Some Known Conflicts in Australian Colonies, States and Territories
1770–1940s
Click here for a more detailed introduction to Australian colonial frontier conflicts.
Colonial Frontier Conflicts–Timeline
The Timeline below lists some known dates on which, and locations where, conflicts–from individual injuries and killings to large massacres and wars– occurred between colonists and First Peoples. The Timeline begins before the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 because there were earlier encounters between European explorers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that led to violence, even death. More dates and locations of conflicts will be added as information comes to hand and time permits. Also as time permits, tables including more details about each conflict, where known, will be added to the website. (A massive task under way).
The main sources for this list are included under Resources in the main menu, in individual State and Territory lists (Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia), in the Bibliography, Books, and in Journal Articles. There is also more information about conflicts on the Australian frontier on the Databases, Films, Podcasts and Videos pages under Resources on the main menu. Memorials to those who gave their lives in some of the frontier conflicts are listed on the Memorials and Monuments page. Many thanks also to readers who contact the author with details of conflicts not yet included on this website. This is invaluable information. If you would like to contact Australian Frontier Conflicts, fill out the form on the Contact page. The contact form is also at the bottom of many pages.
WARNING: Some of the names of places included in the following list, derived from geographic names registers, from historical and modern-day maps and other primary and secondary sources, are offensive and may be upsetting to some readers. These placenames reflect the attitudes, racism and activities of the people who gave these places English or other European names during the frontier period.
Australia
1770 | 29 April | Botany Bay, Sydney, NSW Captain James Cook fires a musket twice, wounds an Aboriginal man, as First Nations people defend themselves by throwing a stone at Cook’s party. The injured man defends himself with a shield. As Cook and party land, they are met with spears. |
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1788 | 22 February | Woolloomooloo Bay, Sydney, NSW, British marines, at the order the order of Midshipman Francis Hill, fire with birdshot on Eora people, who are taking tools. |
1788 | 10 March | Sydney Cove, NSW, Eora wound convicts in the bush near the settlement. |
1788 | May | Bloody Point, (today the site of the UTS Rowers Club, Haberfield), Sydney, NSW, convicts Samuel Davis and William Okey killed in reprisal for taking Eora canoes and the transgression of Aboriginal law on Wangal land at Bloody Point. For many years the site where Davis and Okey were killed was believed to be Rushcutters Bay. More recently historians have suggested the site was at Darling Harbour or White Bay. However, a 1788 chart of Sydney Harbour drawn by William Bradley, backed up by information from diaries of the time, is now believed to be the location of their deaths, according to the author of The Sydney Wars, historian Dr Stephen Gapps. Read more in Tim Barlass's story, ‘Frontier wars: Lieutenant's log maps Haberfield as ground zero’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 March 2019: https://www.smh.com.au/national/frontier-wars-lieutenant-s-log-maps-haberfield-as-ground-zero-20190305-p511ss.html |
1788 | 22 May | Woolloomooloo Bay, Sydney, NSW, convict Peter Burn speared and killed by the Eora, most likely at Woolloomooloo. |
1788 | 23 May | Blackwattle Bay, Sydney, NSW, convicts attack Eora killing an Aboriginal person. |
1788 | July | Sydney, NSW, convict speared in the head. |
