A number of natives—including the prisoners Mudgella and Wolgorora—surrounded Ward as he was engaged in burning off grass near his hut, and chasing the doomed man speared him near the door of his house as they would do a kangaroo.
After a patient hearing, the Jury returned a verdict of guilty, with a recommendation to mercy, against both the prisoners, upon whom His Honor then passed the death sentence."
According to the police account of the hunt for his murderers at least one Aboriginal person, Gordon, was shot dead (TCPJ 26-6-1910). However, local knowledge suggests the death toll was higher. Charlie Shultz (pers comm) heard from old-time VRD locals that "a great many were shot." Rose quoted Tim Yilngayarri of Yarralin (p 122): "And you know that Brigalow? Right. Brigalow was doing wrong. He was shooting all the people. Shoot-i-i-n-n-n-g, get all the sing girls for married. Take them down to his place. Just the young girl, and some of the middle aged, all that girl. Four fellow… Watchin him that waaay, get the towel and soap…Too late. That spear killed him. Bbbbb. Strike him la water. Right. All the boys go back, take the women. And sugar, tea, flour, all the blanket, fly, take the whole lot."
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1042
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinyman, Karrangpurru, Nungali, Malngin, Wardaman, Ngaliwurru, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Victoria River
- KnownDate
- 1910
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0c92 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1042 SourceLewis, 2021, p 214 https://hdl.handle.net/10070/836453; Rose, 1991, pp 119-129; NTTG 8 April 1910, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3265599; NTTG 16 September 1910, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3266106;
SEE ALSO Read & Read, 1991, pp 29-32 and Olney Justice Howard (1989) Kidman Springs/Jasper Gorge Land Claim, Report No 30, AGPS, Canberra.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:20 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-29.567 Longitude153.145 Start Date1841-01-01 End Date1841-12-31
Description
According to McSwain and Switzer 2006, p.17, Bundjalung people 'Older Yaegl members keep a story of massacre of a clan group on the South Arm near Tyndale.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1043
- LanguageGroup
- Bundjalung
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Macquarie
- KnownDate
- 1841
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-29.44 Longitude152.634 Start Date1842-09-01 End Date1842-09-30
Description
In early November1842, a group of Bundjulung people stole a flock of sheep at an outstation of Gordon Brook Station on the Clarence River, owned by Messrs Sandeman and Company. In reprisal the overseer led some stockmen to the Bundjulung camp and killed 20 of them. The massacre was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, 12 November 1842, p.2. On 14 December 1842, Gordon Sandeman published a letter in the Sydney Morning Herald, p.3, denying the massacre and his overseer's involvement. This appears to be the code of silence being imposed in the aftermath of a frontier massacre.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1044
- LanguageGroup
- Bundjalung
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Clarence
- KnownDate
- September 1842
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Border Police, Settler(s), Overseer(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-20.968 Longitude133.544 Start Date1928-09-24 End Date1928-10-15
Description
On 8 September, 1928, news emerged that William 'Nugget' Morton had been attacked by Aboriginal people and had barely survived. Nugget Morton was notorious among both colonists and Aboriginal people. He kept many women, and no Aboriginal men, as 'stockmen' at his homestead (Bradley, 2019, pp 86-88). Kimber records that 'His [Alex Wilson's] Halls Creek wife, an attractive young Aboriginal woman, was taken from him by Nugget who, when Alex protested, took up his stock-whip and whipped Alex so badly that he sliced open his back from shoulder to waist.' (Kimber, 2003-2004, Part Two). Having spoken to Nugget Morton in 1937, Strehlow recorded in his diary that, '"Nugget" was since employing as "stockmen" (he has no male abos working for him) one or two other little native girls, 9 or 10 years of age, whom he had raped. Another little girl he had given to his nephew "Shrimp", who was about 17 years of age' (Strehlow in Bradley, 2019, p 88).
Paddy Willis said: 'Well, Nugget Morton gathered up some women and took them to his camp, taking them from the old people. He used to take women... Well, the old people were worried about their women. They gathered together into a fighting group, before attacking Nugget Morton' (Paddy Willis in Bowen, 2015, p 92).
According to Nugget's account, the reason he survived the attack was that so many were attacking at once that they were in each other's way and none of them could land a blow. An exceptionally strong man, although injured he fought them off, shot one, and made his way to safety.
On 16 September, another pastoralist, Tilmouth, had been droving 1500 bullocks between 2 soaks because of the drought and he too was attacked, and survived after shooting an Aboriginal man, Wangaridge (Kimber, 2003-2004, Part Ten and Bradley, 2019, p 114).
After Mounted Constable Murray returned to Alice Springs from his second clandestine expedition he spent some time at his own station at Barrow Creek, then with Murray, Morton, Wilson and a small Aboriginal boy, embarked on the 3rd Coniston massacre expedition (note that due to the obscurity of the 2nd expedition, some sources refer to the 3rd as the 2nd expedition) over 22 days from 24 September to 15 October.
In an interview with Ernestine Hill, published in 1933, Mounted Constable Murray said that on this expedition he and Morton captured 3 boys and forced them to guide them: 'Morton and I rode out together secured three boys who were innocent and demanded that they guide us to the guilty group. For three days those boys fooled us, leading us miles to wurlies long abandoned and to dry soaks. They were young initiates and dare not disclose the secrets of the older men. During the night they actually burned their feet to raw blisters and pounded their toes to pulp so that they could not walk. We covered their feet with bags and made them go on - but to no purpose. At last I resorted to a ruse. Taking one of them out of sight, I fired twice into the dust. The other in quivering fright agreed at once to track the offenders' (Mounted Constable Murray in Northern Standard, 3 March 1955, p 5).
Morton and Murray's statements about what happened were so similar that Bradley (Bradley, 2019, p116) says they had colluded to agree what they would say. They admit to 3 incidents:
First, at Tomahawk Waterhole, 40 or 50 miles north-west of Morton's main camp where 4 were shot. Second, they went back up the Lander to Boomerang Waterhole and to Circle Well and killed two people. Third, on the lower Hanson River Murray and Morton came upon 40 people and killed 8. This totals 14 people killed. There were no prisoners and there was no mention of wounded.
Mounted Constable Murray's report on 19 Oct, said 'unfortunately a number of natives were killed' (Bradley, 2019, p120). Nugget Morton's attitude towards Aboriginal people is demonstrated in his own words: 'The police hadn't done their job half well enough for my liking; for the Government is always frightened of what the city folks will say when someone wants to teach these bush myalls a decent sort of a lesson... You might think thirty-four niggers to be a fair enough bag. Who knows? There might have been some more. But I'm not satisfied yet by a long way' (Morton to Strehlow in Bradley, 2019, p120).
Aboriginal accounts of the 'killing times' include more sites than those reported by Murray and Morton. An account from Sonny Curtis Jappanangka, recorded in Bowman (2015, p 90) indicates that the third expedition pursued people beyond the Hanson as far as Kurundi Station: 'All the bad things had been happening at Jarra Jarra, Hanson River way, before I was born... They run away and some stopped at Greenwood [Station] and some kept going to Tennant Creek...
The police and all, one lady, Kitty Napangardi, showed the police trackers where to go...
Dad was driving the packhorses and somewhere through, Kurundi Station, he was telling me, some of our people were cutting sugarbag by the side of the road, mind their own business hunting. My old man looked over and saw people, and told the woman, 'Don't tell them they are there.' But she did, she went up the front and told the police – and they shot the poor buggers. They were killing anybody, they weren't looking for people that did the damage over there. They were killing anyone, the government people were. Old people who lived along the Hanson Creek, they were happy, then after the shooting they scattered. But I tell you right now, today even, people are still living in the fear. They are not sure of white people, no trust for them still today...' (Sonny Curtis Jappanangka in Bowen, 2015, p 90).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1045
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Jarra Jarra and other places
- LanguageGroup
- Warlpiri
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Barrow Creek
- KnownDate
- 1928
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s), Police, Aboriginal Guide(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1928: Coniston, NT
Details
Latitude-16 Longitude136.83 Start Date1888-01-01 End Date1888-12-31
Description
Roberts (2005, p 198) wrote: "Old Lhawulhawu went on to describe a major massacre there [Manangoora on the lower Wearyan River], possibly by the same people responsible for the one on McPherson Creek. 'Then the white men went to Mangoora and it was at this time where the Garrwa people, the Gudanji people and the Yanuwa people had come together for ceremonies. Some white people asked about bullocks. They hit people and they shot people and then left. The Yanyuwa, Garrwa and Gudanji people had been there for a Wambuyungu (funeral) ceremony. After the white people did this the people went south and hid themselves inside caves. The white people followed their tracks and saw the smoke of their fires and they heard the small children crying. Those white people found those people and they stood them up in a line and shot them, they shot them repeatedly and they shot all the old people inside that cave. They shot them until they were all dead. This was because of a milking cow. It was not like this at Borroloola; the white man did not shoot people there'."
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1048
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Manangoora
- LanguageGroup
- Garawa, Yanuywa, Gudanji
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Palmerston (Darwin)
- KnownDate
- late 1880s
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- Garawa, Yanyuwa and Gudanji people who were gathered for a funeral.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s), Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-16.528 Longitude129.219 Start Date1893-09-18 End Date1893-11-30
Description
Following the spearing death of Police Trooper Joe Collins at the Behn River in July 1893, in which at least 23 Aboriginal people were killed, Lewis (2021, p 528) wrote: 'There was another slaughter of Aborigines on or near Waterloo after the spearing of Constable Collins in 1893...Not satisfied with the killing of 23, a large party of police and bushmen went out again to arrest or disperse other Aborigines in the region. Over the next two months they travelled 678 miles and shot another 30 men.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1050
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Victoria River
- KnownDate
- 1893
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- men
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- Mounted Constable Collins
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police, Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Trooper Joe Collins at the Behn River
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1893: Behn River reprisals, WA/NT
Details
Latitude-41.653 Longitude146.624 Start Date1827-07-05 End Date1827-07-05
Description
On 3 July 1827 the Pallittorre killed two shepherds assigned to settlers William Widowson and Abraham Walker at Dairy Plains, sixty kilometers west of Launceston. Corporals John Shiners and James Lingan, field constable Thomas Williams and stockmen Thomas Baker, James Cubit, Henry Smith and William White, set off in reprisal. Three years later, stock-keeper George Johnson told government agent GA Robinson that on this occasion 'the soldiers killed nine or ten' Pallittore. (Plomley, 1966, p 219 ; 2008, p 254 ) This is the third reprisal massacre carried out by Shiners and his party in an 18 day killing spree in which at least 78 Pallittore were killed and is known as the Quamby Bluff killings.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1052
- LanguageGroup
- Pallittore
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Launceston
- KnownDate
- 5 July 1827
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Foot Soldier(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Foot, Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 shepherds
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1827: Quamby Bluff, Western Marshes, VDL/TAS
Details
Latitude-24.231 Longitude131.576 Start Date1894-08-01 End Date1894-08-20
Description
The Watarrka National Park Joint Management Plan (2010, p 14) includes this extract: 'One Traditional Owner recalls "My father told us that at one time when he was young, his father and grandfather took him into the hills behind Lilla to hide from a white man who was shooting Luritja people around Kings Canyon. The Watarrka mob were sitting down there and policemen came and shot them. Just like that. My father told me that".'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1055
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Lilla, Watarrka National Park
- LanguageGroup
- Luritja
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Alice Springs
- KnownDate
- August 1894
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-12.461 Longitude134.984 Start Date1903-01-01 End Date1908-07-30
Description
In colonial pastoral terms, Arnhem Land was dominated by Florida Station (1884-1893) leased by John Arthur Macartney (of Macartney & Mayne fame) after which some of the same land became incorporated into Florida Station (1903-1908) leased by the Eastern and African Cold Storage Company. Generally, the area was known as Murwangi to Yolngu people.
When Arafura Station was owned by Eastern & African Cold Storage Co, the company employed groups to ride around shooting Aboriginal people. Merlan (1978, p 87) wrote that 'This was
probably one of the few authenticated instances in which the aborigines were systematically hunted. For a time the company employed
2 gangs of 10 to 14 blacks headed by a white man or half caste to hunt and shoot the wild blacks on sight. When interviewed in 1957 George Conway mentioned that he had been hired to lead a hunting expedition into Arnhem Land in 1905 or 1906, and that his party had killed dozens of Aborigines.'
According to Dewar's research (1995, p 9): 'A further attempt was made to develop a pastoral industry when Arafura Station was taken up by the African Cold Storage Supply Company in 1903 in central Arnhem Land. Arafura Station was not a commercial success (Bauer 1964, 157) and the company was liquidated in 1908. The station is remembered today for the extreme violence of its managers. Accounts have been collected from both Yolngu and non-Aboriginals who remember the massacres of Yolngu in the area (Bauer 1964, 157; Dreyfus & Dhulumburrk 1980, 19-20; Read and Read 1991, 19-24; Van der Heide 1985, 15, 16, 52, 53).'
Jack 'the Gulf Hero' Watson was a Manager of Florida Station. He had been at Lawn Hill in Queensland as an employee of Frank Hann and was notorious for killing Aboriginal people, such as at the
Skeleton Creek massacre.
In addition to Conway and others, Joe Bradshaw was employed at Arafura by the Eastern & African Cold Storage Co. Joe Bradshaw was the general manager for a time (Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 17 March 1905, p 3) and spent many years in the Victoria River Downs area, including on Bradshaw Station, where there were many massacres.
According to C.E. Gaunt, Jack Watson was responsible for killing many people while he was on Florida:
'After the Randalls left, Jack Watson "The Gulf Hero," as he was known to old timers, took charge and became manager...
To return to Florida, when managing that place when the abos. stepped over the line, Watson threw the lead at them, and threw it to kill. He had the blacks of Blue Mud and Caledon Bays good hombres, but he had to wipe out a lot to make them so.
In all the early days of Florida there was not a white man attacked or killed by blacks. The men of Florida knew how to handle blacks and then the Missionary came on the scene and made a rascal out of the abo. Then the trouble and killing of whites started. This is cold facts. Eventually Florida Station was abandoned, the chief cause being loss of stock by blacks. This was after Watson left' (Northern Standard, 6 Jul 1934, p 4).
It is difficult to isolate individual incidents, but Conway said that he killed dozens during only one expedition of one of the two gangs mentioned. In a quote relating to an expedition through Yolngu country to Caledon Bay, Conway notes that Yolngu camps were very large 'Some of their camps contained two or three thousand people' (Willey, 1964, p 103). It is reasonable to think at least 200 people were massacred by the killing 'gangs' at Florida and Arafura under Conway, Bradshaw and Watson.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1056
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Murwangi or Murruwangi
- LanguageGroup
- Yolngu, Djinang
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Darwin
- KnownDate
- 1906
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 200
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s), Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1903-1908: Arafura Station
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0ca6 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1056 SourceMerlan, 1978, pp 87-88; Dewar, 1992, p 9; Northern Standard, 6 Jul 1934, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48064516; Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 17 March 1905, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4328639/828514; Willey, K, 1964, p 103; Olney J, 2003, p 47.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:20 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-16.262 Longitude130.91 Start Date1911-01-01 End Date1914-06-30
Description
In his report on the Kidman Springs/Jasper Gorge Land Claim, Justice Howard Olney (1989, pp 18-19) found that: "Aboriginal oral traditions tell of a massacre near the claim area, in Bull's Head Pocket near Bull's Head Springs. According to the claimant Big Mick Kankinang, the massacre took place during the time when Townsend was manager of VRD (1904-19). A great crowd of Aboriginals had gathered in the area for purposes of ceremony and in the early hours of the morning, while they were still singing and dancing, they were surrounded by Europeans and their 'imported' Aboriginals, and shot. ... While evidence of these and other massacres in only rarely obtainable in European documents, the oral traditions are fully borne out by current demography."
The stockmen concerned spared the lives of young women who they abducted (Rose & Lewis, 1982, p 2).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1057
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Timber Creek
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- People engaged in corroborree dance. Men and older women shot. Young women abducted.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-34.049 Longitude141.274 Start Date1841-08-27 End Date1841-08-27
Description
According to a statement made by Mr Robinson, following an
encounter the previous day in which 15 Aboriginal people were killed or wounded an overland expedition travelling from Gundagai to South Australia were looking for a place to cross the Rufus River. On the other side they were met by a party that had come out from Adelaide to assist them. Aboriginal scouts sent by Mr Moorhouse warned that a large group were approaching 'full of wrath'. The overland party on the east side of the river drove the large Aboriginal group into the river where '... from 30 to 40 were killed, and as many wounded; and one man, a boy, and two women, taken prisoners.' (Inquirer, August 24, 1842, p 6)
According to Burke et al 2016, p.152, on 27 August 1841, an 'official party, including police, three Aboriginal people' and Aboriginal Protector, Matthew Moorhouse, arrived at Rufus River, with the view of protecting an overlanding party en route to Adelaide, led by William Robinson.' Robinson's party had been attacked 'further east on the previous day. Five Aboriginal men had been killed, and 10 wounded, but there was no loss of European life. In the hours following, Moorhouse and two others encountered a large party of Aboriginal men and women near Lake Victoria, who immediately ran towards them and a second clash ensued, despite Moorhouse's attempts to negotiate through interpreters. In the ensuing gunfire "nearly 30" Aboriginal people were killed (although at the subsequent enquiry Moorhouse acknowledged that he had only seen 21 bodies), "about 10" wounded and four captured.' Robinson was wounded. A subsequent enquiry, concluded that 'the conduct of both European parties was justifiable' (Burke et al 2016, p.153)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1059
- LanguageGroup
- Marrawarra
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Adelaide
- KnownDate
- 27/08/1841
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 21
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police, Stockmen/Drover(s), Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-31.326 Longitude152.794 Start Date1824-01-01 End Date1824-12-31
Description
In 1824, Mr Wilson set out in a boat with a detachment of soldiers on the Wilson River. According to Henry Wilson's memoir, provided by R Wilson, 'After leaving Prospect', (Hack's Ferry) the party 'came upon a blacks' camp [at Telegraph Point] and the natives threw spears at the men in the boat, and some of the soldiers were hurt, but not seriously. The boat was rowed over to the shore on the opposite side to the blacks, who were taught such a lesson at the hands of the party that they never forgot, and one which taught the natives to fear the men who were firing at them' (Wilson, 1941). Henry Wilson's memoir was earlier published in Port Macquarie News of Sept 14, 1889 when he was 72 years old (p8, Morris, 2005). It remains unclear whether the Mr Wilson referred to was the father of Henry Wilson, Mr William Wilson, Overseer of Public Works at Port Macquarie, or Lieutenant William Earle Bulwer Wilson who was Engineer and Inspector of Public Works. They were both in Port Macquarie at the time (pp17-28, Morris, 2005).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1060
- LanguageGroup
- Biripi
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Macquarie
- KnownDate
- 1824
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- men
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Military
- Transport
- Foot, Boat
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- wounding of 2 soldiers
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Muzzle Loading Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-31.327 Longitude152.747 Start Date1824-01-01 End Date1824-07-31
Description
In 1824, Mr Wilson took a whale boat on what is now known as the Wilson River. After the massacre of Biripi at present day Telegraph Point, the party rowed upstream to present day Ballangarra, 'where another party of blacks were encountered, and they disputed the right of these soldiers to pass. Mr Wilson and his party tried to make the natives understand what they wanted, but all to no purpose. Being loath to fire bullets at them, only as a last resort, Mr Wilson gave instructions to use small shot, but this only infuriated the blacks. However, after this encounter the tribe gave little or no trouble.' R. Wilson, 'Early Days of Port Macquarie', in The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer, September 16, 1941, p4. It remains unclear whether the Mr Wilson referred to was the father of Henry Wilson, Mr William Wilson, Overseer of Public Works at Port Macquarie, or Lieutenant William Earle Bulwer Wilson who was Engineer and Inspector of Public Works. They were both in Port Macquarie at the time (pp17-28, Morris, 2005).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1061
- LanguageGroup
- Biripi
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Macquarie
- KnownDate
- 1824
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Military, Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot, Boat
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Muzzle Loading Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-31.342 Longitude152.847 Start Date1825-08-01 End Date1826-02-28
Description
In late 1825, according to H L Wilson, the first superintendent of works at the penal settlement at Port Macquarie, 'three men were sent to ... Blackman's Point to split shingles, and two were killed by the blacks. When the survivor reached the camp and related the circumstances, a party of Buffs (soldiers from the 4th Regiment) was sent out to chastise the blacks, and right well was the work carried out. The soldiers surrounded the aborigines, and shot a great many of them; they also captured a lot of women, used them for an immoral purpose, and then shot them. The offending soldiers were sent to Sydney for trial, but managed to escape punishment.' (H L Wilson, 'Early Days at Port Macquarie', 1889. np.)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1062
- LanguageGroup
- Biripi
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Macquarie
- KnownDate
- 1826
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Military, Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot, Boat
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Muzzle Loading Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-16.529 Longitude131.047 Start Date1894-10-30 End Date1894-10-30
Description
Mounted Constable Willshire (1896, p 61) wrote: 'We were flanked on either side by great walls of stone, and the bucks will fight like demons when there is no "get away". Then we all rose to show ourselves, and there was a furious stampede of powerfully built niggers, some climbing the cliffs, some running back to us with spears, some diving in the water, several climbing into the rocky fissures, and the women and children huddling together in a cave, the rude interior of which fairly glowed with girlish beauty. The imagination cannot conceive the terrors of that dreadful time. Language is not equal to the task of expressing the abject fear of the tribe, especially if it must flow from the pen and be taken from the writer's limited vocabulary. Honi soit qui mal y pense [evil be to those who evil think].'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1065
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinyman, Karrangpurru, Nungali, Malngin, Wardaman, Ngaliwurru, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek
- KnownDate
- 1894
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-16.117 Longitude130.96 Start Date1911-01-01 End Date1914-06-30
Description
In his report on the Kidman Springs/Jasper Gorge Land Claim, Justice Howard Olney (1989, pp 18-19), based on Aboriginal evidence, was told that during Townsend's time as manager of Victoria River Downs station, a massacre of Aboriginal people took place at Kidman's Knob. 'While evidence of these and other massacres is only rarely obtainable in European documents, the oral traditions are fully borne out by current demography.'
The stockmen concerned spared the lives of young women who they abducted (Rose & Lewis, 1982, p 2).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1066
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Timber Creek
- KnownDate
- 1910
- AttackTime
- Morning
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- People engaged in ceremony.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-23.58 Longitude132.578 Start Date1884-12-01 End Date1884-12-21
Description
Mounted Constable Erwein Wurmbrand and trackers Dick, Jemmy, Tommy, Charley and two settlers, William Craigie and James Norman, went to Glen Helen station in response to complaints about the attempted murder of three Glen Helen employees, Messrs McDonald, Schleicher and Miller. At Hermannsberg mission station, three suspects were taken into custody, chained by the neck. En route back to Glen Helen they allegedly tried to escape, Wurmbrand reporting that the 'prisoners are dead'. The party continued on to Mount Sonder where four Aboriginal men were shot dead. No arrests were made. Camps were destroyed.
Wilson (2000, p 273) wrote that 'The party then returned to Alice Springs where Wurmbrand made much of the shortage of rations that caused him to abandon the patrol rather than the deaths of his suspects.
Another interpretation has been put on these deaths. H.J. Schmiechen tells how a missionary from Hermannsburg, Schwarz, hearing that the men had been shot, searched for and located the bodies still in their chains. Schwarz argued that "this made the troopers excuse that they [the Aborigines] were attempting an escape seem highly inadequate for the severe action he had taken."' Roberts (2005, p 113) wrote: 'On another occasion, Wurmbrand claimed that he shot one man and wounded others at the foot of Mount Sonder, but a station hand who was with him told the missionaries that seventeen Aboriginals had been shot dead.' Traynor (2016, p 122) wrote, 'So his [Willshire's] newly arrived replacement Erwein Wurmbrand rode out to Glen Helen on 12 November with two white men, William Craig and James Norman, and four black trackers. James McDonald and Theodor Schleicher from the station joined them. Wurmbrand seized four Aboriginal men at Hermannsburg on 1 December but released one when the missionaries vouched for him. He chained the other three by the neck and took them up the Finke where he and his men shot them. He went on to pursue other suspects and reported shooting four more near Mount Sonder.' And Kimber (1990, p 15) made this observation, 'When one considers all of the official reports, independent accounts and strongly circumstantial evidence of punitive expeditions which occurred in 1884-1885 in Anmatjera territory, the early Aboriginal success in their attack on Anna's Reservoir was certainly but a pyrrhic victory. I find no reason to disbelieve Spencer and Gillen's observation that as a result of this initially successful attack the Anmatjera were "nearly wiped out."' Traynor (2016, p 123-24) noted that William 'Bill' Benstead of the Willowrie Pastoral Company and a stockman named Lennon joined Wumbrand, each corroborating the figure of 17.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1068
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Rwetyepme
- LanguageGroup
- Arrernte
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Alice Springs
- KnownDate
- 13 December 1884
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 17
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Alleged attempted murder.
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0cbb Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1068 SourceNettelbeck, 2004, pp 190-206; Nettelbeck & Foster, 2007, pp 34-35; Wilson, 2000, p 273; Roberts, 2005, p 113; Traynor, 2016, p 122, 123-24; Kimber, 1990, p 15.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:20 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-16.806 Longitude135.777 Start Date1886-04-01 End Date1886-05-31
Description
Following the spearing death of Ted Lenehan in April 1886, and the reprisals that followed, there was an attack on the McArthur River head station by Aboriginal people. Tom Lynnott, with Tommy Campbell, went out in reprisal and headed for Dunganminnie Spring in the Abner Range. Tony Roberts (2005, p 181) explained: "Along the steep western face of the Abner Range a narrow, almost hidden, opening leads through the cliffs into a small gorge and spring at the base of a series of falls, known as Massacre Waterfalls. There is one entrance and no exit."
Quoting Traine, he wrote: "The blacks were camped around the spring when their pursuers reached the top of the cliff in the early hours of the morning…When daylight came, the natives were all killed with the exception of a little girl who was brought back to the Station and taken charge of by the wife of the Resident Magistrate who was stationed at Borroloola a few years later."
Quoting Hill: "Cliff Lynott, Tom's brother, now in a lonely grave on the Roper, telling the story in after years said that they counted the dead only in Dunganminnie. There were twenty-two."
Quoting Morcom: "Charley Havey did tell me the reason [for] the name of Massacre Waterfalls, and even now up in the gorge can be seen skulls and bones bearing grim evidence of the awful slaughter enacted there." And quoting an unnamed Gudanji man: "There was a mob of Aboriginals camping here [at Dunganminnie] in the old times, poor buggers…They into them and shot them all. They shot at the whole mob. Some fellas got out, some got up the steep cliffs. The water hole was all blood—girls and boys, old women and men were shot."
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1069
- LanguageGroup
- Garawa, Yanuywa, Gudanji
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Roper River
- KnownDate
- 1886
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 22
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1886: Abner Range, SA/NT
Details
Latitude-16.753 Longitude138.331 Start Date1884-06-01 End Date1884-06-02
Description
This massacre survives as oral history in the Borroloola region in the NT. 'Massacre Inlet' was named because Aboriginal people were rounded up, herded into an inlet and shot. The name of the inlet is well known to the people of the Gulf country. The Garawa Land and Sea Country Plan, p 7 states, 'In the mid-1800s, European explorers, stockmen, drovers and pastoralists began to pass through our country using our tracks and rivers as stock routes. Our country was well suited to grazing cattle and by 1874 permanent pastoral occupation had been established. Much of their settlement on country was not done peacefully. As more settlers came it became harder for us to access the places we visited for food and water. Our Elders were chased away and even shot at and killed. We called this time is [sic] our history Wabulinji ('Wild Time') and is especially painful as our people struggled and died fighting to stay on country and keep their families alive.' The history of the Burke Shire (Queensland Places, nd) carries this account: 'Further west along the unsealed Doomadgee road is the Hells Gate roadhouse for tourists and travellers. The name is a reminder of the pass through the Constance Range where travellers in the 1870s faced Aboriginal attack. Massacre Inlet, north of Hells Gate, marks the place where European settlers from the Westmoreland homestead slaughtered nearly all the Ngyanga Aborigines in 1884 in reprisal for an attack.' Massacre Inlet is marked on 1936 and 1945 pastoral maps of Northern Australia.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1070
- LanguageGroup
- Nyangga
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Burketown
- KnownDate
- 1884
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-30.44 Longitude152.418 Start Date1852-08-23 End Date1852-09-30
Description
The murder of 5 members of the Meldrum family in the Bald Hills area was reported in August 1852:
'On the 23rd instant, information was given to the Armidale
police that a most dreadfull massacre had been committed the day before, at the Bald Hills' station,
(Mr. Allen's) in this district, near the Clarence line
of road. The unfortunate sufferers were Mary
Mason, and her two children, of the respective
ages of 3 and 18 months, and John Meldrum ...
On the information being received,
the chief constable proceeded to the scene, but
could not succeed in capturing any of the scoundrels;
in fact, the police force in this district is so miserably deficient in numbers, that life is not safe even
in the vicinity of the town from these savages. We
trust that the Inspector-General of Police will see
the necessity of immediately supplying the deficiency: otherwise it is likely that the people will
either leave their various employments in the bush,
or take the law into their own hands'
(The Goulburn Herald and County of Argyle Advertiser, 18 Sep 1852, p 3).
According to an article published in 1932, Major Parke led a group of colonists who shot a 'great number' of Aboriginal people in reprisal for the killing of the Meldrum family. The date given as '1856' in this article is most likely a misprint, as the murders occurred in 1852.
'In 1856 aboriginals attacked
Meldrum's home and killed all the inmates with the exception of a baby
who had been thrown against a wall
and left there stunned. A man named
Imray (or Emery), who had been out
on the run shepherding sheep, on his
return to the homestead found the
bodies of the murdered people and also
discovered the baby which had re
covered and was lying beside a cat.
The blacks who were responsible for
the tragedy were tracked over the
rough country and were discovered on
a creek on the Macleay. A great number of them were shot by Major Parke
and other residents of the district who
had joined in the chase' (Dungog Chronicle: Durham and Gloucester Advertiser, 7 Jun 1932, p 4).
Indigenous historian Callum Clayton-Dixon summarised the sequence of events thus: 'Following the killing of several colonists in the Bald Hills area in August 1852, a group of Aboriginal people were chased to the edge of a sheer bluff south of Ebor and were either shot or pushed over the edge, probably both. Constable Michael Clogher and Major Edward Parke were two of the main perpetrators' (Clayton-Dixon 2019, p.138).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1071
- LanguageGroup
- Baanbay
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Armidale
- KnownDate
- August 1852
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 3
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-34.491 Longitude145.965 Start Date1839-08-01 End Date1839-08-31
Description
According to the reminiscences of Overlander James R. Byrne, in August, 1839, his party shot three Wiradjuri warriors after one stockman was badly wounded on the northern side of the Murrumbidgee River. Byrne and his party decided 'to intercept the aborigines and cut them off from the river.' After the first attempt failed, a second attempt was more successful. Five stockmen drove the Wiradjuri towards the river and another six stockmen lying in ambush, 'fired as the natives appeared and then rode down upon them with cutlasses' (Byrne 1848, 2, p 231). After they killed nine Wiradjuri warriors, 'they allowed the rest to escape across the river' (Byrne 1848, vol 2, p 255).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1072
- LanguageGroup
- Wiradjuri
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Goulburn
- KnownDate
- August 1839
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Overlander(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Cutlass/Cutlasses
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-34.788 Longitude146.614 Start Date1854-01-01 End Date1854-12-31
Description
According to an article in the Labor Daily, 1 Jan 1926, p 8, the death of Mr Jeremiah Rodgers was noted. 'He was one of the first residents in this [Narrandera] district, having been brought here with his brother Henry, 73 years ago [1853]. His father took charge of Brewarrina Station, and he managed the holding for 26 years... The pastoralists at that time experienced trouble from the blacks, who used to spear the cattle. So troublesome were they that the whites determined to deal with them in a summary manner. The whites drove the natives on to an island below Buckingbong and wrought such havoc in their ranks that the Island is even now known as "Murdering Island"' (Labor Daily, 1 Jan 1926, p 8).
The name 'Murdering Island' was mentioned in 1873 (Wagga Wagga Express and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser, 5 November 1873, p 2). An article in 1895 gave the following account of how the place got its name: 'From the top of the hill also can be faintly discerned, what is described in Boldrewood's novel as the "Murdering Lake," but which is known as the Murdering Island, on which were massacred some thirty-five years ago about 300 blacks. There are said to be two sides to the story. Some say that the only crime the blacks had been guilty of was that of stealing cattle. But certain it is that neither gins nor picanninies were spared. All were murdered on this island, and their bones, I am told, were lying bleaching there for years till a flood washed them away. It is said that an old blackfellow, named Mungo, escaped by diving under the water. I went a long way to have an interview with this old warrior, and found him partly drunk; but when I told him what I required his black eyes flashed beneath his white shaggy eyebrows as he grunted out the ghastly details, which, however, were of so spasmodic a nature that I could not glean much from his ravings. "Yes," he said, "white fellow kill blackfellow, gin, picaninny. What you do white fellow kill another white fellow? — you put him in gaol — white fellow kill black fellow, no matter — black fellow no account"' (Freeman's Journal, 5 January 1895, p 17).
In 1935 the Daily Advertiser reported, 'Another old Narandera identity, Mungo, was fond of describing his escape from death at the time of the massacre of the "Murdering Island," when the settlers rounded up a great number on this little mud island in mid stream, and from either bank shot them down till very few escaped. One of these latter was Mungo, then a boy. He escaped by securing a long hollow reed and holding it in his mouth to breathe through when he dropped under water, as was frequently done by the blacks in catching wild ducks. He lay below the surface for hours till all the firing was over, and must have had a terrible experience. Mungo, in describing his escape from all the bullets that flew about, used to touch various parts of his head and body, saying: "Yes, t'choota me here, t'choota me there, t'choota me every plurry where, and by cri' never touch me"' (Daily Advertiser, 27 May 1935, p3).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1073
- LanguageGroup
- Wiradjuri
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Goulburn
- KnownDate
- 1854
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 70
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-17.476 Longitude141.154 Start Date1883-02-01 End Date1883-02-15
Description
Following an Aboriginal attack on the town of Normanton during the 1883 wet season in which rations, clothes, cutlery, fowls, a carbine and ammunition 'and a dozen new white shirts were stolen', a detachment of native police led by Sub-Inspector Walter Jones set off in pursuit a few weeks later. Three days later, the detachment returned with some of the stolen property 'and satisfactory tidings that the mob had been too thoroughly dispersed to trouble Normanton again this season' (Brisbane Courier, 31 March 1883, p 6).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1075
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Normanton
- KnownDate
- February 1883
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-15.757 Longitude142.199 Start Date1864-12-18 End Date1864-12-18
Description
In December 1864, the brothers Frank and Alexander Jardine were leading a droving expedition from Rockhampton to Somerset at the tip of Cape York where their father was the magistrate for the entire region. On 18 December 1864, two days after a massacre to the south, they reached the Mitchell River and set up camp. According to the Jardines, they were immediately attacked by 70 or 80 Aboriginal warriors. '[T]heir [spears] now coming much too close to be pleasant (for some of them were thrown a hundred yards) the three [horsemen] turned suddenly on their pursuers, and galloping up to them, poured in a volley, the report of which brought down their companions from the camp, when the skirmish became general. The natives at first stood up courageously, but either by accident or through fear, despair or stupidity, they got huddled in a heap, in, and at the margin of the water, when ten carbines poured volley after volley into them from all directions, killing and wounding with every shot with very little return, nearly all their spears having been expended in the pursuit of the horsemen. About thirty being killed,the leader thought it prudent to hold his hand, and let the rest escape. Many more must have been wounded and probably drowned, for 59 rounds were counted as discharged' (Byerley 1867, np).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1077
- LanguageGroup
- Kunjen / Kokomini
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Somerset
- KnownDate
- 18 December 1864
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- men
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Explorer(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
- MassacreGroup
- 1864: Mitchell River, QLD
Details
Latitude-17.045 Longitude137.915 Start Date1897-05-15 End Date1897-05-15
Description
Roberts (2005, p 201) wrote: "In 1897, a large number of Garrwa people, among them Peter Garinjamaji and Illiburra ('Crooked Foot'), were gathered for a Kunabibi ceremony at Baladuna Waterhole on Settlement Creek. Many were shot when a large group of armed stockmen from Wollogorang led by the manager, Robert ('Bob') Shadforth, attacked the gathering and kidnapped women, including one of Illiburra's wives. Garinjamaji was shot in the shoulder by an infamous stockman of mixed descent named Yellow Paddy. The survivors fled into the rugged hills where Illiburra, a tall man regarded by Europeans as the local 'king', immediately planned a counter-attack, sending nightly scouting parties to watch the station. It was Shadforth he particularly wanted, which suggests he may have had other grievances against him."
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1078
- LanguageGroup
- Garrwa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Borroloola
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-17.227 Longitude137.983 Start Date1886-07-15 End Date1886-07-17
Description
Roberts (2005, p 201) wrote: "Lawrence Wells, a member of the border survey party, called at Westmoreland station in August 1886 where he learned of a massacre on Wollogorang [Station]. At a place called The Pocket, on Branch Creek, he was told that 'many natives had been shot by the whites for cattle-spearing - the gins and picaninnies sometimes sharing the same fate'. Among the station managers and stockmen in this border country, Wells observed, were 'rough, hard cases, quite capable of retaliating and taking the law into their own hands' for the spearing of cattle."
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1079
- LanguageGroup
- Garrawa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Borroloola
- KnownDate
- July 1886
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimNotes
- Garrawa men, women and children
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Cattle killing.
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-16.358 Longitude131.104 Start Date1900-06-01 End Date1900-06-30
Description
An undated index card from the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London reads: '20.1601; 1028.1 - skull and femora, male. 20.1062; 1028.2 – skull and femora, male.
Natives of the NW Territory of Australia, near the Victoria River, shot early in 1900 in a punitive expedition, in which forty natives male and female were killed. They live sometimes on the coast, sometimes inland; white traders make no irregular unions with their women, so the race remains pure. (For other details of tribe see letters).'
'Pres by Dr Arthur J Gedge 1920' [but the cranium says 1921].
'(Accompanying these remains are glass & stone arrowheads made by them, and sharp oval stones used for an operation on many of the males).'
