One hundred years ago in 1926, a massacre of First Nations people occurred on Ballanggara Country in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Read Erin Parke’s illuminating story, dated 21 June 2026, on ABC online of what happened at Forrest River 100 years ago. The article also covers the coming together of some descendants of those killed and representatives of the Western Australian police in efforts to tell the truth of yet another episode in Australia’s dreadful colonial history: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-21/forrest-river-massacre-families-return/106778146
In her book, O’Leary of the Underworld: The Untold Story of the Forrest River Massacre, Latrobe University Press in conjunction with Black Inc., 2023, Professor Kate Auty relates in detail how in June 1926, a posse of police and colonists murdered at least 20 First People near the Forrest River Mission in Western Australia’s Kimberley. After the killings, there was a “conspiracy of silence”. Witnesses disappeared and charges were dropped for lack of evidence. Professor Auty also investigates the responses of First People to the murders.
Professor Kate Auty is a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne, has also served on the Board of the Environment Protection Authority Victoria since 1 July 2020. Her term there will end on 20 June 2028. She is also a Board member of Parks Victoria, and has held other government posts such as former a Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment in Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.
This book is one of those, like Chris Owen’s ‘Every Mother’s Son is Guilty’: Policing the Australian Frontier of Western Australia 1882–1905, UWA Publishing 2016, included in the Bibliography and Books list on the Australian Frontier Conflicts website. You can find out more about the website and information about many frontier conflicts that occurred in Australia from 1788 to the 1940s and beyond by searching the main menu above and drop-down menus like Timelines under Resources.