1788 | 2 October | Botany Bay, NSW, Cupper Handley murdered and mutilated because of competition between colonists and Aborigines for food and other resources. |
1788 | December | Sydney, NSW, Arabanoo (Manly) captured. |
1789 | Toongabbie, Sydney, NSW, two Aboriginal adults killed. Their child, later called James Bath, taken in and brought up by colonists. | |
1789 | April | Sydney Cove and vicinity, NSW, about half the Aboriginal population (possibly more than 1,000 people) die from smallpox, possibly deliberately spread by the British military through gifts to Aboriginal people of blankets and handkerchiefs. The same tactic was used against North American Indians. The smallpox epidemic spreads rapidly to other parts of the colony as Aboriginal people had no immunity to the disease. No colonists die in the outbreak. |
1789 | 26 September | Middle Head, Sydney, NSW, Henry Hacking, quartermaster, HMS Sirius kills or wounds two of about 50 Aboriginal men who have attacked him. |
1789 | 25 November | Sydney, NSW, Bennelong and Colbee captured. |
c. 1790 | Sydney, NSW, John McIntyre suspected of killing at least one Aboriginal man. | |
1790 | New South Wales, Hawkesbury and Nepean Warsbegin | |
1790 | New South Wales, punitive expedition against Pemulwuy, Tedbury and others begins. | |
1790 | 7 September | Manly, Sydney, NSW, Wileemarin, and Eora man, spears Governor Arthur Phillip in the shoulder. Phillip survives. |
1790 | 10 December | Sydney, NSW,, John McIntyre, Governor Phillip’s gamekeeper, speared. |
1790 | 28 December | Sydney, NSW British marines track and kill Bangai, an Eora man, after he takes potatoes from a local garden. |
1790–1800 | Sydney Cove War, 26 colonists and an unknown number of Aboriginal people die because of cultural clashes and the encroachment of the British on Aboriginal land and resources. |
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1790–1802 | Sydney Cove and vicinity, NSW, conflicts occur between colonists and Aboriginal people at locations such as Port Jackson, Prospect, Toongabbie, Georges River, Parramatta, Brickfield Hill, Hawkesbury River, Rosehill and Manly. | |
1791 | 20 January | Sydney, NSW, McIntyre dies of spear wound. |
1792 | Hawkesbury River, north of Sydney, NSW, colonists kill two Dharug men in reprisal for murder of Sarah Hodgkinson's husband. | |
1792 | September | Torres Strait, QLD, ships under command of Captain William Bligh fire on 'native' canoes. |
1792–1902 | Propsect, Toongabbie, Georges River, Parramatta, Brickfield Hill, Hawkesbury River, NSW: misconduct of local colonists and kidnapping of Aboriginal children, unknown if any Aboriginal people or colonists die. | |
1794 | Hawkesbury River, north of Sydney, NSW, an Aboriginal boy dragged over hot coals, thrown in the river, then shot. | |
1794–96 | Deerubbun (Hawkesbury) Region near Sydney, NSW conflicts between colonists and Aboriginal people | |
1795 | Richmond, near Sydney, NSW, Battle of Richmond Hill, Dharug people attack colonists whose cultivation has destroyed wild yams, a major Aboriginal food source, growing on the banks of the Deerubbun (Hawkesbury) River. Aboriginal retaliation is so great that Acting Governor Paterson believes the Hawkesbury River settlement may have to be abandoned. | |
1795 | 7 June | Parramatta or Deerubbun (Hawkesbury) River, NSW, Lt Governor William Paterson sends troops against Aboriginal people with instructions to kill as many as possible. Unknown number killed, 10 prisoners taken. |
1796 | 26 February | Northern boundary of Parramatta, NSW, Pemulwuy attacks farms. Bushrangers seen among his warriors. |
1797 | Moruya, south coast, NSW, Yuin people kill 13 survivors of Sydney Cove wreck. | |
1797 | Port Jackson; Georges River; Toongabbie, NSW,Governor King orders reprisal against Aboriginal attacks at these locations. | |