Dr Arthur Gedge does not appear to have been in Australia. The British Medical Journal of 16 September 1927 (p 475) records that he died in London on 16 August 1927.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1086
- LanguageGroup
- Allura or Ngarinyman
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Timber Creek
- KnownDate
- 1900
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Reprisal
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-20.599 Longitude130.416 Start Date1912-04-01 End Date1912-04-30
Description
Alice Springs historian Dick Kimber wrote:
'Major Jangala told the following account, which can be dated to 1911-1912. Major learnt it from his father.
'A Mounted Policeman with two Native Constables travelled from the Overland Telegraph Line out into Warlpiri country. He arrested six men near the Granites, and commenced the journey back to the Telegraph Line. One Warlpiri man, who had been resting in the shade about 50 to100 metres away when the arrests were made, had crawled and then run away while the arrests were being made, but when sure of his safety then returned and followed the patrol.
'He was able to obtain water and camp a short distance off the line of march because he knew the rockholes and soakages of the country. Very occasionally he "finger-talked" to the prisoners, suggesting possibilities of escape, but had to be extremely careful, and normally stayed out of sight except at sundown and sunrise.
'Each night the prisoners were chained to trees with neck-chains, one to a tree so that they could not readily contrive an escape. After a few days the policeman made a decision. He was friendly in manner as he gave each man along an almost straight line of trees some breakfast and a drink of water, and Major envisaged him saying to each prisoner, "Sorry old man". When they had finished their meal and drink, he and the Native Constables stood off at a short distance and shot them all. They took the chains off, left the men who were shot for the wedge-tailed eagles, falcons, crows and dingoes, and rode back towards the Overland Telegraph Line.
'The man who had been following the group fled, and became the teller of the story.
…
I have no reason whatsoever to doubt Major Jangala's story. I knew him for years, travelled his country with him, and he was a man of strong character and integrity. I therefore do believe that an unknown policeman, not wishing to go through the trouble of long travel with Warlpiri prisoners and a court case, committed murder in the name of rough frontier justice well south-east of The Granites in about 1912' (Alice Springs News, 8 Oct 2003).
This could have been a response to a story that appeared in the NT Times and Gazette on 25 November 1910 (p 2):
'OUTRAGE BY NATIVES.
A brief telegram was received in Darwin on Thursday morning from Hall's Creek, W.A., stating that a prospector named John Stewart was killed by natives at Granite Hill, 60 miles south east of Tanami, on the morning of 3rd inst., his head being battered to a pulp with a tomahawk. Stewart went to water horses at a soak three quarters of a mile from camp. He was armed with a Winchester rifle and revolver, fully loaded, which the blacks have taken and made off in a westerly direction. The police are endeavoring to make arrests. Stewart is supposed to have a brother and sister living at Spring Hill, Carag Carag, Victoria' (NTTG, 25 Nov 1910, p 2).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1087
- LanguageGroup
- Warlpiri
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Timber Creek
- KnownDate
- 1912
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Possibly in reprisal for the death of John Stewart
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-28.947 Longitude152.551 Start Date1841-01-01 End Date1841-12-31
Description
According to Eve Kean, the author of the history of Kyogle, in 1841, P.C.Pagan, leaseholder of East Tabulam station was speared and killed by a Bundjalung warrior for having fired his gun into the Bundjalung camp for their having stolen a blanket. 'In reprisal, a posse of armed stockmen and border police, massacred the entire camp.' (Keane 1957, p.12). The camp was located on the Clarence River, at what is now Pagan's Flat.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1089
- LanguageGroup
- Bundjalung
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Kempsey
- KnownDate
- `1841
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Border Police, Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- P.C. Pagan
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-33.183 Longitude149.581 Start Date1824-05-24 End Date1824-05-25
Description
On 25 May 1824, Richard Lowe, convict shepherd to Richard Lewis was returning to his hut at sunset, when he was surprised to find the body of hut-keeper, Richard Taylor and the hut stripped of everything. Lowe and a convict stock worker ran to Lewis's hut to inform him of the murder and next morning Lewis rode to his neighbour, settler John Tindale at 'Warren Gunyah'. Both men set off for Bathurst to alert the magistrate Major James Morisset. En route they found one of Tindale's huts burnt down and the burnt bodies of his workers, John Dowden and James Florid. Further on, they found the body of another of Tindale's workers, James Buckley. (Gapps, 2021, p.138)
According to historian Stephen Gapps, the location of the attacks, 'is near where the Turondale Road today crosses Millah Murrah Creek between Duramana and Turondale'. (Gapps 2021, p. 139)
When Lewis and Tindale returned to Lewis's station, a detachment of soldiers had arrived with more bad news. At nearby Millah Murrah station, owned by Samuel Terry, the soldiers had 'found the bodies of two convict shepherds', John Donnelly and Joseph Rose and hired servant David Brown. (Gapps 2021, p.140-1).
Over a period of 24 hours, Wiradjuri warriors had killed seven colonial workers on the Bathurst frontier, then the furthest frontier west of Sydney. The killings constituted a massacre. As Gapps points out, 'the sight of a cart with the bodies of seven white men in it trundling through the middle of the Bathurst township sent shock waves through the district and beyond.' (Gapps 2021, p.147)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1091
- LanguageGroup
- Wiradjuri
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Bathurst
- KnownDate
- 24-5 May 1824
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Colonists
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s), Convict(s)
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Waddies/Nulla-nulla(s), Boomerang(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-42.905 Longitude147.823 Start Date1826-01-01 End Date1826-05-30
Description
Historian James Bonwick recorded the story of a male convict who was 'engaged as one of the convict crew of a small coaster, carrying round a party of ladies and gentlemen to the east coast. Landing for the night at East Bay Neck, a notable place for depredations at that period [in 1826], he heard the stealthy approach of the bloodthirsty tribe, when his companions were asleep. Arousing the crew, and putting them upon their guard, he permitted the band of some forty marauders to near the fire, when, at a signal from him, a general discharge of muskets took place, which strewed the ground with dead and dying.' (Bonwick 1870, p.123)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1093
- LanguageGroup
- Paredarerme
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Sorell
- KnownDate
- 1826
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Sailor(s), Convict(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-34.142 Longitude141.455 Start Date1841-08-26 End Date1841-08-26
Description
According to a statement made by Mr Robinson, an overland party was travelling from Gundagai to South Australia. Nearing the Rufus River, after gathering stray cattle he ventured ahead of the party to look for a crossing. He encountered about 300 Aboriginal people who moved into a crescent formation. Mr Robinson gathered a party of well armed overlanders.
'On our approach they advanced, and we commenced firing: we discharged about 8 rounds each before the blacks gave the least way. They now began to retreat. We then advanced, and drove them back into the bush. During this affray about 15 were killed and wounded.' (Inquirer, August 24, 1842, p 6) The following day at Rufus River,
another massacre occurred in which about 21 or more were killed.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1095
- LanguageGroup
- Marrawarra
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- Overland party lead by Mr Robinson, Mr Warrener and Mr Barker
- AttackerDescription
- Overlander(s)
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-15.688 Longitude128.09 Start Date1894-09-21 End Date1894-09-21
Description
The Daily News reported that 'A Chinese gardener living at King River, 12 miles from town, reported to Sargeant Wheatley, yesterday morning, that on returning from his garden on the evening preceeding he found the natives in possession of his hut. He fired two shots, and then rode to town. Seargeant Wheatley, Constable Cadden and two native assistants left immediately, and on reaching the garden at daybreak the Sergeant found the shanty ransacked. The tracks showed the presence of six natives. On tracking them up the police saw a mob of fifty blacks on the banks of the King River. The police dispersed the mob and returned to Wyndham. The King River natives are dangerous and are getting bolder, and it is expected that there will be further depredations' (The Daily News, 24 Sep 1894, p 3).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1097
- LanguageGroup
- Yiiji, Ngarinyin
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- East Kimberley
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-16.723 Longitude124.015 Start Date1895-01-01 End Date1895-12-31
Description
George Marsden was told by Edwin Rose of Oobagooma Station that Aboriginal men had killed two men 'on the outstation at Mundoona and had been killing cattle at a rate of 200 to 300 a year' and could not be prevented as they attacked during the wet season (Owen, 2016, p326).
George Marsden reported that 'PC Spong and his native assistants "struck a camp of eighty buck natives, in full war paint with cow tails hanging all over them. These natives, each of which had one or two gins with him carrying spears, commenced throwing their spears" (Owen, 2016, p326). The police dispersed them, Marsden wrote, with "the loss of some twenty bucks. Since then they have never attempted to rush the station, but have kept well back in the hills."' (Owen, 2016, p 326)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1099
- LanguageGroup
- Unggarangi, Umida, Warwa
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- Motive
- Reprisal
- CorroborationRating
- **
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0cf2 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1099 SourceAPB, 'Correspondence, Report for the Secretary of the Aboriginal Protection Board of Western Australia from Mr George Marsden on Oobagooma Cattle Station, 21 December 1896', SROWA, AN 1, Cons. 495, Item 44; Owen, 2016, pp 315-330.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-42.812 Longitude147.314 Start Date1804-05-03 End Date1804-05-03
Description
About 11am on 3 May 1804, a large group of Big River/Oyster Bay men, women and children suddenly appeared on top of a hill on a kangaroo drive near the recently established British colonial outpost at Risdon, on the eastern shore of the River Derwent. According to witness Edward White, 'they did not know there was a white man in the country' and they 'looked at me with all their eyes' (BPP 1831, p.53). Lt William Moore, the officer in charge at the outpost, ordered two detachments comprising eight soldiers from the garrison, 102nd Regiment (NSW Corps) to fire at the Big River/Oyster Bay people in two separate engagements in which at least two Big River/Oyster Bay warriors were killed. Then in a third engagement, the magistrate at Risdon Cove, surgeon Jacob Mountgarret, ordered that a twelve-pounder carronade be dragged up the hill from the water's edge and loaded with grape and canister shot and fired at the Big River/Oyster Bay people to disperse them. The sound of the carronade was heard at Hobart on the other side of the River Derwent at 2pm. Mountgarret then led a group of armed men comprising at least 12 soldiers, ten convicts and two settlers, in a charge 'some distance up the valley' where 'more were wounded' and 'a fine Native boy' about two years old was captured after his 'Mother and Father were both killed' (Watson, (ed.) 1925, HRA, III, i, 237-8). Three British witnesses recorded their experiences of the massacre. Two of them were the leading perpetrators, Moore and Mountgarret, who each provided written reports in the immediate aftermath. Mountgarret claimed that 600 Aboriginal warriors threatened the outpost by attacking a settler and that only two Aboriginal men were killed, although the official report, prepared by Lt Governor David Collins on 15 May 1804, said that 'at least three' were killed (Nicholls 1977, p 51; Watson ed (1925) HRA III, i, pp. 237-8). The third witness, Edward White, a convict in 1804, was interviewed about the incident at an official inquiry, known as the Broughton Committee, 26 years later in March 1830 and provided the first coherent account of the massacre. He said that the soldiers began firing at 11am and that 'a great many' Oyster Bay/Big River people were 'slaughtered and wounded' and in the aftermath, surgeon Mountgarret, dispatched 2 casks of Tasmanian Aboriginal remains to Sydney (BPP 1831, 53-4). At the Broughton inquiry, the Reverend Robert Knopwood, said that he visited the Risdon outpost a week after the 'affray' and supposed that 'five or six' Tasmanian Aboriginal people were killed (BPP 1831, p53). However, the harbour master James Kelly told the Committee that '40 or 50' were killed (BPP 1831, p.51). John Pascoe Fawkner, later said in his 'Reminiscences' that 'not less than fifty were shot down' (Fawkner 2007, p.24).
Historian James Bonwick, investigated the 'affray' in the 1850s and noted that Dr Mountgarret sent two casks of Aboriginal remains to Sydney and they may have been the remains of the six bodies observed by Knopwood. Bonwick was also told by Moore's commanding officer, Captain A F Kemp, that Moore 'saw double that morning from an overdose of rations rum' and 'the whole was the effect of a half-drunken spree, and that the firing arose from a brutal desire to see the Niggers run' (Bonwick 1870, p35). Bonwick was the first to publicly call the 'affray' a 'massacre' and was in no doubt that the soldiers of the 102nd Regiment (the NSW Corps) were responsible for the 'barbarous onslaught upon the Natives at Risdon' (Bonwick 1870, p36).
The claim by genocide scholars in the early 21st century that the Risdon massacre was the beginning of the genocide of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people, attracted a host of deniers whose purpose was to undermine Edward White as a reliable witness. Keith Windschuttle(2002) and W F Refshauge (2016) each used an out of date map of Risdon Cove to claim that Edward White could not have witnessed the massacre from where he said he was standing. Windschuttle also said that Bonwick could not have interviewed a settler of 1804 because no one who was present was still alive when Bonwick conducted his alleged interview; and that there is no evidence that 2 barrels of Tasmanian Aboriginal remains were shipped to Sydney (Windschuttle 2002, pp 11-28; Refshauge 2016). The claims were ably refuted by Phillip Tardif (2003). In 2022, Scott Seymour, George Brown and Roger Karge in their book, 'Truth-Telling at Risdon Cove', claimed that Edward White could not have been a witness to the massacre because, according to the records, he was not in Tasmania at the time (Seymour, Brown and Karge 2022). Tardif rejected their claims in 2023. He considers that White's 'detailed, accurate and consistent testimony, the acceptance by settlers and officials that he was a Risdon pioneer, and the clear statement made (in 1833) by long-term Hobart resident John Fawkner that he had known White for almost thirty years (i.e. since 1804), make for a strong case in his favour.' (Tardif 2023, p.27).
In 1833, in response to Edward White's petition, endorsed by the Colonial Surgeon and other early settlers, the Colonial Secretary, John Burnett stated that "Your Memorialist [Edward White] arrived in the Colony in the year 1803 being the first settlement of this Colony." [Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO): Colonial Secretary correspondence 1824-1836, File Number 14693, Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1616823, Image 7 -pp.117-118.]
While some details vary in individual accounts, the incident was a matter of common knowledge in the early colony. The massacre is mentioned in an article in the Hobart Town Gazette in 1826 in relation to widespread conflict, as being the first act to have "...brought things to their present irremediable pass." (Hobart Town Gazette, November 11, 1826, p 2)
In 1830 a public meeting was held to discuss a proposed war of extermination in relation to government proclamations, including Government Order No. 10 [Hobart Town Courier, September 25, 1830, p 1] which details what came to be known as 'The Black Line'. The discussion was opened by Mr Kemp who attributed the conflict to the killings at Risdon Cove:
"Mr. Kemp commented at some length upon the aggressions committed by the Blacks, which he attributed in a great degree to some officers of his own regiment, (the late 102d), who had, as he considered, most improperly fired a four pounder upon a body of them, which having done much mischief, they had since borne that attack in mind, and have retaliated upon the white people, whenever opportunity offered." [Colonial Times, September 24, 1830, p 3]
This was seconded by Mr Gellibrand who added: "It has been stated by Mr. Kemp that we have been aggressors in the present unhappy state of hostility that prevails between the white people and the black Aborigines. This reflection cannot but give rise to the most painful feelings. How dreadful is it to contemplate that we are about to enter upon a war of extermination, for such I apprehend is the declared object of the present operations, and that in its progress we shall be compelled to destroy the innocent with the guilty." [Colonial Times, September 24, 1830, p 3]
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 462
- LanguageGroup
- Oyster Bay [Pydairrererme; Moomairremener]
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Hobart
- KnownDate
- 03/05/1804
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Convict(s), Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Cannon(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0db1 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=462 SourceNicholls 1977, p 51; HRA III, I, pp 237-8; BPP 1831, pp 37, 51-54; Fawkner 2007, p.24; Bonwick 1870, pp 32-36; Windschuttle 2002, pp11-28; Tardif, 2003, pp144-147; Refshauge 2016; Seymour, Brown and Karge 2022; Tardif 2023, pp 6-28; Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO): Colonial Secretary correspondence 1824-1836, File Number 14693, Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1616823, Image 7 -pp.117-118. https://stors.tas.gov.au/CSO1-1-655-14693$init=CSO1-1-655-14693-7 HTG, November 11, 1826 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8791038; HTC, September 25, 1830 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4206949/642570; CT, September 24, 1830 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8645368/666816
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-42.62 Longitude147.715 Start Date1827-05-01 End Date1827-05-15
Description
In May 1827 Richard Addey, stock keeper to Andrew Gatehouse, was killed by Oyster Bay Aborigines. The reprisal killings that followed were not made public for nearly 50 years when historian James Bonwick (1870) published the interview he conducted 20 years after the incident with one of the perpetrators, stockman James Gumm who was assigned servant to settler George Meredith. Gumm told Bonwick that a party of 30 colonists – comprising constables, soldiers (of the 40th Regiment), and neighbours, the master of the slain stock keeper, John Radford and himself - set off in bloody revenge. They heard that a large group of Aboriginal people were camped for the night in the gully by Sally Peak, 10 kilometres from Bushy Plains, on the border of Prosser's Plains. 'They proceeded stealthily as they neared the spot; and, agreeing upon a signal, moved quietly in couples, until they had surrounded the sleepers. The whistle of the leader was sounded, and volley after volley of ball cartridge was poured in upon the dark groups around the little camp-fires. The number slain was considerable' (Bonwick, 1870, pp 98-99).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 466
- LanguageGroup
- Oyster Bay
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Richmond
- KnownDate
- May 1827
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Military, Settler(s), Stockkeeper(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Richard Addey, stock-keeper
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Cutlass/Cutlasses, Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-42.339 Longitude147.188 Start Date1828-03-01 End Date1828-03-31
Description
On 4 March 1828, Aboriginal warriors killed stockman William Walker on the Den Hill road near Bothwell (TAHO CSO 1/323 p 113; HTC March 15, 1828, p 3; HTC 22 March 1828, pp 3-4). Three years later, when government agent G.A. Robinson passed through the area, he was told by settler Robert Barr that in reprisal, a group of stockmen 'killed seventeen Natives; that they had first killed seven and they then followed them to a lagoon and killed ten more. The Natives could not get away' (Plomley, 1966, p 503; 2008, p 537).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 468
- LanguageGroup
- Big River
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Oatlands
- KnownDate
- March 1828
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 17
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- William Walker, stockman
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0dc0 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=468 SourceTAHO CSO 1/323, 113; HTC, March 15, 1828, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/641575; HTC, March 22, 1828, pp 3-4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/641580; Plomley, 1966, p 503; 2008, p 537.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-42.532 Longitude146.943 Start Date1828-10-23 End Date1828-10-23
Description
In two separate attacks over two weeks in October 1828, near the northern and western shores of Lake Tiberias, 23 Oyster Bay warriors, possibly led by Tongerlongter, killed Anne Geary and Mrs Gough and two of her little girls and then Mrs Langford's son, John. On 23 October a reprisal party of 'stockkeepers and others', 'fell upon' the warriors' campsite near Cockatoo Valley at 11pm and fired after them, (HTC, Nov, 1, 1828) and 'killed and wounded a considerable number' (The Tasmanian, October 31, 1828). The killing of the two women, the little girls and the boy was the trigger for the proclamation of martial law on 5 November 1828.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 471
- LanguageGroup
- Oyster Bay
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Oatlands
- KnownDate
- 23 October 1828
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockkeeper(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Anne Geary, Mrs Gough and John Langford
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-42.233 Longitude147.21 Start Date1827-11-01 End Date1827-11-10
Description
When Aboriginal warriors were alleged to have killed three shepherds and slaughtered 100 sheep in the Blackman river area in early November 1827 , the Tasmanian on November 16 1827 reported: "two parties of military were dispatched, ...in order to join the Field Police in putting a stop to these outrages; and we trust his Excellency will follow up this matter with such measures as will entirely prevent any future occurrences of a similar nature." In January 1828, when the Land Commissioners arrived in the area one of them noted in his journal at the junction of Brumby Creek and Lake River that: "mysterious Murders have also been committed in this recess, and have hitherto remained undetected" (McKay, 1962, p 74).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 473
- LanguageGroup
- Big River
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Launceston
- KnownDate
- June 1827
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 3 shepherds
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-42.243 Longitude147.979 Start Date1826-03-14 End Date1826-03-14
Description
In March 1826, following the alleged killing by Oyster Bay warriors of Roberts, a convict servant assigned to settler Thomas Buxton, at 'Mayfield', Oyster Bay, the magistrate at Waterloo Point recorded four or five years later, that at the time of the incident a party went out after them and that one Aborigine was wounded.(TAHO CSO 1/316/7478, p 840). A few years later Buxton's neighbour, Dr Story, interviewed Buxton's daughter about the incident and sent her account to historian James Bonwick (1870, p 117). She said that the party killed several Aborigines at their camp that night.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 475
- LanguageGroup
- Oyster Bay / Little Swanport
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Waterloo Point
- KnownDate
- 14/03/1826
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Stockkeeper(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Roberts, convict servant of settler Thomas Buxton
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-41.622 Longitude146.519 Start Date1827-12-01 End Date1827-12-31
Description
Traveling through the Surry Hills on 12 August 1830, government agent GA Robinson was informed by Henry Hellyer, the surveyor of the VDL Co of an incident at "The Retreat", a cattle run on the Meander River at Dairy Plains, leased by Hobart solicitor, Gamiel Butler. In 1827 stockkeeper Paddy Heagon 'shot nineteen of the western natives with a swivel gun charged with nails' (Plomley, 2008, p 231; 1966, pp 197-198).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 480
- LanguageGroup
- Port Sorell [Pallittore North]
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Launceston
- KnownDate
- December 1827
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 19
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Swivel Gun(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-41.553 Longitude147.781 Start Date1829-09-01 End Date1829-09-01
Description
On 1 September 1829 John Batman, the leader of a government roving party, made a dawn attack on an Aboriginal camp, numbering 60 or 70 men, women and children. In his report of the incident to Thomas Anstey the police magistrate at Oatlands, Batman estimated that 15 Aborigines died of wounds, and that he executed two other wounded prisoners. The incident was reported in the Colonial Times (September 18, 1829, p 3). Depositions were made by two of Batman's stockkeepers at the Launceston Police Office on 25 September. This incident does not appear to be a reprisal killing.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 482
- LanguageGroup
- Ben Lomond
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Oatlands
- KnownDate
- 01/09/1829
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 17
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s), Settler(s), Shepherd(s), Convict(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Shotgun(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-41.593 Longitude146.521 Start Date1827-12-01 End Date1827-12-31
Description
According to Geoff Lennox, historian of the VDL Co, in December 1827, a group of its employees, taking eleven pairs of oxen from Launceston to Circular Head, were attacked by a "strong party of Natives who were however 'severely handled'" (Cited in Lennox, 1990, p 170).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 484
- LanguageGroup
- Port Sorell [Pallittore North]
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Launceston
- KnownDate
- December 1827
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockkeeper(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-41.55 Longitude146.553 Start Date1826-09-15 End Date1826-09-15
Description
A report in the Hobart Town Gazette(September 23, 1826, p2) stated: 'It is with pain we learn that a skirmish has taken place between numerous tribes of the black natives, and some stockkeepers, on the other side of the island, in which many of the former were severely wounded, if not slain. They made, it would appear, an outrageous attack on the cattle and persons of the stockmen, and provoked them to fire in self-defence.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 487
- LanguageGroup
- Port Sorell [Pallittore North]
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Launceston
- KnownDate
- 15/09/1826
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockkeeper(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-41.325 Longitude146.964 Start Date1829-02-18 End Date1829-02-18
Description
A military party was attacked by Aboriginal warriors at West Tamar and in the engagement seven Aboriginal people were killed. The next day, constables who had been with the officer denied the incident. According to the Hobart Town Courier a 'gallant officer' with '...three or four constables, was attacked by a party of the blacks on the west bank of the Tamar on Wednesday last, when seven of the latter fell, the chief on [sic] receiving a ball from the officer's fusee jumped twelve feet from the ground, (a tremendous leap truly). This officer describes the engagement as worthy of great praise, and states that much generalship was displayed by him as commander of the vanquishing party, but his brother officers of the staff and comrades, (perhaps jealous of the honour of the field) declare that they did not see one of the black people during the whole of their excursion.' (HTC February 28, 1829, pp 1-2).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 492
- LanguageGroup
- Port Sorell [Pallittore North]
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- George Town
- KnownDate
- 18/02/1829
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-42.765 Longitude147.455 Start Date1829-03-01 End Date1829-03-05
Description
A report in the Hobart Town Courier(March 7, 1829, p 1) stated that: 'One black native was brought in on Friday being one of a party of six, the five others were shot in the pursuit.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 498
- LanguageGroup
- Oyster Bay
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Richmond
- KnownDate
- March 1829
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-42.322 Longitude146.836 Start Date1830-04-01 End Date1830-04-08
Description
On 1 April 1830, a military patrol ambushed an Aboriginal camp on the Upper Clyde river north of Bothwell and killed and wounded at least six in reprisal for an Aboriginal attack on a settler's hut where flour was taken. (Bothwell magistrate to Co Sec 2 April 1830, TAHO CSO 1/316/7578, p.189)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 501
- LanguageGroup
- Big River
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- PoliceDistrict
- Clyde
- KnownDate
- 01/04/1830
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Military
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-36.549 Longitude145.976 Start Date1838-04-12 End Date1838-04-12
Description
On 7 April 1838 ten stockmen overlanding cattle to the Port Phillip District for William and George Faithfull set up camp at the Broken River near present day Benalla after shooting at and possibly killing an unknown number of people at the Ovens River. Although they did not know it, the Broken River camp was an important ceremonial site and Yorta Yorta meeting place. When the stockmen arrived at the Broken River on 6 April they found at least 10 Aboriginal men and their families already camped at the meeting place. On 7 April nine of Faithfulls' shepherds arrived with 4,000 sheep and camped at the meeting place and sought women from the Yorta Yorta camp. That night eight sheep went missing and on the following day, 8 April, the 19 stockmen and shepherds moved camp to the south bank of the Broken River only to be followed. On 9 April more Yorta Yorta arrived and on 11 April, Faithfulls' men prepared to strike camp with the stockmen departing first. Then 20 warriors attacked. One of the shepherds fired and killed a warrior, another fired and missed and the other eight shepherds ran away only to be struck down and killed. Four or five stockmen escaped to report the incident. According to historian Judith Bassett who conducted the most detailed research on the massacre, it 'bore all the hallmarks of traditional and specific revenge, whereby a small, ritually sanctioned group of Aborigines took their victim(s) by surprise and then returned quickly to their camp.'(Bassett 1989, p 23) They did not seek to kill every white man present. If this is the case then it suggests that the massacre was also in direct response to the earlier killing of Yorta Yorta people at the Ovens River.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 506
- LanguageGroup
- Yorta Yorta
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Melbourne
- KnownDate
- 12/04/1838
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Colonists
- VictimsDead
- 8
- VictimDescription
- Shepherd(s)
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 1
- AttackerDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 8
- WeaponsUsed
- Waddies/Nulla-nulla(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0e1c Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=506 SourceCannon 1982, p 312-334; Bride, 1898, pp 151, 186, 241 https://archive.org/details/lettersfromvicto00publiala/mode/2up; Atkinson & Aveling 1987, p 45-54; Bassett 1989, p 18-34; Russell 2002, p 47-8, 53-4; Argus September 13, 1883, p 9 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11828136.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-37.149 Longitude144.446 Start Date1838-06-01 End Date1838-08-31
Description
On 23 July 1839, 'in conversation with Thomas B. Alexander, agent for Captain Sylvester Brown at Darlington Station,' James Dredge, Assistant Protector of the Aborigines' in the region, 'was informed that in the winter of 1838, 'the Aborigines took away a flock of between 800 and 900 sheep,' and [that] when Alexander's men (Captain Sylvester Brown's employees) 'located them 13 Aborigines were shot before the sheep were recovered.' (Dredge cited in Clark 1995, p.89)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 509
- LanguageGroup
- Djadjawurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Melbourne
- KnownDate
- June 1838
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 13
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-37.621 Longitude141.582 Start Date1838-10-15 End Date1838-10-20
Description
Sources are contradictory and confused about what happened on the Henty's Merino Downs run in 1838, but available information and context suggest it is more likely than not that a massacre known as 'Murdering Flat' occurred in response to the murder of a shepherd on the Henty's property.
The Henty family moved to the Portland Bay area after struggling to establish themselves at Swan River and King George Sound, and then in Van Diemen's Land. At Portland Bay in 1834 they were among the first Europeans (Labilliere, 1878) and in 1837 took up a large run further inland at Merino Downs (Hamilton Spectator, 29 November 1884 p2). Perhaps aware of the concerns of the reformist government in England when James Henty wrote to Governor Arthur in 1834 he included a memorial from Thomas Henty to Chief Secretary of State for the Colonies, which said, 'Four of his sons having had considerable experience in the management and treatment of the Natives at Swan River and King George's Sound; at which latter place they are better managed and under better control than in most others. A son of your Memorialist was living within three miles of the settlement at King George's Sound between one and five years, in the midst of whole tribes of aborigines totally unprotected and such was the good feeling kept up between them, that no instance of misconduct occurred among them; they were taught to labour for, and earn the food with which they were occasionally supplied' (Labilliere, 1878, ch1).
According to Francis (Frank) Henty, when they first moved to Merino Downs they established friendly relations with Aboriginal people: 'On first settling at Merino Downs you will naturally suppose that conflict would take place with the natives, but, fortunately for myself, I had personally less trouble than anyone. After the first few weeks they became friendly, and began to assemble at intervals, increasing their number until they reached several hundreds, having, apparently, collected all their, tribes around from the greatest distance they could manage, but how far a distance I was not likely to know' (Hamilton Spectator, 29 November 1884 p2).
Relations soon deteriorated: 'When out stations were formed they soon became familiar with the ways and loneliness of the shepherds, commenced thieving, and attacked the hut, where one shepherd, whose name was Heath, was cruelly murdered. Shortly afterwards another man was attacked in his hut near Merino. He, however, was prepared, and when the native entered the hut and laid hold of the gun with his left hand in the act of striking with the "lee angle" in the other, he got the contents of the gun through his chest...' (Hamilton Spectator, 29 November 1884 p2).
Frank Henty's statement that 'I am thankful to be able to say, gentlemen, that I was so fortunate as never to cause blood shed or injury to the natives in my life' (Hamilton Spectator, 29 November 1884 p2) implies that colonists in the area at the time were typically involved in killing or injuring Aboriginal people, and it was unusual that he had not personally killed or injured anyone.
In February 1839 Dr D.C. Collier wrote two letters to the Colonial Secretary about his experiences in Portland Bay suggesting a police force be sent there to catch runaway convicts and to protect Aboriginal people from whalers and the 'immense quantity of spiritous liquors being sold by Messrs Henty, the result of which is extremely calamitous. Hostilities commence and the pass word is "One must take the law in our own hands as the Government will give us no protection"' (HRV v.IIb, p628). In the second he reported, '...the late most awful and atrocious massacre committed upon the aboriginal native at Australia Felix by sheep and cattle herdsmen in the employ of Messrs Henty who have established themselves as whalers at Portland Bay and carrying on sheep grazing at Australia Felix... Owing to the many base acts committed by these stockmen towards the wives and daughters of these unhappy people... [Aboriginal people] murdered a hut-keeper who was guilty of the above mentioned infamy and also during his stay having shot a great number without motive, without reason, and without any cause, but that of being unable to take away their females... Upon the report of the murder of the hut-keeper being made to a Mr Edward Henty, he proceeds to Australia Felix, taking with him two armed men and all the powder and balls that could be found at their stores at the Bay. Upon their arrival Mr Henty issued his edict, armed, equipped, and ammunitioned to I believe the number of 14 men. They proceeded to take, as stated by them, their revenge and fell in the evening with a hut full. Upon their hearing the noise of some footsteps the Aborigines came out and an alarm was given the whole, and as they came out they were shot, and those stockmen that had no firearms were found with a pole at the end of which a one-half of a sheep shears was placed, and some of the unfortunate mothers, with infants in their arms, crying for mercy, were perforated through' (HRV v.IIb, p629).
In response to his letter Governor Gipps sent Captain Fyans with Mounted Police and a surveyor to investigate the allegation. Fyans and his group had a difficult journey and were watched and escaped spearing by Aboriginal people on the way to Portland (Fyans, 1986, p 225). In a letter to Colonial Secretary Thomson from Portland Fyans wrote, '... towards Port Fairy, the natives are numerous, and to all appearance in great agitation at our appearance, which to me fully proves of bad acts being committed on them' (Fyans, 1986, p 228).
In describing his investigation in his memoirs, Fyans wrote, 'The only Europeans in the country, Mr Henty and Mr Winter, these gentlemen had a difference regarding boundary lines, though not a living soul was to oppose their voracious wishes in taking and holding whatever they wished.' After two days at Merino Downs he added, 'Spending two days on this part of our mission, we left our friends, wishing them prosperity. Here again I was indebted to Mr Henty, who kindly provided us, restoring our commissariat' (p 229).
Collier's reputation was discredited by residents at Portland and by Fyans: 'Asking for the character and description of the Doctor, receiving the very worst possible, on the oath of many, I suspected that he was a downright imposter' (Fyans, 1986, p 229). Governor Gipps had also been suspicious of Collier's identity (HRV, vIIb, p 631).
While favouring the Henty's reputation over Collier's, who had gone to Van Diemen's Land at the time, and was not interviewed, Fyans does not state whether the massacre did or did not occur or whether the Hentys or their employees were involved.
Edward Henty made a sworn deposition on 11 June 1839 writing that, 'From my first arrival in 1834 to October 1838, we were on most friendly terms with the natives, with the exception of a disturbance in June 1838 at one of our out-stations. One native was shot by Joseph Bonsor, after receiving a severe blow with a waddy on the right temple... About the middle of October, my brother Mr John Henty sent in from the station, about 55 miles from this, stating that William Heath, shepherd, had been barbarously murdered by seven natives. I proceeded out with two men, armed.' At the scene they found the deceased shepherd. 'On the following day I proceeded with a party of five. We were armed. About 10 miles we came up with a number of women and four men... They informed us that the natives who committed the murder were about six miles ahead of us. We went on but did not find them. We returned home, since which time, I believe, it has never given any of my family the slightest consideration, and at the present time we are on the best of terms with the different tribes in this place.' Edward Henty further said his employees were free men from Van Diemen's Land, and that spirits were not provided to them and that he had little trouble with them (HRV vIIB, pp 631-632).
Trevor and Samuel Winter, on the Henty's neighbouring run, said in their sworn depositions that Charles Corrigan had shot a 15 or 16 year old Aboriginal boy in November. In October one of the Winter's men had been speared and '... a disturbance had taken place with the natives... The natives informed Mr Henty's people that two of their tribe had been killed. I made inquiry into the affair and could come to no conclusion... The reason of the natives calling at my place and the disturbance originated in a quarrel with Mr Henty's men. I have never heard of my natives being burnt, or that any considerable number have been killed' (HRV vIIb, p 635). He added that in other incidents overlanders led by Captain Hart had armed themselves to drive Aboriginal people out of the river and that William Jefry had been speared (HRV vIIb, p 635). The spearing of Jefry occurred in October during a stock raid involving 300 to 400 Aboriginal people: 'During my master's absence in October, from 300 to 400 natives came on the sheep... I went on the hill with Elliott and Corrigan to keep the natives off. They flung spears at us. I was speared through the shoulder and back' (HRV vIIb, p 637).
Based on the reputation of Collier, and these reports, Cannon says that 'Unless perjury on a grand scale took place, it appears that Dr Collier's allegations were grossly exaggerated versions of other incidents' (HRV vIIb, p 627). While Collier uses sensationalised language, it is reasonable to think that 'perjury on a grand scale' would occur in these circumstances. The region was almost exclusively populated by whalers who were notorious for abducting women and whalers were involved in the Convincing Ground massacre in 1833; by former convicts and runaway convicts who had a culture of not informing to police, and; by squatters in open defiance of the government who were desperate to succeed. Many of these people had come from Van Diemen's Land immediately following the 'Black War' and conflict had already broken out to the east on the overland from Sydney to Melbourne. Colonists in this area were typically complicit in violence against Aboriginal people. The Myall Creek massacres and executions had recently taken place so colonists expected to hang if they confessed to massacring Aboriginal people. The one killing of an Aboriginal person that Edward Henty admitted to was committed by Joseph Bonsor, who had already died in an unrelated accident (HRV vIIb, p 632). In this situation, an isolated complicit outlaw community stonewalling and dodging a visiting police investigator is to be expected and it would be strange if perjury on a grand scale did not occur (HRV vIIb p 632). Fyans wrote, '...in fact every fellow appears the master, and no doubt numerous bad and improper acts have been committed and hid from us. I have spoken to many of the men about here, almost without receiving a civil reply' (HRV vI, p253).
Most people in Australia at that time had dubious backgrounds, particularly in the unsanctioned frontier settlement at Portland, so it is highly unlikely a massacre could be reported by anyone other than someone with a dubious reputation. Collier was not interviewed and had no opportunity to defend his reputation or allegations. Whatever his background, in this social milieu, Dr Collier would not have made accusations lightly for fear of reprisal, and it is not surprising that he fled to Van Diemen's Land.
Fyans's account must also be read with caution. After a long and arduous journey, Fyans was treated with great hospitality by the wealthy Henty family and his party's supplies generously replenished, "There was nothing to be procured in the place, this worthy gentleman [Mr Henty] affording us every needful requisite' (Fyans, 1986, p 227). Fyans and the Henty family went on to become successful and respected members of colonial society. The Henty family was particularly wealthy and powerful by the time Fyans wrote his memoirs. On a separate occasion Fyans praised colonists, who had killed four Aboriginal people during a sheep raid at the Leigh River: 'I saw some four natives that had been shot dead. I investigated the affray, and gave much credit to the men for their good conduct' (Bride, 1898, p 115).
