ghap_id,layer_id,title,record_type,description,latitude,longitude,datestart,dateend,source,linkback,created_at,updated_at,linked_dataitem_uid,Source_ID,LanguageGroup,Colony,StateOrTerritory,PoliceDistrict,Victims,VictimsDead,VictimDescription,Attackers,AttackersDead,AttackerDescription,CorroborationRating,War,Stage,Region,Period,AboriginalPlaceName
te1734,2512,"Blue Mud Bay",Event,"The <i>NTTG</i> 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 <i>Woolner</i> 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; <i>NTTG</i> 18 Dec 1875, pp 1-2). Roberts (2009, np) noted the blood lust from the <i> Northern Territory Times and Gazette</i> 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"".",-13.341,135.866,1875-08-08,1875-08-09,"<i>NTTG</i>, 30 October, 1875, p1. <a href=""http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144523"">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144523</a>; <i>NTTG</i>, 18 December, 1875, p. 1 <a href=""https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3144651"">https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3144651</a>; Reid, 1990; Macknight, 1981; Roberts, 2005, pp 120-121; Roberts, 2009, np.",https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=699,"2025-08-11 14:47:26","2025-08-11 14:47:26",td0d93,699,Yolngu,SA,NT,"Port Darwin","Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People",40,Warrior(s),Colonists,1,Explorer(s),***,Yolngu,Early,North,North,
te1735,2512,"Mirki / Florida Station (1)",Event,"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.'
<br>
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.
<br>
The estimate of 40 killed is for the poisoning incident only. Many more would have been killed in the ongoing conflict.",-12.486,134.935,1885-01-01,1885-12-31,"Baker 2018, p 8; Trudgen 2000, pp 19-20.",https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=748,"2025-08-11 14:47:26","2025-08-11 14:47:26",td0dee,748,"Yolngu, Djinang",SA,NT,"Palmerston (no police presence in Arnhem Land at that time)","Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People",40,Warrior(s),Colonists,0,Manager(s),**,Yolngu,Mid,North,North,Murwangi
te1736,2512,"Mirki / Florida Station (2)",Event,"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: 
<br>
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).
<br>
 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' (<i>Northern Standard</i> July 10, 1934, p 6).",-12.104,134.911,1889-01-01,1896-12-31,"Read and Read, 1991, p 24; Gaunt 1934,  'Old Time Memories, The Lepers of Arnheim [sic] Land and Sketches' <i>Northern Standard</i> July 10, 1934, p 6 <a href=""http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48064622"">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48064622</a>; van der Heide, 1985, p 16.",https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=713,"2025-08-11 14:47:26","2025-08-11 14:47:26",td0da9,713,"Yolngu, Djinang",SA,NT,"Port Darwin","Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People",40,,Colonists,0,Pastoralist(s),**,Yolngu,Mid,North,North,Mirki
te1737,2512,"Arafura Station",Event,"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.
<br>
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.'
<br>
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).'
<br>
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 <a href=""https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=995"">Skeleton Creek</a> massacre. <br>
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. 
<br>
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).
<br>
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.",-12.461,134.984,1903-01-01,1908-07-30,"Merlan, 1978, pp 87-88; Dewar, 1992, p 9; Northern Standard, 6 Jul 1934, p 4 <a href=""https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48064516"">https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48064516</a>; Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 17 March 1905, p 3 <a href=""https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4328639/828514"">https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4328639/828514</a>; Willey, K, 1964, p 103; Olney J, 2003, p 47.",https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1056,"2025-08-11 14:47:26","2025-08-11 14:47:26",td0ca6,1056,"Yolngu, Djinang",SA,NT,"Port Darwin","Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People",200,Aboriginal,Colonists,0,"Stockmen/Drover(s), Pastoralist(s)",**,Yolngu,Late,North,Late,"Murwangi or Murruwangi"
te1738,2512,"Caledon Bay",Event,"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).",-12.796,136.523,1910-11-15,1910-11-20,"Dewar, 1992, p 8;  <i>NTTG</i>, March 3, 1911, p 2 <a href=""http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3266660"">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3266660</a>; van der Heide, 1985, p 85.",https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1018,"2025-08-11 14:47:26","2025-08-11 14:47:26",td0e1d,1018,Yolngu,SA,NT,"Roper River",Colonists,6,"Explorer(s), Servant(s)","Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People",0,Aboriginal,***,Yolngu,Late,North,Late,
te1739,2512,"Birany Birany",Event,"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 <a href=""https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=715"">Gan Gan</a>.