1797 | January | 'Redcoat farm' (now Oatlands Gold Course), near Parramatta, NSW, Aboriginal raid on ‘redcoat farm’, possibly in retaliation for punitive expeditions by redcoats in 1796. A redcoat soldier and a woman are murdered. |
1797 | March | Toongabbie; Parramatta, NSW, conflict involving Pemulwuy, Aboriginal clan members, armed soldiers, and colonists. Up to 50 Aboriginal people killed; one soldier speared. |
1797 | 21 March | 'Redcoat farm' (now Oatlands Gold Course), near Parramatta, NSW, Aboriginal raid on ‘redcoat farm’. Redcoats and colonists pursue Aboriginal people into North Rocks bushland. |
1797 | 22 March | Bushland north of Parramatta, NSW, Pemulwuy pursues redcoat soldiers and colonists. Battle of Parramatta ensues. Pemulwuy wounded. (See 1799 Rosehill below). |
1799 | Newcastle, NSW, unknown number of Aboriginal men shot after asking for axes in exchange for use of their land. | |
1799 | Rose Hill, near Parramatta, NSW, troops sent out after the Aboriginal leader, Pemulwuy; five Aboriginal men killed; Pemulwuy injured in the head, taken to hospital but later escapes. (Some accounts, such as Lim in The Battle of Parramatta, suggest this incident happened in late March or April 1797, not 1799). | |
1799 | 16 July | Point Skirmish (South Point), Boorabee (Bribie) Island, QLD, Captain Matthew Flinders sails with Bongaree and crew on the Norfolk from Glass House Bay to Boorabee (Bribie) Island. After landing from a smaller craft, they encounter Aboriginal people, one of whom tries to remove Flinders' hat. The Aboriginal man throws a spear near the boat. Flinders fires his musket and wounds the Aboriginal man. Flinders names the spot Point Skirmish (now known as South Point). |
1799–1805 | Hawkesbury–Parramatta, near Sydney, NSW, Black Wars | |
1800s | Grafton, NSW, two Aboriginal men shot near showground. | |
1801 | Georges River, south of Sydney, NSW, Pemulwuy spears a colonist. | |
1802 | 2 June | Parramatta, NSW, Pemulwuy shot, decapitated, head sent to Sir Joseph Banks in England. |
1802–1836 | Kangaroo Island, SA, whalers, sealers, runaway convicts, ships' deserters, farmers and other colonists visit or take over land on Kangaroo Island. Many of the men abduct Aboriginal women by force from the mainland and Tasmania. Lawlessness prevails. Emus wiped out on the island. Kangaroos and seals hunted to near extinction. | |
1803 | Blue Mud Bay, Arnhem Land, NT, Explorer, Matthew Flinders lands twice in Arnhem Land. The first landing is without incident. During the second landing, one Yolngu person is killed. | |
1803 | Port Phillip district, VIC | |
1803 | October | Corio Bay, near Melbourne, VIC |
1803–1830 | Tasmania, Black Wars | |
1804 | Newcastle, NSW, more conflict between colonists and Aboriginal people | |
1804 | 3 May | Risdon Cove, TAS Large number (30 or more) of Big River people killed and wounded in River Derwent, north of Hobart, in encounters with colonists (including convicts) and the military. Soldiers and colonists use rifles, pistols, muskets and a carronade loaded with grapeshot against the Aboriginal people, armed only with spears, who were apparently hunting kangaroos. |
1804 | 22 July | Jervis Bay, NSW, sailors from the Conquest kill Aboriginal people. |
1805 | September | Mangrove Flat (Gentleman's Halt) opposite Spencer, NSW, two Aboriginal men, Branch Jack and Woglomigh, killed. |
1805 | 27 October | Jervis Bay, NSW, report of Europeans speared by Aboriginal people at Jervis Bay. Possible reprisal for massacre by sailors from the Conquest the previous July. |
1805 | 5 December | Jervis Bay, NSW, Aboriginal people attack survivors of Fly shipwreck. Thomas Evans killed, Rushworth, master of the Fly, speared. |
1806 | 15 March | Twofold Bay, NSW, sealers from the shipwrecked whaler, George, massacre Aboriginal people. |
1806 | 6 April | Twofold Bay, NSW, report that sealers, crew of George, have shot and killed nine Aboriginal people, hung bodies from trees. |
1808 | 15 May | Batemans, Bay, NSW, three of five crew of the Fly reported murdered by Aboriginal people at Batemans Bay. |
