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NameBunuba and West Kimberley War and Resistance
Description

Listen

Ross, Joe (Bunuba) Jandamarra, Rebel Films, ICTV https://ictv.com.au/video/3739-jandamarra

Ross, Joe (Bunuba) The Jandamarra Story Fancy Films, Vimeo, https://vimeo.com/272681039

Jandamarra's War Electric Pictures 2011 https://vimeo.com/ondemand/jandamarraswar

Ord, Duncan Jandamarra’s legacy National Museum of Australia, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxvnXG8gl_0 

Spearim, Bo Dr Chris Owen, The Kimberley Frontier, 1882-1905 Frontier War Stories, 2021 https://open.spotify.com/episode/2E2CsnuvPGzQYixYKKzWa1?si=4272495dad29454c

Notes

Massacres in this war indicate two main phases, the first in the 1890s, including the Bunuba Resistance and the well known resistance leader Jandamarra, and the second from the mid 1910s to late 1920s.

Events in this conflict will be added as Australian Wars and Resistance research continues.

TypeEvent
Content Warning

Contains descriptions of colonial violence. Sources may include racist language and attitudes. References to recordings and works of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people does not necessarily mean they support this work - the intention is only to refer people to the right speakers and sources.

ContributorDr Bill Pascoe
Entries9
Allow ANPS? No
Added to System2025-08-11 00:37:14
Updated in System2025-11-27 23:22:55
Subject Indigenous, Australian Wars, History, colonial violence, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Creator
Publisher
Contact
Citation
DOI
Source URL
Linkbackhttps://australianwars.net
Date From
Date To
Image
Latitude From
Longitude From
Latitude To
Longitude To
Language
License
Usage Rights
Date Created (externally)

Leopold Ranges - West Kimberley

Type
Event
3D Viewer Google Maps Trove Search

Details

Latitude
-17.5
Longitude
124.75
Start Date
1892-06-01
End Date
1892-08-31

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
Victims
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
VictimsDead
7
VictimDescription
Aboriginal
Attackers
Colonists
AttackersDead
0
AttackerDescription
Police
CorroborationRating
***
War
Bunuba and Kimberley West
Stage
West
Region
North West
Period
North

Sources

TLCMap ID
te15a2
Linkback
https://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 At
2025-08-11 00:37:33
Updated At
2025-08-11 00:37:33

Geike Gorge, West Kimberley (1)

Type
Event
3D Viewer Google Maps Trove Search

Details

Latitude
-18.111
Longitude
125.698
Start Date
1894-11-19
End Date
1894-11-19

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
Victims
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
VictimsDead
7
Attackers
Colonists
AttackersDead
0
AttackerDescription
Police
CorroborationRating
***
War
Bunuba and Kimberley West
Stage
Geike Gorge
Region
North West
Period
North

Sources

TLCMap ID
te15a3
Linkback
https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=909
Source
APB, '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 At
2025-08-11 00:37:33
Updated At
2025-08-11 00:37:33

Geike Gorge, West Kimberley (2)

Type
Event
3D Viewer Google Maps Trove Search

Details

Latitude
-18.074
Longitude
125.721
Start Date
1894-12-13
End Date
1894-12-26

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
Victims
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
VictimsDead
17
Attackers
Colonists
AttackersDead
0
AttackerDescription
Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
CorroborationRating
***
War
Bunuba and Kimberley West
Stage
Geike Gorge
Region
North West
Period
North

Sources

TLCMap ID
te15a4
Linkback
https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=903
Source
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, 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 At
2025-08-11 00:37:33
Updated At
2025-08-11 00:37:33

Oobagooma Station

Type
Event
3D Viewer Google Maps Trove Search

Details

Latitude
-16.723
Longitude
124.015
Start Date
1895-01-01
End Date
1895-12-31

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)
CorroborationRating
**
War
Bunuba and Kimberley West
Stage
West
Region
North West
Period
North

Sources

TLCMap ID
te15a5
Linkback
https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1099
Source
APB, '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 At
2025-08-11 00:37:33
Updated At
2025-08-11 00:37:33

Margaret River

Type
Event
3D Viewer Google Maps Trove Search

Details

Latitude
-18.129
Longitude
125.778
Start Date
1895-06-01
End Date
1895-06-30

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
Victims
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
VictimsDead
9
Attackers
Colonists
AttackersDead
0
AttackerDescription
Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
CorroborationRating
***
War
Bunuba and Kimberley West
Stage
Geike Gorge
Region
North West
Period
North

Sources

TLCMap ID
te15a6
Linkback
https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=908
Source
WAPD, '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 At
2025-08-11 00:37:33
Updated At
2025-08-11 00:37:33

St George Ranges, Fitzroy River, West Kimberley

Type
Event
3D Viewer Google Maps Trove Search

Details

Latitude
-18.708
Longitude
125.035
Start Date
1896-08-14
End Date
1896-08-14

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
Victims
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
VictimsDead
9
Attackers
Colonists
AttackersDead
0
AttackerDescription
Police
CorroborationRating
***
War
Bunuba and Kimberley West
Stage
South
Region
North West
Period
North

Sources

TLCMap ID
te15a7
Linkback
https://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 At
2025-08-11 00:37:33
Updated At
2025-08-11 00:37:33

Mowla Bluff - West Kimberley

Type
Event
3D Viewer Google Maps Trove Search

Details

Latitude
-18.706
Longitude
123.693
Start Date
1916-09-01
End Date
1916-09-30

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
Victims
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
VictimsDead
6
Attackers
Colonists
AttackersDead
0
AttackerDescription
Settler(s), Police, Pastoralist(s)
CorroborationRating
***
War
Bunuba and Kimberley West
Stage
Late
Region
North West
Period
Late

Sources

TLCMap ID
te1668
Linkback
https://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 At
2025-08-11 11:08:37
Updated At
2025-08-11 11:08:37

Mt Barnett and Bedford Downs

Type
Event
3D Viewer Google Maps Trove Search

Details

Latitude
-16.804
Longitude
126.004
Start Date
1921-01-01
End Date
1921-11-30

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
Victims
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
VictimsDead
10
Attackers
Colonists
AttackersDead
0
AttackerDescription
Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s), Vigilante/Volunteer(s)
CorroborationRating
***
War
Bunuba and Kimberley West
Stage
Late
Region
North West
Period
Late

Sources

TLCMap ID
te1669
Linkback
https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=915
Source
WAPD, '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 At
2025-08-11 11:08:37
Updated At
2025-08-11 11:08:37

Christmas Creek 'Wangkatjungka'

Type
Event
3D Viewer Google Maps Trove Search

Details

Latitude
-18.875
Longitude
125.92
Start Date
1927-12-01
End Date
1927-12-10

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
LanguageGroup
Nyikena
Colony
WA
StateOrTerritory
WA
PoliceDistrict
West Kimberley
Victims
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
VictimsDead
7
VictimDescription
Aboriginal
Attackers
Colonists
AttackersDead
0
AttackerDescription
Stockmen/Drover(s)
CorroborationRating
***
AboriginalPlaceName
Wangkatjungka
War
Bunuba and Kimberley West
Stage
Late
Region
North West
Period
Late

Sources

TLCMap ID
te166a
Linkback
https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1036
Source
'Alleged shooting of Natives by Bert Smith at Derby,' WAPD, Acc 4431/1929, SROWA; Bohemia and McGregor, 1992, pp 26-40; Truth, January 19, 1930, p 1 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/210493943/22684256
Created At
2025-08-11 11:08:37
Updated At
2025-08-11 11:08:37
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