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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- CorroborationRating
- *
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Early
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Early
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
Sources
TLCMap IDte1649 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 120
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police, Settler(s), Pastoralist(s), Miner(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Early
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
Sources
TLCMap IDte164a 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 100
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police, Pastoralist(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Early
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
Sources
TLCMap IDte164b 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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 pos��sible 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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 6
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Police, Pastoralist(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Early
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
Sources
TLCMap IDte164c 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 35
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s), Police, Pastoralist(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Early
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
Sources
TLCMap IDte164d 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 40
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- CorroborationRating
- **
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Early
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- CorroborationRating
- **
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Early
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
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
- LanguageGroup
- Malngin and Nyinin
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek and Wyndham
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 60
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Mistake Creek
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Early
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- CorroborationRating
- **
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Early
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police, Pastoralist(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Mid
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 23
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 1
- AttackerDescription
- Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Mid
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
Sources
TLCMap IDte1653 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Aboriginal Tracker(s), Police
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Mid
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
Sources
TLCMap IDte1654 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Lartajarni, near Tartarr.
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Mid
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
Sources
TLCMap IDte1655 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- LanguageGroup
- Ngarinman, Bilinara
- Colony
- SA
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Gordon Creek
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 35
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Yarralin
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Mid
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
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
- CorroborationRating
- *
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Mid
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Mid
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
Sources
TLCMap IDte1658 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Mid
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
Sources
TLCMap IDte1659 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 10
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- CorroborationRating
- **
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Mid
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 50
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Mid
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
Sources
TLCMap IDte165b 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Mid
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
Sources
TLCMap IDte165c 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 50
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- CorroborationRating
- **
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Mid
- Region
- North West
- Period
- North
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 9
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Late
- Region
- North West
- Period
- Late
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
- CorroborationRating
- *
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Late
- Region
- North West
- Period
- Late
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Late
- Region
- North West
- Period
- Late
Sources
TLCMap IDte1660 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 7
- VictimDescription
- Warrior(s)
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Mounted Police
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Late
- Region
- North West
- Period
- Late
Sources
TLCMap IDte1661 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- LanguageGroup
- Manngayarri
- Colony
- NT
- StateOrTerritory
- NT
- PoliceDistrict
- Wave Hill
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 30
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- AboriginalPlaceName
- Kumanturru
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Late
- Region
- North West
- Period
- Late
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 12
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Police
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Late
- Region
- North West
- Period
- Late
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 20
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Late
- Region
- North West
- Period
- Late
Sources
TLCMap IDte1664 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 26
- VictimDescription
- Aboriginal
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Pastoralist(s)
- CorroborationRating
- **
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Late
- Region
- North West
- Period
- Late
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
- Victims
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
- VictimsDead
- 11
- Attackers
- Colonists
- AttackersDead
- 0
- AttackerDescription
- Settler(s), Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s)
- CorroborationRating
- ***
- War
- Kimberley East
- Stage
- Late
- Region
- North West
- Period
- Late
Sources
TLCMap IDte1666 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 At2025-08-11 10:57:30 Updated At2025-08-11 10:57:30