1808 | October | Hawkesbury area, NSW, clash between colonists and Aborigines on Singleton's farm. Leg injury to servant, one Aboriginal person killed, others wounded. |
1809 | 26 September | Bond Farm, George's River, NSW,Tedbury and others engage in skirmish with Meredith and other farmers, Meredith's ear grazed by a spear. |
1810 | 5 February | Parramatta, NSW, Edward Luttrell shoots Tedbury, Pemulwuy's son. |
1814 | May/June | Appin area, NSW, skirmishes between colonists and Aboriginal people. In reprisal for earlier atrocities, Aboriginal people murder men on William Broughton's farm near Appin. (For more information on the conflicts that happened between 1814 and 1817 see, for example, John Connor, The Australian Frontier Wars 1788–1838, UNSW Press, 2002 and Stephen Gapps, The Sydney Wars: Conflicts in the early colony 1788–1817, NewSouth, 2018). |
1815 | Bathurst, NSW, possible killing of an escaped convict by Aboriginal people | |
1816 | March–May | Cumberland Plain, NSW,Aboriginal people murder one of Rev. Thomas Hassall's shepherds, Bromley. |
1816 | March–May | Cumberland Plain, NSW Governor Macquarie's undeclared war begins against Aboriginal people. |
1816 | 9 April | Sydney, New South Wales, Governor Lachlan Macquarie issues secret orders to military regiments under his command to take punitive action against Aboriginal people in the Sydney area and to capture them as 'prisoners of war'–a de facto declaration of war by the British Crown, (Michael K. Organ, 2014, ‘Secret Service: Governor Macquarie's Aboriginal War of 1816’, University of Wollongong, Research Online> See the Bibliography on this website for a link to the paper. |
1816 | 17 April | Appin Massacre, near Cataract Gorge, west of Sydney, NSW, killing of 14 Aboriginal people, capture of two women and three children, by a military detachment from the 46th Regiment's grenadier company commanded by Captain James Wallis. Examples of sources: John Connor, The Australian Frontier Wars 1788–1838, pp. 49–51). See also: New South Wales State Archives and Records, 'Massacre at Appin', 17 April 1816: https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/collections-and-research/guides-and-indexes/stories/massacre-appin-17-april-1816 |
1816 | 4 May | Sydney, NSW, Governor Lachlan Macquarie's Proclamation against ‘Aborigines or Black Natives’ involved in killing of colonists, ‘plundering and destroying’ grain and property etc in the Sydney vicinity and elsewhere, published in The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 4 May 1816, p. 1 |
1819 | Bathurst area, NSW, spearing of Lt William Lawson's horse. | |
27 October 1820 | Newcastle, NSW, Runaway convict, John Kirby, seriously wounds Burragong, 'King "Jack, Chief of the Newcastle tribe"', with a knife, while Aboriginal men are trying to bring in Kirby and another convict, James Thompson to British authorities. Burragong subsequently dies from his wounds. Kirby is charged and executed for Burragong's murder. Kirby was the first European in New South Wales to be executed for the murder of an Aboriginal person. | |
1821–39 | The Falls area, NSW, period of conflict between colonists and Aborigines | |
1821 | February | Billyeena Station, Cudgegong River, north-east of Mudgee, NSW, George Cox leads a shooting party against Aboriginal people. Unknown number shot. |
1821 | 6 February | Bathurst area, NSW, killing of Private James King |
c. 1822 | Bathurst area, NSW, Aboriginal people kill convict for rape of an Aboriginal girl. | |
1822 | Near Bathurst, NSW, Windradyne leads Wiradjuri against colonists. | |
1822 | New South Wales, large-scale killings of Aboriginal people | |
1822 | "Claremont", William Lee's Farm, 10 km north-east of Bathurst, NSW, killing of a shepherd. | |
1822 | Billyeena Station, Cudgegong River, north-east of Mudgee, NSW, Aboriginal warning attack | |