Fyans read Henty's journals and did not find any evidence in them that the Hentys were involved in a massacre: 'I have taken some depositions here and I have also read over carefully Mr Henty's Journal of all acts committed since 1934 to the present time' (p 255 HRV Ia). Edward Henty's journal notes nothing suggesting the massacre in October 1838 (Peel, 2013). At first glance it appears that in October 1838 Edward Henty might have been occupied with farm business every day except Sundays. However, Edward Henty later stated in his deposition in 1838 that he and a group of armed men had ridden out after William Heath had been killed. The journal makes no reference to the killing of William Heath. Edward Henty's deposition also mentions that Joseph Bonsor had shot an Aboriginal person in June 1838, and later shot himself by accident but the only mention of Bonsor in Edward's journal of 1838 is a list of supplies he was equipped with and that he took down a cooperage. Winter's deposition mentions killings related to Captain Hart's overlanding expedition to Adelaide but again, the only mention of Captain Hart in the journal relates to his arrival, departure and inventories. That Fyans read the Henty's journals and found nothing to incriminate them tells us nothing as the journals are concerned with routine farm business and arrivals and departures, and exclude noteworthy and violent incidents, even the deaths of their own shepherds that they detail elsewhere.
Although favouring Henty, Bassett acknowledges that although many of Fyans's reports of his expedition remain, Fyans's full report, which was to be made when he returned to Geelong, 'has not been found' (Bassett p 447). Bassett also suggests that 'the fact that official appointments were given not long after to both Edward and Stephen Henty is conclusive proof that Governor Gipps - no friend to squatters - was fully satisfied that Collier's sensational charges, so far as the Hentys were concerned, were false' (Bassett, p 447). Aside from the Myall Creek massacre no colonist was ever convicted of a massacre. Another possibility is that Gipps was artfully navigating the conflicting demands of the British Government in London and the realities of the frontier, including the threats of powerful squatters and the wealth they generated. The phrase 'so far as the Hentys were concerned' allows for a massacre having occurred on their property or by their staff, without their direct involvement in the killing.
That at least one of the Henty family was in favour of exterminating Aboriginal people in the region is revealed in Robinson's journals, several years after the event. In his journal entry of 20 May 1841 Robinson wrote that he encountered Mr Henty and Police Magistrate Blair, some time after the murder of Morton and that, 'They were under great excitement - thought the natives of this tribe should be exterminated... He, Blair, said he knew what he would do if he was governor. He would send down soldiers and if they did not deliver up the murderer he would shoot the whole tribe. I said it would not perhaps be so easy. Mr Henty said there would be no difficulty on the Glenelg as they had only the river to fly too [sic] and they could soon ferrit [sic] them out from among the rocks' (Clark, 1998b, p 222). That Henty not only agreed but had practical advice on how extermination could be carried out suggests that one of the Hentys could have been involved, or at least condoned, the earlier massacre at Murdering Flat.
A writer calling themself 'Vagabond', in a brief history of the region in 1885, wrote that, 'The handful of settlers then had to take the law into their own hands, and exacted summary retribution, which served as a warning for the future. "The Fighting Waterholes" was the name first given to the battle scene, but to the present generation it is known as "Murdering Flat." The blacks have all gone now...' (The Argus, 25 April 1885, p 4)
'Vagabond' conflated Murdering Flat with another massacre, Fighting Waterholes. This contributes to confusion in later accounts, though at the time, it was corrected by Francis Henty: 'The conflict alluded to, of which I necessarily heard soon after its occurrence, was, as "The Vagabond" rightly says, at the "Fighting Waterholes;" but these are at least eight or ten miles from the junction of Bryant's Creek with the Wannon, being situated to the north or north west of the Koonongwootoong station, taken up by and at that time in the occupation of the Messrs. White Brothers' and adds that 'The plain mentioned derived its name of the "Murdering Flat" from the fact that one of the first shepherds I had with me was cruelly murdered there, doubtless by the natives, though his death was not avenged in the manner described; neither am I aware that any conflict ever took place on the flat, which lies on the south side of the Wannon, at its junction with Bryant's Creek. I would reiterate what I have already stated in public - that I never fired a shot at, or injured an aboriginal, in my life' (The Argus, 16 May 1885).
Francis is again specific in stating only that he himself had never killed anyone. Aside from the Convincing Ground massacre 5 years earlier, the massacre at Murdering Flat would be the first inland massacre in a period of fighting commonly known as the 'Eumeralla Wars', one of the most intense concentrations of massacres in Australia. The events at Murdering Flat were followed by a dramatic escalation in violence, including the attack of a war party of hundreds of Aboriginal warriors at the Winters' property. There were five massacres in the immediate vicinity of Merino Downs in 1840, including 'Fighting Waterholes'.
Statements suggesting that the Hentys were uniquely on peaceful terms with Aboriginal people are contradicted, sometimes in their own words. In 1842 Fyans listed 19 pastoralists who had lost stock in raids, among them the Hentys. As well as the killing of their shepherd, S.G. Henty recalled, contradicting his brother Edward, that there was hostile resistance from their first arrival at Merino Downs to the extent they had difficulty retaining staff: '1837. It was not until the 3rd of August in this year that we succeeded in driving our first flock on to the Merino Downs Station a day that will be memorable in the recollection of the family of the writer as the natal day of his first-born son, Richmond. The remainder of our stock was sent up as fast as possible, with which we occupied the stations known as Muntham, Connell's run, and Sandford. At this time we had very great difficulty in retaining the services of any men, owing to the hostile disposition of the natives, to which many of our men's lives were sacrificed' (Bride, 1898, p263). While Francis Henty may not have been involved in the violence it is unreasonable to think that Aboriginal people singled out the Henty property for diplomatic immunity or that, having failed elsewhere and with no other recourse, that, under duress, the Hentys or their employees took no action to preserve their run, particularly when shepherds and flocks were attacked or killed.
In 1964 or 1965 local historian, E.R. Trangmar published a short talk he says was based on 10 books, 5 diaries and interviews with local residents descended from pioneers. Unfortunately, he didn't indicate which source he obtained specific details from. In it he distinguishes 5 massacres in the immediate area and provides clarifying information to avoid confusion between two incidents referred to as 'Murdering Flat' (Trangmar, 1964, p 5). According to Trangmar, 'Murdering Flat' was previously 'Clover Flat' and a cannon was used in the massacre (this is the 'Murdering Flat' discussed here). He doesn't name Henty or give a date. The other 'Murdering Flat' was a poisoning between Sandford Bridge at the junction of the Glenelg and Wannon Rivers. This second 'Murdering Flat' is about 10km west of Clover Flat (see Connell's Ford). These are both distinct from 'Fighting Waterholes', comprised of two massacres (see 'Fighting Hills' and 'Fighting Waterholes'), which 'Vagabond' had conflated with 'Murdering Flat'. Another was a poisoning at Wootong Vale. In Trangmar's account of Murdering Flat he wrote, 'While the blacks were holding a corroboree and feasting on some freshly killed stock they were fired upon by the settlers, using an old cannon loaded with bolts, nails, gravel and stones with telling effec.' (Trangmar, 1964, p 5)
Although Trangmar carefully distinguishes these massacres, it's not clear if the claim a cannon was used results from confusion. Colliers said that Edward Henty brought 'two armed men and all the powder and balls that could be found at their stores at the Bay' (HRV vIIb, p629) and it seems strange he would not have mentioned a cannon. However, it is possible a small, portable, cannon was readily available as Edward Henty was involved with whaling and many ships of the time were equipped with small cannon or 'swivel guns'. Edward Henty admitted that when he heard of the murder of two shepherds, he 'proceeded out with two men, armed' (HRV vIIB, pp 631-632). Historian Critchett wrote that the Hentys' neighbours, the Winters and the Wedges, both had swivel guns at their properties (Critchett, 1992). The Wedges took up a run at land previously occupied by the Hentys (Bride, 1898, p 162). It is reasonable to think the Hentys as whalers and farmers, had a swivel gun at their property, just as their neighbours did. Like Edward Henty, Chas Wedge wrote that 'Up to this time [1839] we had but little trouble with the aborigines' and added that, 'but they now began to attack our shepherds, whom they drove from their flocks'. He also mentions the overlanding to Adelaide such as the expedition mentioned in Winter's deposition during Fyan's investigation in 1839 (Bride, 1898, p 162). This suggests that amidst the escalating violence of late 1838 and 1839 a major event, beyond 'payback' killing of individuals, most likely the Murdering Flat massacre, triggered a large-scale resistance, involving war parties of hundreds of warriors raiding and killing colonists and thousands of livestock and the numerous massacres of the Eumeralla Wars.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 511
- LanguageGroup
- Wulluwurrung or Nundadjali
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- KnownDate
- October 1838
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 14
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- William Heath, hut-keeper at Clover Flat station, Wannon River.
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Cannon(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0e0f Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=511 SourceFyans, 1986; Labilliere, 1878
https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1301991h.html;
Hamilton Spectator, 29 November 1884 p2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225662229;
The Argus, 25 April 1885, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/6076458;
Bride, 1898 https://archive.org/details/lettersfromvicto00publiala/mode/2up;
HRV vI; HRV vIIb; Clark, 1998b; Peel, 2013;
Critchett, 1990;
Trangmar, E.R 1964
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-38.057 Longitude143.027 Start Date1839-10-01 End Date1839-10-31
Description
This massacre was organised in retaliation for the killing of some sheep by two Aborigines on what is now Glenormiston station, near Lake Terang, managed by Frederick Taylor. Ian D. Clark has written about this incident at great length: 'Having heard of the encampment' of between 45 and 52 Aboriginal men, women and children from three different clans in the gully on Mt Emu Creek, Frederick 'Taylor and two associates, James Hamilton and Broomfield, headed a party of shepherds with the intention of attacking them... As they approached the gully on horseback, the party formed an extended line with Taylor in the centre. They found the Aboriginal people asleep [suggesting that this was a dawn raid] and advanced shouting and immediately fired upon them, killing the whole group except 12 people. They afterwards threw the bodies in a neighbouring waterhole. One of the survivors was Woreguimoni, a Gulidjan, who had hidden in the long grass.' Another survivor, Karn (also known as 'Mr Anderson'), 'returned after [the killers] had left the scene and began to remove the bodies from the waterhole, placing them on the ground four deep, head by head. In the course of this, he was discovered by some of the Europeans, who took him and his wife and child... to Taylor's home station, where he and his family were given provisions so that they would stay nearby, and away from the waterhole.' They then sent a cart to the waterhole 'and the bodies [were] brought up to the home station, where they were conveyed to some other waterholes and thrown in... Two further survivors of the massacre, Bareetch Cuurneen - alias Queen Fanny, the "chiefess" of the clan - and a child, were pursued to Wuurna Weewheetch... a point of land on the west side of Lake Bullen Merri. With the child on her back she swam across to a spot called Karm karm, below present day Wuurong homestead, and escaped.' (Clark ID 1995, pp 105-118)
According to Clark, in another account of this massacre, another survivor, Wangegamon, a Djargurd wurrung man, saw his wife and child killed. 'After the bodies were thrown in the creek, the water was stained with blood. Grieving, he remained near the gully for two days... two days after the massacre two men named Anderson and Watson... asked Taylor why he had killed so many women and children. Anderson [Karn], Charles Courtney, James Ranslie and James Hamilton subsequently made some fires and burned the bodies. Two days after the cremation, Taylor, Watson and Karn returned with a sack and removed all the bones that had not been consumed by the fires' (Clark, 1995, pp 107-108).
Taylor disappeared after this incident and apparently went to India but later returned to manage a station in Gippsland. He was replaced by a man named Symonds who took Assistant Protector Charles Sievwright to the scene of the crime in January 1840. Sievwright also interviewed one of the Aboriginal survivors, Tainneague, and decided that between 20 and 30 Aboriginal people had been killed in this incident while Edward Williamson, overseer at the Buntingdale mission, believed that the number was 35. GA Robinson was convinced that an entire tribe had been eradicated. Squatter Niel Black bought this run in late 1840 because it was already "cleared out" (see Kiddle, 1961, p 122). Some of the Aboriginal survivors sought sanctuary at the Wesleyan Mission at Buntingdale and it is largely through the efforts of missionaries like the Reverend Benjamin Hurst and Francis Tuckfield, as well as Assistant Protector Charles Sievwright and Chief Protector GA Robinson, that so much is known about this massacre. The next owner of Glenormiston station, Niel Black, mentioned the massacre in a letter to TS Gladstone, September 9, 1840. Mary Shaw wrote about the massacre in her book 'Mt Emu Creek' (Shaw, 1969, p 27; Clark, 1995, pp 105-118).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 514
- LanguageGroup
- Djargurd Wurrung or Keeray- Woorroong or Wirngilgnad dhalinanong
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Geelong
- KnownDate
- 1839
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 35
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-38.044 Longitude147.267 Start Date1840-10-01 End Date1840-10-31
Description
In October 1840, according to Pepper and de Araugo, 1985, p 18, squatter Angus McMillan 'brought down cattle from Numblamungie to the stock run at Nuntin' in Gippsland. 'He left his men in charge there and on his return some weeks later they told him that the Kurnai had scattered the stock and attacked them. McMillan gathered his stockmen together, and massacred any Kurnai' [possibly Gunnai or Tatungalung or Braiakaulung speakers] at Boney Point on the confluence of the Avon and Perry Rivers. When GA Robinson traveled through this area on 2 June 1844, he saw an Aboriginal cranium on the shore of Lake Wellington just below the entry of the Avon River into the lake (Robinson in Clark, 1998d, p 89). In a letter to Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe on August 25, 1853, McMillan acknowledged that two attacks by Aboriginal warriors on his stockmen had taken place in October and November 1840 but did not reveal the aftermath (Sayers, 1983, p 218). In 2001 historian PD Gardner considered that at least 15-20 Aborigines were killed in a massacre in reprisal for the Aboriginal killing of two stockmen (Gardner, 2001, pp 44-49).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 523
- LanguageGroup
- Gunnai or Tatungalung or Braiakaulung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Melbourne
- KnownDate
- October 1840
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- stock
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-37.623 Longitude142.308 Start Date1841-06-01 End Date1841-06-30
Description
On July 6, 1841, Chief Protector GA Robinson was informed by Robert W Knowles, the manager of Dr Robert Martin's Mount Sturgeon Station at the Wannon River, of a 'clash' with the Aborigines. 'Knowles said that he lost some cattle a short time since and went after them. He came to a blacks' camp' and although they told him that the bullocks had gone on, 'he nevertheless rode into the camp and they threw spears at him and his stock keeper' (Robinson cited in Clark, 1998b, p 305). Knowles was convinced they had his bullock. Robinson wrote: 'This attacking the camp of the natives under the pretence of looking after stolen property is a system that ought not to be tolerated, it is provoking hostility and would not be allowed in civilised society' (Robinson cited in Clark, 1998b, p 305). The following day, Knowles told Robinson that 'sometime earlier, Superintendent La Trobe had intended to gaol him for 'killing natives' (Knowles cited in Clark 1998b, p 306).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 527
- LanguageGroup
- Djabwurrung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Portland
- KnownDate
- June 1841
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-34.062 Longitude141.251 Start Date1841-05-13 End Date1841-05-13
Description
According to Burke at al 2016, pp.151-2, 'On 16 April 1841' an 'overlanding part[y]' to Adelaide from Sydney, 'led by Henry Inman and consisting of 11 men and 5,000 sheep, was attacked on the banks of the [Murray] river "at a place 40 miles to the eastward of Lake Bonney". According to Governor Grey in a dispatch to Lord John Russell, the Secretary of state for the Colonies, "[a] body of natives from 300-400 strong ... forcibly took possession of the sheep, drays &c, and dispersed the Europeans, severely wounding two, and nearly killing another ... and this notwithstanding a strenuous resistance was offered, and at least one of the natives killed"
(Grey to Russell, 29 May 1841, cited in Burke at al 2016, p. 152). According to Burke at al, 2016, p.152, in reprisal, 'a group of volunteers, including Henry Field, a member of Inman's original party, James Hawker and Field's brother, Lieutenant William George Field, offered to recover the sheep, setting out on 7 May.' On 13 May, according to Governor Grey, they 'fell in with the same party of natives, between 300 and 400 strong, who attacked them, wounding one of their number, at the same time killing one, and wounding two, of their horses. The Aborigines eventually compelled them to a hasty retreat, although not without suffering a loss from eight to ten men on their own part' (Grey to Russell 29 May 1841, cited in Burke et al 2016, p.152).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 529
- LanguageGroup
- Marrawarra
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Adelaide
- KnownDate
- 13 May 1841
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 8
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-38.482 Longitude147.033 Start Date1843-07-01 End Date1843-07-31
Description
In his review of the various accounts of the Warrigal Creek massacres Gippsland historian Peter Gardner quotes a report that human remains were found at the mouth of Warrigal Creek (Gardner, 2001, pp 53-57). He cites an article in the Gippsland Standard and Alberton Shire Representative in 1912 by the Rev, George Cox, where Cox says that a local teacher, W. H. Thomas, and a friend M had dug up a large quantity of human bones including remains of men, women and children. According to Gardner, Cox says the bones were 'evidently Aboriginal' and adds 'As a result of a careful examination of these it was disclosed that all the skulls were fractured, a piece being broken away at the base of the skull, as though caused by a blow from a tomahawk. Messrs. Thomas and Lamb concluded at first that the remains were those of aboriginals killed in a tribal fight; but that was discounted by the remarkable resemblance of the skull fractures. From Mr. Chas Kuch, senior, they afterwards heard of a massacre of blacks in that neighbourhood. Mr. Thomas suggests that this information may throw light on the scene of the massacre which took place in revenge for the murder of Ronald Macalister' (Cox cited in Gardner, 1983, pp 53-54).
From this description, the regularity of the fractures and their location at the base of the skull are analogous to fractured skulls found in the Cambodian killing fields, described in a 2006 study 'Blunt Force Cranial Trauma in the Cambodian Killing Fields' (Ta'ala et al, 2006). This similarity suggests the possibility that at the mouth of Warrigal Creek victims were restrained and executed with a blow to the head, possibly to save bullets.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 538
- LanguageGroup
- Brataualung
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Gippsland
- KnownDate
- July 1843
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 25
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Double-barrelled Purdey(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1843: Warrigal Creek, Gippsland, PPD/VIC
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0c9d Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=538 SourceDunderdale, 1973, p.225; Pepper and de Aurugo, 1985, p.24; Cannon, 1990, p.171; Shaw,1996, p.133; Clark, 1998d, p.70, p. 99, p.110; Gardner, 2001, pp 53-61; Bartrop, 2004, pp 199-205 ; The Age, 8 Aug 1874, p 7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201532298;
Gardner, 1994, p 45;
The Courier, 23 Jun, 1843, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2952539;
Dunderdale, 2020 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16349/pg16349-images.html;
Caldow, 2020;
Gardner, 2022, https://petergardner.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Warrigal-Creek-Massacre-a-reply-to-Wayne-Caldow.pdf; Ta'ala et al, 2006 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1556-4029.2006.00219.x.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:20 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-37.172 Longitude141.598 Start Date1843-11-01 End Date1843-11-30
Description
Six Aborigines were shot by the Native Police in November 1843 at Clunie station on the Glenelg River. The incident followed another a few days earlier in which Ricketts shot three Aborigines in reprisal for Aboriginal attacks on livestock.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 545
- LanguageGroup
- Nundadjali or Mardidjali
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Portland
- KnownDate
- November 1843
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0ca7 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=545 SourceOfficial List of Aborigines Killed, 1836-1844, NSW Legislative Council, 'Votes & Proceedings', 1844, vol.1, pp.718-19; Critchett, 1990, p 253; Cannon, 1990, p 122; Shaw, 1996, p 132.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:20 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-37.746 Longitude148.563 Start Date1851-05-02 End Date1851-05-31
Description
On 2 May 1851, station cook Dan Moylan at Macleod's station at Orbost abducted a young girl from the Krauatungalang people, tied her up and over the following three days, raped her. Her people tried to rescue her but Moylan kept them at bay with his gun and the hot coals he scattered around the outside of the hut. Eventually they killed Moylan with spears, rescued the girl and burnt down his hut. News of Moylan's killing quickly spread through the white community. According to Pepper and De Araugo, (1985, pp 99-101) the settlers took the law into their own hands, and with the assistance of Aboriginal warriors from the Mitchell River, tracked Moylan's killers to Milly Creek where it runs into the Brodribb River. There they 'cleaned up the tribe' but two boys including Harry Darramungie were lucky to get away and others swam the Snowy River to Lake Watt Watt. However the settlers followed them to Buchan where more white men joined the party and eventually found their prey camped near The Pyramids. They then drove the Aboriginal people over the cliffs to the Murrindal River below and their remains are believed to lie at the base of Limestone Cliff.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 555
- LanguageGroup
- Krauatungalang
- Colony
- VIC
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Gippsland
- KnownDate
- 1851
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-36.52 Longitude146.391 Start Date1841-12-01 End Date1842-02-28
Description
Among the earliest colonists in the region, George Faithfull established a run at Oxley Plains, neighbouring his brother, whose overlanding men had been massacred in the Faithfull massacre in 1838. In a letter to Lieutenant Governor La Trobe on 8 September 1853 George Faithful wrote that, 'The country was left to us for some years in consequence of the hostility of the blacks,
which became so unbearable that I could not keep shepherds,
although well armed, without employing a horseman, in addition
to myself, to keep continually perambulating the woods lest the
natives might cut them off' (Bride, 1889, p 151).
George Faithfull went on to describe a massacre that lasted for many hours:
'At last, it so happened that I was the means of putting an end to this warfare. Riding with two of my stockmen one day
quietly along the banks of the river, we passed between the anabranch of the river itself by a narrow neck of land, and, after proceeding about half a mile, we were all at once met by some
hundreds of painted warriors with the most dreadful yells I had
ever heard. Had they sprung from the regions below we could have hardly been more taken by surprise. Our horses bounded
and neighed with fear - old brutes, which in other respects required an immense deal of persuasion in the way of spurs to make
them go along. Our first impulse was to retreat, but we found the narrow way blocked up by natives two and three deep, and we
were at once saluted with a shower of spears. My horse bounded
and fell into an immense hole. A spear just then passed over
the pummel of my saddle. This was the signal for a general
onset. The natives rushed on us like furies, with shouts and savage
yells; it was no time for delay. I ordered my men to take
deliberate aim, and to fire only with certainty of destruction to the individual aimed at. Unfortunately, the first shot from one of my men's carbines did not take effect; in a moment we were
surrounded on all sides by the savages boldly coming up to us. It was my time now to endeavour to repel them. I fired my double barrel right and left, and two of the most forward fell; this stopped the impetuosity of their career. I had time to reload,
and the war thus begun continued from about ten o'clock in the morning until four in the afternoon. We were slow to fire, which
prolonged the battle, and 60 rounds were fired, and I trust and
believe that many of the bravest of the savage warriors bit the
dust' (Bride, 1898, p 152).
According to James Howard, aged 83 in 1883, he was a shepherd on George Faithfull's run at Oxley Plains in 1841 when the 'blacks played sad havoc with Faithfull's cattle and sheep, whereupon the stockmen, shepherds, and hut keepers turned out, mounted and armed, to the number of about 18, fell upon the blacks in camp on the bank of the King above Oxley, and massacred them. About 200 were killed on the spot, and others were pursued miles up the river, until all, with one or two exceptions, were exterminated' (Argus, September 13, 1883, p 9). Howard was at first reluctant to name who was involved, but then confirmed that it was Faithful and said that there were about 200 killed in the initial encounter, and 300 in total, including the pursuit upriver (Argus, September 13, 1883, p 9). The figure of 300 may be an exaggeration, but given this was a sustained massacre which Faithful claimed brought an end to a sustained resistance in this populous area, the death toll was most likely very high.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 559
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- PoliceDistrict
- Murray
- KnownDate
- 1841-2
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 150
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- Killed M:
- AttackerDescription
- Hutkeeper(s), Settler(s), Shepherd(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Horse(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-33.537 Longitude150.805 Start Date1795-06-07 End Date1795-06-07
Description
Following an alleged killing of two settlers by Bediagal people in May 1795, Capt Paterson of the NSW Corps despatched two subalterns and 66 soldiers to the Hawkesbury with orders to, 'drive the natives to a distance' and, in the hope of striking terror, 'to erect gibbets in different places, whereon the bodies of all they might kill were to be hung.' (Collins in Fletcher 1975, p 348) According to military historian John Connor, 'on their arrival the detachment forced an Aboriginal boy to reveal the location of a Darug group, probably members of the Bediagal. That night the soldiers made contact with the Darug in the forest not far from the farms. The roar of muskets filled the night air, followed by the screams of the wounded and dying. The soldiers saw seven or eight of the [Bediagal] fall down in the undergrowth, but when they went out next morning to find the bodies and string them up they found that the [Bediagal] had carried away their comrades' bodies during the night.' (Connor 2002, p 38)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 562
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Dyarubbin
- LanguageGroup
- Bediagal
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Parramatta
- KnownDate
- 07/06/1795
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 settlers
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-34.633 Longitude150.839 Start Date1818-10-01 End Date1818-10-01
Description
Lt Weston, owner of a property at Dapto, Cornelius O'Brien, overseer of William Browne's property at Yallah and seven labourers and convict workers, attacked an Aboriginal campsite and fired muskets at them (Elder 2003, pp25-6). 'Bundle, a Native came and told me that the Natives (Men and Women) at the river were all killed.' (Wild n.d.)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 566
- LanguageGroup
- Dharawal
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Sydney
- KnownDate
- 01/10/1818
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Overseer(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Cutlass/Cutlasses, Bayonet(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-32.445 Longitude151.14 Start Date1826-09-01 End Date1826-09-01
Description
The massacre was carried out on the Wonnarua people on the evening of 1 September 1826. The massacre was in reprisal for fifteen Wonnarua men of 'the neighbourhood of Glenny's Creek' killing two convict workers Henry Cottle and Morty Kernan on 28 August 1826, at the hut of Richard Alcorn who was overseer of Capt. Robert Lethbridge's Bridgman Estate, Fal Brook, near Ravensworth in the Hunter Valley (The Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser, 9 Sep 1826 p 3). Magistrate Robert Scott led a party of 14 (five mounted police, four convict stockmen and four Aboriginal trackers, all armed) that pursued and 'came suddenly upon' an Aboriginal camp in the evening of 1 September 1826. They killed at least 18 Wonnarua people and wounded more. (The Australian September 23, 1826, p 3). Governor Darling enclosed Scott's report of the massacre in his dispatch November 1826, ML A 1197, vol.8, p.344. Historian Mark Dunn provides the most recent account of the massacre (Dunn 2020, 167-171).
Cotter argues that James Bowman's Ravensworth Estate, neighbouring Lethbridge's, was the 'epicentre' of conflict in the region (Cotter, 2022 p 4).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 570
- LanguageGroup
- Wonnarua
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Wallis Plains (Maitland)
- KnownDate
- 1 Sept 1826
- AttackTime
- Evening
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 18
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s), Mounted Police, Convict(s), Aboriginal Guide(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 convict workmen
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0cd4 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=570 SourceThe Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser, 9 Sep 1826 p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2186503; The Australian, September 16, 1826, p2, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/37072221,
and September 23, 1826, p3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/4248925;
NSW Governors' Despatches ML A1197, vol. 8, p344; Dunn 2020, pp167-171; Cotter, 2022 https://www.ipcn.nsw.gov.au/resources/pac/media/files/pac/projects/2022/02/glendell-continued-operations-project-ssd-9349/public-submissions/general-public-submissions/220328-maria-cotter_redacted.pdf.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-31.815 Longitude150.379 Start Date1828-04-01 End Date1828-04-30
Description
According to a report in The Monitor newspaper, 4 August 1828, p.8, 'Dr Little, of Upper Hunters River,' crossed the Liverpool Range 'and, on coming to a hut, found, to his horror and astonishment, the bodies of some half dozen of black natives, stretched along the earth. From the putrid state of the corpses, it was evident they had been slaughtered a long time. He pursued his journey till he fell in with the white people, stock-keepers and others. He learnt from them, that a large body of blacks had suddenly made their appearance, but whether they paid their visit hostilely, or merely came in great numbers for self-protection, the stock-keepers admitted they could not tell. However, acting in concert, our people commenced a destructive fire of musquetry upon them, and the blacks presently fled. Such were the circumstances of the fight, that some of the black fugitives on being pursued, ascended the trees in hopes of escaping, whence they were brought down by the balls of the assailants.' According to Milliss 1992, p 78-82, at least ten stockmen were involved in the attack on an Aboriginal camp in reprisal for cattle theft. Three stockmen, 'Captain Pike' and two others nicknamed 'The Barber' and 'The Londoner' were 'remarkably active' in the affair. Milliss indicates that more Aboriginal people were killed for it took the stockmen several days to burn the bodies. Despite two letters from other settlers reporting the incident to the Colonial Secretary, the incident was not followed up.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 572
- LanguageGroup
- Gamilaraay or Guyinbaraay
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Wallis Plains (Maitland)
- KnownDate
- April 1828
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0cd8 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=572 SourceThe Monitor, August 4, 1828, p 8 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31760465; Milliss 1992, p 78-82; SRNSW 4/1983, CSR 28/7772, Letters Received 1828; Dunn to McLeay, May 6, 1828; Sadlier to McLeay, September 19, 1828.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-35.985 Longitude147.35 Start Date1836-01-01 End Date1836-12-31
Description
In 1836, two stockmen were killed by Wiradjuri men on Thologolong station near the Murray River, NSW. 'The reprisals by the settlers, the little known Dora Dora massacre, resulted in the deaths of at least a dozen Aboriginal, men, women and children. [T]he attack was led by John Jobbins, owner of adjoining Cumberoona station, a man who quickly gained a reputation for his extreme violence. Cumberoona's lands were principal camping grounds for local Aboriginal peoples [Wiradjuri], but Jobbins declared that the land was his, exclusively, and that harsh punishment would be administered to those that did not comply.' Jobbins led the attack with an unknown number of armed men on horseback. (Schneider, 2016, p 29)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 574
- LanguageGroup
- Wiradjuri
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Goulburn
- KnownDate
- Jan - Dec 1836
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 12
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 stockmen
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-30.431 Longitude150.399 Start Date1836-06-01 End Date1836-07-31
Description
Sergeant Temple led a detachment of mounted police and a party of stockmen and settlers, including TS Hall to 'clear' the Barraba area of Aboriginal people. Missionary LE Threlkeld said that 80 Aboriginal people were slaughtered (Gunson, 1974, 136). The operation was briefly reported in British Parliamentary Papers for 1839 (BPP 1839, Paper 526).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 576
- LanguageGroup
- Gamilaraay
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Maitland
- KnownDate
- June/July 1836
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 80
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police, Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-34.113 Longitude141.912 Start Date1839-03-01 End Date1839-03-31
Description
On 24 April 1839, the 'Southern Australian' reported on page 3, 'We have the pleasure in announcing the safe arrival in the province of Messrs McLeod and McPherson, from New South Wales, with 500 head of cattle and one thousand sheep. We understand that they only lost four sheep and two head of cattle during their journey. It is reported, that they had a recounter [sic] with the aborigines on the way, and that forty natives were killed.' Three days later, the 'South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register' published the following: 'There is no truth in the story published in the 'Southern Australian' that Messrs McLeod and McPherson had a rencontre with the natives in which forty of the latter were shot.' ('South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register', April 27, 1839, p.2).
Despite the denial, it appears that a massacre took place at Junction Island, where the Darling River flows into the Murray River.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 580
- LanguageGroup
- Tati tati
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Goulburn
- KnownDate
- March 1839
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-30.444 Longitude152.397 Start Date1841-05-01 End Date1841-05-31
Description
In the autumn of 1841, three shepherds on Frederick Eldershaw's outstation on the north eastern edge of New England were brutally murdered and 2000 sheep taken by Baanbay warriors (Eldershaw, 1854, p 63). In reprisal Eldershaw organised a 'pursuing party' of ten men (including Eldershaw, three neighbours and six stockmen), 'well mounted and accoutred' and set off with ten days provisions for the south branch of the Clarence River. According to Eldershaw the party was ambushed by fire on at least one occasion, and after several days, they found the Baanbay camp and the sheep towards evening and split their party in two. One group remained hidden near the camp, and the other, with Eldershaw in the lead, moved to a higher ground above the camp of about 200 Baanbay. When they heard a shot fired below, in reprisal for Baanbay warriors killing one of the men, the group above immediately discharged the 'contents of ten barrels' into the camp below. A second volley from below and a third from above 'dealt frightful havoc in their ranks' and 'according to Eldershaw 'some [of the Baanbay] actually dashed themselves in frantic violence to the depths beneath, in utter heedlessness of life' (Eldershaw 1854, p 73). 'Shot after shot, with curses wild and deep the excited fellows launched at their hated foes - their butchered comrades' blood was that night fearfully avenged' (Eldershaw, 1854, p 73).
It is estimated that at least 30 Baanbay people were shot. In his book Eldershaw justified the massacre on the grounds that it instilled in the local Aboriginal people 'a mysterious and superstitious fear of the stupendous power of the white man', caused them to become 'harmless, tractable and subdued' and thus the 'barbarous and inhuman secret murders [of colonists], by poison or by some violent remorseless treachery, of which in preceding times I had so frequently heard and read, were now happily abolished' (Eldershaw 1854, p 74). Eldershaw's account is reproduced in Blomfield 1981, pp 85-91 and Elder 2003, pp 105-117.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 582
- LanguageGroup
- Baanbay
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Armidale
- KnownDate
- 01/05/1841
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 3 shepherds
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Poison
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-27.549 Longitude152.183 Start Date1841-10-01 End Date1841-10-01
Description
On 1 October 1841 at Grantham on the Darling Downs, a man called Rogers reported a 'standup' battle in which '...two whites were speared and several Aborigines…severely wounded' (Evans, 2007, p 53). Another report by an ex-convict, Brown, however, said the Yugara camp 'was stormed before dawn' by the horsemen and that the firing continued for about half an hour but the number of Yugara [Yuggera] killed is unknown (Evans, 2007, p 53). This 'battle' was in response to the Yugara killing of shepherds at Mocatta's and Somerville's stations and attacks on James Balfour's station at Colinton. The attack was carried out by James 'Cocky' Rogers, superintendent of George Mocatta's station, George Somerville from Tent Hill and their servants, heavily armed with muskets and on horseback (Evans, 2007, p 53).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 584
- LanguageGroup
- Yugara or Giabal
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Brisbane
- KnownDate
- 01/10/1841
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0ceb Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=584 SourceEvans, 2007, p 53; A. Hodgson, Report on Aboriginal Outrage, October 27, 1841, SRNSW Col. Sec. 41/9744, CSL micro 12; Moreton Bay Book of Trials, January 13, 1842, OML.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:53
Details
Latitude-27.843 Longitude152.262 Start Date1843-07-30 End Date1843-07-30
Description
Christopher Rolleston, CCL Darling Downs and party cornered Aboriginal people in daylight in the Range scrub, three days after Yugara people killed Richard White, a shepherd on Sibley and King's Haldon run and drove off 1874 sheep (French, 1989, p 104). Rolleston estimated that twelve Yugara people were killed (Rolleston to Col Sec, August 15, October 12, 1843, CCL Correspondence 1843, SRNSW, 4/2601).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 590
- LanguageGroup
- Yugara
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Drayton
- KnownDate
- 30/07/1843
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 12
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Crowns Land Commissioner, Government Official(s), Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-30.822 Longitude152.288 Start Date1843-01-12 End Date1843-12-31
Description
According to Geoffrey Blomfield (1981, pp 40-41), 'Two young colonial men were left at Sheep Station Creek to hold a small mob of quiet cattle' while the station boss and other stockmen went after the wild cattle. The boys 'fell asleep' and when 'they awoke they found that some Aboriginal men had speared a vealer and were dragging it off.' They informed the boss when he returned, and he quickly set off in pursuit (presumably with the other stockmen) and 'quite quickly came up with them on the cliff edge. It is said that they forced them over the cliff to their deaths'. Next day one of the two young men left to hold the 'quiet' cattle 'became troubled that some of the Aboriginal people may have been left injured by the fall from the cliff and dying a lingering death in the sun. He rode out to the site of the massacre. He found an infant crawling about and took it to Pee Dee station, the McMaugh home.' 'Later the child was taken to live with the Thompson Family at Towel Creek station' (Blomfield, 1981, pp 40-41).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 591
- LanguageGroup
- Dhanggati
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Macquarie
- KnownDate
- Jan - Dec 1843
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-29.163 Longitude152.003 Start Date1844-10-17 End Date1844-10-17
Description
In daylight on 17 October 1844, Edward Irby and Thomas Windeyer and the latter's two servants Connor and Weaver, chased and then lost and then came upon, more by chance than by skill, a group of Bundjalung or Ngarabal (Marbal or Ngarbal speakers?) sheltering beneath the very rocks Irby and Windeyer found themselves upon. Irby and Windeyer lay on the rocks and began firing at the people below, knowing that their fire would bring up Connor and Weaver who joined the slaughter (Irby cited in Walker, 1996, p30). The massacre was in reprisal for the Aboriginal killing of a shepherd named Robinson, employee of Irby Brothers, lessees of Bolivia station (Schlunke 2005 pp 59-60).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 593
- LanguageGroup
- Bundjalung, Marbal or Ngarbal
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Armidale
- KnownDate
- 17/10/1844
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-29.27 Longitude151.628 Start Date1845-03-01 End Date1845-03-01
Description
A party of border police lead by Oliver Fry, Crown Lands Commissioner for the Clarence Pastoral District, 'fired without warning on a party of Aborigines near the Windeyer family's "Deepwater" station at New England killing seven men, four women and five children.' (Richard Craig to Deas Thompson, 1 July 1846, CSIL, 4/2719, 46/5747 cited in Reece, 1974, p 187)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 596
- LanguageGroup
- Guyambal or Ngarabul or Marbal
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Armidale
- KnownDate
- 01/03/1845
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 16
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Border Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-30.978 Longitude152.21 Start Date1846-10-01 End Date1846-10-10
Description
On October 20, 1846, p2, the 'Sydney Morning Herald' reported: 'Accounts have been received of a great number of cattle having been speared by the blacks, at the head of the McLeay river, and at the Manning. The greatest sufferers are Messrs P. and H. Mackay in the McLeay.' Geoffrey Blomfield (1981, p 46-7), reports 'a punitive expedition led by two graziers opened fire on [Aboriginal] people swimming in [a] waterhole at the junction of [the Macleay river and Durallie Creek]. Some tried to escape by scrambling up the opposite cliff face but were "brought back with lead"'. Blomfield considers that ' [a]bout 60 men, women and children were swimming in the creek where they were all shot.' Details of the massacre were given to Blomfield by Aboriginal Elder Victor Shepherd (Blomfield, 1981, pp 46-7). For sixty people to have been shot, the punitive expedition would have to have comprised at least six well-armed horsemen.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 598
- LanguageGroup
- Dhanggati
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Macquarie
- KnownDate
- October 1846
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 60
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-28.525 Longitude150.152 Start Date1847-10-01 End Date1847-10-05
Description
Following the massacre of forty Aboriginal people at Boonall Station by squatter James Mark in retaliation for Aboriginal people killing his son, he continued his revenge rampage with native police from Warialda and shot 47 Aboriginal people at Callandoon station (Copland, 2001, p 86). Copland wrote that, 'Marks travelled throughout the district recruiting white stockmen and landholders for a vigilante party to avenge the death of his son...' and they were joined by Chief Constables McGee and Hancock. 'From October 1847 a number of attacks upon camps of Aborigines occurred. Primary sources suggest that at least 47 Aboriginal people were killed at the hands of Marks' men.' (Copland, 2001)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 602
- LanguageGroup
- Gungabula
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Warialda
- KnownDate
- 01/10/1847
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 47
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- son of John Marks
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-27.952 Longitude148.67 Start Date1848-01-01 End Date1848-12-31
Description
In reprisal for an Aboriginal attack on Burgurrah station, 'a lot of Stockmen mustered to fight them with swords and guns they charged the blacks on horseback shooting and cutting them down as they fled. A few of the whites were wounded but none killed. About forty of the blacks were slain including one of the Chiefs' (Telfer, 1980, p 70). Carried out by at least 10 armed stockmen.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 606
- LanguageGroup
- Mandandanji or Bigambul or Wirray Wirray or Kogai
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Surat
- KnownDate
- 1848
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Sword(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-27.081 Longitude149.069 Start Date1849-04-23 End Date1849-04-23
Description
According to Collins (2002, p 36), Settler Allan Macpherson, with a team of ten well-armed men, along with Crown Lands Commissioner Jack Durbin, and a party of border police, shot forty Aboriginal people at Yamboucal station. The massacre was in reprisal for Aboriginal warriors killing two bullock drivers from Macpherson's Mt Abundance Station who were taking wool by waggon to Brisbane for sale. According to William Telfer, the Aboriginal attack on the bullock drivers took place forty six kilometres 'on the Condamine side of Roma' (Telfer, 1980, p 43).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 608
- LanguageGroup
- Mandandanji
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Surat
- KnownDate
- 23/04/1849
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Border Police, Crowns Land Commissioner, Government Official(s), Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-29.085 Longitude151.185 Start Date1849-05-01 End Date1849-05-31
Description
Drawing on the personal reminiscences of John Watts, a former member of the Qld Legislative Assembly, Skinner (1975, p 30) says that a native police detachment led by Frederick Walker, hid under the dray of the carrier known as 'The Smiler' when he arrived at Beebo station on the Macintyre River. When a group of Aboriginal warriors arrived at the carrier's camp, 'dressed in "war paint", the police discharged their guns and the natives immediately retreated into the scrub where formerly they were safe as no white man dared follow.' However the Native Police immediately followed the Aborigines and in the words of Watts, 'the number they killed no one but the commander and themselves ever knew' (Skinner, 1975, pp 30-31).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 610
- LanguageGroup
- Marbal or Guyambul
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Warialda
- KnownDate
- 01/05/1849
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-27.963 Longitude148.868 Start Date1849-07-20 End Date1849-07-31
Description
William Telfer, a young stockman visiting the Balonne River region in 1858 heard from Constable Duane of Tamworth who was formerly stationed at Surat in 1849 of 'a fight with the Blacks' at Talavera station on the Balonne River. '[T]he blacks made a good stand but were put to rout losing their Chief (Willari) who was shot with about fifty others...' (Telfer, 1980, p 42). According to Collins (2002, p 42), Crown Lands Commissioner Jack Durbin and a posse of stockmen were involved. According to Telfer (Telfer, 1980, p 42), in the battle 'several of the whites were speared none dangerously.' This would suggest that the battle was probably an ambush.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 612
- LanguageGroup
- Mandandanji or Bigambul or Wirray Wirray or Kogai
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Surat
- KnownDate
- Late July 1849
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 50
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Crowns Land Commissioner, Government Official(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-27.114 Longitude148.969 Start Date1850-10-01 End Date1850-10-31
Description
Sergeant Skelton and Matthew McGrath with detachments of native police arrived at Ukabulla station in early October 1850 in search of Mandandanji refugees who had moved to the Maranoa from the Dawson pastoral district regions. With the assistance of local stockmen Skelton, McGrath and their native police detachments conducted a clearing out operation that involved running down the Mandandanji in daylight (Collins, 2002, p 203).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 614
- LanguageGroup
- Mandandanji or Barunggam
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Surat
- KnownDate
- 01/10/1850
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 13
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-28.934 Longitude148.738 Start Date1852-09-20 End Date1853-09-29
Description
In a lecture on 'The Kamilaroi Blacks' the Rev. William Ridley reported that on the 29th September, 1853 stockmen told him of a massacre of 19 Aboriginal people killed by the Native Police near Mr Pearce's station on Mooni Creek, now Mooni or Moonie River.
