Description
On the 3rd of May, the commandant of the Swan River Colony's 63rd regiment Frederick Irwin received a message 'soliciting Aid against the Natives on the Part of Inhabitants of the West End of the Town' (Irwin to Stirling, CO 18/7 p 119). The message included a description of raids and a violent encounter between three soldiers and Nyungar people who had occupied the house of a man named Paton. Later newspaper reports summarise the increasing tension and violence in the region at that time (Western Mail, 9 January, 1914, p 38 and 20 March, 1914, p 52). At Paton's house, when colonists tried to drive the Noongar people away, spears were thrown and a man who 'appeared the Chief, shewed unequivocal Gestures of Defiance and Contempt. On the Muskets being presented, the People now fired, and this Man was seen to fall wounded, falling a second time after rising. The Natives now made a rapid Retreat, leading him off' (Irwin to Stirling, CO 18/7 p 119). Ensign Dale and some guards went there ahead of Irwin and more men.
Irwin wrote in his report to Lieut. Governor Stirling: 'This daring and hostile Conduct of the Natives induced me to seize the Opportunity to make them sensible of our Superiority, by shewing how severely we could retaliate their Aggression, but that we had no Wish to injure them. With this View I continued the Pursuit, directing a Shot should not be fired but in Self-defence' (Irwin to Stirling, CO 18/7 p 119).
Two groups of colonists, one led by Ensign Dale and the other by Irwin tracked a group of Noongar people to a Lagoon. Ensign Dale was injured with spear wounds and a Noongar warrior shot in the jaw. After a twenty minute 'parley' Ensign Dale's group opened fire. Irwin included the following details:
'While observing the Natives here, several Shots were fired towards us from the opposite Bank by Mr. Dale's Party. On calling out for an Explanation, and to order the firing to cease, I learned that a Volley of Spears had been thrown at them while penetrating the Swamp to where the Natives were. Three Spears had pierced the Arm of the Acting Serjeant Major, and the Party fired in return. One of the Natives now called out from a Tree he had ascended, and gave us to understand that their Women and Children were with them, and seemed earnest in his Entreaties that we would leave them. I now told the Party to leave the Swamp, and for about Twenty Minutes we held a Parley; the Natives pressing us to leave them, and we in vain trying to encourage them to come out to us. At this Period, hearing a trampling in the Lagoon, I proceeded alone down the Bank, and distinctly heard the Groans of the wounded, whom they were carrying past; but the Height of the Reeds concealed them, except the Tops of their Spears. Considering the Object I had in view as now fully accomplished, of impressing a salutary Dread of our Superiority and Arms, while we shewed them we did not wish to injure them, after getting them and their Families completely in our Power, we left them, at Sunset, apparently on Terms as friendly as usual.
'During the night nothing was heard of them, but next Morning they were seen to cross the River at the Islands, with their Families, in considerable Numbers.
'A Patrol I sent out for the Purpose brought in Three Natives they had surprised. These Men had been often seen in the Cantonment, and willingly accompanied the Soldiers. They intimated, by Signs, that some of their People were dead or wounded in the Lagoon, after Yesterday's Fire. When this was told me, I took them off to the Lagoon, but they could show none, and I concluded they meant only to signify that some of their people had fallen there.
'On our Return we observed a Body of about Forty, including Women and Children, moving Westerly; some came towards us, on being called; and with these and our Guides to the Swamp we parted on very good Terms'
(Irwin to Stirling, CO 18/7 p 119).
Irwin did not report the number of people killed.
A letter from W.H. Mackie to Colonial Secretary Brown summarised the initial confrontation at Paton's house in more detail, indicating that two Noongar men were shot there, prior to the pursuit to the swamp:
'...they however stood boldly on the defensive, and when a gun was pointed at them laughed in a scornful manner and made signs of defiance - upon this a shot, or as some say two or three, were fired at them. One man is stated to have fallen, but whether from fear or a wound has not been ascertained. The shots however were ineffectual, for the Natives immediately rushed forward with loud cries upon the settlers, who, amounting at that time to only three or four, ran back, followed by a volley of spears and were pursued as far as Minchins.' The Noongar people collected their spears and returned to the house. The colonists called on their neighbours who came with firearms. 'A charge of small shot was then fired, but without effect, at the nearest of the savages, who instantly rushed on to the attack as before, throwing their spears as they advanced; but the settlers, amounting by this time to more than twenty, advanced to meet them, firing as they advanced, (by which fire another of the savages is said to have fallen) when the latter suddently wheeled round, and ran off at full speed' (Mackie to Brown, 1830).
Mackie then described the pursuit to the swamp at which more were killed:
'At this moment the
military who had been sent for by several of the settlers came up and joined in the pursuit
which was continued to a swamp about two miles to the North West of the camp, into
which the natives ran, and in which they were surrounded by the settlers and military by
both of whom (although strict orders had been given to the latter not to fire 'till ordered)
several short shots were fired and more than [note: "more than" is crossed out in the
original text] one or two of the natives are said to have fallen. They were seen also to carry
off some wounded or dead into the interior of the swamp and the moans of the wounded
were distinctly heard' (Mackie to Brown, 1830).
An article on the incident published in London reported seven were killed: 'In such situations they were shot at with facility; but they feared not the thunder and lightning of the Europeans; and seven of their number were killed' (The Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, 11 December 1830, p.805).
Historian Dr Chris Owen and Dr Clint Bracknell, a Noongar man, note that Irwin 'had reason to downplay the violence and the extent of the killing. Governor Stirling had proclaimed Noongar people as British subjects and therefore subject in law to the same protections as white subjects' and that 'Fabricating and minimising the numbers of Aboriginal people killed would become a resonant theme throughout Western Australian history. This culture of suppression was echoed across the continent and was later lamented as a "conspiracy of silence" by a 1927 royal commission into the Forrest River massacre in the Kimberley' (Owen and Bracknell, 2021). Irwin's narrative points out that the shooting was conducted not by his group but by the detachment under Mr Dale, in a spot he could not see, and states that the Noongar people carried away their dead and wounded, meaning that they could not be counted. Owen and Bracknell state that in Noongar oral history there is a 'near-uniform insistence that "a lot of Noongar were killed there"' (Owen and Bracknell, 2021).
John Morgan, WA Colonial Storekeeper to Under-Secretary for Colonies, recorded an estimate of at least 30 killed or wounded in a letter to Robert W Hay, dated 14 July 1830: 'The Natives, ��� have been very troublesome at Perth since I wrote, and in a skirmish with a strong party, who were evidently determined upon mischief, ��� several of the detachment 63rd Regt were wounded with spears, ��� and report says, ��� (for it was impossible to ascertain the fact) that thirty, or forty of the natives were kill'd or wounded' (Morgan to Hay, CO 18/7 pp.333-339; see also the summary in Buchanan and Buchanan, 2004 p 16).
Morgan's number of 30 or 40 killed or wounded differs greatly from other reports of how many were killed. The detailed reports of Irwin and Mackie make it clear that those killed could not be observed and so their numbers are indeterminate. Morgan's report may be biased against Irwin as they were in dispute over accounts related to the use or misuse of soldiers (Irwin to Stirling, 1830). This may equally be a reason to inflate the figures, as it may be to break the code of silence over how many were killed. Morgan was not present, but reported what he had heard. This could suggest either that his figure was exaggerated, or that he was reporting the 'off the record' numbers he'd heard from others.