1822 | Swallow Creek (government station), NSW, Aboriginal attack on station | |
1822 | 15 April | Illawarra area, NSW, Seth Hawker murders an Aboriginal woman. He is tried but acquitted. |
1823–24 | Black War of Bathurst, NSW(some individual incidents listed below). | |
1823 | October, November | Swallow Creek, Molong, Wellington districts, NSWAboriginal people attack stations in these districts and those of Judge Advocate John Wylde, Rev. Samuel Marsden, and Palmer's “Toulon” station west of Bathurst, NSW. |
1823 | November | Swallow Creek (government station), NSW, Aboriginal attacks force abandonment of station. |
1824 | c. January | Bathurst area, NSW, Windradyne captured, imprisoned at Bathurst for a month. Colonists use arsenic-laced flour and damper to poison hungry Aboriginal people. |
1824 | Bungendore (Bungendaw) run, NSW, Captain Richard Brooks's stockmen abduct two Aboriginal girls, Weereewaa people assemble to avenge their kidnapping. | |
1824 | March | Brymair, Capertee Valley, near Rylstone, NSW, Dabee massacre Two shepherds coax a young Aboriginal woman into a hut where they rape and keep her for days. She escapes back to her people. In retaliation the men go to the hut, kill the shepherds, then burn down the hut. When the shepherds’ deaths are discovered, a detachment of soldiers is sent to punish the First Nations people. The soldiers shoot many First People, particularly women and children. A few Aboriginal people survive so the story is handed down to their descendants. |
1824 | March | Kelso, near Bathurst, NSW, 'Potato Field Incident': Aborigines offered potatoes, return next day for more, fired upon while gathering potatoes. Several Aboriginal people shot dead, some wounded. Incident sparks retaliations led by Windradyne. |
1824 | 19 March | Swallow Creek (government station), NSW, , after the colonial government reoccupies the station, up to 60 Aboriginal men attack it. Privates Softly and Epslom kill two Aboriginal men, capture ‘Taylor’, Columbummero and Callalbegary. |
1824 | May | Near Mudgee, NSW at William Lane's farm, seven colonists killed. |
1824 | 24 May | Warren Gunyah Station, Wattle Flat near Bathurst, NSW, two stock keepers killed; one speared. |
1824 | 24 May | Winburndale Rivulet, north of Bathurst, NSW, shepherds killed, huts destroyed, sheep killed. |
1824 | 31 May | Near Mudgee, NSW at William Lane's farm, five colonists in punitive expedition against Aboriginal people, but claim not to have seen any. Later admit to killing three Aboriginal women in a 'skirmish' with 30 warriors bearing spears. Colonists tried for manslaughter but acquitted. |
1824 | 31 May | Mrs Hassell's station, O'Connell Plains, NSW , Aboriginal men attack a stockman, wounding him twice with spears. |
1824 | May? | Murdering Hut, Millah Murrah Station, south-west of Wattle Flat, near Bathurst, NSW, Samuel Terry builds homestead on a bora ground, poisons Aboriginal people with arsenic. |
1824 | May? | Millah Murrah Station, NSW, Windradyne leads Aboriginal revenge attack, three colonists killed. |
1824 | June | North of Bathurst, NSW, colonists' retaliation; unknown number of Aboriginal women killed. |
1824 | Bef. July | William Lawson's Upper Station, Campbell River, NSW, four stock-keepers killed. |
1824 | Bef. July | North-east of Rockley, near Bathurst, NSW, two stock-keepers killed. |
1824 | 12 August | Emu Plains, Sidmouth Valley, Two Mile Creek near Bathurst, NSW, farm labourer speared. Colonists retaliate, three Aboriginal women shot dead. Other Aboriginal people killed. |