'At the Brothers [a pastoral station near the Barwon River] I heard the details of a lamentable and recent slaughter of blacks. Some stockmen who were driving a herd of cattle down from Mooni Creek to the Murrumbidgee, related that on coming to a station of Mr. Pearce's on Mooni Creek, they saw nineteen blackfellows "doubled up," that is lying dead in the writhing attitude of their last agony. They had been killed the evening before by a party of black police and some white men belonging to the station.
The stockmen who described the event, said that the wild blacks who were shot were coming down to attack the station; chiefly for the purpose of killing the blacks who had settled there; so that the charge which laid them prostrate was a necessary act in defence of those blacks who had a claim on the protection of their employers. It is quite true that the wild blacks often entertain bitter enmity against those of their race who have become somewhat civilised by association with the whites; just as among our own forefathers, when the savage Danes found their kindred tribes the Angles and Saxons bereft of their ferocity by the influence of Christianity, they hated them with intense hatred for their softness.
But in this case I afterwards heard, on better authority, that the wild blacks had made no attempt on the station, or on the lives of the blacks connected with it; that the only plea for this act of butchery was that they had been spearing cattle, and it was surmised that they meant to attack the station; so the police and their instigators, having tracked them to a spot near the station, came unawares upon them, and poured their death volley into the midst of them.
Even those who sought to justify the deed by the plea of necessity, spoke with such undisguised gratification of the result, as to show plainly that they welcomed it as a gain instead of enduring it as a dire necessity. The murderous spirit-no other epithet would correctly describe it-the murderous spirit in which not a few rejoice at the frequent slaughter and anticipated extinction of the blacks is appalling. If, while the brutalized and ferocious delight in such deeds, and resolve to repeat them, those who have still the feelings of men keep silence on the subject and so wrap it up, will not the Lord, the Righteous Judge of all, make inquisition for blood, and be avenged on a nation where such crimes are winked at?' (Empire, 3 Dec 1853 p 3).
A much earlier article in the Morning Chronicle indicates that Mr Pearce's station on the Moonie River was 'Gnoolamata', north of the intersection of the Moonie and Barwon Rivers (Morning Chronicle, 4 Fed 1846, p 2). This is most likely the same run as is marked on a map of pastoral runs as 'Cholamatta' just over the Queensland border (Reuss & Browne, 1860).
While the Rev. Ridley, wrote the massacre was 'recent' in September 1853, Patrick Collins, a historian of the Maranoa District frontier, speculates that this occurred in 1852 and was carried out by Sergeant Dempster leading a contingent of Native Police from Wandai Gumbal. According to Collins, this could explain why Aboriginal people from the Moonie River had travelled east to carry out attacks south of the Callandoon Native Police Barracks, around Carbuckey Station and Boobera Lagoon (Collins, 2002, pp 198-199).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 617
- LanguageGroup
- Gamilaraay, Bigambul
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Surat
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 19
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-25.537 Longitude152.725 Start Date1854-11-01 End Date1854-11-01
Description
Local historian J Lennon (cited in Bottoms, 2013, p 86) wrote, 'Late in November 1854…Aborigines ate flour laced with strychnine, among provisions stolen from the store of Henry Palmer. "There was a great whaling [sic] heard in the camp at Granville where they were sent every night," an old settler recorded, "and in the morning several of them were found dead, poisoned."'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 619
- LanguageGroup
- Gubbi Gubbi? or Butchulla?
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Maryborough
- KnownDate
- 01/11/1854
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Poison, Poisoned Flour Laced with Strychnine
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-29.554 Longitude150.306 Start Date1837-10-15 End Date1837-10-31
Description
Conflict in the Gwydir region intensified in 1837 including armed attacks on Gomeroi people to abduct women, and the killing of livestock and 5 colonists by Gomeroi people in several incidents (Milliss, 1992, p 159).
Men at Mr Bowman's station were killed by Gomeroi people as punishment for abducting women. Henry Bingham reported that 'I am well informed those men armed themselves with Muskets and made a rush, on the camp of those Blacks in order to deprive them by force, of their women and in revenge for this they have fallen sacrifice to their own lawless conduct' (Bingham, cited in Milliss, 1992, p 153). The killing of these men prompted the massacre of a large number of Gomeroi people at Gravesend.
In 1837 Missionary L.E. Threlkeld wrote of a massacre preceding the killing of two more shepherds at
Anambah which is probably the Gravesend massacre: 'two shepherds of Mr Cobb's station, Anambah,' on the Gwydir River, 'who were unfortunately murdered by the Blacks, suffered it is said, in consequence of the atrocities being committed against the Blacks by the stockmen in another part of the country, which drove them towards Mr Cobb's station, where they met the two shepherds and wreaked their vengeance, in retaliation, on the unhappy sufferers.: so I am informed by one who was there at the time of the catastrophe' (Threlkeld in Gunson 1974, vol.II, p.145).
A chronology of killings of colonists records the date as November, 1837 (The Sydney Herald, 10 Dec 1838, p 2).
Milliss discusses the Gravesend massacre in his book Waterloo Creek:
'In evidence given in 1839 Mayne reported that a "dreadful massacre" was said to have been committed by stockmen in which as many as 200 Aboriginal people were killed. According to Milliss, Commissioner Edward Mayne 'gave no date for this massacre, except to say that it had taken place "previous to the murder of the two shepherds at Mr Cobb's station", which was itself, reputedly "done in revenge for another outrage of a similar kind upon the blacks"' (Mayne cited in Milliss 1992, p.159).
Mayne's evidence to the Committee on Police and Gaols is as follows:
'I was encamped with various of the tribes in my District for about
three months; there were at times 700 collected together, from a distance of one hundred
miles. They were induced to come in and collect together from the messages I sent to
them; there is at times great difficulty in inducing them to come in. I was anxious to have
an opportunity of explaining to them the object of my coming among them; they seemed
much pleased when I did so explain.
Between the Rivers Namoi, Peel, and Gwyder (or Big River) there is a Black
Native Population of between 2,000 and 3,000 persons.
When I arrived in that part of my District, such was the want of confidence
subsisting between the Whites and the Blacks, that wherever they encountered each other,
the Whites expected themselves or cattle to be speared, and the Blacks expected to be
fired at.
It seemed to be the general impression among the Overseers and Stockmen in the
Upper District, that the Namoi and Gwyder Blacks would unite and make a general attack
on the Herds and Stations. I think it probable there were grounds for that impression.
I consider that the desire of revenge on the part of the Blacks originated in various
outrages committed on them by Stockmen and persons of that class. Previous to my
arrival in the district, I believe many instances occurred in which the whites fired upon
the Blacks when merely meeting them on the runs. I am informed that the whites have
been known to rush them in the scrubs, and to fire upon their women and children; and that
the Stockmen and Hutkeepers always went about with fire-arms.
I issued a notice, cautioning the Stockmen from appearing with arms; it was
obeyed, and acknowledged by themselves generally to be attended with the best effects. I caused it to be explained to the blacks, and it tended much to a more friendly and
confidential feeling between both parties than had yet been exhibited. Previous to this, there were
few of the runs that the blacks dared not show themselves upon without being either fired at,
or hunted off like native dogs; nor were they permitted to approach the rivers without being
subject to attack. I have scarcely ever seen joy more strongly depicted in any
countenances, than in those of the blacks when I assured them that they might again fish quietly
in the rivers without being driven away. I have found such accounts and information as
I have received from time to time from the blacks to have proved substantially true. I would
instance particularly the case of the murder of the blacks which took place near to Mr.
Crawford's station, called Ardgowan Plains, situated on the Gwyder or Big River, and which
was afterwards fully corroborated on oath by an approver. This murder took place about
twelve days before Mr. Cobb's two shepherds were murdered by the blacks; about 1,000
sheep were destroyed at the same time. The blacks informed me that this was done in revenge
for the murder in question. They explained the delay to have arisen from the difficulty
of getting all the tribes together sooner; there was, in fact, a much larger number of blacks
assembled on that occasion than usual; the reports of some of the shepherds say 1,000.
Great excitement prevailed at that time among the blacks.
I believe two or three attacks had been made on them by the overseers and stock men within a few weeks on that part
of the river. They stated, that finding it impossible to retaliate on the mounted stockmen,
they determined to attack the shepherds and sheep. I conceive that the outrages committed upon the blacks were provoked in the first instance by their having speared cattle.
The first outrage that I heard of occurred about two years ago.
I consider that a good impression has been made upon the blacks by the late proceedings, and that a good opening has been made for the reception of a Protector amongst
them. They complained in some instances of the white men interfering with their women,
which appears to have been very common formerly; yet there is no doubt that they frequently
lend them for a time; but even this is not done without a degree of jealousy, and more or
less ill-feeling is likely to be engendered by it. There are some cases of black women
living with white men who have families by them, some of whom it will perhaps be necessary
to allow to remain, as they would probably be killed if forced to return to their tribes,
some of them also have become attached to the men they are living with, and would be
unwilling to leave them.
There are various reports of a dreadful massacre, said to have taken place some years
since, in which the stockmen are stated to have killed a great number of blacks; I have
heard it said, as many as 200 were killed on that occasion. I saw the place in which they
are
are said to be buried. It is known by the name of Gravesend from the number of appearances
of graves. This massacre is said to have taken place previous to the first murder of two shepherds at Mr Cobb's station, and which, it is reported, was done in revenge for
another outrage of a similar kind upon the blacks. Gravesend is a high mountain, situated
about three miles from Mr. Cobb's head station on the Gwydir or Big River.
I always issued the strictest orders to my men not to interfere with the black
Women; any man doing go in the camp would have been instantly put into irons.' (Mayne, Evidence to Committee on Police and Gaols 5.9.1839, pp 22-24, V&P 1839, V&P pp 22-24)
Mayne's version makes it clear that unusually large numbers of people could have been killed. He estimated 2000 to 3000 Gamilaraay lived in this region and he had witnessed up to 700 gather at a time. The war party against Cobb's Station was said to be 1000 strong. Mayne mentions that 'I believe two or three attacks had been made on them by the overseers and stock men within a few weeks on that part
of the river'. From the slightly disjoint narrative, it's not clear if Mayne is describing the same, or two two distinct events at Ardgowan Plains and Gravesend in the lead up to the killing of shepherds at Cobb's station.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 624
- LanguageGroup
- Gamilaraay (Gomeroi)
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Wallis Plains (Maitland)
- KnownDate
- October 1837
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 150
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 4 stockmen; 2 assigned to George Bowman at Terry Hie Hie staton and 2 assigned to John Cobb at Anambah station on the Gwydir River. end to man at Terry Hie Hie station s
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Sword(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-29.475 Longitude150.116 Start Date1838-08-01 End Date1838-08-31
Description
Following the Myall Creek massacres Commissioner for Crown Lands, Edward Mayne, was sent to the Gwydir River to investigate the status of the region and specifically the earlier killing of shepherds and sheep at Bowman's station, and at Cox's station. While he was there, in August 1838, Charles Eyles, manager at Crawford's station on the Gwydir River and two stockmen, James Dunn and William Allen, shot and killed nine Gomeroi people on Ardgowan Island on the Gwydir River, and burnt and buried the bodies in a shallow grave (Millis, 1992, p 580). The remains were discovered in February 1839 by a trooper under Edward Mayne's command and a drover (Mayne to Colonial Secretary, 23-28 Feb 1839, cited in Milliss 1992, p 580-2). Eyles disappeared along with Dunn while Allen was sent by Mayne to Muswellbrook for interview by magistrate Edward Denny Day who charged him with murder. According to Milliss, Allen was never brought to trial (Milliss 1992, p 678).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 626
- LanguageGroup
- Wiriyaraay or Gamilaraay or Yugambul
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Muswellbrook
- KnownDate
- 01/08/1838
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Manager(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-27.399 Longitude153.455 Start Date1832-12-22 End Date1832-12-31
Description
Reprisal for an Aboriginal attack on a ship. Carried out by Captain Clunie, 17th Regiment and a detachment of soldiers.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 628
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Nunukul
- LanguageGroup
- Noonucal
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Brisbane
- KnownDate
- 22/12/1832
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Military
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-31.134 Longitude147.581 Start Date1845-09-01 End Date1845-09-30
Description
A letter from Mr W.H. Wright to Colonial Secretary Thomson, 15th January, 1846 describes a large gathering of 150 to 200 men with women and children, from lands between the Macquarie, Darling and Lachlan Rivers (Wailwan, Wongaibon and Wiradjuri people). Following this gathering a war party of 40 warriors raided 5 stations, using Maliyanga Ngurra as a defensive position (Macquarie Marshes) until Native Police and local colonists pursued them and shot 10.
W.H. Wright wrote,
'These generally known as "Myall" or wild Blacks are joined at certain periods by large parties of Aborigines frequenting the country westward of the settled portions as far as the Darling River, when as many as one hundred and fifty or two hundred men are sometimes assembled besides Women and Children...
I regret to have to report that during the past Year the "Myall" Tribes or those of the unsettled portions of the District have committed many outrages on the persons and property of the Settlers on the Macquarie River, and have evinced a boldness and determination which I believe to have been unprecedented amonst Aborigines.
...
From the time (Octr., 1844) that the Gerawhey Blacks drove
Mr. Kinghorne's Superintendent and men from his Station in the
flood which then covered the Country, Aborigines of that Tribe
have been constantly threatening and actually committing depredations
on the Settlers, and Warrants for the apprehension of eight
individuals of that Tribe were issued. But, although fully aware
of the fact and its intention, from the secure retreat they possessed
among the Macquarie Marshes and being generally informed of
the approach of any policemen, they only become bolder, and, in
September last, had assembled to the number of about forty men
at a Station near Mount Foster, which they had stated their
determination to plunder as soon as the dray which had brought the
Supplies and its attendants should return.
At this juncture, a party of Mounted Police under Sergeant
Anderson who had information of their intention came upon them;
and, as most of the individuals named in the Warrants (which he
held) were identified amongst the Tribe, he endeavoured to capture
them, but being attacked and one of his party wounded he
was compelled to fire. It is to be lamented that as many as ten
Natives were shot in this encounter with the Police. At the same
time I am convinced that, but for the appearance of the Police at
this time and the Check given to the Aborigines, they would have
pillaged many of the lower Stations and in all probability have
murdered some of the Inhabitants.
Immediately before this a body of Blacks assembled from the Bogan,
Lachlan, and country between the McQuarie and Darling Rivers, and among
them I regret to say several of the Aborigines looked upon as domesticated,
in all one hundred and fifty or two hundred men.
On the 19th August, they came on the Macquarie. and during
that and the following day plundered five Stations.
They were pursued by two of the Bligh District Border Police
and a party of Settlers, who, after an obstinate resistance by the
Natives, two of whom were shot, recovered some of the stolen
property' (HRA, I, xxv, pp 8-10).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 630
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Wellington
- KnownDate
- 01/09/1845
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimNotes
- men
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-29.952 Longitude146.84 Start Date1841-01-01 End Date1841-12-31
Description
After two stockmen abducted Aboriginal women for sex, they were killed by Aboriginal men who mutilated their bodies and set fire to their hut. They then speared several cattle and roasted one of them. The smoke attracted other stockmen who charged and drove the Aboriginal people towards their camp on the Barwon River and shot 30 men, women and children. 'skulls showing the ball marks were visible for years after in the area' (Dargin, 1976, pp 51-2).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 633
- LanguageGroup
- Pooncarie/Parkantyi
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Walgett
- KnownDate
- 1841
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s), Pistol(s), Sword(s), Stirrup(s), Blade(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-29.846 Longitude146.942 Start Date1870-01-01 End Date1870-12-31
Description
After Aboriginal people speared cattle at Quantambone Station, Con Bride requested help from a neighbouring station (Sydney Mail, 12 Sep 1928, p 55). Con Bride with a group of about 20 heavily armed men including Mr J. McKenzie and Aboriginal assistants, Pelica Jemmy and Brewarinna Jemmy, attacked a camp of Aboriginal people at dawn, at a creek just north of Baiame's Ngunnhu (Brewarrina fish traps). Survivors fled in the direction of Culgoa River. Later sources say that around 300 people were killed and only a few escaped, including Peter Flood who died in 1911 (The Farmer and Settler, 24 October 1911, p 5). The creek was named 'Hospital Creek' after an Aboriginal woman was seen trying to care for wounded at this site (The Kiama Independent and Shoalhaven Advertiser, 1 April, 1869, p 4).
The fish traps attracted visitors from far afield and the massacre may have involved Ngemba, Ngaampaa, Paakandji, Morawari, Budjiti, Barranbinya, Muruwari, Kooma, Kamilaroi or Wailwan people in this area. Colonists believed they had killed people of the 'Culgoa Tribe'. The Culgoa area is the lands and waters of Murrawarri people. In 1871, the population of the area was reported to have declined rapidly from thousands to 'only a few' over 20 years, 'Hence the name of "Fishery" at one time, about twenty years ago, this was the chief encampment for the blacks in the Western districts, for hundreds of miles around, and hence they were then to be found in thousands, but latterly there are only a few degenerate ones to be seen, the servile drudges of the (often) tyrannical white masters' (Freeman's Journal, 24 June 1871, p 11). In 1914 the Hospital Creek massacre was described as 'Among the worst massacres in New South Wales' adding that 'a party was got together, who surrounded about 300 aborigines at the creek, and shot down most of them, including women and piccaninnies' (The Richmond River Express and Casino Kyogle Advertiser, 31 July, 1914, p 8).
In 1928 an 'Old-timer' of the region, G.M. Smith, published an account of the massacre that he had heard when he was younger, from one of its leaders. According to Con Bride, Aboriginal people had been spearing cattle. 'I tried to get the blacks to shift camp, but they didn't understand me, or pretended not to which was very likely, as I could speak the native lingo pretty well. So I rode to the station as quickly as possible and brought one of my black boys to talk to them in their own lingo. When he explained what I wanted them to do they said "Baal," which in their language means "No." They evidently didn't want to shift, as they were doing too well where they were; but I went back home and started one of my white stockmen up to the next station with a few lines to the manager to send me all the assistance he could spare in men, arms, and ammunition. The demand was only reasonable in those days, as the white settlers had to keep plenty of arms and ammunition for self-protection and to assist each other in cases of need. Next day I was pleased to see two white stockmen and half-a-dozen black boys, all well armed, ride up. You may be sure I lost no time in getting all my own force under arms, and we rode out to the blacks' camp nearly twenty strong. When we got within two hundred yards of the camp I halted my small force. Then I took one of the boys and rode up to their camp. When the boy told them I wanted them to shift the old darkies got very angry, and said "Baal," as before. I took the boy back to the others, and said: "Now, boys, we will fire a few shots over their camp. They might take fright and clear out." That volley caused a great commotion in the camp. They all ran up in a bunch, like a lot of wild ducks; but there was no stampede such as we were expecting. I noticed that they were all arming with spears and womeras, and when they made a move forward I feared a rush on our small force by their hundreds: so we fired a volley into them, and a dozen or more fell. This caused a halt. Then they gathered round the wounded ones. Apparently they could not understand what had happened, and we took advantage of the confusion to send another volley whistling over their heads. That settled the matter. A general stampede took place across the plain towards the Culgoa, whence, I suppose, they had come' (Sydney Mail, 12 Sep 1928, p 55).
Perhaps the earliest account of the massacre is an article in 1869 republished from the Dubbo Dispatch, which reported, 'The blacks could be found in thousands on the Bogan River not twenty-five years ago; but where are they now? Can you find them in hundreds? No, nor in tens; and what you will ask, has become of them? Some have gone back into the Mulgar, and disease has done its work with them; but what has done the most deadly, work has been the rifle, not in every instance in the hands of the white man, but in the hands of their own fellow countrymen. There were at Brewarina and a station close by three blackfellows, natives of Liverpool Plains, that had been taught the use of firearms to perfection, and ditto the use of horses. These fellows for many years shot down everything black in human shape indiscriminately, wherever they met them. One of these demons, Pelica Jemmy, told me some revolting stories. He said he had shot and poisoned in his time 170, and that Brewarina Jemmy, had killed far more than he. He related an affray that took place in a back creek, not more than five miles from Brewarina; and in proof of his assertion showed me some hundreds of bones (I should say, the remains of forty). He, it appeared from his story, had been out on the run, and had tracked a lot of cattle away from the camp.; he further discovered that these cattle had been disturbed by the arrival of a lot of blacks to fish at this camp. He did not allow himself to be seen, but rode home, from whence an express messenger was despatched to Merriman, and some half-dozen other stations up the river, for all hands to come down to a blackfellows' hunt. All hands, were ready - whites and their Namoi demons - and started at night, arriving close to the camp of blacks before day, when they waited till daylight, then taking up positions so as to command the entire camp, they sent in a deadly volley, and in a short time there was not a black left. Some two days after four of the same party of murderers were riding by this said spot, when they found three blackfellows that had not died, and an old gin less wounded attending to their wants. "Eloh?" said one of the party, "here's a hospital." They got down and despatched the whole lot with a tomahawk, not caring to waste powder and shot on them; from that day till this this camp is called "the Hospital"' (The Kiama Independent and Shoalhaven Advertiser, 1 April, 1869, p 4).
An 1876 article presents an extract from a document beginning, 'We are speaking (says the writer) of the year 1859.' and described some atrocities committed in the area adding, 'When, however, these monsters "had their cattle together" they would collect themselves for the purpose of "a bit of sport" which meant going on the trail of the aboriginals. "Hospital Creek," opposite Breewarrina, "The Point," between Yambegoona and the same place, and Warraweena Billywung might, if they could speak, tell of deeds unparalleled even in the Book of Books' (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 9 May 1876, p 4).
In 1911 the death of Peter Flood, an Aboriginal man who had survived the massacre was reported with additional details of the massacre, 'The blackfellow, Peter Flood, who died at Brewarrina, N.S.W., recently from pneumonia, was a full-blooded aboriginal, and was eighty-two years, of age. He was one of the survivors of the famous Hospital Creek massacre, which occurred fifty-two years ago. The blacks had been very troublesome and annoyed the station people to such a degree that it was decided to teach them a lesson. The white settlers, led by Mr. J. McKenzie, assembled, and proceeded in search of the aboriginals, whom they found to the number of about 300 encamped on the banks of Hospital Creek, which is situated about eleven miles from Brewarrina. An engagement took place, and only one or two aboriginals escaped. This particular tribe was known as the Culgoa tribe, and for many years had been a menace to settlers along the Culgoa River, spearing cattle and sheep, and stealing on every possible occasion. Peter Flood was one of the tribe' (The Farmer and Settler, 24 October 1911, p 5).
The reports consistently say that 300 people were killed at Hospital Creek, if a number is stated.
Large amounts of people would have been congregated to feast at the fish traps. All accounts of the massacre involve a large force of heavily armed and mounted colonists gathered for the purpose of attacking Aboriginal people. The location is a vast treeless plain with no places of concealment. It is likely an unusually large number of people were killed.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 636
- LanguageGroup
- Murrawarri and possibly Ngemba, Ngaampaa, Paakandji, Morawari, Budjiti, Barranbinya, Muruwari, Kooma, Kamilaroi or Wailwan people.
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Walgett
- KnownDate
- 1870
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 200
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Unknown
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d28 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=636 SourceDargin 1976, p 59;
The Farmer and Settler, 24 October 1911, p 5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118010220;
Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 9 May 1876, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/148509158;
The Kiama Independent and Shoalhaven Advertiser, 1 April, 1869, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/113830392;
Sydney Mail, 12 Sep 1928, p 55 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/158404490/16864759;
The Richmond River Express and Casino Kyogle Advertiser, 31 July, 1914, p 8 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/124719523;
Freeman's Journal, 24 June 1871, p 11 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/120727890
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-31.737 Longitude148.749 Start Date1900-07-20 End Date1900-07-20
Description
At 10pm on 20 July 1900, Jimmy Governor and Jacky Underwood, slaughtered seven members of the Mawbey family and the governess, at the Mawbey homestead in Breelong in reprisal for racist insults they made to Jimmy's non-Aboriginal wife and for non-payment of splitting wood for fencing (Nepean Times, July 28, 1900, p 3; SMH, July 23, 1900, p7).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 638
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Central West
- KnownDate
- 20 July 1900
- AttackTime
- Evening
- Victims
- Colonists
- VictimsDead
- 8
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Waddies/Nulla-nulla(s), Tomahawk(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0e14 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=638 SourceNepean Times, July 28, 1900, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article101351156; Dungog Chronicle: Durham & Gloucester Advertiser, July 31, 1900 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page15866320; Muswellbrook Chronicle, October 6, 1900, p 4 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article107010252; SMH, July 23, 1900, p 7 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14325848; July 28, p 12 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14327294 Nov 24, 1900, p11 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14377033; Singleton Argus, Jan 19, 1901, p 4 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78908493;Evening News, July 27, 1900, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112586798; August 7, 1900, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112584490; August 22, 1900, p 4 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112584861; August 31, 1900, p 8 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112590518; September 1, 1900, p 6 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112587452.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-31.903 Longitude152.127 Start Date1834-01-01 End Date1834-12-31
Description
According to the Wingham Chronicle, April 25, 1922, p2 following Binghi warriors stealing cattle from the Australian Agricultural Company's 'heifer station at Baker's Creek, 12 miles north east of Gloucester,' (near Mount Ganghat) in 1834, the beleaguered employees 'in the hut were driven to dire straits, and as a last resource mixed arsenic in dampers and placed them where the natives had easy access to them. The result was deadly to the natives. The black warriors lay down and died all around.' (Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer 25 Apr 1922 p 2)
In 1889 a corresponden to the Daily Telegraph, 'J.W.C' wrote, 'White women were scarce in those days,
and these men took as help-mates a couple of
black gins from a tribe belonging to the head
quarters they started from. The aborigines or
native blacks were very troublesome in those
days, especially in the vicinity of Cape Hawke,
not far from the Manning River entrance, and
being aware that a supply of rations had been
recently brought to Gangat and that there were
only two men in charge, they decided to
stick the station up and help themselves,
One or two of the Cape Hawke blacks
were in the habit of visiting the station occasionally on their marauding excursions, and unwittingly, apparently, made the gins acquainted
with their designs, probably in the hope of
satisfying them of their safety in the event of
success. The gins were honest enough to
apprise their mates of the threatened danger,
and suitable precautions were adopted. Slits
were cut in the slab walls so that guns could
be protruded to cover the approach of their
assailants. Everything useful and portable
was brought into the humpy and doors and
windows barricaded. On the morning of the
attack two blacks came to the hut as usual and
were at once ordered to leave and keep away or
they would be fired upon. The day wore on and
towards the afternoon a mob of blacks numbering from 50 to 60 came down to the station,
fully armed for hostilities with spears, boomerangs and nulla-nullas, and demanded grub.
These also were cautioned to keep off under
penalty of being fired upon, and seeing the
muzzles of two guns sticking out of a slit in a
slab in front of them, they retired a few yards
off, made their fires and camped for the night.
Their intention evidently was to attack the
station as soon as it was dark, and probably
set the hut on fire and murder the men.
Taylor and M'Grath were in a serious fix.
Miles from any help, their horses in the bush
unavailable for flight, they felt that with the
approach of night their doom was sealed, and to
make matters worse, on examination they
found that they had only a couple of charges of
powder. Taylor fortunately had a good supply
of arsenical soap, so the men went to work and
made up a lot of Johnny cakes, well mixing
tho dough up with the soap; and in the evening they opened the door of tho hut and
pitched out the cakes and drew the attention
of the blacks to the grub supplied for their
gratification. There was a regular scramble
for the cakes, while the door was closed and
the inmates awaited the result. The effects of
the arsenic soon told upon the blacks, many of
whom rushed to the water and drank to repletion to allay tho burning inside. Some of the
most gluttonous dropped dead, and such a scare
was produced upon the tribe that they bolted,
being perfectly satisfied that the grub they
had so daringly demanded was not exactly the
kind of grub they desired.
This, I believe, was the first act of poisoning
the native cannibals in the colony, and I don't
believe there are many of the present generation who will blame Taylor and McGrath for
their action in self-defence. The men next
morning left for head-quarters, and the cattle
were scattered in every direction, causing a
heavy loss to the company. Many took to the
scrubs about Bundobah and Boolaydeelah, and
the destruction of the bulls years after afforded
many a day's sport to crack pistol-shots from
horseback' (The Daily Telegraph, 13 Jul, 1889, p 9).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 639
- LanguageGroup
- Binghi
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Gloucester
- KnownDate
- 1834
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Poison
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-32.447 Longitude151.681 Start Date1841-01-01 End Date1841-12-31
Description
In 1841, two stockmen employed by settler Timothy Nowlan of 'Walleroba' station on the Williams River, were killed by Worimi warriors. In reprisal, a detachment of mounted police proceeded to pursue the culprits. They came up with a group of Worimi at Black Camp Creek and in the encounter killed all but one of the group and according to local historian RL Ford (1995, p 128), Mundiva (Mundiba) was the sole survivor. According to Clarke and Irwin, the biographers of the Gorton brothers who lived nearby, Nolan was also speared (Clarke and Irwin 1977, p.15). Irwin said that her uncle EDF Gorton was shown the massacre site by his father and grandfather, that the reprisal massacre took place in the evening and that as a lad, the grandfather 'chopped musket balls from the trees, in which it is said that the fearful Aborigines had attempted to find a refuge' (Clarke and Irwin 1977, p.16).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 643
- LanguageGroup
- Worimi
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Raymond Terrace
- KnownDate
- 1841
- AttackTime
- Evening
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- M
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 shepherds
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-32.243 Longitude151.972 Start Date1828-01-01 End Date1828-12-31
Description
Capt. Thomas Cook, Magistrate 'of the whole country north of Newcastle', in the mid 1820s, recorded that 'a band of blacks stole a child, the daughter of Mrs Easterbook, whose husband was a clerk of the AA Company at Stroud. They disappeared in a northerly direction but were pursued by a party of armed soldiers and assigned servants and overtaken some twenty miles away. Eleven blacks were killed and the child recovered.' (Bennett 1964, p.12-13). The rescue/reprisal party appears to have been on foot.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 644
- LanguageGroup
- Worimi
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Raymond Terrace
- KnownDate
- 1828
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 11
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Military
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Horse(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-23.841 Longitude147.832 Start Date1861-10-17 End Date1861-10-17
Description
Following the abduction of two Aboriginal boys by three white men, 19 members of the Wills family and their servants, including women and children, were massacred mid-afternoon on 17 October 1861 by a large group of Gayiri warriors (SMH, 12 Dec 1861, p 5). Until the afternoon of the massacre, the Wills party, which had arrived in the area only a few days before, had enjoyed good relations with the Gayiri people. Against advice from other colonists Wills did not arm workers on the homestead. One view of the massacre, suggests that it was in reprisal for the killing of Gayiri people a week or so earlier by a detachment of native police at a neighbouring pastoral station where Jesse Gregson was the manager.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 648
- LanguageGroup
- Gayiri
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Taroom
- KnownDate
- 17/10/1861
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Colonists
- VictimsDead
- 19
- VictimDescription
- Settler(s), Shepherd(s), Servant(s)
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 Aboriginal boys
- WeaponsUsed
- Waddies/Nulla-nulla(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0e16 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=648 SourceThe Courier 5 November, 1861 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4602000; The Courier 11 November, 1861 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4602097; Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland Advertiser 2 November, 1861 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/51554732; SMH December 10, 1861 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13060056, and 11 December, 1861 - https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/1484054, and 12 December, 1861 -http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page1484062;
Carment, 1980, pp 49-55; Reid 1980-1, pp 62-82; Perrin 1998, pp 84-104; Star (Ballarat), 20 November 1861, 'Supplement' 1861 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66343578; The Courier (Brisbane), 20 December 1861, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4602862, and 16 January 1862 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4603348; Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland Advertiser, 4 January 1862, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51554990; Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld. : 1861 - 1908) 28 Jan 1862, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article125597363; Sydney Mail, 14 December, 1861 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166694945.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-21.737 Longitude146.745 Start Date1866-10-01 End Date1866-10-31
Description
After Henry Clark was murdered by some Aboriginal men, a police party from 'Mount McConnell, 83 miles distant . . . succeeded in shooting eight or ten of the blacks.' (Queenslander, November 3, 1866, p 9.) Carried out by a party of native police.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 654
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- South Kennedy
- KnownDate
- Oct 1866
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-18.084 Longitude146.003 Start Date1870-01-20 End Date1870-01-20
Description
A detachment of native police ambushed a campsite of Djira people on the Murray River at dawn and, according to the Acting Sub Inspector, Native Mounted Police in his report, 'I came upon a mob camped near the mouth of the "Murray River". Having only three troopers with me, I judged it advisable to take the extreme measure of dispersing the camp at once' (QSA COL /A185/1873/993).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 657
- LanguageGroup
- Djira
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- North Kennedy
- KnownDate
- 20/01/1870
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Knife/Knives
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-23.96 Longitude147.936 Start Date1861-10-25 End Date1861-10-25
Description
The news of the massacre of nineteen colonists at Mr Wills's station at Cullin la Ringo first reached Mr Gregson at Rainworth station, when two shepherds who escaped the massacre arrived there. Before the native police could arrive, who were a long distance away at the time (QSA GOV/23/61/74 (DR110747) ITM17671, p124), two groups of colonists set out for the Nogoa. 'Mr Gregson's party overtook some of the miscreants at dawn one morning, revelling in their blankets and ill-gotten booty. The party managed to get one discharge at the wretches, when they all bolted up a steep range, till the sight of the white's destroying their spears and boomerangs, which were splendid in appearance, drew them down upon the little band, who wisely retreated, fearing they might be cut off from their horses, which were left a mile and a half from the scene of action' (The Courier, 11 Nov 1861, pp 2-3).