<br>
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)
<br>
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).
<br>
In the Preface to Bronwyn Wuyuwa Yunupingu <i>A True, Bad Story</i> 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).
<br>
In the Preface to Bronwyn Wuyuwa Yunupingu <i>A True, Bad Story</i> 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).
<br>
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.",-12.817,136.477,1911-01-01,1913-12-31,"Yunupingu, B 1981 <a href=""https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/871805/0"">https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/871805/0</a>; Yunupingu, G 2016 <a href=""https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2016/july/1467295200/galarrwuy-yunupingu/rom-watangu"">https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2016/july/1467295200/galarrwuy-yunupingu/rom-watangu</a>; NAA, <i>Uncommon Lives</i>, Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda <a href=""https://www.naa.gov.au/students-and-teachers/learning-resources/learning-resource-themes/first-australians/history/yolgnu-elder-dhakiyarr-wirrpanda-high-court-case"">https://www.naa.gov.au/students-and-teachers/learning-resources/learning-resource-themes/first-australians/history/yolgnu-elder-dhakiyarr-wirrpanda-high-court-case</a>; Warren Snowdon MHR, 2016 <a href=""https://www.openaustralia.org.au/debate/?id=2016-11-23.156.2"">https://www.openaustralia.org.au/debate/?id=2016-11-23.156.2</a>; Gumana, B biography <a href=""https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/birrikidji-gumana/"">https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/birrikidji-gumana/</a>; Rothwell, N 2007; Yunupingu G 2017, p 54-55; Mann, B.A. 2013.",https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=932,"2025-08-11 14:47:26","2025-08-11 14:47:26",td0d71,932,"Yolngu ��� Dhalwangu and Gumatj people",NT,NT,Darwin,"Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People",15,,Colonists,0,"Mounted Police",**,Yolngu,Late,North,Late,"Birany Birany aka Gunyangara"
te173a,2512,"Gan Gan",Event,"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 <a href=""https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=932"">Birany Birany</a>.
<br>
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)
<br>
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).
<br>
In the Preface to Bronwyn Wuyuwa Yunupingu <i>A True, Bad Story</i> 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.",-13.046,135.944,1911-01-01,1913-12-31,"Yunupingu, B 1981 <a href=""https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/871805/0"">https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/871805/0</a>; Yunupingu, G 2016 <a href=""https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2016/july/1467295200/galarrwuy-yunupingu/rom-watangu"">https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2016/july/1467295200/galarrwuy-yunupingu/rom-watangu</a>; NAA, <i>Uncommon Lives</i>, Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda <a href=""https://www.naa.gov.au/students-and-teachers/learning-resources/learning-resource-themes/first-australians/history/yolgnu-elder-dhakiyarr-wirrpanda-high-court-case"">https://www.naa.gov.au/students-and-teachers/learning-resources/learning-resource-themes/first-australians/history/yolgnu-elder-dhakiyarr-wirrpanda-high-court-case</a>; Warren Snowdon MHR, 2016 <a href=""https://www.openaustralia.org.au/debate/?id=2016-11-23.156.2"">https://www.openaustralia.org.au/debate/?id=2016-11-23.156.2</a>; Gumana, B biography <a href=""https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/birrikidji-gumana/"">https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/birrikidji-gumana/</a>; Rothwell, N 2007; Yunupingu G 2017, p 54-55; Mann, B.A. 2013.",https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=715,"2025-08-11 14:47:26","2025-08-11 14:47:26",td0dad,715,"Yolngu ��� Dhalwangu and Gumatj people",NT,NT,Darwin,"Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People",25,,Colonists,0,"Mounted Police",**,Yolngu,Late,North,Late,Gangan