1824 | 14 August | Governor Brisbane proclaims Martial Law, Bathurst area, 'westward of Mount York', NSW, a week after the acquittal of Johnston, Clark, Nicholson, Castles and Crear. Martial law was declared in the Bathurst Region of New South Wales following Wiradjuri resistance against incursions on their Country as traditional food sources were being depleted and sacred sites were destroyed. What sparked Governor Thomas Brisbane’s declaration was Wiradjuri retaliation to a massacre and injury of Aboriginal women and children, known as the ‘Potato Field Incident’, in March 1824 at Kelso near Bathurst. Hungry Aboriginal people offered potatoes but shot dead or injured when they return for more the next day. Governor Brisbane’s declaration of Martial law led to rising conflict between colonial troops of the 40th Regiment, armed colonial militias and the Wiradjuri until December 1824. For more information, see for example, John Connor, The Australian Frontier Wars 1788–1838, University of New South Wales Press, 2002; ‘Windradyne and the Bathurst Wars’, Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney Living Museums: https://hydeparkbarracks.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/story/windradyne-and-the-bathurst-wars/ |
1824 | 14 August–11 December | Martial Law in place against the Wiradjuri, Bathurst area, NSW |
1824 | 26 August | Mill Post Station, Bathurst, NSW, hut keeper killed, hut destroyed in retaliation after station set up on sacred site and stock yards built on corroboree ground. |
1824 | 27 August | Warren Gunyah Station, Wattle Flat, Bathurst, NSW, three shepherds killed, huts burnt. |
1824 | August | Millah Murrah Station, north of Bathurst, NSW, three Aboriginal women and a boy killed in retribution for killing shepherds. |
1824 | 6 September | Mudgee, NSW, colonists kill between five and 16 Aboriginal men in retaliation for dispersing cattle. |
1824 | September | Bell Falls Gorge, NSW, massacre of Aboriginal people believed to have taken place during Major James Morisset's punitive expedition. |
1824 | September–November | Battle of Bathurst, NSW, up to 1,000 Aboriginal people believed to have perished in the Battle of Bathurst (or Wiradjuri War). |
1824 | November | South side of Yebri Creek, near Redcliffe settlement, QLD, Aboriginal people attack convicts with soldier guards as they are sawing a bloodwood tree. One Aboriginal man killed. Afterwards Aboriginal people around Redcliffe are so hostile that the settlement is moved to Brisbane. |
1824 | Billiwillinga station, Mt Rankin area on banks of the Macquarie River near Bathurst, NSW, after the Proclamation of Martial Law, group of about 30 Aboriginal people (mostly women and children) massacred when military offer them food. | |
1824 | Capertee Valley, north of Bathurst, NSW, military party massacre unknown number of Aboriginal people. | |
1824 | Clear Creek headwaters, about 15 km north of Bathurst, NSW, shepherd killed, large numbers of Aboriginal people rounded up and killed in retaliation. | |
1824 | Cox's landholding near Mudgee, NSW, Aboriginal people, including the warrior Blucher, shot when driving cattle off this land. | |
1824 | Raineville Station, south-east of O'Connell near Bathurst, NSW, three Aboriginal men murdered in retaliation for killing stock and rushing a mob of sheep. | |
1825 | Hunter region, NSW, about five 'clashes' between colonists and Aborigines in the Hunter. | |
1825 | 28 October | Martindale, south of Denman, NSW, Robert Greig and a convict worker killed during an Aboriginal raid. |
1825 | October/November | Putty, NSW, soldiers pursue Aboriginal people who attacked at Putty. |
1826 | Bef. 6 May | Inverary Park Station, Lake George (Weereewaa), NSW, stock keeper speared to death for trying to abduct an Aboriginal man's wife. |
1826 | June | Edinglassie, Hunter region NSW, shepherd wounded. |
1826 | June | Ravensworth, Hunter region, NSW, hut keeper killed. |
1826 | July/August | Fal Brook Farm, near Singleton, NSW, Aboriginal people attempt to plunder farm; two colonists wounded. |
1826 | July–16 August | Scone, Muswellbrook, Denman and Singleton, NSW, mounted police capture Aboriginal people, execute some. |
1826 | August | Merton district, Hunter region, NSW, mounted police wantonly maltreat Aboriginal people, some arrested. |