This article mentions another group led by Mr P.F. Macdonald had also gone out to 'protect the stock, and assist the survivors' (The Courier, 11 Nov 1861, pp 2-3). P.F.McDonald wrote in his account that this second group did not encounter any Aboriginal people:
'As it had been fully ascertained that the great portion of blacks implicated in the murders belonged to the Comet and Dawson Rivers, and had made off in that direction, we started on the morning of the 7th in search of them, but as they had so many days in advance of us and their foot-tracks were nearly everywhere obliterated by recent thunderstorms, our chances of finding them were very much diminished. We spent eight days searching the scrubs in the neighbourhood, but with little success.' (SMH 10 December 1861, p. 5).
Governor Bowen summarised the Cullin-la-Ringo massacre and the reprisals for it in a letter to the Lord Newcastle. He wrote that after burying the victims of the Cullin-la-Ringo massacre and prior to the arrival of the Native Police a group of armed colonists killed 30 Aboriginal people.
'And now the full extent of the dreadful sacrifice of life was ascertained; and an uncontrollable desire for vengeance took possession of every heart... About thirty of the tribe of murderers are said to have fallen in the deadly struggle which ensued when the eleven English avengers "stormed their camp" in the manner related in the enclosure' (QSA GOV/23/61/74 (DR110747) ITM17671, p124).
The body of one of the men killed in the reprisal massacres around the Nogoa River was exhibited in The Australian and South Sea Islander Museum in Melbourne:
'One of the most extraordinary curiosities in the museum is the dried body of an aboriginal of North Australia... Some 10 years ago, Nogoa, a station in the north of Queensland, was the scene of a horrible massacre by the blacks. Almost all the residents on the station, comprising some 20 men, women and children, were slaughtered, only some two or three stockmen succeeding, in effecting their escape. The neighbouring country was aroused, and a retaliatory raid was made upon the aborigines by the squatters and native police force, and it is said that the vengeance exacted was terribly severe, the lives of upwards of 200 natives being sacrificed before the wrath of the offended whites was satiated. The particular blackfellow exhibited was, it is stated, shot in a tree into which he had climbed in the hope of concealment.' (The Argus, 5 February 1872, p 6)
The location provided is an estimate based on the description but there are many steep hills near Cullin-la-Ringo that could be the location.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 660
- LanguageGroup
- Gayiri
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Kennedy
- KnownDate
- 25/10/1861
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1861: Cullin la Ringo Aftermath, QLD
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d52 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=660 SourceReid 1980-1, pp 62-82; Bowen to Newcastle, 16 Dec. 1861, QSA GOV/23/61/74 (DR110747) ITM17671 https://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/items/ITM3682012; SMH 10 December 1861, p. 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13060056; SMH December 11, 1861 - https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/1484054; SMH December 12, 1861, p. 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13062362; Courier (Brisbane) 11 November, 1861 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4602097; The Argus, 5 February 1872, p 6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5859420
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-17.602 Longitude140.948 Start Date1887-01-01 End Date1887-12-31
Description
Native police led by Lyndon Poingdestre shot dead six Aboriginal people and burnt the bodies. With evidence destroyed, no conviction was recorded (Richards 2008, p 34).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 663
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Normanton
- KnownDate
- 1887
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-17.924 Longitude146.097 Start Date1872-03-01 End Date1872-03-10
Description
On 26 February 1872, the brig Maria carrying 75 passengers on a gold prospecting expedition to New Guinea, was wrecked on Bramble Reef. The survivors escaped the sinking ship on three boats and two rafts. Two of the boats made it to safety at the British settlement at Cardwell, but the other three craft washed up on the shoreline further north at present day Mission Beach where 14 of the crew, including the captain were killed by the Djuru people (The Queenslander April 13, 1872).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 666
- LanguageGroup
- Djiru
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cardwell
- KnownDate
- March 1872
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Colonists
- VictimsDead
- 14
- VictimNotes
- Captain and thirteen crew members of the 'Maria'.
- VictimDescription
- Sailor(s)
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Spear(s), Club(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0e17 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=666 SourceQueenslander, The April 6, 1872 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27270473 and April 13,1872 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27270598; Burrowa News, (NSW), January 31, 1879, p 3; Forster, 1872, pp 13-14 https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-401685207/view?partId=nla.obj-401687311#page/n4/mode/1up; NSW V&P 1872; Brisbane Courier, April 4, 1872, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1299507
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-17.97 Longitude146.098 Start Date1872-03-11 End Date1872-03-14
Description
Following the wreck of the schooner Maria on Bramble reef on 26 February 1872 after which Djiru people had massacred survivors, Captain Moresby from HMS Basilisk and Lieutenant Hayter sailed on the Peri and landed at Mission Beach with a party of sailors, two native police officers and eleven troopers. They then searched for survivors and attacked camps:
'We next proceeded to Tam o'Shanter's Point,
and from this point to Clump Point (the site of Mr. Sabben's encounter) a most vigorous search was made.
A large camp was found, which was rushed, and several
blacks dispersed. In this camp we found a large quantity
of the murdered men's effects, and some charred bones;
other effects were also found in two other camps to the
southward. This completed all traces of the wrecked men.
In this expedition some few natives were killed, and all the
camps between the points above mentioned were destroyed.' (Sydney Morning Herald, 6 Apr 1872, p 8)
Captain Moresby recorded that, 'On our arrival, Mr. Sabben came and reported his execution of this service to me, and Mr. Sheridan met me with a magisterial requisition for assistance, rendered necessary by the fact that various murders and acts of violence had been committed by the blacks of late near Cardwell. It concluded in these words—"If some immediate action is not taken, no boat will be safe on the coast, and I am afraid that the settlers outside the town, or even the town itself, may be attacked by the savages." I therefore aided him to send his black troopers and their officers to the scene of the latest murder—that of the boat's crew of the "Maria" (there to inflict a decisive punishment), by embarking them on board the "Peri",—sending with them three officers and twelve men of H.M.S. "Basilisk", under the command of Lieutenant Francis Hayter. It is needless to say that I felt it very painful to take such a step, but in Mr. Sheridan's opinion as well as my own it was necessary, not only for the sake of justice, and in the interests of all white men who might hereafter be placed at the mercy of the tribe, but to secure the safety of Cardwell itself. The tribe was surprised before daylight,—several unfortunate blacks were shot down by the native troopers, who showed an unrestrained ferocity that disgusted our officers; and the camp, in which some clothing and effects of the four murdered men were found, was destroyed. This work of justice over, the party returned to Cardwell, bringing with them a little native lad about six years old, whose father had been shot.' (Moresby, 1876, Ch. IV, pp 28-29)
Timothy Bottoms estimates that 88 Aboriginal men, women and children were killed overall in the killings carried out during the Peri and Governor Blackall expeditions, 45 of these at Tam O'Shanter Point (Bottoms, 2013, p 135).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 668
- LanguageGroup
- Djiru
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cardwell
- KnownDate
- March 1872
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 45
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Police
- Transport
- Boat
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- survivors of the 'Maria' shipwreck
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1872: ‘Maria’ reprisal massacres, QLD
Details
Latitude-16.659 Longitude145.501 Start Date1880-01-01 End Date1880-12-31
Description
After Djabugay raids in which Patrick Molloy lost 8 draught horses, Molloy, with other white settlers and a party of native mounted police 'tracked the Djabugay group to Bunda Bugal (Black Mountain) at the head of Rifle Creek.' where they were, in the colonists language of the time, 'dispersed' and 'taught a lesson' (Bottoms, 2013, p 151).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 672
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Bunda Bugal
- LanguageGroup
- Djabugay
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- KnownDate
- 1880
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-18.93 Longitude145.529 Start Date1872-07-01 End Date1872-07-31
Description
In a letter to the Colonial Secretary by Alfred Davidson, 'representative of the Aborigines Protection Society based in Brisbane', he pointed out that: 'Mr Scott of Valley of Lagoons [station] permitted a mob of Blacks mostly aged, to camp in that neighbourhood upon condition they would do no harm which condition they faithfully kept' (Davidson cited in Bottoms, 2013, p 137). One morning in July 1872 before daylight and without warning they were attacked by a detachment of Native police led by Acting Sub-Inspector Robert Johnstone (Richards, 2008, p 241). 'Several were shot and two Gins taken away. The bodies of the slain Gins appear to have been buried but the naked bodies of eight dead men, one grey haired, were left exposed on the roadside till they stank' (Davidson cited in Bottoms, 2013, p 137).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 674
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- KnownDate
- July 1872
- AttackTime
- Morning
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 11
- VictimNotes
- Men and women.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-17.273 Longitude145.589 Start Date1884-01-01 End Date1884-12-31
Description
In 1884, Jack Kane, aged 18, joined with police officers and Aboriginal trackers in a week long operation. They surrounded a Yidinydji camp before dawn. 'At dawn one man fired into their camp and the natives rushed away in three other directions. They were easy running shots, close up' (Jack Kane to Tindale cited in Bottoms 2013). The native police then killed off the children. From there the native police chased them to Mulgrave and Four Mile and shot more of them.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 677
- LanguageGroup
- Yidinydi
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cooktown
- KnownDate
- 1884
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Field Police, Aboriginal Tracker(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Pistol(s), Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-25.04 Longitude146.259 Start Date1862-09-01 End Date1862-09-30
Description
An unnamed lieutenant of native police and six troopers 'cleared out' an Aboriginal campsite on Pigeon Creek station (Chambers, 1988, pp 45-60).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 679
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- KnownDate
- Sept 1862
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 27
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-25.648 Longitude140.241 Start Date1875-01-01 End Date1875-12-31
Description
According to Watson (1998, p 98), 'In 1875, Conrick, a pastoralist, found the remains of about 42 bodies with bullet wounds at Thundapurty Waterhole near Durrie' in south west Queensland.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 681
- LanguageGroup
- Karuwali
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Bedourie
- KnownDate
- 1875
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 42
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Unknown
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-10.93 Longitude142.688 Start Date1867-09-01 End Date1867-12-31
Description
According to separate accounts by Nonie Sharp (1992, p 41) and Tim Bottoms (2013, p128), in late 1867, magistrate Frank Jardine's Aboriginal stockman shot and killed 10 Yadhaigana people at Turtle Head Island, 20 kilometers south of Somerset, in reprisal for disturbing cattle.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 684
- LanguageGroup
- Yadhaigana
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Somerset
- KnownDate
- 1867
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- The Aboriginal stockman was under magistrate Frank Jardine and acting on behalf of colonists.
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- Transport
- Boat
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-10.625 Longitude142.167 Start Date1869-06-01 End Date1869-06-30
Description
The brig 'Sperwer' founded on a reef off Prince of Wales Island in June 1869. The 14 Javanese crew members came on shore at Prince of Wales Island to collect wood and fish for food. The master, Captain Gascoigne and possibly his wife and child and the 14 crew were killed by the Torres Strait Islander people on Prince of Wales Island. The bodies of the master and the woman and her child were found two months later, along with the bodies of the 14 crew members. There is no first hand account of exactly what happened.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 685
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Somerset
- KnownDate
- June 1869
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Colonists
- VictimsDead
- 17
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Torres Strait Islander(s)
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Waddies/Nulla-nulla(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-33.961 Longitude140.887 Start Date1841-05-01 End Date1841-05-31
Description
In May 1841, a party of police and stockmen led by Henry Field, attacked an Aboriginal camp in a place known as Hornet's Nest in reprisal for the alleged killing of livestock by Ngintait. It is alleged that eight Ngintait people were killed (Burke et al, 2016, pp135-179).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 692
- LanguageGroup
- Ngintait
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- SA
- PoliceDistrict
- Adelaide
- KnownDate
- May1841
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 8
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s), Police
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-36.942 Longitude140.14 Start Date1848-09-01 End Date1848-09-30
Description
In September 1848 settler James Brown and two employees at Avenue Range station near Guichen Bay, shot and killed eight Wattatonga people and burnt the bodies. The body burning was witnessed by a white man who reported the massacre and then disappeared along with an Aboriginal man who was also a witness. Brown was arrested and charged with murder and the employees absconded. The Aboriginal witness was probably killed before he could be subpoenaed to give evidence at the trial. As a result Brown was never tried and the case was dropped (Foster et al, 2001, pp 78-80; Foster, 2009, pp 1-15).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 694
- LanguageGroup
- Wattatonga
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- SA
- PoliceDistrict
- Kingston
- KnownDate
- November 1848
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimNotes
- An old man, 'blind and infirm', 3 women, 2 teenage girls, 3 female children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-34.1 Longitude135.696 Start Date1849-05-01 End Date1849-05-01
Description
In oral histories collected by Christina Smith one account relates that: In May 1849 a 'local shepherd, Patrick Dwyer, annoyed at Aboriginal people taking flour from his hut, laced some of his supply with arsenic. The flour disappeared and eight Aboriginal people became sick after eating it. Five of them died and three others became very ill and later died. Dwyer was arrested on suspicion of murder but released afterwards for lack of evidence.' He then disappeared to California (Foster et al, 2001, p 83).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 696
- LanguageGroup
- Nawu
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- SA
- KnownDate
- May 1849
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 8
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Shepherd(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Poison
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-33.645 Longitude134.885 Start Date1849-05-17 End Date1849-05-17
Description
In reprisal for Aboriginal killing of Captain James Rigby Beevor on 3 May 1849 and Anne Easton on 7 May 1849 it is possible that a settler posse chased a group of Wirangu and Nauo people to Waterloo Bay on 17 May and shot and killed at least 10 of them as they sought refuge in the bushes down the headland (Foster et al, 2001, p 53).
The 'massacre' is highly contested. Foster and Nettelbeck point out that 'there is no "direct" evidence...in the official documents from the period 1848-1850.' They also point out that: 'Similarly there is no "direct" evidence in the memoirs written by individuals who were directly involved in the events of 1848-1849' (Foster et al, 2001, p 50).
However, they do acknowledge that on 16 May 1849, '"there were three parties of volunteers out at that time", and that according to historian Greg Charter, "that if the massacre took place it occurred following the Beevor and Easten murders"' (Charter quoted in Foster et al, 2001, pp 53-54). The Aboriginal community in the region are in no doubt that the massacre took place.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 698
- LanguageGroup
- Wirangu, Nauo
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- SA
- KnownDate
- 17 May 1849
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 2 settlers
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Musket(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-21.531 Longitude133.897 Start Date1874-02-22 End Date1874-04-10
Description
Kaititja men attacked the Barrow Creek Telegraph Station in retaliation for telegraph workers raiding and 'dispersing' the Kaititja camp and abducting women. In the course of the Kaititja attack, Station Master James Laurence Oliver Stapleton and Linesman John Franks were killed.
Over the next six weeks, Police Trooper Samuel Gason '...with assistance from a constable from The Peak and staff from the Barrow Creek and Tennant Creek Telegraph Stations...carried out four punitive expeditions against Aboriginal people between Taylor Creek and Central Mount Stuart' (Barrow Creek Telegraph Station Heritage Assessment Report, 1995, p 10).
The number of people killed varies between sources. Some say that although 11 were officially recognised as killed, a higher death toll is likely and others say that 'the number of Aboriginal lives taken in reprisal for the station attack was between 50 and 90, possibly higher' (Nettelbeck & Foster 2007, p 7; Bell 1983, p 63).
One man put the figure at about 90 at Skull Creek alone (Reid 1990, pp 64-65). Kimber (1991, p 6) noted that 'MJ O'Reilly, who "got to know a member of this tribe" in c 1919, understood from the Aborigines that the telegraph station had greatly offended them because it had been built "on one of the tribe's most sacred spots"'.
Still later, TGH Strehlow, as a result of discussions with Aboriginal people in the region, suggested that 'white men of bad character', not of the telegraph station staff, had abducted young Aboriginal women and raped them; in retaliation the Aborigines attacked the white men available to them rather than the actual criminals (Strehlow cited in Kimber 1991, p 6).
'As old-timer Alec Ross related many years later, the response was swift: "They sent out messages on the wires everywhere, and the police and parties of men came up from The Tennant and The Alice and from lots of other places. And I can tell you, they did some pretty serious shooting too – taught the blacks a lesson they've never forgotten… and for quite a few more months blacks would get shot in twos and threes in the whole of this district. The blacks had needed a good lesson and they got it right in the neck; they never attacked another white man along the Line after that"' (Ross cited in Bradley, 2019, p 9).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 700
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Jemelke
- LanguageGroup
- Kaititja, Anmatyerre, Warumungu, Alyawarra, Warlpiri
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Alice Springs
- KnownDate
- Feb-Apr 1874
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 50
- VictimNotes
- Officially 11. Later accounts from eyewitnesses and/or those in positions to know range from 50 to about 90 at Skull Creek alone.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- Stationmaster James Laurence Oliver Stapleton & Linesman John Franks, both ‘killed by natives’ at the Barrow Creek Overland Telegraph Station. Attacked 22 Feb 1874. Franks died 22/2 and Stapleton on 23/2.
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s), Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Overland telegraph staff
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1873-1874: Barrow Creek SA/NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d95 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=700 SourceBCHAR, 1995; South Australian Register, 25 June 1874, p 4 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39819933; The Stringer, 20 April 2013, np http://thestringer.com.au/the-killing-times-2214#.XLBRNKQRWUm; Nettelbeck & Foster 2007; Bell 1983, p 53; Wilson 2000, pp 270-71; Reid, 1990, pp 62-65; Mulvaney, 2003, pp 44-51; Hartwig, 1965, pp 265-276; Kimber, 1991, p 6; Bradley, 2019, p 9; Roberts, 2005, pp 113-114; Daly, 1887, pp 225-226; Vallee, 2007, pp 103-109; NTTG 12 September 1874, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3143233; SA Gazette No 29 of 1874, pp 1335-37.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-14.217 Longitude131.951 Start Date1878-01-01 End Date1878-01-31
Description
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.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 702
- LanguageGroup
- Malak Malak
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Pine Creek
- KnownDate
- 1878
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 17
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Overlander(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Teamster James Ellis
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d97 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=702 SourceSHAR 2014; Roberts, 2009; Roberts, 2005, p 123; Reid, 1990, p 70; NTTG, 19 January, 1878, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3146552; 26 January, 1878, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3146569; 2 February, 1878, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3146587 9 February, 1878, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3146598, 23 February, 1878, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3146639, 9 March, 1878, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3146690; SA Register, 28 January, 1878, p 6http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40780933; 30 January, 1878, p 4 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40791443; Kelsey, 1975, pp 64-65; Austin, 1992, p 16.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-13.713 Longitude130.687 Start Date1884-09-02 End Date1884-10-17
Description
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.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 704
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Nauiyu
- LanguageGroup
- Murrinh-patha, Malak Malak, Woolwonga
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Darwin
- KnownDate
- 1884
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 70
- VictimNotes
- The official estimate was 20-30, however some reports estimate it to be between 70-150. The Protector of Aborigines, Dr Robert Morice, put the deaths at 'not less than 150'.
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Miners John Landers, Henry Hauschildt & Johannes Noltenius and their cook Thomas Schollert.
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1884: Mt Hayward Copper Mine, Daly River, SA/NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d9a Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=704 SourceNettelbeck, 2004; Wilson, 2000; Morrison https://www.australianfrontierconflicts.com.au; Evening Journal, June 4, 1885 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198397078; SA Register, June 11, 1885 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44534459; Roberts, 2005, pp 125-131; Roberts, 2009, np; North Australian, November 27, 1885 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47995004; Markus 1974, p 12-34; 'Report on the pursuit of the Daly River murderers', North Australian, January 8, 1886 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47995130; SAPP, No.170, 1885; Morris 2019; Reid, B, 2020; Clement & Bridge, 1991, p 16; Daly 1887, pp 257-263; SA Register, 12 February 12, 1886, p 6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/50184608
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-15.222 Longitude134.082 Start Date1901-01-01 End Date1902-12-31
Description
Ucko and Layton (1999, p 235) say the massacre at Hodgson Downs occurred shortly before 1903 (or 1904, according to Read & Read [1991, pp 12-16]). Estimates of the number killed range between 30 and 40 Alawa people, including men, women and children. It is reported that white settlers circled and shot them.
Citing Chicken Gonagun and Sandy Mambookyi, Read and Read (1991, pp 12-16) said Aboriginal men who had been cajoled into cutting timber for them were shot dead. Children were flung against trees or had their skulls smashed with stones. Women were shot. Gonagun said (p 16) "Oh, they bin like to killem, finishem up tribe. Take all of their country."
Ucko and Layton (1999, p 235) wrote: 'According to August Sandy Lirriwirri, Stephen Roberts' grandfather, Old Charlie Waypuldanya, was among the few people who escaped.'
This massacre was carried out in reprisal for the killing of cattle and horses by the Alawa people.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 706
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Minyerri
- LanguageGroup
- Alawa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Borroloola
- KnownDate
- 1901-1902
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- 30-40 Alawa men, women & children.
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d9e Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=706 SourceUcko & Layton, 1999, p 235; Read & Read 1991, pp 12-16; RAHC; Olney, J (2003) Lower Roper River Land Claim No 70, Aboriginal Land Commissioner, Darwin; Merlan 1978, p 87.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-14.818 Longitude134.587 Start Date1903-01-01 End Date1904-12-31
Description
See also the Hodgson Downs Station, Bailey Creek and, Minyerri massacres.
Read and Read (1991, pp 12-16) relate the story of how Waypuldanya took revenge on the white men who he believed to be involved in the massacre of Alawa people at Hodgson Downs Station at Bailey Creek, Minyerri. He and his younger brothers killed eight in an ambush and took their guns, horses, ammunition, packs and saddles. Other white stockmen found the bodies at Winiki but did not pursue Old Charlie because they knew he was now well armed.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 707
- LanguageGroup
- Eastside Kriol
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Katherine
- KnownDate
- 1903-1904
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Colonists
- VictimsDead
- 8
- VictimDescription
- Settler(s)
- Attackers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 30
- WeaponsUsed
- Spear(s), Club(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-21.981 Longitude132.271 Start Date1928-08-15 End Date1928-08-31
Description
In 1928 the region around the Lander River and Hanson River was 5 years into a drought. Few places were left where people and livestock could drink and Aboriginal people were increasingly spearing cattle for food. Prior to the Coniston massacres, colonists complained that Aboriginal people were increasingly audacious or 'cheeky' and it was reported that Aboriginal people known to colonists as 'Warramulla' around Tanami and the Granites goldfields who had gained a reputation for wildness and attacks were planning to drive colonists out of the region (Bradley, 2019, p 2 & Kimber, 2003-2004, Part 1).
On 7 August 1928 a group of Warlpiri, Anmatyere and Kaytetye men led by Kamalyarrpa Japananglea, also known as 'Bullfrog', killed dingo trapper Fred Brooks at Yurrkuru, a Warlpiri, Anmatyere and Kaytetye camp about 14 miles (22 km) from the Coniston Station homestead. The killing took place in reprisal for Brooks's kidnapping one of Bullfrog's wives. After his body was found in a rabbit hole, Mounted Constable George Murray, who was a veteran of the Boer War and World War I, led a punitive expedition of eight armed men around the Lander River and among the ranges to the west. The expedition included 'Mounted Constable Murray, Stafford, Saxby, Briscoe, the 'half-caste' Wilson and three Aboriginal trackers, Paddy, Major and Dodger.' (Bradley, 2019, p 51). This expedition lasted 16 days.
On this first expedition the killing started at Coniston on 15th August when two Aboriginal men, Padygar and Willigar, came into the camp armed with boomerangs and spears. Paddy and Major attempted to arrest and chain them, and when they resisted, Murray shot Willigar in the head and Padygar was restrained (Bradley, 2019, pp 43-57). Willigar later died of the wound.
The following day on 16 August, the expedition departed Coniston and returned on 31 August. Government Resident, J.C. Cawood, reported in a telegram to Canberra that 17 Aboriginal people were killed (Bradley, 2019, p 96). Mounted Constable Murray, later claimed that during this expedition he shot 1 prisoner resisting arrest at Coniston, then he killed 17 Aboriginal people at another camp, 'The firing broke out - I don't know who started it, but the whole 17 were dead when it finished.' Then 50 miles west in the Granites, two more were shot, and a prisoner died on the return journey (Northern Standard, 3 March 1933, p 5). They returned to Coniston with another prisoner, Arkirkra.
Accounts in court proceedings and from various sources differ slightly in numbers and in the order of events, but these incidents remain consistent. There are also several days unaccounted for (Bradley, 2019, p72) and Aboriginal oral records of the period are specific about where further killings took place, though it is not clear on which expedition they occurred. It's likely those on the Lander as far north as Six Mile Soak and Tipinpa, and to the west were either part of this first or the second expedition. Bradley describes 6 locations where the expedition encountered Aboriginal people, north of Coniston along the Lander River, and westwards to the ranges beyond Cockatoo Springs and present day Yuendumu (Bradley, 2019, p xi & p 122).
Concluding this expedition, Mounted Constable Murray took the two prisoners, Padygar and Arkirkra, and a witness, a boy named Lala, from Coniston to Alice Springs (Bradley, 2019, p 74).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 708
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Yurrkuru and other places
- LanguageGroup
- Warlpiri, Anmatyere, Kaytetye
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Barrow Creek
- KnownDate
- 1928
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- Dingo trapper, Fred Brooks, who was killed on 7 August, 1928.
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse, Camel
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Fred Brooks, Dingo Trapper
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1928: Coniston, NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0da1 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=708 SourceWoodward, 1973, p 82; Read & Read, 1991, pp 33-37; Bell 1993, pp 67-68; Toohey 1979; Edmond, 2013, p 104 http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/534259; Morrison www.australianfrontierconflicts.com.au; Schubert, NT News, August 25, 2018, pp 24-25 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-24/nt-police-apologise-for-state-sanctioned-coniston-massacre/10162850; Wilson & O'Brien, 2003, pp 59-78; Bowman, 2015 https://www.clc.org.au/every-hill-got-a-story/;
Bradley, 2019, pp xi, 2, 43-57, 72, 74, 96, 122;
Kimber 2003-04, Part 1 https://alicespringsnews.com.au/2018/08/15/the-coniston-massacre-remembered/;
Making Peace with The Past https://digitalntl.nt.gov.au/10070/660392/0/4
Northern Standard 3 March, 1933, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48058883
Robinson, 1945 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-410786254;
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-19.648 Longitude134.19 Start Date1917-01-01 End Date1917-12-31
Description
Read and Read (1991, pp 5-7) relate the story of Fred Booth Minmienadji who was in a droving party that arbitrarily shot "wild blackfeller" at night. Speaking about how many he'd personally shot, he said "half a hundred". An unnamed policeman ordered a "big fire". About 15 bodies were destroyed "in the fire". This event is recorded as occurring "south of Tennant Creek" in about 1917 when many white men were away during World War I.
Headon (1988, p 35-36) noted Minmienadji saying: "The wild blackfeller. Oh, shot him, half a hundred. Just about night-time, one bastard run away. I shot him on the leg, fall arse over head. 'Where's some blackfeller?' old sergeant said. 'I shot one feller over here, crawl about on his knee. I must have broken his knee.' 'Oh, good. Where's 'nother fellers?' 'I shot him in the bloody head. Oh, he's in the creek, I think.'"
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 711
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Kargaru
- LanguageGroup
- Warlpiri, Warumungu
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Alice Springs
- KnownDate
- 1917
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 50
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s), Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Rifle(s), Fire
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-17.985 Longitude135.534 Start Date1892-02-01 End Date1892-02-28
Description
See also Nicholson River massacre.
It was widely believed that station worker George William Clarke and the station cook Charles Deloitte were killed at Bowgan Station by Aboriginal workers 'Walter' and 'Monkeyboy'. Two reprisal massacres took place in pursuit of the alleged killers.
The first was at Corella Creek on Bowgan Station, and led by station owner, Tom Perry. According to Charles Gaunt, 'Walter' and 'Monkeyboy' sought refuge with a group of Aboriginal people who were not involved in the killings.
'The party on the way to Bowgun crossed Corella Creek, eighteen miles from Brunette and just at that particular time a big mob of blacks had come in from the Westward and was camped at the big hole about a mile and a half below the crossing. The party discovered the blacks and the. blood lust being strong in these men, thirsting for revenge, they rounded up these blacks, innocent of any crime at the time, and shot down bucks, lubras and piccaninnies. The terrified blacks jumping into the water hole were slaughtered in dozens. (This was told to me a short time afterwards at Eva Downs by three of the party, one being Tom Perry). The party then proceeded on the way leaving the camp a shambles and the waterhole a grave for those shot in it' (Gaunt, February 19, 1932, p 2),
'Walter' was killed in the reprisal massacre. Monkey Boy escaped and died of natural causes.
Perry, who led the reprisal massacres was the part-owner and manager of Cresswell Downs Station (aka Bowgan Downs because of a creek on the station by that name).
A Borroloola Police Station Letter Book entry of June 1893 records that GW Clarke (one of the murdered) was in possession of cattle, the property of F Bourke of Fitzroy River in WA.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 714
- LanguageGroup
- Garawa, Yanuwa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Anthony's Lagoon
- KnownDate
- February 1892
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- George Williamson Clarke and Charles Deloitte
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Rifle(s), Tomahawk(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1892: Bowgan, SA/NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0dab Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=714 SourceRead and Read 1991, pp 26-28; GSNT Record 579; NTTG, March 4, 1892, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3320941; NTTG, March 5, 1897, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4165959; Gaunt, 'The Tragedy of Bowgun [sic]', Northern Standard (Darwin) 19 February 19, 1932 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49488610 p 3; NTRS 2710 – Borroloola Police Letter Books – entry, June 1893; Morrison https://www.australianfrontierconflicts.com.au; Ucko & Layton 1999; SA Legislative Council Select Committee Inquiry into the Aborigines Bill 1899.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-13.046 Longitude135.944 Start Date1911-01-01 End Date1913-12-31
Description
Men of two clan groups were at a men's ceremony, and women collecting food nearby were massacred at Gan Gan, killing almost everyone. Some were captured and some escaped. Following this Aboriginal people killed two colonists at Trial Bay. The attackers went to Trial Bay and then to Birany Birany where they massacred men, women and children again. They later returned to collect skulls for sale in southern cities. See also
Birany Birany.
According to Galarrwuy Yunupingu, 'At Gan Gan these men on horseback performed their duties and killed an entire clan group – men, women and children. They shot them out and killed them in any way they could so that they could take the land. These men on horseback then rode to Birany Birany and killed many of our Yarrwidi Gumatj, the saltwater people who cared for the great ceremonies at Birany Birany. There are few places in our lives as sacred as Gan Gan – from its fresh waters all things come – and Birany Birany.' (Yunupingu, G 2016)
According to Bronwyn Wuyuwa Yunupingu men from two tribes were at a private ceremony site while the women and children collected food. 'None of them knew that a party of men with guns were riding towards the camp on horses. They were led by a man called Balayni also known as Bill Harney, a yella-fella from the Roper River area. The armed men band of men rode in to the camp and shot the older women.' (p4) The men saw their wives being shot and retaliated with spears but were driven back to a lagoon where some were shot and killed. Some children escaped and joined with some of the surviving men. Bill Harney's group captured other men women and children. She adds that, "This was not the end of the story though Bill Harney returned the next year and collected the skulls of the people he had murdered. And later sold them to a museum in southern cities and made a lot of money.'(Yunupingu, B p 13) Following this Yunupingu's people killed 2 or Harney's men at Trial Bay, and Bill Harney returned and massacred people at Birany Birany (Yunupingu, B p 15).
In the Preface to Bronwyn Wuyuwa Yunupingu A True, Bad Story Devlin wrote: 'The Bilayni or Bill Harney of this story is not to be confused with the man of the same name who was at one stage Protector of the Aborigines in the late 1940s and who later became an authority on Aboriginal matters'. Devlin said he had interviewed Birrikitji Gumana (the father of Gawirrin) who 'asserted without hesitation' that the Bilayni of the Gangan story 'came, murdered and was never seen again'. Using genealogical methods Devlin concluded the Gangan incident took place 'possibly a little before the war (1914-18)'. He therefore concluded that the Bilayni of the story was not the Bill Harney 'who was in the Gove area in 1946' (Yunupingu, B p i).
The events described indicate a high death toll, but that more escaped at Birany Birany, so the number of victims at Birany Birany may have been lower than at Gan Gan. Other massacres with recorded death tolls in this region and time, tend to average around 20 to 30. Warren Snowdon, when speaking of the death of Dr Gumana, said that, 'Dr Gumana spoke about a vengeance massacre of up to 30 of his people at Gangan when he was a young boy' (Snowdon, 2016). Galarrwuy Yunupingu said that 'an entire clan group' was killed and Bronwyn Wuyuwa Yunupingu indicated two groups were at the ceremony. The minimum size of a viable a clan group is about 20 (Mann, 2013 p 167-183) and they may be much larger. Since this was a large massacre, and there may have been two clan groups, 25 killed at Gan Gan is a conservative estimate.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 715
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Gangan
- LanguageGroup
- Yolngu – Dhalwangu and Gumatj people
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Darwin
- KnownDate
- 1911
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 25
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-22.585 Longitude133.139 Start Date1884-08-07 End Date1884-09-07
Description
See also
Blackfellows Bones Bore and
Attack Gap massacres. Sid Stanes (Lonsdale Collection, Reel 25 side 1, pb 28), an old cattleman, recalled in an oral history interview: 'When they killed [sic] Harry Figg out there, they brought all the stock in from Frew River, The Reservoir, The Stirling, they shot a lot too. [Mounted Constable Erwein] Wurmbrandt shot a lot of those blacks. He was shooting them wholesale and he was recalled and Cowle took his place'. This part of the reprisal took place 'off the 30 Mile to a rock on the bottom end of Napperby [Station]' according to Harry Tilmouth (Trish Lonsdale Collection NTRS 3414/P1, p 10). He said: 'This rock is now called Rembrandt's Rock but was originally named Wurmbrandt's Rock because Mounted Constable Wurmbrand 'was a pretty savage chap and that is where the turnout took place, I believe'. Kimber (10 Sept 2003) reported the number to be 15. The nature of Stanes's and Tilmouth's descriptions suggests the actual total was many times higher. (There are two 'Rocks' in the same area, both incorrectly spelt: Wirmbrandt Rock and Rembrandt Rock.)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 718
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Anmatjere
- LanguageGroup
- Anmatyerr
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Alice Springs
- KnownDate
- 1884
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 100
- VictimNotes
- Dead included Slim Jim, Boko, Clubfoot and Jimmy Mullins, allegedly shot by Trackers.
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Harry Figg and Thomas Coombes at Anna's Reservoir
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1884: Anna's Reservoir, NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0db2 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=718 SourceTraynor 2016; Kimber, D. 10 September, 2003, Alice Springs News http://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/1032.html; Nettelbeck & Foster, 2007, p 16; Wilson, 2000, p 272; Morrison https://www.australianfrontierconflicts.com.au; Adelaide Observer, September 20, 1884 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article160101265; NTTG, October 25, 1884, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3156621; Perkins, 1975, p 19; NT Archives Service NTRS 3414/Part 1 – Sid Stanes, Lonsdale Collection Reel 25, side 1; NTRS 3414 – Reel 26, side 1 - Harry Tilmouth; Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory, 2002 https://depws.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/249038/annas_pom.pdf.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-15.807 Longitude129.748 Start Date1918-03-23 End Date1918-04-02
Description
The Timber Creek Police Station Copy Book (1918) records on 10 April 1918 that Alexander MacDonald was speared after sundown near Dick's Creek, eight miles from the Auvergne Station homestead, on 23 March 1918. He was employed at the station and was camped near the creek in order to fix fences. He was found with two spear wounds in his back and one in his left arm. The Aboriginals accused were pursued into the stone country of Razorback Mountain (now known as Razorback Hill) on the West Baines River by Mounted Constable O'Connor and a party comprised of Archie Skuthorp (Manager, Auvergne Station), George Campbell, Bobby Frank and Peter (Aboriginal tracker). Three Aboriginal men were shot and killed on Razorback Mountain – names recorded as Milderong, Wilpelum and Warook and one was wounded – on 29 March. On 2 April, another four were found dead in the water in a gorge after the party opened fire following an ambush. They were identified as Doorakborough, Youburen (alleged to have speared MacDonald), Wungarrie and Yomgurrior. The wounded man was Lingerry and all belonged to the Cuderong tribe. What became of Lingerry (ie whether he survived) is not known. The Aboriginal attack was led by Youburen, according to Frank, an Aboriginal man.
Lewis (2021, p 25) corroborated this and questions the report of Mounted Constable O'Connor in relation to the difficulty of the pursuit. "At the very least it appears that O'Connor exaggerated his report to make his patrol seem much more dangerous than it really was. It begs the question whether any other details also had been 'modified'."
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 719
- LanguageGroup
- Wardaman, Bilinara, Mudburra
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Timber Creek
- KnownDate
- March-April 1918
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimNotes
- Milderong, Wilpelum, Warook, Doorakborough, Youburen (alleged to have speared MacDonald), Wungarrie and Yomgurrior. These were just the bodies recovered. There could have been more. Another man, Lingerry, was wounded (shot) in the calf of his leg.
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- Alexander MacDonald, employee of Auvergne Station.
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Alexander 'Sandy' MacDonald
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0db4 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=719 SourceLewis, 2021, p 25; Timber Creek Police Station Copy Book, 10 April 1918; Timber Creek Police Station Register of Reported Deaths, 1895-1944; NTTG, April 20, 1918, p 24 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3288859; NTTG,May 11, 1918, p 15 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3289247; Riverine Herald, June 24, 1918, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90178007; Lewis, 2021, https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/836453/0/0
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-16.45 Longitude130.866 Start Date1895-07-14 End Date1896-02-01
Description
The NTTG of June 14, 1895, p 3 reported that teamsters John Mulligan and George Ligar were attacked at TK (Tom Kilfoyle) Camp on Jasper Gorge around 8pm on 14 May 1895. Ligar survived. Mulligan died within a year.
Read and Read (1991, pp 55-62) recount the stories of Aboriginal people in the area about what followed, 'A police party that included stockmen, tried to arrest a man named Major but the stockman concerned had a gun that "accidentally fired, killing Major". It was at this time that a man named Harry was arrested and gaoled. He was later acquitted. It was probably in about February 1896 that police - notably Mounted Constable E O'Keefe - persuaded two Aboriginal women to entice a "big mob" [15-20+?] of Pilinara men to the police station to build a stock yard in return for the policeman providing tobacco and being a "good boss". When the men came to the station in the afternoon, they were chained together, which the women told them was to make them "little bit quiet. Like a dog". Police trackers, who had been hiding in the creek bed, were ordered into the station. One man was kicked in the ribs before all the men were lined up and shot. Their bodies were taken to the nearby creek bed where they were piled and burnt.
Oral histories record: "They puttem big mob of wood, there, top of him. And chuckem kerosene, strike some matches, and burnem. Lot. No anything left, eh. All ashes. Burnem finish. Lot."'
Lewis (2021, p 482) wrote that 'Back at the gorge Willshire found that Jack Watson and a large party of men had gone out into the ranges after the blacks. In the South Australian Records Office there is a newspaper cutting of this event with a hand-written annotation stating that 60 Aborigines were shot by this party. People allegedly massacred while engaged in a "corroboree" at Kanjamala, about twenty kilometres south of the gorge, may be victims of this punitive party.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 722
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Pilinara (VRD) and Yarralin (Gordon Creek)
- LanguageGroup
- Bilinara, Wardaman
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek
- KnownDate
- 14 July 1895
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 60
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Attack on teamsters John Mulligan and George Ligar in their camp. Ligar survived. Mulligan died within a year.
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Pistol(s), Spear(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0dbc Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=722 SourceAustin, 1992, p 17; Read & Read, 1991, pp 55-62; NTTG, June 14, 1895, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3329713; NTTG, June 28, 1895, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3329815; NTTG, March 13, 1896, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3331518; Lewis, 2021, pp 15-16, 482; Sutton, 2019, https://www.news.com.au/news/grisly-secret-of-cattlemen-who-kept-40-pairs-of-ears-as-trophies-in-outback-horror-house/news-story/17022ba7691314b4cff5aadbf8511936; Lewis, 2012, p 98; Olney Justice Howard (1989) Kidman Springs/Jasper Gorge Land Claim, Report No 30, AGPS, Canberra ; Rose & Lewis, Oral history with Big Mick Kanginang recorded at Yarralin, VRD, 16 April 1982; Wilson, 2001, p 325; Willshire, 1895, pp 75-76.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-16.618 Longitude129.297 Start Date1886-11-17 End Date1887-01-21
Description
Darrell Lewis (2018, pp 51-52) wrote: 'The name Waterloo is said to be a reference to the "unrestrained slaughter" of local Aborigines by police after the spearing of "Big Johnny" Durack near Mount Duncan in 1886 (Pollard 1970, p 30; see also Moore, n.d.)... Michael Terry also heard about a fight between a group of white men and 100 Aborigines "by Waterloo Hill" after the spearing of "J Larry" Durack (Terry, 1928, entry for October 30th).' 'Doug Moore (n.d. p 6) also recounts that: "Waterloo Station was named on account of the battle with natives there years ago. Ammunition ran out so there was wholesale slaughter of natives. This told to me by my boy Jerry who escaped; he hid in an ant-bed then sneaked away in the dark"' . NTTG reported on December 25, 1886 (p. 2) that 'A party of six troopers has been sent out in search of the murderers of the late John Durack. Another party, including the unfortunate man's brothers and several other Europeans has also started after the offending tribe. We trust they will find them and administer a lesson such as will not be soon forgotten'. Mary Durack (2018 [1959] pp 292-294) noted that 'the conspiracy of silence that sealed the lips of the pioneers added colour to the rumours that spread abroad so that whereas we know they took much rough justice into their own hands they were no doubt less devastating to the local tribes than was sometimes said. "Punitive expeditions", like brumby musters, took a great deal of time and organisation...One lesson they learned from this chase, however, was that "treachery" on the part of the blacks must be met with "strategy" by the whites'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 744
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Wyndham
- KnownDate
- 1886
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 100
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police, Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1886: John Durack Massacres, NT/WA
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0de4 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=744 SourceLewis, 2018, pp 51-52; SA Register, December 9, 1886, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45846815; North Australian, December 10, 1886, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47996152 December 24, 1896, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47996205 and January 21, 1887 p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47996309; p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47996318; NTTG, December 11, 1886, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3160525 and December 25, 1886, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3160570; Durack, 2018 [1959], pp 292-294.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-15.687 Longitude131.286 Start Date1895-11-01 End Date1895-11-30
Description
This incident was a daylight attack on Paddy Cahill who had a reputation for his ability to shoot accurately at a gallop on horseback.
Lewis (2004, pp 247-248) wrote: 'In November 1895, Paddy Cahill took a mob of horses from Katherine to the Depot where he had arranged to meet the Government Resident, Charles Dashwood. As he was crossing the Little Gregory Creek about fourteen miles from its junction with the Victoria River he was attacked by Aborigines. In his words: "We had just started from the luncheon camp and had hardly gone 300 yards when I noticed some very fresh black's tracks. Knowing that the blacks were very bad in that part of the country I took my rifle from under my saddle flap and filled it with cartridges. I rode on a few yards when one of my boys cried out, 'Look out Paddy!' I knew the blacks must be behind me, so I dodged down alongside my horse's shoulder, and only just in time. A spear struck my hat, going through it, and giving me hard knock on the head. Luckily I am Irish, and a bit thickheaded, so it did very little harm! Before I could say a word, I had niggers all around. I could do nothing but shoot as quickly as possible, and I can shoot fairly quickly. I don't know how many niggers I shot-I didn't stop to count them". (SA Register September 4, 1900, p 6) Cahill continued on and was followed by the Aborigines for several days and nights, but was not attacked again.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 745
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Judbarra
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinyman, Karrangpurru, Nungali, Malngin, Wardaman, Ngaliwurru, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek
- KnownDate
- November 1895
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-15.562 Longitude131.58 Start Date1892-11-01 End Date1892-11-21
Description
This massacre is the second of two reprisal massacres following the killing of GS Scott, manager of Willeroo station in October 1892. This group was led by Mounted Constable Browne. Lewis (2004, p 243-244) noted: 'Writing in 1895, Mounted Constable Willshire stated that, "They were tracked up by an avenging party, and sic transit gloria mundi!" ('Thus passes the glory of the world')'. (The first was perpetrated by Lindsay Crawford, a well-known station manager in the VRD region, on 20 October 1892, see
Willeroo #1).
According to Kulumput, as recorded by W. Arndt (1965, p 245), Paddy Cahill was involved in these Willeroo massacres and one occurred in a cave. He also stated it was Bulinara people who were massacred, and Wardaman people later moved into the country as a result of the 'decimation'. 'The Bulinara tribe murdered Syd. Scott, the overseer at Old Willeroo, some time between 1886 and 1892. According to Kulumput the Bulinara tribe was then "yarded up in a cave" by the famous Paddy Cahill, who then "shot the whole blooming lot." Kulumput's family were "visiting" near the V.R.D. homestead at the time of the reprisal, if not at the time of the murder.'(Arndt, 1965, p245) According to Arndt, Kulumput 'was of Yungman-Bulinara extraction, born in Mudbura territory, and an elder in a Wardaman migrant group in Bulinara country.' and respected by Wardaman people because of his birthright to the former Bulinara country of this region (Arndt, 1965, p245).
Kulumput's statement that Paddy was involved in a massacre in a cave accords with the newspaper report that the reprisal parties were headed into rough ranges, 'In addition to the party in charge of Mr. Crawford, there left Springvale on Saturday Messrs M. C. Browne, A. J. Giles, Clarke, Frayne, Palmer, Ah Sing, Joe Wah, five blackboys and some thirty horses, so that the country will get a good turning out, and the culprits will have to show a considerable amount of agility if they wish to keep out of the road. The country about the McClure Creek has always had a bad name on account or the "cheekiness" of the natives. There have already been three or four outrages about that district, resulting (I think) in the death of three Europeans. The ranges in the neighbourhood are very high and rough.' (NTTG October 21, 1892, p 3) Since the other recorded incident was at a campsite near the homestead, it would either be this massacre led by Mounted Constable Browne that Paddy Cahill participated in, occurring in a cave, or a third massacre.
These incidents occured at 'Old Willeroo', which is to the south of the later Willeroo Station, about half way to Delamere Station, between tributaries of Victoria River and Aroona River. Davidson, in Archaeological Problems of North Austalia (Davidson, 1935) notes that caves at Willeroo and at Delamere have been inhabited for a long time, and that they are inhabited during the wet season, which is when these massacres occurred). Lewis suggests there may be some confusion in Arndt's reporting of Kulumput's account, because Willeroo is Wardaman country and Bilinara country is further south around Victoria River. The Delamere caves are as close to Old Willeroo as the Willeroo caves, and they are to the south, near the Victoria River tributaries such as Gregory Creek. The Delamere caves are the most likely location then. They are close to Old Willeroo, and where Wardaman and Billinara country meet. This agrees with Kulumput's account that this region was once Billinara country but was populated by Wardaman following the 'decimation' of Billinara people in the massacres. This region between Wardandi and Billinara is also known as Karangpurru (aka Karanga) country. According to Meakins and Nordinger 'The Karrangpurru, who lived to the north of Bilinarra, were virtually wiped out by disease and massacres. Now only a handful of people from one family claim some Karrangpurru heritage.' (Meakins and Nordinger, 2014, p17)
In 1900 Paddy Cahill wrote that '... I had lived on Cullin-la-ringo, a station in Queensland where the whole tribe of blacks were outlawed and shot down by the black police like crows. The reason of their being outlawed was on account of a massacre by them on the station...' He notes that his brother M. Cahill had been speared near where Scott was killed, and some Aboriginal people were shot, that Mr J Bradshaw was attacked on the same route and that he himself had killed Aboriginal people when attacked in this area. 'I could do nothing but shoot as quickly as possible, and I can shoot fairly quickly. I don't know how many niggers I shot - I didn't stop to count them.' (SA Register, 4 Sep 1900, p 6) He also mentions the killing of Scott,
'One glaring case was that of the late W S Scott, of Willeroo Station, one of the kindest men it was possible to find to the natives; yet he was killed by them not far away from his station. The natives, after murdering him, went to the station and tried to kill the cook, but he got away. The black demons then looted the station, and not one of them was punished for his foul work.' (SA Register, 4 Sep 1900, p 6)
This prompted a response from W.A. Millikan, 'Concerning the murder of the late Mr. Scott, of Willeroo Station, whom we all respected, it is absurd for Mr. Cahill to say that "not one of the blacks was punished for the foul work." He surely knows that at the time two parties of men stirred to anger and well armed started out professedly to avenge the murder, and were gone some weeks; and was it not an open secret that they made the locality particularly "unhealthy" for the "poor blacks."' (SA Register, 10 Sep 1900, p5)
In Paddy's reply to Millikan he asked if there were any proof of this and clarified that he meant that no-one had been brought to justice by the police:
'Again, regarding Scott's murder at Williroo, has Mr. Millikan an proof that blacks were shot by the parties that went out to avenge that outrage? I said in my letter that no blacks were brought to justice by the police, except in one or two cases.' (SA Register, 29 Jan 1901, p 5)
In arguing for increased police presence in the region to bring 'evildoers' to justice, he warned that, 'Unless something like this is done a wholesale murder will take place at some of the stations in the Victoria River district.' (South Australian Register, 4 Sep 1900)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 747
- LanguageGroup
- Bulinara / Wardaman / Karrangpurru
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek
- KnownDate
- October 1892
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- Two mounted parties went in pursuit.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police, Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- William Sydney 'Syd' Scott, Manager of Willeroo Station
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1892: Willeroo, Victoria River District, SA/NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0deb Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=747 SourceLewis, 2004, pp 243-244; NTTG October 21, 1892 p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3322638; November 4, 1892 p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3322752; November 11, 1892 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3322818; Willshire, 1895, p 8; Morrison, https://www.australianfrontierconflicts.com.au; SA Register, 4 Sep 1900 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/54534974; SA Register, 29 Jan 1901 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/54557111;
Arndt, 1965 https://www.jstor.org/stable/40329542; Davidson, 1935; Meakins & Nordlinger, 2013
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-14.858 Longitude133.749 Start Date1875-08-05 End Date1875-08-15
Description
See also Mount McMinn, Harris Lagoon, Calder Range and Mole Hill massacres. A range of sources (see below) detail these massacres. Following the killing of Charles Henry Johnston at Roper Bar on 29 June 1875 by Mangarrayi warriors, two reprisal parties, one led by Corporal George Montagu comprising 10 men and the other, also of 10 men led by senior telegraph officer, Jonathan Little, and brother-in-law of Johnston, arrived at Roper Bar on 2 August and buried Johnston's remains. On 5 August, the two parties started up the Roper River to Crescent Lagoon and returned on 15 August. It is estimated that 40 Mangarrayi people were slaughtered. This is the second massacre in the Mole Hill series.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 753
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Lurdurdminyi
- LanguageGroup
- Mangarrayi
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- None at that stage
- KnownDate
- August 1875
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Pistol(s), Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1875: Roper Bar, SA/NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0dfb Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=753 SourceNTTG, September 18, 1875, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144448 1875, p 2; December 4, 1875, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144612; December 25, 1875, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144666; Wilson, 2000, pp 221-222; Roper River Police Station Heritage Assessment Report, 2015, pp 9-11; Toohey, Roper Bar Land Claim Report, 1982, p 3; Austin, 1992, pp 15-16; Roberts 2005, pp 116-122.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-14.656 Longitude134.571 Start Date1875-08-29 End Date1875-08-29
Description
See also Mt McMinn, Crescent Lagoon, Harris Lagoon and Mole Hill massacres. A range of sources (see below) provide details of this massacre. Following the killing of Charles Johnston at Roper Bar in the NT by Mangarrayi on 29 June 1875, two reprisal parties comprising 20 men assembled at Roper Bar on 2 August and, between 5 August and 4 September, conducted a series of massacres at Aboriginal camps in the region. On 29 August 1875, a party on foot attacked an Aboriginal camp on the north side of the Roper River under Calder Range. It is estimated that 40 people were shot. Roberts (2005, pp 115-124) takes up the story: "As a consequence, Aboriginals along the length of the river were slaughtered by a massive party of police and civilians for four weeks solid in August 1875. Although the orders came from Inspector Paul Foelsche, the government's attack dog in Darwin, an operation of such size and cost, with a blaze of publicity, would have required approval from the government of Premier Sir James Penn Boucaut. Foelsche issued these cryptic, but sinister, instructions: "I cannot give you orders to shoot all natives you come across, but circumstances may occur for which I cannot provide definite instructions". Roper River blacks had to be "punished". Foelsche wanted to go with them, but it was a large party, he said, with "too many tale-tellers". He boasted in a letter to a friend, John Lewis, that he had sent his second-in-command, Corporal George Montagu down to the Roper to "have a picnic with the natives". Even the normally enthusiastic Northern Territory Times was sickened by "the indiscriminate 'hunting' of the natives there", adding "there ought to be a show of reason in the measure of vengeance dealt out to them". Seven days earlier, the paper's response to the death of a prospector in Arnhem Land had not been so mild: "Shoot those you cannot get at and hang those that you do catch on the nearest tree as an example to the rest" (2009, np). Wilson (2000, pp 221-222) noted that 'This was Foelsche being duplicitous. Unwilling to commit his real instructions to writing he was suggesting to Montagu that he kill any Aboriginal people he found'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 756
- LanguageGroup
- Mangarrayi
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- No police district at that time.
- KnownDate
- 29 August 1875
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Pistol(s), Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1875: Roper Bar, SA/NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0e01 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=756 SourceNTTG September 18, 1875, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144448 p 2;
NTTGDecember 4, 1875, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144612;
NTTG December 25, 1875, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144666; Wilson, 2000, pp 221-222; Roberts, 2005, pp 115-124; Roper River Police Station Heritage Assessment Report 2015, pp 9-11; Toohey, Roper Bar Land Claim Report 1982, p 3; Austin, 1992, p 15-16.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-32.63 Longitude115.871 Start Date1834-10-28 End Date1834-10-28
Description
Captain James Stirling's plan to create a settlement south of Perth at Pinjarra was thwarted by the 'Murray tribe.' He told the Colonial Office in London that they threatened to destroy all the whites in the district and argued that if a 'check' was not made on them, they may 'tempt other tribes to pursue the same course, and eventually combine together for the extermination of the whites' (Owen, 2016, p 73). The 'check' occurred on 28 October 1834 when Governor Stirling and twenty-four soldiers and civilians cornered the Murray Tribe' of some 'estimated eighty men, women and children in what has become one of the most infamous punitive expeditions in Western Australian history.' A large number of 'people were killed, the event itself created political controversy and, later, historians debated whether the 'check' was legal, 'just battle' or a 'massacre'. Stirling's own words on this matter were explicit and suggested the massacre description was apt. In his report to the Colonial Office, he declared that he had set out to punish the whole tribe and that his intention was to instill fear in the Aborigines and break their resistance. The only way to deal with Aboriginal people, he wrote, was to 'reduce their tribe to weakness' by inflicting 'such acts of decisive severity as will appall them as people'. The Perth Gazette reported on an uncompromising warning to the survivors that if there were any more trouble 'four times the present number of men would proceed amongst them and destroy every man woman and child' (Stirling, 1834, cited in Owen 2016, p 73).
Stirling later wrote to British Colonial Secretary Stanley (1 Nov 1834). He stated he said this to the surviving prisoners: 'they were then informed that the punishment had been inflicted, because of the misconduct of the tribe, that the white men never forgot to punish murder, and that on this occasion the women and children had been spared, but that if any person should be killed by them, not one would be allowed to remain alive this side of the mountains. Upon this they were dismissed' (Stirling cited in Contos et al, 1998). The 'mountains' Stirling referred to are the Darling Scarp, a mountain range east of Perth that extends for over 400 km from Bindoon in the North to Pemberton in the South West. Stirling was effectively threatening to kill 80% of the Noongar population of the South West. Another account from Grose (1927) states 'The whites opened fire. About 80 blacks were killed and the bodies of many of the dead floated down the river. A bugle then blew to cease fire, after which the native women and children were gathered together and Sir James Stirling warned them that a similar punishment would come back to blacks in the future if any more whites were killed or molested. About 50 natives were buried in one great hole, which was afterwards located in Mr Oakley's field beside Captain Fawcett's property at Pinjarra Park' (Grose 1927, pp 30-34).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 887
- LanguageGroup
- Pinjarup Noongar
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Pinjarra - Peel region
- KnownDate
- 28 October 1834
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimNotes
- Est. 15-80 people died.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- Police Superintendant Theophilus Tighe Ellis speared and died from Injuries.
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s), Settler(s), Soldier(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d20 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=887 SourceOwen, 2016; Stirling, CSO No 14 to Stanley, 1 November 1834, CO 18/14 f134; Grose, 1927; Green, 1981; Contos, 1998; Hunt, 1978; Harris, 2003; Green, 2003.
See Also:
Perth Gazette and West Australian Journal, November 1, 1834, p 382 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/641213/402; Large stone monument, Battle of Pinjarra Memorial Park, McLarty Road, Pinjarra, 6208.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-33.618 Longitude115.438 Start Date1841-02-27 End Date1841-03-10
Description
The events leading to the massacre(s) began early in February, 1841. Some Noongars were employed in threshing wheat on the farm of Molloy's neighbour John Layman, and some Noongar women were employed in the house. A dispute arose over payment (in damper) and Noongar man Gayware approached Layman. Layman grabbed Gayware by the beard and shook him, Gayware speared him and Layman struggled inside and died. On 6 February 1841 Magistrate John Molloy and John Bussell raised a party of settlers and workers and 'soldiers', which pursued and surrounded the Noongars, killing seven, and then subsequently pursued a larger body of Noongar north towards Bunbury where many more were killed around 'Lake Mininup' ( Perth Gazette, March 13 , 1841, p 3). (Wonnerup, Layman's property, is a few kilometres north of present-day Busselton and Minninup another 15 km or so up the coast.) In 1897 the historian Warren Bert Kimberly wrote up this event as a massacre which took place at Lake Minninup near Wonnerup as 'one of the most bloodthirsty deeds ever committed by Englishmen'...'Although several natives were killed the settlers and soldiers were not satisfied. They redoubled their energy, determined to wreak vengeance on the main body. They rode from district to district, from hill to hill, and searched the bush and thickets. At last they traced the terrified fugitives to Lake Mininup. Here and there a native was killed, and the others seeing that their hiding place was discovered fled before the determined force. They rushed to a sand patch beyond Lake Mininup. Colonel Molloy observed a boy forsaken by his parents. He rode up to him, and to save him took him on his saddle. The lad, whose name was Burnin, survived, and lived in the district until a short time ago. The soldiers and settlers pushed on, and surrounded the black men on the sand patch. There was now no escape for the fugitives, and their vacuous cries of terror mingled with the reports of the white men's guns. Native after native was shot, and the survivors, knowing that orders had been given not to shoot the women, crouched on their knees, covered their bodies with their bokas, and cried, "Me yokah" (woman). The white men had no mercy. The black men were killed by dozens, and their corpses lined the route of march of the avengers. Then the latter went back satisfied' (Kimberly 1897, p 116).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 889
- LanguageGroup
- Wardandi Noongar
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Busselton - South West region
- KnownDate
- February-March1841
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimNotes
- 7-15
- VictimDescription
- Government Official(s), Settler(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for killing settler George Layman
- WeaponsUsed
- Musket(s), Sword(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-21.996 Longitude115.042 Start Date1869-07-06 End Date1869-07-31
Description
After Shepherd William Griffiths was speared by Thalanyji people and his body 'obliterated' near the Ashburton River, Farquar McRae organised a small punitive party to join five other white men (led by Edward Timothy 'E T' Hooley, assisted by magistrate Robert Sholl, W. Shenton, T.R. Thatcher, E.J. Kelsh) and a 'native assistant' (Ben). Between 10 July and 15 July they battled several groups, the last being at the junction of the Henry and Ashburton Rivers (Forrest 1996, p 17). This poem describing the incidents lay in a Forrest Brothers safe for over sixty years before being published in full.
The Battle of Minderoo
by 'Tien Tsin', August, 1869. [Poem likely written by Richard Thatcher who was on the punitive expedition]
'Twas Sabbath morn the rising sun had not appeared in view
But day contested with the night at beauteous Minderoo
The cork bark shed a sweet perfume the wild Ashburton pea
Made sweeter still the morning air and birds sang merrily
What means this band of armed men who ride on fiery steeds?
What mission brings them thus abroad that so much caution needs
No pannicans [sic] nor hobbled chains upon their saddles tied
They seem to hold their very breath as o'er the plain they ride
How slowly and how silently they're riding neck and neck
The impatient neighing of a steed it's rider soon doth check
The sun shows in the Eastern sky illumining the scene
And lighting up the thick snake bush with leaves of heavy green
The startled emu o'er the plain is quickly lost to view
And from the gums with noisy screams there flies the cockatoo
A smile comes oe'r [sic] the leaders face a smile that seems to show
He feels that joy a warrior feels who meets a worthy foe
For there some hundred yards ahead the dimly burning fire
Betrays the presence of the foes to meet whom he desires—
A foe both treacherous and cruel with cunning like to theirs
He means now to surround their camp and take them unawares—
They see the troop and starting up with wild discordant cries
They yell like fiends and on the whites intimidation try
They little know that leader bold who fought in many a field
With stern commanding voice he cries on every man to yield
They answer with their fighting spears most cruelly barbed in rows
With cooeys and with club they try to disconcert their foes
Now Hooley had that barbed spear but one inch nearer been
But Heaven above—your wife and child you never more had seen
Well shot bold Bob: that warrior his earthly course had run
He'll never throw another spear nor view the setting sun
Bold trooper Vincent's restive steed doth rear with all his force
He only asks to fight on foot if one will hold his horse
Now Ensign Willie's mare doth try from off the field to bolt
She kicks and rears but still Will lets them taste his navy colt
McRae confronts the dusky foe upon his well trained steed
He fears no spears alike defies the coyles' whirling force
An ugly smile upon his face most dangerous to see
Descended evidently from a Scottish ancestry—
His reins hang loosely on his arm his rifle grasped tight
He sits just like one carved in stone and cooly takes a sight
The leader of the savages the white man's arms defies—
Encouraging his followers with yells and shouts and cries
His left hand grasped a painted shield his right his spears and rest
To strike the horses of the foe he bids them do their best—
But suddenly his shield is dropped his spears are scattered round
With loud despairing cry of rage he drops upon the ground
A bullet from McRaes good piece has gone right through his brain
He never more will use that shield nor throw those spears again
Hurrah: cries Thatcher with delight that shot was worth a crown
Another warrior bites the dust the boldest of them down
Their leader gone and falling fast for mercy then they pray
And send the prettiest women out to plead with bold McRae
That flinty hearted champion the damsels proudly eyes
He heeds not their entreating looks nor cares about their sighs
Send out the old men and the boys we only fight with men
Throw down your arms unship your spears we'll talk of quarter then
They send out boys and aged men the nuncaberrys stay
And fight like wolves or tigers till they're vanquished by McRae
And there they lie upon the plain a ghastly sight to view
Their life blood stains the clayey soil of beauteous Minderoo—
By murdering natives on that plain a lesson may be read
Whoso sheddeth blood of man by man shall his be shed.
(Western Mail, Feb 21, 1935)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 894
- LanguageGroup
- Thalanyji
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Roebourne - Pilbara region
- KnownDate
- July 1869
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- 20-50
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for killing of William Griffiths, speared near Ashburton River.
- WeaponsUsed
- Pistol(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d2c Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=894 SourceSholl to Colonial Secretary 12 June 1869, CSR 647-66 SROWA; Forrest 1996; Gifford 2018, p 89-94; Sunday Times, October 20, 1918, p 8 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/57996780; Birman, W 'Sholl, Robert John (1819–1886)', ADB, Vol 6, 1976; Western Mail, Feb 21, 1935 p 9 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/38398853
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-33.582 Longitude120.047 Start Date1880-10-01 End Date1880-11-30
Description
"Many years ago, jambed down a deep crevice between two huge rocks, lay a whitened human skull, and with a boy's curiosity I asked the pioneers of the district (the Dunn brothers) if they knew anything about it. In explanation I was told the following story by Mr. Walter Dunn (now deceased)... [After John Dunn's death] The remaining members on the station were then granted licence to shoot the natives for a period of one month, during which time the fullest advantage was taken of the privilege. Natives were shot from the station through Lime Kiln Flat, Manjitup and down to where Ravensthorpe is now situated. In the course of their guerrilla warfare, the whites arrived one day at the Carracarrup Rock Hole, and, knowing it was a watering place for the blacks, they crept quietly over the hill until they could peer down into the hole. There they saw two natives who had just risen from drinking. Two shots broke the stillness of the gorge and two dusky souls were sent home to their Maker. The bodies were left lying at the rock hole where they dropped as a grim reminder to the rest of the tribe of the white man's retribution." (Western Mail, 17 October 1935, p 8)
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 895
- LanguageGroup
- Minang Noongar
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Ravensthorpe South West region
- KnownDate
- October-November 1880
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- 30-50
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for killing of John Dunn by Yandawalla allegedly for raping an Aboriginal girl.
- WeaponsUsed
- Pistol(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-17.442 Longitude128.122 Start Date1888-07-01 End Date1888-09-30
Description
In July 1888 George Barnett was speared and killed by Jaru/Kija people while travelling between Fletcher Creek and Halls Creek. In reprisal, a punitive expedition was launched which resulted in 'a massacre that is regarded as one of the most sweeping in local history' (Durack, 1936, pp 35-36). The massacre was widely publicised throughout the district with the editor of Northern Territory Times (voicing public opinion) writing that the police should disregard any laws, and 'simply admonish them and disperse them in the Queensland fashion' implying to shoot them all (Northern Territory Times, August 18, 1888 p 3). The Eastern Districts Chronicle posited that the punitive expedition: 'travelled over 700 miles [1127 kilometres]. The party found and dispersed over 600 adult male natives and a number of females and children' (Eastern Districts Chronicle, October 13, 1888, p 2). The 1929 memoirs of August Lucanus, a special constable (and former German soldier and former South Australian Mounted Constable) in the punitive expedition, stated only that 'there must have been at least 200 blacks, and they had not even tried to obliterate their tracks, we soon overtook them and they put up a fight, the women howling and sooling the men on to us. We dispersed them at last, and returned to Wyndham' (Clement & Bridge 1991, p 46). Mary Durack added that 'Barnett's brother cut a triangular notch in the stock of his rifle for every native he shot with it...and the notches numbered thirty-five!' (Durack, 1936, p 35). Colonel Angelo, the government resident of Roebourne at the time, later wrote of this incident: 'accounts differ as to what actually happened but it is almost certain that from sixty to seventy natives there and then paid the extreme penalty. When I visited the scene a couple of years ago human bones were still to be found although over fifty years had elapsed since the massacre...The terrible vengeance meted out by the enraged diggers on that occasion has indeed proved a salutary lesson to the East Kimberley Blacks' (Angelo, 1948, p 38 cited in Owen, 2016, pp 231-233).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 898
- LanguageGroup
- Kija
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Halls Creek - East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- July- September 1888
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 35
- VictimNotes
- 35-150
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerNotes
- George Barnett
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s), Police, Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for the killing of teamster George Barnett
- WeaponsUsed
- Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d33 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=898 SourceNTTG, August 18, 1888 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3313470; Eastern Districts Chronicle, October 13, 1888, p 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/148605424/18172060; Daily News September 5, 1929, p 6https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/79213432/7807983; Durack, 1936, pp 35-36; Angelo, 1948; Clement, 1989, p 8; Clement and Bridge, 1991, p 46; Owen and Choo, 2003, pp 135-142; Owen, 2016, pp 231-233.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-16.457 Longitude129.003 Start Date1893-09-18 End Date1893-09-18
Description
In a police raid on September 18, 1893 on an Aboriginal camp for those suspected of 'cattle killing' along the Behn River near Rosewood Station Trooper Joe Collins was speared. In retaliation police recorded shooting twenty-three Mirriwong people in this ambush although the actual figure may have been higher (The Daily News, September 27, 1893, p 2). The publicised killing of this many Aboriginal people sparked an outcry in Perth in which the Catholic Bishop of Perth [Bishop Mathew Gibney] publicly denounced the killing of Aboriginal people in the Kimberley: 'In the affair on the Behm [sic] River, therefore, the troopers had the game in their own hands. And on their own showing, brutally did they use their advantage. It is not credible for a moment that the natives obstinately stood their ground and threw futile spears until the whole twenty-three had fallen... it is perfectly clear that in this case the choice was not given them. Some were slain fighting; but some, at least certainly ran, and were not these followed up and deliberately shot down as they ran? This was hardly so much a fight as a battue a massacre.…The story of their accusers we have heard but their defence we shall never hear' (The Western Australian Record, October 5, 1893, p 7-8).
Lewis (2021, p 528) wrote: 'There was another slaughter of Aborigines on or near Waterloo after the spearing of Constable Collins in 1893. When Collins and Constable Lucanus were on patrol from Wyndham they visited P.B. Durack's station on the Behn River. Durack showed them where the blacks had killed fourteen bullocks and used the tails as fly whisks. The constables got onto the trail of "half a hundred bucks, and no gins". As they followed the tracks they discovered more dead cattle and two dead horses. They came upon the camp in the morning and Collins was speared in the stomach. One account says he died within half an hour and was buried on the spot (Lucanus, Daily News [Perth], 5-9-1929: 6), but another says he died the following day (Northern Territory Times, 20-10-1893). Twenty-three Aboriginal men are said to have been shot in the minutes after Collins was speared (Northern Territory Times, 10-11-1893).'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 900
- LanguageGroup
- Mirriwong, Kitja, Jaru
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Halls Creek - East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 18/09/1893
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 23
- VictimNotes
- Mirriwong people
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 1
- AttackerNotes
- PC Joe Collins
- AttackerDescription
- Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- AttackerNames
- Police Trooper Joe Collins
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for (1) cattle killing; and (2) spearing Trooper Collins.
- WeaponsUsed
- Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1893: Behn River reprisals, WA/NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d37 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=900 SourceThe Daily News, September 27, 1893, p 2, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/77380675/7823132; The Western Australian Record, October 5, 1893, p 7, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/211985512/22978455; NTTG, October 20, 1893, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3325314; CSO, 'Encounter with native offenders in East Kimberley District H. Collins killed in. Reporting, - Sub Inspector Drewry, 'Journal of a trip by Sergt Brophy and party in pursuit of natives who are killing cattle on the Ord Osmand and other rivers, Correspondence from Commissioner Phillips, J, 28 September 1893, SROWA, AN 24, 527, File 90/1894; Lewis 2012; Owen and Choo, 2003, pp 135-145; Owen, 2016, pp 347-350; Lewis, 2021, p 528.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-15.823 Longitude127.392 Start Date1899-05-01 End Date1899-06-13
Description
Colonial Secretary records document that 'on 1 November 1898 a Chinese gardener on the King River south of Wyndham by the name of Ah Sing was killed by a group of Aboriginal people [Yiiji/ Ngarinyin] led by a man called Nalmurchie' (SROWA, Cons. 527, File 2773/1898). A month later it was reported that the wanted men were camped on the Durack River. A patrol lead by PCs Farley and Mills went to arrest them but did little more than allegedly fire shots in the air to frighten them. The following May (after the Kimberley wet season when police could travel again) they attempted to arrest Nalmurchie again. They camped near Goose Hill but only managed to arrest 27 men who had no involvement in the crime. Neville Green (1995, p 95) suggests that many had been killed here but no record was made. On 13 June 1899 Farley (with five Native Assistants) and PC Evans again attempted to arrest Nalmurche though it is clear Farley (illegally) sent his assistants to arrest or shoot Nalmurchie. Farley recorded (though he was clearly not there) that the Assistants raided a camp of 100 people and though they fired shots made no arrests. Corporal Buckland (later implicated in the 1926 Forrest River Massacre) wrote another report (that he telegraphed to the Commissioner of Police) placing Farley and Evans in charge of the police party. Here the police were positioned as victims of an attack and fired in self defense. A later police report stated that Nalmurchie and 'fifty natives attacked police party and threw spears at the party shot nine natives in the encounter…' The Wyndham Police Letterbook entry states: 'Sergt Evans to Sub Inspect Brophy, 26-6-1899: "Consts Farley and O'Brien were attacked on the Durack River by about 50 natives at daylight, were completely surrounded and throwing spears – shot nine"' (SROWA, AN 5/1, Cons. 430, File 2873/1899; SROWA, Wyndham Police Station Letterbook, Acc 741-12, 1899-1901).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 902
- LanguageGroup
- Yiiji, Ngarinyin
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- May-June 1899
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimNotes
- 9-50
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for the killing of Ah Sing and Native Assistant Dicky.
- WeaponsUsed
- Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d3b Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=902 SourceCSO, 'Clerk of Court, Wyndham – Murder of Ah Sing by Blacks – Reporting Supposed', SROWA, Cons. 527, File 2773/1898; WAPD, 'Police Constable Farley (305) and Others Report of the Murder of Aboriginal Assistant, Dicky, Speared by Hostile Natives at Durack River While Trying to Apprehend Murderers of Ah Sing', East Kimberley District, Wyndham Station, July 1899, SROWA, AN 5/1, Cons. 430, File 2873/1899; SROWA, Wyndham Police Station Letterbook, Acc 741-12, 1899-1901; Owen 2016, p 371; Green 1995, pp 94-95
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-15.804 Longitude128.7 Start Date1895-11-11 End Date1895-11-11
Description
Official records are missing. Owen summarises as follows, quoting Wheatley's description of the massacre, 'The occurrence book for Wyndham Station states that in November 1895 a large police party had been ordered to undertake a bush patrol [to locate alleged cattle killers] . . . The police party consisted of Rhatigan, Sergeant Wheatley, four native assistants (Mickey, Willy, Joe and Bubby) and thirteen horses. Sergeant Wheatley's private notebook, curiously the only surviving record of this event, describes how the police party left Wyndham on 6 November [1895], arrived at Ivanhoe Stud Station on 9 November [1895] and, after tracking until 11 November, found a group [of Aboriginal people] deemed responsible for cattle killing. Sergeant Wheatley described the scene: "Left camp at 6.30am and followed the tracks and came upon the natives in a large lagoon, the assistants told them to come out of the water and reeds, two of them came which we arrested[. T]he rest of them tried to escape but in doing so we fired on them killing twenty men[,] the women and children making good their escape. The two we arrested shewed [sic] us where they killed the cattle and told us they had killed plenty[;] the following are the names of the two we arrested[:] Ginnare, Cunbiliger" (Owen, pp. 361-362).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 904
- LanguageGroup
- Kitja, Mirrawong
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Wyndham - East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 11 November 1895
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- 20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisals for alleged cattle killing.
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d3d Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=904 Source'Private diary of Sergeant Thomas Wheatley during police patrols from Wyndham from 6 November to 23 December 1895', [Wheatley Manuscript], 11 November 1895, Battye Library, Cons.1266A, Manuscript; Owen 2016, pp 361-362.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-16.628 Longitude128.599 Start Date1895-12-27 End Date1895-12-27
Description
Police reports document an East Kimberley police patrol from 22 November 1895 until 24 December 1895 that included Sergeant Wheatley, PC Rhatigan, four native assistants (Mickey, Willy, Joe and Bubby). A telegram from Inspector Orme to the commissioner of police indicates the patrol shot the entire group of Aboriginal people they came across: 'Returned today[,] met police party about eighty miles from here[,] they have had most successful trip. [T]ribe recently killing at Durack Bros Ivanhoe Stud Station thoroughly dispersed not one escaping. Durack Bros reports no killing on Argyle Downs station[.] Sergt Wheatley met Halls Creek police party at Lissadell station where both parties dispersed several tribes.' Estimated 20-40 killed (SROWA, AN 24, Cons.527, File 823/1895All CSO).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 905
- LanguageGroup
- Mirrawong Gadgerong
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Wyndham - East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 27 December 1895
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- 20-40
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for alleged cattle killing.
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d3f Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=905 SourceCSO, 'Telegram from Sub Inspector Orme to Commissioner of Police GB Phillips', Wyndham Station, 15 December 1895, SROWA, AN 24, Cons.527, File 823/1895. See also Telegram dated 27 December 1895. Const. Inglis and party 'dispersed several tribes on Lissadell and Ord River Stations', CSO, AN 24, Cons.527, File 823/1895. Owen, 2003, pp 360-364.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-18.129 Longitude125.778 Start Date1895-06-01 End Date1895-06-30
Description
Police records document that in mid-1895 PC Pilmer and his native assistants were sent to MacDonald's station following reports of 'wholesale killing of cattle in the Margaret River area'. Pilmer reported coming across a group, who were likely Gooniyandi people, of about thirty, twenty of whom were males. They immediately fled after the police raid and the group started making use of their 'spears, dowirks and quondis to such an extent that we were compelled to fire upon them…' He reported killing nine men whose names were Murjarri, Widali, Wonboni, Coolya, Mulabia, Mungar, Calapi, Mulyalli and Culcul, who were in possession of 'between 12 and 13 Cwt [centum weight] of beef' (SROWA, Cons. 430, File 1808/1895). The MacDonald's owned Fossil Downs Station, near where the Margaret River meets the Fitzroy River (Fossil Downs Homestead Group).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 908
- LanguageGroup
- Goonyiyandi, Bunuba
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Fitzroy Crossing
- KnownDate
- June 1895
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimNotes
- 9-20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisals for alleged cattle killing.
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d45 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=908 SourceWAPD, 'Wholesale killing of cattle on Margaret River,' 23 July 1895, SROWA, Cons. 430, File 1808/1895; Shaw, 1981, p 47; Owen, 2016, pp 322-324; Fossil Downs Homestead Group, Heritage Council https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/public/inventory/details/2be7b844-d799-4d16-9a38-09e22c36ef95.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-20.641 Longitude126.287 Start Date1912-01-06 End Date1913-04-11
Description
In January 1911 a party of three drovers, George Shoesmith, James Thompson and an Aboriginal stockman known as 'Chinaman', were killed by Aboriginal people at Well 37. In September 1911, Sergeant R.H. Pilmer led a police punitive expedition to find the culprits and ensure the stock route remained open. The police made no arrests, but the expedition was considered a success after Pilmer acknowledged killing at least 10 Aboriginal people. Later newspaper reports, (Daily News, May 21, 1912, p 8) put the figure at 14. Pilmer wrote in his diary: 'The most exciting and disastrous incident of the whole journey happened on 16 November while the party was spelling the camels at Well 46. The men were whiling away their time by reading or doing odd jobs when they were suddenly attacked by a band of 25 Aborigines. Fourteen Aborigines formed an advance party, and each armed with two whackaburras they came running down a gravelly slope towards the camp. Going outside the camp Sergeant Pilmer called and motioned them to sit down, but they still came on, it being evident they were trying to get close quarters with the police. The invaders reached the camp but were not close enough to use their weapons when the police opened fire. Six natives fell dead while another was killed about twenty yards away. Three were wounded but they escaped with the others who immediately took to their heels' (Pilmer cited in Clement, 1989b, pp 130-151).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 912
- LanguageGroup
- Martu
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Various Kimberley, Pilbara, Gascoyne
- KnownDate
- 14/09/1911
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 14
- VictimNotes
- 10 -15
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for killing of colonists. A party of three drovers, George Shoesmith, James Thompson ( ex- police officer) and an Aboriginal stockman who was known as ‘Chinaman, were killed by Aboriginal People at Well 37.
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Revolver(s), Winchester(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d4b Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=912 Source'Shooting Aborigines', Daily News, May 21, 1912, p 8 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/79898128/7816557; Clement 1989b, pp.130-151;
'Stock Route Murders, Fourteen Dispersed,' Kalgoorlie Miner, December 9, 1911, p 8 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91329964
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-18.706 Longitude123.693 Start Date1916-09-01 End Date1916-09-30
Description
Recorded in multiple Kimberley Aboriginal oral history accounts, colonist Georgie Wye [Why] was assaulted by Mowla Bluff Station workers for killing an Aboriginal man and mistreating Aboriginal women (Watson, 2012, pp 51-60). Wye was notorious for shooting Aboriginal men to take their wives. A reprisal followed where Georgie Wye, George Lovell, George Layman, Jack Tighe, PC Jury and various police launched a punitive expedition. The subsequent massacre occurred at Geegully Creek where anywhere between ten and a larger number of Karajarri, Mangala and Nyikina people were caught, chained together, forced to collect wood, shot and then incinerated. Elder John Darraga Watson recounts how the punitive party tracked a large group and 'sneaked into the camp and fired shots to frighten the people…They rounded up these people and chained them together.' They were told to 'get wood' under the pretense that they would be fed on a 'killer' [cattle killed for stockmen's and stockwomen's consumption]. Nobody suspected anything was amiss.' So they got the wood together, piled it up, lit the fires and then got the people together again. Then they started shooting them and when they were dead, chucked them on the fire. Any woman, any little kid, they whacked them on the back of the head and chucked them on the fire, burned them up, lot of people got burnt.' The remains were then destroyed. Watson says he was told that 300 or 400 were killed and only three escaped (Marshall 1988, p 226).
Eye witness accounts recorded in Witness statements taken by police at the investigation confirm these accounts. Nullagumba Moon describes how the punitive party of men opened fire on the chained men 'emptying their magazines.' He stated 'After the shooting stopped I saw all the bodies lying in a heap.' They then unchained them. Then George Lovell went and cut some wood. First they made a heap of small sticks and put a lot of large wood on top of it. Then they placed the 6 bodies on top of it and put more wood on top of the bodies. 'The heap of wood was higher than my body' Nullagumba Moon stated. 'Jury lighted the fire. We all stayed there until the fire was burnt out. When it was quite burned down they raked up all the ashes, bones and pieces of unburnt wood together. We then left it and came back to the camp to have dinner.' (SROWA, AN 5/1, Cons 430, Item 1919/1812).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 914
- LanguageGroup
- Nyikina
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Mowla Bluff - West Kimberley
- KnownDate
- September 1916
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimNotes
- 6 - 300
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Police, Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for assault of colonist.
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s), Incineration, Rifle Butt(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d4f Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=914 Source'Alleged shooting of Natives at Gee Gully...' SROWA, AN 5/1, Cons 430, Item 1919/1812; Watson, 2012 pp 51-60;Whispering in our Hearts': The Mowla Bluff Massacre, Ronin Films, Mitch Torres, 2002. [Film]; Marshall, 1988, p 226; Owen, 2016, p 439; Debenham, 2020, pp 169-176.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-17.311 Longitude127.467 Start Date1924-01-01 End Date1924-12-31
Description
In April 1924 at Bedford Downs Station a massacre occurred. This massacre is recorded in Aboriginal oral history. Kija Elder Dotty Watby described to Helen Ross (Ross and Bray, 1989, pp 56-59) how, in response to the killing of a valuable bullock, Kija and Worla people were forced to cut wood. They were then given damper (bread) that was poisoned. After they were poisoned (as Dotty stated, they 'drop down') managers and stockmen from adjacent stations, including a notoriously violent man named Jack Carey and adjoining station owners, started shooting everyone. She remembered that they 'Killem all dem blackfellas, family for us mob.' Then: 'Right, dem bin gettem dat wagon, gettam dat donkey and pullem la fire. They loadem in big pile like dat and chuckem allawood, chuckem, chuckem, chuckem, kerosene, chuckem kerosene, Dey bin light dat fire – terrible' (Ross and Bray, 1989, pp 56-59).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 917
- LanguageGroup
- Kitja, Worla
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 1924
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- 20-30
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Reprisal for alleged killing of cattle.
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s), Poison
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d54 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=917 SourceDotty Whatby in Ross and Bray, 1989, pp 56-59; Clement, 1989, p 4; Ryan, 2001, pp 63, 65–68; Kimberley Languages Resource Centre, 1996, pp 101–109; Owen, 2016, pp 439-440.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-20.31 Longitude118.601 Start Date1890-01-01 End Date1899-12-31
Description
'...three incidents were mentioned repeatedly, one involving a group of over fifty natives who were wiped out while fishing in a stream. In another, a much larger horde was driven into tidal swamps and shot, while a third group were rounded up by a large gathering of pastoralists out to avenge the spearing of a European from a desert station. The Aborigines were forced to build a large circular pyre upon which over 80 of them were burnt' (Wilson, 1961, p 61).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 922
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarluma, Kariyarri
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- Pilbara Region
- KnownDate
- 1890s
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 50
- VictimNotes
- 50-80
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Removal of Aboriginal people from Cattle stations
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s), Incineration
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-17.332 Longitude127.883 Start Date1890-01-01 End Date1899-12-31
Description
Jack Britten – Warlupany
Jack Britten told Helen Ross: 'And Warlupany, I never tell you this for Warlupany, just the other side of Violet Valley. That's the other place they bin catch em again, big mob of people.
They reckon 'oh lightning knocking em now, they shooting them everywhere.' Some fella come up cry with that dead body, he lay top of that dead bodies again, all that. Just other side of Violet Valley. Bamboo we call it, Bamboo Creek. Just off Koondooloo River, well Spring Creek now, right up at head of it, by the hills. That hill come around right round close up la Violet Valley. End of the river. Some people bin getting shot there, everywhere. They don't know whats coming. They didn't know what to get away or just…[end]' (Jack Britten cited in Ross and Bray, 1989, p 16).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 923
- LanguageGroup
- Worla, Kitja
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- PoliceDistrict
- East Kimberley
- KnownDate
- 1890s
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimNotes
- 10-20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Removal of Aboriginal people from Cattle stations
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-23.762 Longitude133.781 Start Date1884-08-07 End Date1884-09-07
Description
See also
Blackfellows Bones Bore and
Wirmbrandt and Rembrandt Rocks massacres. Sid Stanes, discussing the Anna's Reservoir attack, continued his story in respect of reprisals that followed: 'Out at Attack Gap, that is at Temple Bar. Creek goes through that hill. The blacks had been sticking up cattle and had attacked Figg and Coombs [sic]…Those blacks were all the same tribe. Those in pursuit were out scouting and they found out that this mob was up on the hill, camped up on the top of the hill. They went and waited until they woke up in the morning, first one got up and stretched on the skyline. They were trapped and the whole lot were shot as they could not get away' (Trish Lonsdale Collection, Reel 22, Side 2, p b10). Both Anna's Reservoir and Attack Gap were under lease by the Willowie Pastoral Company, which was managed by William (Billy) Coulthard. It is likely that this party was headed by Coulthard. Kimber (1991, p 14) wrote: 'Another attack, and follow up punitive expedition, occurred 15 kilometres south west of Alice Springs at a site later known as Attack Gap. An old mate of mine, the late Walter Smith, told me that the Aborigines had attacked a supply wagon, driving off the teamsters (they cut the traces and rode the wagon horses into Alice Springs) and then taking all of the supplies. This immediate success was short-lived, for the largest party of whites ever assembled then rode out. One of the patrol members was later to recall: "[We] went a bit too far. It was the biggest fight we ever had up here. We made a tidy mob when we all got together...about twenty all told - eight or nine cattle men, some of the chaps from the Overland Telegraph an' a mob of police from the Alice. The 'nigs'...poor devils...met us at the top of the valley.. [We] rounded 'em up on that razorback hill over there. Then we let go. We ran a cordon round the hill an' peppered 'em until there wasn't a 'nig' showing...Poor devils...There must have been 150 to 170 of 'em on that hill and I reckon that few of 'em got away...But what could we do? We had to live up here. That was the trouble of it".'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 926
- LanguageGroup
- Anmatyerr
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Augusta
- KnownDate
- 1884
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 150
- VictimNotes
- Reprisal for the wounding of Figg and Coombes at Anna's Reservoir.
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s), Police, Vigilante/Volunteer(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Harry Figg and Thomas Coombes at Anna's Reservoir.
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1884: Anna's Reservoir, NT
Details
Latitude-16.785 Longitude130.352 Start Date1894-08-01 End Date1894-08-30
Description
Mounted Constable William Willshire wrote in 1895 (p 43): 'Whilst tracking some natives who had been killing cattle on the Victoria Run in August 1894, we came upon them camped in a gorge off the north bank of the River Wickham. The war cry sounded through the tribe, and they picked up their spears and commenced climbing the precipitous sides. As there was no getting away the females and children crawled into rocky embrasures, and there they remained. When we had finished with the male portion, we brought the black gins and their offspring out from their rocky alcoves'.
Rose (1992, p 12) noted, quoting Lindsay Crawford, the first Manager of Victoria River Station in 1895: '…during the last ten years, in fact since the first white man settled here, we have held no communication with the natives at all, except with the rifle. They have never been allowed near this station or the outstations, being too treacherous and warlike'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 928
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Yarralin
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek
- KnownDate
- 15 August 1894
- AttackTime
- Midday
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 35
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Martini-Henry Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-17.371 Longitude130.811 Start Date1924-01-01 End Date1924-12-31
Description
Ronnie Wavehill Wirrpngyarri says, in Charola and Meakins (2016, p 42): 'The ngumpin [Aboriginal people] ran away southwards, away from Tartarr. They went downstream a bit and then out across the rocks. The kartiya [whitefellas] were chasing them on horseback, galloping like mad... The horsemen never caught up to them, so a lot of them got away.'
Phillip Yamba Jimmy spoke to the Northern Territory News about Tartarr (Hope, 2016, p 12): 'Men with rifles and Aboriginal trackers returned soon after and shot anyone they could. The version told by Mr Jimmy has it that people were sat around a tree and murdered one by one. He said the families let the dead decompose in the sun then collected the bones in paperbark and carried them 10km to Seale Gorge, a sacred site of the Gurindji and associated tribes...The Tartarr story featured on the 1967 land petition signed in thumbprint by Vincent Lingiari and other Wave Hill walk-off leaders...'.
The 1967 Gurindji Petition to the Governor-General (National Museum of Australia 1967, para. 2) included: 'Our people have lived here from time immemorial and our culture, myths, dreaming and sacred places have evolved in this land. Many of our forefathers were killed in the early days while trying to retain it'. And (para. 3): 'We have begun to build our new homestead on the banks of beautiful Wattie Creek in the Seal [sic] Yard area, where there is permanent water. This is the main place of our dreaming only a few miles from the Seal [sic] Gorge where we have kept the bones of our martyrs all these years since white men killed many of our people'.
This oral history appears to be the same massacre which Charlie Ward dates at about 1924: 'Meanwhile, the last massacre in Gurindji country occurred in about 1924 on a small knoll, midway between Vestey's cattle station and the police outpost at Bow Hill. Decades later, an old man remembered: "They been coming with the horses and found this mob [at] Blackfellow's Knob. They trying to race away from them but they shot them like a dog [...]. One or two can get away. They shoot that bloke climb up the tree [...]; he fell over. Warlatarrka was his name. He was Jungurra [skin]"' (Ward, 2016, p 24) This is also mentioned in Thomas Mayo's article 'A dream that cannot be denied' (Mayo, 2017).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 929
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Tartarr
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek
- KnownDate
- The date was original estimated here at 1895, in the early period of colonisation here, but later changed to 1924, as the narrative seems to match that of an incident estimated to have happened at 1924.
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 15
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police, Pastoralist(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d6b Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=929 SourceCharola & Meakins, 2016, pp 42-44; Hope, NT News, 19 August 2016, p 12 https://kooriweb.org/foley/news/2000s/2016/ntnews19aug2016.pdf; National Museum of Australia, Collaborating for Indigenous Rights, Wave Hill Walk Off, Petition to the Governor-General 1967 https://indigenousrights.net.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/384123/f23.pdf (Accessed 26 January 2020); Mayo, 2017, np. https://www.griffithreview.com/articles/a-dream-that-cannot-be-denied/; Ward, 2016, A Handful of Sand: The Gurindji Struggle, After the Walk-off Monash University Publishing.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-23.06 Longitude134.48 Start Date1884-08-07 End Date1884-09-22
Description
See also
Attack Gap and
Wirmbrandt and Rembrandt Rocks massacres. Harry Figg (stockman) and Thomas Coombes (cook) were attacked at Anna's Reservoir Homestead, which was owned by the Willowie Pastoral Company headed up by William (Billy) Coulthard. Attackers crept into Coombes' room and speared him eight times then set the roof alight. Figg emerged from the homestead, shooting four dead, before being speared between the shoulders. Both were wounded and badly burnt. They escaped to a stock camp 50 miles away and survived (Traynor, 2016, pp 120-121). The attack on Figg and Coombes took place on August 7 (South Australian Advertiser, 11 Aug 1884 p 4). The attack was carried out by Anmatjere people in an attempt to drive colonists away from their land.
One reprisal party was headed by Mounted Constable William Willshire. Willshire, with Constable Charlie Brookes, two Aboriginal trackers and four volunteers (Alec Ross, Harry Price, Summard and McBeth) set off in pursuit of the attackers, reporting that they had had three encounters with groups of Aboriginal people involving shooting, on 29 August, 5 September and 7 September, and killed a total of four (named) Anmatjere men (Adelaide Observer, 20 Sep 1884, p 31).
A second reprisal party was led by Mounted Constable Thomas Daer (Adelaide Observer, 20 Sep 1884, p 31). It is thought that Daer's party was involved in the subsequent Blackfellows Bones Bore massacre. Justice Olney noted in 1993: 'In the late nineteenth century the killing of livestock by Aborigines on Undoolya and surrounding areas resulted in a massacre of Aborigines at Itarlentye in the Harts Range. The place is remembered by whites as "Blackfellows Bones Bore". In about 1890, CJ Dashwood, the Government Resident at Darwin, drafted a Bill to stop the slaughter of Aboriginal people, the "Blackfellows Bones" massacre being but one example. The Bill was blocked by the Legislative Council, the sentiment being that the development of, and pursuit of commercial profit from, the land could not proceed unless Aborigines were "subdued"' (Olney 1993, pp 8-9).
Charles Perkins (1975, p 19) also referred to it: 'There are two good examples amongst the many hundreds that one could choose to illustrate the atrocities that were carried out by white society through the police. A massacre took place at an area called "Blackfellows Bones" near Mt Riddock (just north of Alice Springs) which involved the shooting of Aborigines by police. The people who were involved were mainly from Mum's own family, including her mother, her mother's sister, and a number of aunts and uncles. Mum's mother was very young at that time. She managed to escape but her sister was captured. An Aboriginal mother was shot while still bearing a child and carrying another child in her arms. An Aboriginal boy was shot next to her also. There were an unknown number of Aboriginal people killed in this incident which was in retaliation for cattle which were speared by some other Aboriginal people in another area.'
Ken Tilmouth Penangk, an Anmatyerr man, recounted an oral history that seems to refer to this massacre, 'The people ran into lots of other Aboriginal men, but it was too late. And right there the whitefellas started shooting. The men tried in vain to defend themselves with their spears. They didn't know anything about guns. They thought that they were like spears. They fled in fear, but the whitefellas chased them and kept shooting. They ran them down with their horses. There would have been more men for Ilkewartn and Atwel countries, but the poor things were shot out. My father's father and my mother's father were shot, the poor things. The young fellas kept on running – they ran a really long way. But some of the whitefellas kept on traveling on and shooting. Some hid in caves, but they were shot inside the caves. They were finished off right there, the poor buggers. Two of my grandfathers were there inside a cave and they were both shot. ... The bones of the dead were spread everywhere. You can see them everywhere – they didn't bury the dead. Nothing. They just left them lying out in the open. Poor things. They were left lying there just like bullocks. All the shields and things were out in the open' (Penangk in Bowman 2015, pp 91-92).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 931
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Itarlentye
- LanguageGroup
- Anmatyerr, Arrernte
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Alice Springs
- KnownDate
- 22 September 1884
- AttackTime
- Morning
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 75
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Harry Figg and Thomas Coombes at Anna's Reservoir
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1884: Anna's Reservoir, NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d6f Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=931 SourceBowman, 2015, pp 91-92 https://www.clc.org.au/every-hill-got-a-story/; Olney, 1993, pp 8-9; Perkins, 1975, p 19; Adelaide Observer, 20 September 1884, p 31 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/160101265/18940147; Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory, 2002, pp i, ii, 1 https://depws.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/249038/annas_pom.pdf; The South Australian Advertiser, 11 Aug 1884, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/35965489/2214273.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-17.657 Longitude130.75 Start Date1919-12-10 End Date1920-02-28
Description
Ronnie Wavehill Wirrpngayarri (cited in Charola & Meakins, p 45) recounts it in these terms: 'Yet another one was an ambush up at Nero Yard… This is where kartiya ambushed some ngumpin. And what for? Maybe for stealing cattle; that's how they told it to me...They had a big battle there. Spears were aimed and missed... they hooked up the short spears and sent them straight down – couldn't miss! The first one aimed and hit a kartiya right in the belly as soon as he came out from his hiding place. One down! As soon as the other kartiya saw him get speared, they all went running away. Towards here, to the east is where they buried him. At Jurlakkula it happened the same way as at Warluk. They just massacred a whole lot of Aboriginal people. Is it right that kartiya come from another place and wipe out people on their own country? That kind of thing can't be right!'.
While this massacre is clearly different to the other massacres in the region, estimating a date is difficult. The year 1901 and number killed is a speculation from the following conjecture. This may be a massacre that Paddy Cahill was involved in at Wave Hill.
In his narrative Ronnie Wavehill Wirrpngayarri says that ngumpin [Aboriginal people] helped the kartiya [colonists] during the killing at Jurlakkula, saying they were from 'maybe Queensland or maybe from somewhere up here' (Charola & Meakins, p 45). While it was common for colonists to have Aboriginal workers, Paddy Cahill was from Queensland and was well known for working with a very close Aboriginal assistant named 'Quilp' and other Aboriginal people (The Register, 3 Mar 1919, p 6; The Register 6 Feb 1923, p 7).
Read & Japaljarri (1978, p 147) say that 'A white informant [Dr Stephen Harris] stated that Paddy Cahill, the manager of Oenpelli Station, had been called over in about 1924 to deal with cattle killers. He shot over 30 bush people'. However, Paddy Cahill moved to Oenpelli Station, further north, with his wife in 1906 and, after struggling for flu, died on 4 Feb 1923 in Sydney (NTDB, Vol 1, p 84). The estimated year '1924' must be wrong as he was dead, and while Paddy was famed for riding hundreds of kilometres in a short amount of time, it's less likely he was 'called over' during this more settled phase of his life.
Paddy's brother, Tommy Cahill, was the manager of Wave Hill Station from 1895 to 1905. Tom Cahill said that, 'At first the natives were very wild and used to give us a lot of trouble, killing our cattle' (SMH, February 19, 1921).
The Wave Hill station, and more broadly Victoria River District, were violent areas from at least from 1889 when 'Mr. T. Cahill, the station manager, and several of the station men (principally blackboys) were out one day in the locality where "Paddy the Lasher" was murdered a couple of years ago.' (Northern Territory Times and Gazette 20 Jan 1899) and continued at least until 1924 when 'the last massacre' (Ward, 2016, p 24) is estimated to have taken place. There were numerous killings and reprisals between these dates, and Paddy was involved in another massacre further north at Willeroo in 1892 (Arndt, 1965, p245) and was attacked at the Gregory Creek/Victoria River junction some time prior to 1900 (The Register 18 Dec 1905, p 6).
Following an intensification of resistance to colonists around Wave Hill in the 1890s, Paddy wrote a letter complaining that Aboriginal people had not been punished for murders in the Victoria River District, and that in the previous 6 months there had been repeated attacks on travellers and spearing of cattle and horses. He recommended, 'place police enough in the Victoria River district to cope with the blacks... and let us have the evildoers brought to justice' and warned that 'Unless something like this is done a wholesale murder will take place at some of the stations in the Victoria River district' (South Australian Register, 29 Jan 1901, p 5).
Throughout the history of massacres it was common for colonists to complain that Aboriginal people were getting away without being punished for theft and murder and that the Government was not doing anything, or were inneffectual, as a justification for taking matters into their own hands.
For these reasons the best estimate is that this was a massacre that Paddy Cahill was involved in and that it occurred around 1901 as a reprisal for ongoing violent acts of Aboriginal resistance in the area.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 936
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Jurlakkula
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Timber Creek
- KnownDate
- 10 December 1919
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 1
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- James Henderson (Jim) Chrisp
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0d76 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=936 SourceCharola & Meakins, 2016, p 45; Northern Territory Times and Gazette 20 Jan 1899) https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4219064;
Ward, 2016, A Handful of Sand: The Gurindji Struggle, After the Walk-off Monash University Publishing, p 24;
Arndt, 1965 https://www.jstor.org/stable/40329542;
The Register 18 Dec 1905, p 6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/55652556;
The Register 3 Mar 1919, p 6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/60904518/4540090;
The Register 6 Feb 1923, p 7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63834371;
South Australian Register 20 Jan 1901, p 5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/54557111; Read & Japaljarri, 1978, p 147 https://www.jstor.org/stable/24054573; Lewis, 2018, pp 257-258 https://hdl.handle.net/10070/305617; SMH February 19, 1921 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15959341; SMH, February 19 1921 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15959341; NTDB, Vol 1, p 84 https://dcarment.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ntdictionaryofbiography.pdf
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:21 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-30.599 Longitude151.801 Start Date1860-06-01 End Date1860-06-30
Description
According to the Armidale Express of 23 June 1860, p 2: 'It is rumoured that parties from two stations in the police district of Armidale went out lately after the wild blacks, and so scared the latter that they are not likely to be heard of again near Armidale for some time to come.' According to historian, Callum Clayton-Dixon 2019, p.103, Aboriginal resistance was 'reduced significantly at this point'.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 943
- LanguageGroup
- Anaiwan, McLeay River Aboriginal people
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- New England
- KnownDate
- June 1860
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-23.384 Longitude150.646 Start Date1856-01-01 End Date1856-01-10
Description
Following the killing of James and Margaret Foran, George Smelt, John Murray and their Aboriginal servant, Peter Blackboy at Mt Larcom station on 28 December 1855 by a large group of Port Curtis warriors, estimated to number about 50, Lieutenant John Murray led five native troopers, settler William Young, District Constable Horrigon and Aboriginal guide, Harold, in search of the attackers. Murray and his posse attacked them at their camp at Nankin Creek, a tributary of the Fitzroy River. They shot dead 11 warriors and three others were 'severely if not mortally wounded' (Skinner, 1975, pp 208-212). In his report of the incident, prepared on 7 November 1856, Murray did not deny that troopers had fired on the Port Curtis people in the lead up to the killings at Mt Larcom station (Skinner, 1975, pp 208-212).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 945
- LanguageGroup
- Darumbal
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Curtis
- KnownDate
- January 1856
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 11
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Police, Aboriginal Guide(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 5 people
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-17.541 Longitude138.069 Start Date1872-06-01 End Date1872-06-15
Description
Dillon Cox, Wentworth D'Arcy Uhr, James Barry, William Harvey, James Broderick, Jimmy Soo and Ah Choo were taking a party of 125 horses from Burketown to Port Darwin in June 1872 when they encountered Aboriginal warriors in the vicinity of Lagoon Creek near the Qld border. According to Tony Roberts (2005, pp16-17):
"As the horse party with four of the men made camp beside a deep creek in the late afternoon, Aboriginals were heard calling out from along the creek. Cox and Ah Choo readied themselves to guard the horses, while Uhr and Barry rode across to the far bank intending to find and confront whoever was there. Each man was armed with a rifle and a revolver. A boomerang was thrown, narrowly missing Barry, and as he charged his horse at the assailant a large number of Aboriginals ran up towards them from the creek bed and the shooting began. The Aboriginals retreated but then emerged on the other side of the creek, trying to surround Cox and Ah Choo. They were driven off and chased back along the creek by Uhr and Barry.
It was Uhr's custom in situations like this not merely to drive the Aboriginals off but to 'teach them a lesson'."
Each man was armed with a .45 calibre rifle and a pistol. Uhr had a Martini-Henry rifle which could fire accurately to 1000 yards and Barry had a Westley Richards which could fire up to 400 yards.
Barry later published an edited account of the expedition in the Brisbane Courier (October 27, 1874, p 3). As Roberts (2005, p 17) noted: "Barry does not reveal how many Aboriginal casualties there were, but detailed descriptions of numerous frontier battles show that a large force of Aboriginals with vastly superior numbers and little or no knowledge of guns will retreat only after many of their number have fallen."
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 946
- LanguageGroup
- Yanyuwa, Garrwa
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- No police presence at that time (Borroloola Police Stn not established until Oct 1886).
- KnownDate
- June 1872
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Explorer(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Martini-Henry Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-24.425 Longitude151.556 Start Date1872-12-01 End Date1872-12-31
Description
Following the capture of alleged Aboriginal outlaw 'Spider' at Miriam Vale station, near Gladstone, by Sergeant Ware and a detachment of native police placed at his disposal by the Colonial Secretary, they were joined by another detachment led by Acting Sub-Inspector Alexander Douglas. They massacred a family of 12 Goreng Goreng camped at Mt Coliseum. One of the survivors was a little boy who was born on Miriam Vale station in 1868. Following the massacre, there was an outcry from the owners of Miriam Vale station who claimed that a 'massacre of the innocents' had taken place, and an inquiry was held by police magistrate CW Rich at the Prospect Hotel at Calliope on 17 February 1873. Douglas claimed that there were several 'scoundrels' killed in the massacre. According to the Brisbane Courier, Douglas's visit to the area had 'done a lot of good' (Brisbane Courier, March 1, 1873, p 5).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 948
- LanguageGroup
- Goreng Goreng
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Curtis
- KnownDate
- December 1872
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 12
- VictimNotes
- Aboriginal people
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Repeating Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-22.563 Longitude143.03 Start Date1870-01-01 End Date1870-12-31
Description
The Norwegian naturalist Carl Lumholtz recorded in 1881 that he had been shown skulls of people killed in a massacre by Native Police:
'In the vicinity of Bledensbourne I was shown a large number of skulls of natives who had been shot by the black police in the following circumstances:—A couple of teams with provisions for the far west, conducted by two white men, had encamped near the blacks. The latter were lying in ambush, and meant to make an assault, as two black women had been ravished by the white men. Instead of defending themselves with their weapons, the white men were cowardly enough to take flight, leaving all their provisions, oxen, tent, and all their other things in the hands of the blacks. The fugitives reported to the police that they had been attacked, and so the "criminals" a few weeks afterwards were pursued far into a narrow valley and shot. I visited the spot in company with the manager of Bledensbourne station, and saw seven or eight of the skulls. According to the statement made by several persons, nearly the whole tribe was killed, as there was no opportunity of flight' (Lumholtz, 1881, pp 53-54).
Lumholtz had been en route west to Elderslie, before going to 'Bledensbourne'. As Elderslie is west of Winton, 'Bledensbourne' is most likely Bladensburg just south of Winton.
P.F.H. Mackay published an account of this massacre, told to him by Hazelton Brock in an article published in The Queenslander (20 April, 1901, pp 257-258). The story is as follows:
In 1877, George Fraser was droving 700 cattle to a new stockrun he planned to establish at Bladensburg, about 15 kilometres south of present day Winton, in Western Queensland. He led a party of about eight stockmen, including Hazelton Brock and Jack Wilkinson, a man named Bill and two 'new chums'. After one of the 'new chums' was killed by a group of Guwa warriors, Fraser buried the body and sent another stockman for help at the native police camp at Blackall. When a detachment of native police, led by sub-inspector Robert Moran, arrived a week later, Fraser and his party had tracked the Guwa to a large camp site near a waterhole now known as Skull Creek and surrounded by steep cliffs at the head of Mistake Creek in the Forsyth Ranges. With the party now increased to 14 men, Fraser and Moran planned to attack the camp at dawn the following morning. The evening before the attack they tied up their horses more than a kilometre away from the campsite, climbed a hill above it and waited until dawn. With the sound of a mopoke as the signal, the 14 men surrounded the camp from above on three sides and began shooting. The Guwa scattered in all directions but most of them made for the waterhole. After many of them were shot, the native police went after the rest with their machetes and hacked many of them to death in the water. Hazelton Brock estimated that 200 Guwa were killed in the massacre. Brock 'collared' an Aboriginal boy from among the few survivors, named him Boomerang Jack and brought him up as a stockman. In 1901 he was working on Collingwood Station, 50 kilometres west of Winton. In the aftermath, Brock took squatter John Arthur Macartney to the site to get some 'bones and specimens'.
Although Brock's account is told as a 'bush yarn' the specific details and correspondence with Lumholtz's description indicate the story is based on real events. As a corroboree was taking place it follows that a large number of people were camped. They were surrounded and taken by surprise, in a region with steep slopes offering few avenues of escape and many were driven into and killed in a waterhole by a combined group of well armed Native Police and colonists. There is no reason to doubt that there was a high death toll.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 952
- LanguageGroup
- Guwa
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Gregory
- KnownDate
- 1877
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 180
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Foot, Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- a 'new chum' in George Fraser's party
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Repeating Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-20.137 Longitude147.965 Start Date1866-07-01 End Date1866-07-31
Description
Reported in the Wagga Wagga Express 25 August 1866: 'Only last week Mr Sub-Inspector (Reginald) Uhr dispersed a mob of over 200 encamped near Euri Creek. They were evidently bent on mischief of some sort from the number of spears they had made. Mr Uhr brought in between thirty and forty and destroyed about six times that number. They were also well supplied with green-hide, and evident proof that they had been already victimising some unfortunate cattle-owner. Natives from very distant tribes, both southward and westward, were noticed among them.'
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 954
- LanguageGroup
- Yuru
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- KnownDate
- July 1866
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-19.728 Longitude139.307 Start Date1884-07-30 End Date1884-08-20
Description
Following the killing of James Powell by Kalkadoon people, co-owner of Calton Hills station, at Mistake Creek, north of Cloncurry, in 1884, a detachment of seven native police under the command of Sub-Inspector Frederick Urquhart and assisted by Alexander Kennedy, co-owner of Calton Hills station, went in search of the alleged killers. They trapped a group in a gorge on Battle Creek on Calton Hills station and shot and killed at least 18 of them. It is not known whether they were men or included women and children (Bottoms, 2013, pp 164-165).
On August 21st 1884, Sub Inspector F. Urquhart reported to the Commissioner of Police that after receiving news of the murder of J.W. Powell on the 21st of July, '... on the 22nd I left with 6 troopers and 13 horses ...' The group also included 'Mr A. Kennedy the late Mr Powell's partner...' and a 'wounded blackboy who had escaped from Mr Powells camp when the attack was made' After locating Powell's body 'On the morning of the thirthieth 30th I [Urquhart] started on the tracks of the blacks and as they had driven the horses and cattle with them it was very easy easy to follow their trail although the country traversed was mountainous and extremely rough. We passed through ten 10 camps in all of which cattle had been killed and in some cases yards made to hold them - after travelling twenty miles we dropped into a deep gorge in Gunpowder Creek [near Battle Creek] and there detected the smoke of a camp fire curling upwards - An hour before sundown I had my troopers in ambush round the camp which was a very large one there being apparently upwards of one hundred and fifty blacks in it Trooper Billy acting on my orders summoned them to surrender in their own language but they resisted and as further hesitation would have involved the escape of the offenders and possibly the destruction of my little party I gave the order to fire and thirty 30 of the blacks were shot. Trooper Larry was knocked down by a black but beyond this I have no casualties to report - Many blacks escaped but my detachment was not strong enough to admit of my doing more...'
He added that, 'Between the scene of the murder and the head of the [Wills?] I broke up and dispersed four 4 more large mobs of blacks one of which I was informed by the gins had been watching Mulligans prospecting camp on the Leichardt for some days with a view to making an attack upon it and as they were within a mile of that camp when I came upon them... I think the blacks have had a caution which will exercise a deterrent effect upon them for some time to come' (QSA COL A/49714 ITM665853 pp4-9)
Following heavy rains in 2007, and surveys for a new road to a mining site between 2008 and 2010, the graves of 18 Kalkadoons were identified in the gorge. The road now takes a different route.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 961
- LanguageGroup
- Kalkadoon
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cloncurry
- KnownDate
- 1884
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimNotes
- Graves of 18 Aboriginal people located.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- James Powell
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s), Hatchet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-22.902 Longitude145.588 Start Date1868-01-01 End Date1868-12-31
Description
After the Iningai killed an employee of Rule and Lacey's sheep station at Eight Mile Lagoon near Aramac, a small band of whites, well-armed and led by the manager, started in pursuit and traced them to a cave, about five kilometres from Gray Rock Station road. According to an account in the Capricornian newspaper article published a decade later (13 July 1878, p 12), 'The entrance [to the cave] was low, and the leader, who left his followers behind, crawled into the cave on his hands and feet, when he found himself face to face with thirteen savages...With two loaded revolvers he shot down the whole band, who, paralysed with fear, offered no resistance. ' The way in which the account was written, indicates that it was the manager who shot the Iningai.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 962
- LanguageGroup
- Iningai
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Mitchell Pastoral District
- KnownDate
- 1868
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 13
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Foot
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- station employee
- WeaponsUsed
- Revolver(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-16.466 Longitude144.05 Start Date1875-01-01 End Date1875-12-31
Description
In a letter from a miner, dated 'Upper Palmer River April 16' and published in the Brisbane Courier and The Queenslander, he describes his camp at a place known locally as 'Blackfellows Creek'. 'To my enquiry as to why the locality was so named, the answer is that not long since "the niggers got a dressing there"...There have been, certainly, "dressings"...dealt out in this part of the country to the blacks.'.... 'Be that as it may, however, the Golgotha on which we are at present camped would well repay a visit from any number of phrenological students in search of a skull, or of anatomical professors in want of a "subject"' (Brisbane Courier, May 1, 1876, p 3). According to historian Jonathan Richards, in this incident, former Sub inspector DW Uhr from the native police, led the attacking party of miners.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 964
- LanguageGroup
- Kokomini
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Palmer River
- KnownDate
- 1875
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Foot, Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-15.646 Longitude144.977 Start Date1874-10-20 End Date1874-10-20
Description
Late in the afternoon while riding between the Palmer River gold field and Cooktown, publican Alfred Court and miner Charles Standon came across a dray with three bodies of the Stroh family lying nearby. Fearful of attack by Aboriginal people they could hear in the nearby scrub, they rode along the track until they reached a camp of bullock drivers where they told what they had seen and stayed the night. Next morning, 'a large party, well-armed' went to the site and buried the bodies. Court then rode to the Native Police barracks at Palmer River with news of the killings. Inspector Thomas Coward and Sub-Inspectors Alexander Douglas and Edwin Townsend led three detachments of native police followed the 'black vagabonds' across the Normanby River where they overtook and 'quietly dispersed' them (The Queenslander, November 7, 1874, p 6). The presence of three native police detachments suggests that a great number were killed. According to Timothy Bottoms, the site of the dispersal became known as Skull Camp (Bottoms, 2013, pp 119-120).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 966
- LanguageGroup
- Kuku-Warra
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cooktown
- KnownDate
- 20 October 1784
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Shotgun(s), Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-16.852 Longitude145.646 Start Date1890-06-01 End Date1890-06-30
Description
In June 1890, following the murder of Mr Hobson on his station by one of his Aboriginal workers, known as Bismarck, a detachment of native police surrounded the camp of the 'Barron tribe' 'towards which "Bismarck's" steps were tracked and surrounded; and, without warning, the cordon of rifles fired into the camp, and left eight Aboriginals dead' (Queenslander, Sept 19, 1891, pp 572-573). However Bismarck and his accomplice, Darkie, were not among the victims and were later arrested. Their fate is not known.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 970
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cairns
- KnownDate
- June 1890
- AttackTime
- Dawn
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 8
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Mr Hobson
- WeaponsUsed
- Martini-Henry Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-25.448 Longitude138.424 Start Date1879-03-05 End Date1879-03-05
Description
Sub Inspectors William Kaye and William Gough, and a detachment of three native police 'dispersed' a 'large camp' of Pitta Pitta people near Annandale station. They were in search of the killer of a stockman at Murgah station. However the killer and others got away and fled across the border to South Australia (The Queenslander, 24 May, 1879). Settler William Paull (Nolan cited in Bottoms, 2013) from South Australia said that 27 Pitta Pitta were slaughtered and that the incident was first of two massacres of Pitta Pitta carried out by the native police.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 976
- LanguageGroup
- Pitta Pitta
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Bedourie
- KnownDate
- 5 March 1879
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 27
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Government Official(s), Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- stockman at Murgah station
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1879: Channel Country, QLD
Details
Latitude-18.536 Longitude145.936 Start Date1873-03-27 End Date1873-03-27
Description
Sub-Inspector Robert Arthur Johnstone, told settler James Cassady at Ingham in 1880 that he had 'shot as many as thirty-five in one camp' at Mt Farquharson (The Queenslander, October 23, 1880, p 530). According to historian Tim Bottoms, (2013, pp 114-115) Johnstone made a report to the Commissioner of Police on 31 March 1873, in which he said that on 27 March he had 'dispersed a large mob who had been at the Stone station [where Mt Farquharson is located] and returned to camp on 31 March' (Johnstone, cited in Bottoms, 2013, p 115).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 980
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Port Denison
- KnownDate
- 27 March 1873
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 35
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Unknown
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-13.159 Longitude142.96 Start Date1889-06-02 End Date1889-06-14
Description
In June 1889, Sub-Inspector Frederick Urquhart commanded a group of 40 armed men on horseback, comprising three detachments of native police, as well as settlers and stockmen, in a two week campaign of dispersal of the Kaanju people at Cape York (Bottoms, 2013, p 124).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 982
- LanguageGroup
- Kaanju
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cook town
- KnownDate
- June 1889
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- Men, Women and Children
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Edmund Watson
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
- MassacreGroup
- 1889: Batavia (Wenlock) area, QLD
Details
Latitude-12.992 Longitude142.814 Start Date1889-06-06 End Date1889-06-14
Description
Kaanju people were attacked by a party of at least 40 armed men on horseback, comprising three detachments of native police and men from cattle stations at Cape York. The party was conducting a two-week dispersal campaign of the Kaanju in reprisal for their killing of Edmund Watson from Pine Tree Station in early May 1889 (Bottoms, 2013, p 124).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 984
- LanguageGroup
- Kaanju
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Cooktown
- KnownDate
- June 1889
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Edmund Watson
- WeaponsUsed
- Snider(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
- MassacreGroup
- 1889: Batavia (Wenlock) area, QLD
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0dc9 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=984 SourceBrisbane Courier, 20 May 1889, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3496350; 28 May 1889, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3496688; Queenslander 1 June 1889, p 1013 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19814504; Vogan, 1890, p 137; Loos, 1982, p 61; Bottoms, 2013, p 124.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-25.813 Longitude149.45 Start Date1857-12-01 End Date1857-12-31
Description
In the aftermath of the massacre of the Frazer family at Hornet Bank in October 1857, three reprisal massacres were carried out. In the second massacre, two members of the Fraser family, Sylvester and William Fraser, killed at least 70 Yiman people. According to Richards (2008, p 64), 'When grazier Andrew Murray met William Fraser... three years after Hornet Bank, Fraser reportedly said that he had shot "seventy blacks to date"' (quote from Andrew Murray's diary in Richards 2008, p 64). Richards also said that Fraser was 'known to many Aboriginal people at the time as Nemesis and Debil Debil' (Richards, 2008, p 64).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 991
- LanguageGroup
- Yiman
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Taroom
- KnownDate
- December 1857
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 70
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Hornet Bank massacre
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Pistol(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
- MassacreGroup
- 1857-1858: Hornet Bank Reprisal Massacres, NSW/QLD
Details
Latitude-28.323 Longitude150.113 Start Date1849-06-01 End Date1849-06-30
Description
A detachment of Native police, possibly led by Frederick Walker, attacked Umbercollie Station (leased by Jonathan and Margaret Young) during the day in June 1849 and slaughtered 12 of their Bigumbal workers. It appears to have been a follow up of the attack on Umbercollie station by settler James Mark and seven stockmen a year earlier in June 1848 where two Bigumbal women were killed. The reason for the second attack appears to have been in reprisal for Jonathan Young's report of the earlier attack to Police Magistrate Richard Bligh (Tonge, nd). Bligh, however, was unable to get Jonathan and Margaret Young to openly identify four of the killers that he arrested following their identification by one of the Young's Aboriginal workers. Bligh charged the four men with murder and sent them to Maitland for trial at the District Court on 12 February 1849. When Bligh sent the papers for the case to the Attorney General in Sydney, he was told that unless the Youngs were prepared to openly identify the killers, a conviction was unlikely. So the case did not proceed and the four stockmen held in custody at Maitland were released. Copland (1990) suggests that the June 1849 attack was designed to further intimidate the Youngs for daring to break the code of silence that prevailed on the frontier about the unrestrained killing of Aboriginal people.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 993
- LanguageGroup
- Bigambul
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- PoliceDistrict
- Warialda
- KnownDate
- May-June 1848
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 12
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Johnny Mark
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Pistol(s), Stockwhip(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-16.168 Longitude137.499 Start Date1884-02-01 End Date1884-02-28
Description
From Roberts (2005, p 58): 'Early in 1884 the third mob of cattle for McArthur River Station, 1200 head from Lawn Hill (Boodjamulla is the Waanyi name), were delivered by Charley Willis. His party included Tudor Shadforth, Carl Hansen (later 'George Nicholson'), Louis ('Mickey') Nash, Charley Gaunt, and John Garrett. At a creek between the Calvert and Robinson rivers their camp was attacked at night by Garrwa who stampeded the cattle and drove off some of the hobbled horses. None of the party was injured. The tracks led to three dead horses and another so badly speared it had to be shot. Continuing on their way after mustering the cattle, the men met Jack Watson, who worked on Lawn Hill and was returning home after delivering the second mob to McArthur River. With him were four Queensland 'boys'. After learning what had happened, Watson swore he would "teach the blacks a lesson" when he reached the creek. Frank Hann, who owned Lawn Hill, stated in a letter the following year that the attackers were in the act of cooking the horse meat "when my people came on them", referring apparently to Watson and his boys. "I believe that very few of them got away…" This was later confirmed by Charley Gaunt: "Spending two weeks on the creek, he [Watson] tracked and hunted those niggers, shooting them down as he came up (p 59) with them, until there was not a black on the creek. He was merciless and spared none." The place where this happened became known as Skeleton Creek'. Charlie Gaunt (1931, p 4), who was present, made a fleeting reference to this massacre in his recollections published in 1931.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 995
- LanguageGroup
- Garawa
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Unpoliced
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 50
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Overlander(s)
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 0
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
Details
Latitude-15.085 Longitude133.122 Start Date1882-07-16 End Date1882-09-30
Description
Duncan Campbell was murdered on Elsey Station on 15 July 1882. Reprisals followed, as Roberts (2005, p 144) described: "[Corporal George] Montague [sic] and Constable August Lucanus left Yam Creek on 16 July to investigate, collecting another constable at Pine Creek. They would be away for two months. Some forty years later, Lucanus wrote his memoirs for the Perth Daily News and his description of the search for Campbell's killers is the only record of what occurred. At Katherine the police recruited Jacob Peterson, who was with Jonathan Little's punitive party of 1875, and [Sam] Croker. Upon reaching Elsey [Station] they were joined by Palmer. Finding no trace of Campbell on the Strangways, they searched along the Roper. (p 145) At Red Lily Lagoon, where the party set up camp, a large number of Aboriginal people were fishing in bark canoes on the extensive network of lagoons and channels. Although they were frightened at first, one of the Aboriginal men approached the camp later in the day with some barramundi, which he exchanged for tobacco. Then Paddy and Peri [who had been with Campbell] arrived, desperately in need of tobacco. Tired of living with the tribe, they told about the murder, agreed to show where Campbell's body was buried near Mudla Waterhole, and where the saddles and other items were hidden. They said a Mungarrayi man named Charley, from Mole Hill, had smashed Campbell's skull with a nulla nulla while he slept and Paddy had finished him off. Peri would later give evidence that Campbell verbally abused and whipped Paddy, and they were afraid that one day he would murder them both. The police tried to induce Charley to come into the camp but he was too wily.
"Remembering the murders of Johnston and Daer at the hands of Mungarrayi men seven years earlier, Montague [sic] is likely to have taken revenge on the tribe. His reactions to the Daly River copper mine murders in 1884 support this theory. Lucanus said nothing about casualties in his memoirs but Harold Thonemann, whose family owned Elsey and Hodgson Downs from 1914 to 1959, wrote that 'reprisals' followed Campbell's death. Thonemann took a keen interest in the local people during his time as manager and spoke with them at length about the old days. Whether the reprisals were carried out by Palmer's party or the police, or both, is unknown."
Lucanus' memoirs, however, have him camped at Red Lily Lagoon, although he admits to nothing. Reid (1990, pp 90-91) noted that in October 1885, Charley was tracked to his camp near Chambers Creek by police and shot dead by trackers after firing a spear at Palmer, a boomerang at [MC Cornelius] Power and a woomera at one of the trackers.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 997
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Jampawurru
- LanguageGroup
- Mungarrayi
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Yam Creek
- KnownDate
- 1882
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- Duncan Campbell
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- MassacreGroup
- 1882: Elsey Station, SA/NT
Sources
TLCMap IDtd0dde Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=997 SourceReid, 1990, pp 90-91; Roberts, 2005, pp 144-145; Morrison https://www.australianfrontierconflicts.com.au; Clement & Bridge, 1991, pp 16-17; Gunn, 1908, p 273; Merlan, 1978, pp 79-80; NTTG, 7 October 1882, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3152882.
Created At2024-06-01 00:06:22 Updated At2024-11-17 15:29:54
Details
Latitude-37.533 Longitude141.749 Start Date1840-01-01 End Date1840-12-31
Description
In a published talk presented in 1964 or 1965 historian E.R. Trangmar distinguished 5 massacres in Western Victoria. One of them is a brief mention of a poisoning with arsenic at Wooton Vale: 'Another case of murder occurred at Wootong Vale. The blacks asked for flour; they were given it but it was poisoned with arsenic. Seventeen died there.' (Trangmar, 1964, p 5) Though he doesn't cite the specific source for his statements, his list of sources for the presentation includes 8 published books, 5 diaries, and local residents descended from early colonists (Trangmar, 1964, p 1). He provides no date, so the year 1840 is estimated from it's being mentioned along with, and being close to, other massacres that occurred in 1840.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1103
- LanguageGroup
- Wulluwurrung or Nundadjali
- Colony
- PPD
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 17
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Arsenic
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-41.814 Longitude147.951 Start Date1829-01-31 End Date1829-01-31
Description
In December 1828 by warriors carried out a series of raids on various farms that included the killing of James Shirton, a servant of settler Mr Hawkins, and an attack by twelve warriors on John Allen's farm at Great Swanport on 14 December 1828. The attack at John Allen's farm was visually recorded in a sketch (ML, SLNSW). A correspondent from Great Swanport reported that, in retaliation, two massacres had been carried out. In the first 'Nine were killed and three taken, near St. Paul's River, ten days back.' The other was 'near the Eastern Marshes' (Launceston Advertiser, February 9, 1829, p 2).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1104
- LanguageGroup
- Paredarerme / Oyster Bay or Tyerrernotepanner or Ben Lomond
- Colony
- VDL
- StateOrTerritory
- TAS
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- VictimNotes
- 9 killed and 3 wounded.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Reprisal
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-19.956 Longitude140.12 Start Date1883-08-01 End Date1883-08-31
Description
In August 1883 Native Police Officers Frederick Clerk and Alfred Smart killed Kalkadoon people camped on the Coolulla Run after hearing a rumour that two prospectors had been killed (Marr, 2023 pp 356-357). The prospectors were later found to be alive.
Mr Ernest Henry telegraphed from Cloncurry that he had not reported that the two prospectors were killed, and that 'the only tragedy he has lately heard of in that neighbourhood was perpetrated by the native police' (Queenslander, 27 Oct 1883, p 669).
The following year a correspondent calling themself 'Drover' gave a full account of the incident:
'On 4th August last year I was camped on the Leichardt River, a little above the junction of it and the Cabbage Tree Creek.
About half a mile higher up, on the opposite side of the river, on a high bank, were camped 28 or 30 natives (men, women and children). The previous day I was on the Dougal River, when, at Granada run, I heard a report that two white prospectors had been killed by the natives, but my informant (who was a very old resident there) told me the reports were so conflicting he did not believe them, but thought that they referred to the killing of Beresford seven or eight months previous. About two hours before sunset on the day I write of, a sub-inspector of police (native mounted police) accompanied by a body of police, rode up and asked me where the blacks were camped, as he heard I was a good deal in the ranges.
I told him of their exact position, as the paper tree obstructed the position of their camp from where we were. Being an old Crown officer, I took it for granted the police were going to secure the head men amongst them, which, with the force the sub-inspector had under command, he could easily have done; and I suggested a division of the men, and I showed him a plan by which he might take the lot; but no, that was not the course to suit the sub-inspector, so, under cover of a bend in the river, they crossed, full gallop, and straight at the unfortunates they went. The moment the natives saw them they jumped up from their camp fires and plunged into the large water hole they were camped on.
The police surrounded the hole and shot every one of them except four women and I think four children. After the battle was over the women were divided as follows:— one to a stockman who came up, one taken to a man on the Dougal, one claimed by the police, and the fourth, being old and ugly, after being knocked down by the sub-inspector of police with the butt of his rifle, was sent with the children into the ranges to fare the best way they could. The police then came over the river, and camped for the night near me.
Next morning they went off (as the sub-inspector informed me), to inquire into the reported killing of the two whites. So ended the earthly career of these unfortunate blacks, dying, they know not what for, and dying with a most damning opinion of the white men. I denounced the conduct of the police as I do now denounce the Government that allows such wholesale murders to be committed by its officers; and further allow me to inform you that the two men, who were reported to be killed, are now prospecting in the McKinlay Ranges, at least they were so when I left, well knowing the Gulf district, viz., Sam the Tracker and Cooper' (The Leader, 30 August 1884, p 35).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1107
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-28.484 Longitude143.101 Start Date1865-08-01 End Date1865-08-31
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1108
- LanguageGroup
- Kullilla, Bitharra
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 1
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Sources
TLCMap IDtd6289 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1108 SourceSydney Mail, 2 Sep, 1865 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/16551220;
Dillon, 2019;
The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser, 25 Jun 1864, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/188349532;
Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 12 July, 1864, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18705276;
Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 9 August, 1864, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/139549;
Sydney Morning Herald, 28 March 1865, p 6
Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 1 April, 1865, p 5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/140033;
Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 6 June, 1865, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18706592/140167;
The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 7 Dec 1865, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18700008;
The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 14 Sep 1865, p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18701195;
Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 9 Jul 1868 p 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/123355190;
The Brisbane Courier, 9 Dec 1864 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1265443;
Dillon, 2020 https://pauldillon.org/2019/04/08/the-murder-of-john-francis-dowling-and-the-massacre-of-300-aborigines/;
McKellar, 1984, p 57
Created At2024-11-17 15:37:11 Updated At2024-11-17 15:37:11
Details
Latitude-26.454 Longitude147.531 Start Date1864-11-01 End Date1864-12-13
Description
After four shepherds were killed and sheep taken at Mungullalla station, the Native Police followed tracks but were ambushed at night. They escaped, returned and killed eight or nine Aboriginal people.
'From up the Warrego we have reliable information of four
murders by the blacks - two shepherds belonging to Mr. Grenfell, and two travellers found dead in their blankets on the
Wara. The station's name where the shepherds perished is Mungullalla. From Mr. Bullmore's shepherd were taken by
force a quantity of sheep, which were tracked by the native police, under Captain Lambert, and Mr. Lowe, magistrate. A
surprise at night was contemplated by the blacks, but was frustrated by the vigilance of Mr. Lowe; they had time to mount,
ride off, and return to lay eight or nine of the rascals in the dust. Mr. James Grimes has been driven in from Kennedy's
Creek, close to the Yow Yow, and has taken refuge at Wiseman's, leaving all his property behind. Other outrages have
been committed much further down the river, and it will surprise none here if there are other hostile acts' (The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser Tue 13 Dec 1864, p 3).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1109
- LanguageGroup
- Gunggari / Mandandandji
- Colony
- QLD
- StateOrTerritory
- QLD
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 8
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Native Police
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 4
- WeaponsUsed
- Rifle(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-20.156 Longitude119.203 Start Date1864-01-01 End Date1864-08-31
Description
Some time in the middle of 1864 violent confrontations between colonists and local Ngarla people took place on the newly established De Grey Station in the Pilbara.
In 1864 it was reported that, 'The De Grey natives had made a most determined attack
upon Mr. Nairn and his men, but were repulsed, and so severely punished as will probably teach them not to meddle with white men for some years to come' (The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News, Fri 12 Aug 1864, p 2).
More detail was reported later in 1886:
'At length, when all suspicion of hostility on the part of the blacks had died out, their savage instincts asserted themselves, and they concocted a plot, diabolical in its ingenuity, for destroying the whole of the white men. They decided to await the arrival of the Mystery with supplies, and when the latter had been landed and stored, it was arranged to have a grand corroboree to which all the white men would be invited, and when the latter were ail gathered close around, a large yamena (Dugong) net was to be drawn around them after which they could be speared without difficulty, the natives naturally concluding that the white victims
would come unarmed. Like many other well laid-plans, the diabolical scheme failed owing to being imperfectly carried out. On the evening in question Mr.
Nairn whilst sitting in his verandah after tea enjoying a pipe, was invited by two lusty blacks, to come over to the camp -- only about 200 yards off, where about 100
natives were congregated -- to see a corroboree. The other whites were also invited, but the latter not being quite ready the manager started away with the
two decoys, without the slightest suspicion of foul play. As they passed over the crest of a slight ridge between the house and camp the miscreants, evidently, wishing to have the honor of shedding first blood, turned upon Mr. Nairn and knocked him down, their accomplices rushing up with clubs to finish him. ln the meantime, a young man named Conway, who stood in the verandah watching the departure of Mr. Nairn and the two blacks, saw that something was wrong, so he called out to the men to arm themselves, and, seizing a revolver, rushed to the rescue of his chief, firing a shot from the revolver as he ran. This report startled the natives and gave Mr. Nairn a chance to get to his legs, when he ran towards Conway and seized the revolver, which, to his chagrin, would not go off again owing to the tumbler getting locked. However, by this time the other white men had reached the spot, and the blacks seeing that their plot had failed suddenly dispersed, leaving most of their newly formed clubs on the ground. As might be supposed, the little band, who had so narrowly escaped death, passed a sleepless night, and when day broke horses were saddled, and a party started on the tracks of the would-be murderers, whom they came upon about midday and
taught a lesson that they have never forgotten' (Western Mail, 6 March 1886, p13).
Smith's (2020) research on this massacre cites directly or indirectly:
Pietro Ferrara, letter to The West Australian, 16 November 1892;
The Western Mail, 6 March 1886;
The Inquirer, August 1864;
Nairn 1986, p 44;
Austen 1998, pp 49-50; and
Charles Nairn, diary, cited in Nairn 1980.
No precise numbers of those killed are given in the sources, apart from Pietro Ferrara's estimate of up to forty killed in his time at De Grey Station over the years 1863 to 1866. The estimate of ten killed in this massacre is based on what is implied by the various accounts.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1111
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarla
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Soldier(s)
- Motive
- Reprisal
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-31.895 Longitude116.638 Start Date1832-07-01 End Date1832-11-26
Description
A letter by the amateur ethnographer Robert Lyon (also known as Robert Lyon Milne) to the Colonial Secretary, Lord Goderich, protests at an attack on Nyungar people at York in 1832. Lyon wrote, 'The local government seem to have returned to the intelligent principle of governing the native tribes without a knowledge of their language - or rather have determined to let the settlement take the chance of an interminable war. No proclamation appeared; & since the above was written, one of the chiefs a man who by his example & his influence has saved more lives and property than all His Majesty's forces in Western Australia - has been dangerously wounded by some white savage. Notwithstanding this, I have succeeded, under divine providence in effecting a cessation of hostilities. So soon as I came from Carnac I went into the bush alone unarmed & met Yellow Gongo [Yellagonga] chief, a King of Mooro, whose district comprehends Perth & the country to the north of the Swan. He gave me assurances of peace & friendship, & presented me with a womera & a spear. Since then they have refrained even from molesting the stock. How long this calm may continue, God only knows. The settlers & soldiers at York have committed a horrible action: They went at night to an encampment of the natives &, while they were sitting round their fires poured the shot among them - men, women & children. Their cries were dreadful' (Lyon, 1832, p151).
This letter is cited in Martens, 2022 as 'Lyon to Goderich, 1 January 1833, NA: CO 18/11, f. 150'. Green quotes the same letter from an extract in the Perth Gazette, January 1833 (Green 1984 p 120 and note 2, p 196).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1114
- LanguageGroup
- Nyungar
- Colony
- WA
- StateOrTerritory
- WA
- AttackTime
- Night
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Soldier(s)
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-29.564 Longitude150.369 Start Date1837-11-01 End Date1837-12-31
Description
The massacre at Anambah Station is part of an extended conflict. Two shepherds were killed at Mr Bowman's for abducting Gomeroi women. This prompted the
Gravesend massacre. In response to this Gomeroi people killed two shepherds at Cobb's Station at Anambah. Stockmen from Cobb's Station then pursued and killed Aboriginal people thought to be responsible for the murder of the shepherds (Milliss 1992, pp 158-159).
A chronology of killings of colonists records the date as November, 1837 (The Sydney Herald, 10 Dec 1838, p 2).
According to Threlkeld,
'The two shepherds of Mr Cobb, who were unfortunately murdered by the Blacks, suffered it is said, in consequence of the atrocities being committed against the Blacks by the stockmen in another part of the country, which drove them towards Mr Cobb's station, where they met the two shepherds and wreaked their vengeance, in retaliation, on the unhappy sufferers.: so I am informed by one who was there at the time of the catastrophe. Their fellow servants armed themselves, overtook or came upon the tribe, found some with clothes of the murdered shepherds on their backs, whom they hewed to pieces with their hatchets, and killed others' (Threlkeld in Gunson 1974, vol.II, p.145).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1116
- LanguageGroup
- Gamilaraay
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 7
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-33.433 Longitude149.286 Start Date1824-09-01 End Date1824-01-01
Description
A traveller through the King's Plains reported that during the conflict with Wiradjuri people in 1824, there had been 'much bloodshed' and 'slaughter':
'King's Plains are swampy, and have been generally, and are now chiefly located
for the depasturing of cattle. During the period of hostilities with the natives in 1824, this vicinity was the scene of much bloodshed. The atrocities of these misguided people on that occasion, called forth the most active measures of the local authorities, in which nearly all the respectable settlers of the district joined, under the direction of the then Commandant, Colonel Morisset. Before the termination of hostilities, martial law being in full operation, the slaughter was dreadful, but the result decidedly proved the good policy of the course adopted, for since that time the most amicable feeling has subsisted between the Aboriginal and Anglo-Australians' (The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 19 Jan 1832, p 3).
This account is clear about the location of the massacre and its connection to Morriset's campaign in September 1824. Beyond that it is difficult to assign the massacre to any particular group of perpetrators.
Historian Stephen Gapps relates that Morisset sent a detachment to Swallow Creek following a raid by Wiradjuri people at King's Plains. Two Aboriginal people were reported killed and three taken prisoner. However, Gapps notes that much of the killing during 1824 may have been done by colonists other than soldiers. 'Uncle Bill Allen Junior and other Wiradyuri people today, however, are clear that it was not necessarily the "redcoats" who conducted the killings at this time, but rather that the declaration of martial law and the conditions surrounding the military campaign allowed for an "open slather" of violence' (Gapps, 2021, p 181).
Killings in this area may have also occurred as part of Morisset's campaign. According to Gapps, while two divisions headed north east the division lead by 'Magistrate Walker headed to the west' (Gapps, 2021, p 173). However, this appears to be the western arm of Morisset's sweep to the north.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1118
- LanguageGroup
- Wiradjuri
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Soldier(s)
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-30.04 Longitude146.082 Start Date1866-08-01 End Date1866-09-05
Description
On 5 September 1866 news arrived from Warrego that strongly implied a massacre had occurred involving the Native Police: 'News arrived here last night that the Bulla blacks
attacked Mr. William Sly, spearing his horse, and that a lesson has been gently taught them not likely to be forgotten. I am glad to say that an energetic officer,
with a sergeant and a troop of black troopers, are stationed on the Yougha Creek, and their presence has had a beneficial result already' (The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 6 Sep 1866, p 4). According to Dargin, Mr Sly was one of Bourke's first publicans (Dargin, p 59).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1119
- LanguageGroup
- Margany
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Native Police
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Reprisal
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-29.935 Longitude146.234 Start Date1858-01-01 End Date1858-12-31
Description
The Maryborough Chronicle republished an extract from Stockwhip, 22 April, 1876 describing 'barbarities' committed in New South Wales in relation to the lethal flogging of an Aboriginal boy in Queensland. The article describes an atrocity in graphic detail, and mentions three locations at which 'barbarities' occurred in the vicinity of Brewarrina: 'When, however, these monsters "had their cattle together" they would collect
themselves for the purpose of "a bit of
sport," which meant going on the trail of
the aboriginals. "Hospital Creek," opposite
Breewarrina, "The Point," between Yambegoona and the same place, and Warraweena
Billywung might, if they could speak, tell of
deeds unparalleled even in the Book of
Books. We are now speaking of the years
from 1840-1858' (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 9 May 1876, p 4).
Hospital Creek is a well known massacre site. The incident at 'The Point' near Yambegoona is probably not a massacre, but it is the atrocity committed against an individual described, as it is mentioned specifically in relation to 'Yambecoona' in another article: 'The most brutal story he told'
me, and again showed the spot and stump,
was that he and two stockmen were coming up the river close to Yambecoona,
when they met a blackfellow...' (The Kiama Independent, and Shoalhaven Advertiser, 1 Apr 1869, p 4).
This earlier article describes the activities of three Aboriginal men from Liverpool Plains employed by colonists in the area: 'One of these demons, Pelica Jemmy, told
me some revolting stories. He said he
had shot and poisoned in his time 170,
and that Brewarina Jemmy, had killed
far more than he' (The Kiama Independent, and Shoalhaven Advertiser, 1 Apr 1869, p 4). The article then focuses on Hospital Creek. The article makes it clear that the killing had been sustained for a long period at many sites but only mentions three sites, Hospital Creek marked elsewhere on this site, Yambecoona at which one person was killed, which leaves Warraweena as the only other identified place where this widespread killing occurred.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1120
- LanguageGroup
- barranbinya
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Motive
- Unknown
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-38.511 Longitude146.863 Start Date1843-07-01 End Date1843-07-31
Description
Bruthen Creek is one of the
Warrigal Creek group of massacres.
In 1845 William Thomas, the Assistant Protector of Aborigines recorded in his journal a conversation with a man called Hatcher: 'He said he [Hatcher] and another man had come unarmed from Gippsland. I asked him if he was not afraid of meeting the Blacks, his reply was, Blks Sir no fear of them now they would run away as soon as they see a white man but there are not many left, he said he had a Brother who had been in Gippsland from the first his name was Bunton & kept a Public house in Gippsland by the Dirty Water Holes & a cattle station joining to Mr. McAllister who was killed, that after Mr. McAllisters murder great slaughter of the blacks took place and that on his brothers station a cart load of Blks bones might be gath.rd up' (Thomas, cited in Caldow, 2020 and cited in Gardner, 1994, p 51).
Caldow (2020) and Gardner (2022) concur that the station where bones 'might be gath.rd up' referred to in Thomas's journal is Hatcher's brother-in-law Buntine's run at Bruthen Creek.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1121
- LanguageGroup
- Brataualung
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- VIC
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 25
- VictimNotes
- Men, women and children.
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- RetaliationForDeaths
- 5
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s), Double-barrelled Purdey(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- MassacreGroup
- 1843: Warrigal Creek, Gippsland, PPD/VIC
Sources
TLCMap IDtd6291 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1121 SourceDunderdale, 1973, p.225; Pepper and de Aurugo, 1985, p.24; Cannon, 1990, p.171; Shaw,1996, p.133; Clark, 1998d, p.70, p. 99, p.110; Gardner, 2001, pp 53-61; Bartrop, 2004, pp 199-205 ; The Age, 8 Aug 1874, p 7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201532298;
Gardner, 1994, p 45;
The Courier, 23 Jun, 1843, p 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2952539;
Dunderdale, 2020 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16349/pg16349-images.html;
Caldow, 2020;
Gardner, 2022, https://petergardner.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Warrigal-Creek-Massacre-a-reply-to-Wayne-Caldow.pdf;
Created At2024-11-17 15:37:11 Updated At2024-11-17 15:37:11
Details
Latitude-31.931 Longitude151.651 Start Date1835-01-01 End Date1838-12-31
Description
According to an article published in 1922 Aboriginal people killed 5 shepherds and then, 'After this outrage the natives divided - one body seeking shelter south west towards the source of the Gloucester River, and the other going north west towards the Upper Arundel.' A group of colonists pursued the first group and massacred people at McKenzie Cliffs. The second group was also pursued, 'At a small plain a mile west of the
present Cobakh Station the Port Stephens men came into conflict with the
remaining body of natives, but the
fugitives broke and fled northwards
to a little flat on the Bowman River.
Here the final tragedy occurred; a
stand was made by the blacks, but in
vain. Years afterwards their unburied
skeletons could be seen' (The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer, 25 April, 1922 p 2).
A correspondent calling themself 'Wirrapit' wrote that after the massacre of the 'Rawdon Vale' tribe at McKenzie Cliff, 'advantage was taken of the presence of the Williams River settlers to further punish the tribes inhabiting the Upper Bowman and what is now Glen Ward, as they had become very daring and troublesome.
A party of whites rode up the Cobark River and fought a pitched battle with the tribe that had arrived from Mount Moonee, and killed over 50 of them, losing seven or eight of their own men.'
A larger party then went on to Bowman River where 'over 100 it is said --- being killed and also twelve white were killed and badly wounded' (The Scone Advocate, 7 May 1935, p 4).
This article notes that 'as time went on most exaggerated reports began to filter in and reach the authorities in Newcastle and Sydney'. A massacre involving the deaths of this many colonists would most likely have been widely reported at the time, and no other records have been found. The numbers of colonists and Aboriginal people killed have most likely been exaggerated.
The massacres at Mt McKenzie, Cobark River and Bowman River occurred around the same time but available reports are long after the incidents so it is difficult to determine their year.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1122
- LanguageGroup
- Binghi
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 1
- Motive
- Opportunity
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-31.922 Longitude151.767 Start Date1835-01-01 End Date1838-12-31
Description
According to an article published in 1922 Aboriginal people killed 5 shepherds and then, 'After this outrage the natives divided - one body seeking shelter south west towards the source of the Gloucester River, and the other going north west towards the Upper Arundel.' A group of colonists pursued the first group and massacred people at McKenzie Cliffs. The second group was also pursued, 'At a small plain a mile west of the
present Cobakh Station the Port Stephens men came into conflict with the
remaining body of natives, but the
fugitives broke and fled northwards
to a little flat on the Bowman River.
Here the final tragedy occurred; a
stand was made by the blacks, but in
vain. Years afterwards their unburied
skeletons could be seen' (The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer, 25 April, 1922 p 2).
A correspondent calling themself 'Wirrapit' wrote that after the massacre of the 'Rawdon Vale' tribe at McKenzie Cliff, 'advantage was taken of the presence of the Williams River settlers to further punish the tribes inhabiting the Upper Bowman and what is now Glen Ward, as they had become very daring and troublesome.' After a massacre at Cobark river 'a larger party rode over to the Bowman River through McKenzie's Gap (Neilson's selection), and meeting with a large number of blacks fought another pitched battle, where Mr. J. Grant's homestead now stands, many blacks --- over 100 it is said --- being killed and also twelve white were killed and badly wounded' (The Scone Advocate, 7 May 1935, p 4).
This article notes that 'as time went on most exaggerated reports began to filter in and reach the authorities in Newcastle and Sydney.' A massacre involving the deaths of this many colonists would most likely have been widely reported at the time, and no other records have been found. The numbers of colonists and Aboriginal people killed have most likely been exaggerated.
The massacres at Mt McKenzie, Cobark River and Bowman River occurred around the same time but available reports are long after the incidents so it is difficult to determine their year.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1123
- LanguageGroup
- Binghi
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 1
- Motive
- Opportunity
- CorroborationRating
- *
Details
Latitude-29.532 Longitude150.217 Start Date1838-05-01 End Date1838-05-07
Description
On the 5th of September, 1839, Edward Denny Day, Police Magistrate of Muswellbrook gave evidence to the Committee on Police and Gaols. He spoke of the country being in a state of warfare and mentioned three massacre sites prior to the massacre at Myall Creek: Vinegar Hill, Slaughterhouse Creek and Gravesend, committed by groups of mounted and armed stockmen:
'It was represented to me, and I believe truly, that the blacks had been repeatedly pursued by parties of mounted and armed stockmen, assembled for the purpose, and that great numbers of them had been killed at various spots, particularly at Vinegar Hill, Slaughter-house Creek, and Gravesend, places so called by the stockmen, in commemoration of the deeds enacted there' (Day, Evidence to Committee on Police and Gaols 5.9.1839, p 224).
Descriptions of the massacre at Slaughterhouse Creek often describe it as an extended expedition of colonists aiming to finding and kill Aboriginal people. The headwaters of Slaughterhouse creek and the mouth of Slaughterhouse Creek, where it joins the Gwydir River at Biniguy, are both mentioned as massacre sites. Since this was an extended expedition it is reasonable to think both of these locations are massacre sites rather than it being one or the other. In Day's evidence, he mentions Vinegar Hill as a separate site to both Slaughterhouse Creek and Gravesend. Gravesend is a site reported by others. In his notes on p 811, Millis suggests 'Vinegar Hill' may be Biniguy or 'Binegar' (Millis, 1992, p 811). The word is phonetically similar, so colonists may have, after the massacre, corrupted the name to associate it with the Vinegar Hill uprising in the early colony of Sydney, named in turn after a battle in the Irish uprising, or Denny Day or the court scribe may simply have misheard it as 'Vinegar'. No other likely location for 'Vinegar Hill' in this region has been identified.
See
Slaughterhouse Creek.
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 1124
- LanguageGroup
- Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi/Gomeroi)
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Unknown
- WeaponsUsed
- Firearm(s)
- CorroborationRating
- *
- MassacreGroup
- 1838: Slaughterhouse Creek
Sources
TLCMap IDtd6294 Linkbackhttps://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1124 SourceReece 1974, p.34; Telfer, 1980;Day, Letter to Colonial Secretary, 31 July 1838, SRNSW CSO CSR 38/9458; Telfer, 1980; Millis 1992, pp 200-3; Day, Letter to Colonial Secretary, 10 September 1838, SRNSW CSO CSR 38/9458; Day, Evidence to Committee on Police and Gaols 5.9.1839, p 224, NSWLC V&P 1839; North West Champion, 20 Oct 1949, p 10 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184173250;
Created At2024-11-17 15:37:11 Updated At2024-11-17 15:37:11
Details
Latitude-34.046 Longitude141.277 Start Date1839-12-01 End Date1839-12-31
Description
In a letter dated 12 July 1841, Matthew Moorhouse, Protector of the Aborigines in South Australia, noted several incidents between the Maruara people at Langhorne Creek and unnamed overlanding parties from Sydney to Adelaide. In December 1839, 'the drays of a cattle party were attempted to be taken at [Langhorne Creek] by a group of Natives. Ten men on horseback all supplied with firearms were on the banks of the River at the time, and repelled the Natives at once by firing upon them. The Natives retreated as soon as they saw one of two of their tribe shot, but were followed for about 15 miles by those on horseback and firing kept up the whole time' (Moorhouse, cited in Burke et al, 2016, p 158).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 693
- LanguageGroup
- Marrawarra
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Adelaide
- KnownDate
- Dec 1839
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Reprisal
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Pistol(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
Details
Latitude-34.049 Longitude141.279 Start Date1840-06-01 End Date1840-06-30
Description
On 12 July 1841 Matthew Moorhouse, Protector of the Aborigines in South Australia wrote that in June 1840, Aboriginal people at Langhorne's Ferry 'had been routed with great loss' by an unnamed overlanding party from Sydney (Burke, 2016, p158).
Extended Data
- Source_ID
- 688
- LanguageGroup
- Erawirung
- Colony
- NSW
- StateOrTerritory
- NSW
- PoliceDistrict
- Adelaide
- KnownDate
- June 1840
- AttackTime
- Day
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
- Transport
- Horse
- Motive
- Opportunity
- WeaponsUsed
- Carbine(s), Pistol(s), Bayonet(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