1826 | 1 August–1 September | Hunter Valley, NSW, Wonnarua people face murders and massacres. (The Plains Clan of the Wonnarua People have sought to preserve and protect a significant Aboriginal area on the Ravensworth Estate, Hunter Valley, where these atrocities took place. See Louise Nichols, Singleton Argus, 3 August 2021: https://www.singletonargus.com.au/story/7368872/frontier-wars-on-ravensworth-estate/ |
1826 | 28–29 August | Upper Hunter region, NSW, 200 Aboriginal people visit Merton in response; 11 to 15 proceed to Fal Brook via Ravensworth, burn grass at several farms. Two colonists killed, two wounded. |
1826 | 31 August–1 September | Upper Hunter, NSW, magistrate Scott leads punitive expedition of 14 men; 18 Aboriginal people killed. More than 10 major and minor 'collisions' between colonists and Aboriginal people in the Hunter in 1826 according to magistrates. |
1826 | December | Bank Hill Farm, TAS |
1826 | March | Great Swanport, TAS |
1826 | April | Mount Augustus, TAS |
1826 | May | Sally Peak, TAS |
1827 | Near Cootralanta Lake, Monaro region, NSW, Aboriginal people attack Richard Brooks Jnr and party, scattering cattle later found at "Gejizric" (Gegedzerick) Flat near Berridale. | |
1827 | June | Dairy Plains, TAS |
1827 | June | Laycock Plains, TAS |
1827 | June | Quamby Brook, TAS |
1827 | June | Quamby Bluff, TAS |
1827 | June | Blackmans River, TAS |
1827 | December | Sorell Valley, TAS |
1827 | December | Brumby Creek, TAS |
1827 | December | Dairy Plains, TAS |
1827 | 11 December | Wellington, NSW, George Brown shoots Aboriginal girl, who came to the door with other children, asking for food. |
1827–1828 | Kangaroo Point and South Brisbane, Brisbane, QLD, despite Aboriginal people being shot dead, Aborigines repeatedly raid and destroy maize (corn) fields on which colonists rely for food, in a bid to drive the intruders out of Aboriginal country. |
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1828 | Near Lake Bathurst, NSW, two of Edward Hall's stockmen killed, Aboriginal people suspected of killings. | |
1828 | 10 February | Cape Grim, TAS |
1828 | March | Miles Opening, TAS |
1828 | March | Bullock Hunting Ground, TAS |
1828 | April | Elizabeth River, TAS |
1828 | July | Eastern Tiers, TAS |
1828 | October | Jordan River, TAS |
1829 | January | Tooms Lake, TAS |
1829 | January | Break O’Day Plains, TAS |
1829 | January | St Pauls River, TAS |
1829 | February | West Tamar area, TAS |
1829 | March | Cataract Gorge, near Launceston, TAS |
1829 | June | Pittwater, TAS |
1829 | September | Ben Lomond, TAS |
1829 | October | Ouse River, TAS |
1830s | Coolac near Gundagai, NSW | |
1830s | Ovens River near Wangaratta, VIC | |
1830 | Logan Creek, Brisbane Valley, QLD, Aboriginal people, possibly with the help of convicts, allegedly murder Brisbane commandant Captain Logan. |
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1830 | February | Clyde/Ouse Rivers, TAS |
1830 | May | Fremantle, WA |
1830s–40s | Murrumbidgee River area, NSW (some locations below): | |
Duck Bend, near Narrandera, NSW | ||
Green Swamp, near Buckinbong Homestead, near Narrandera, NSW | ||
Hulong (Ulong) Sandhill, near Narrandera, NSW | ||
Massacre (Murdering) Island, near Narrandera, NSW (see below under 1841) | ||
Poison(ed) Waterholes Creek, Sturt Highway, near Narrandera, NSW | ||
1830–50 | Port Phillip District Wars, VIC | |
1831 | 30 April | Murray River mouth, SA |
Mid-1831 | Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island), QLD | |
1831–32 | Moorgumpin (Moreton Island), QLD | |
1832 | Perth area, WA, Yagan and others fight colonists. For more information: Yagan: https://www.noongarculture.org.au/yagan/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yagan | |
1832 | November | Stradbroke Island, QLD |
1832 | 18 December | Murramarang headland, north of Bateman's Bay, NSW |
1832–1833 | Minjerribah (Stradbroke) and Moorgumpin (Moreton) Islands near Brisbane, QLD Conflicting European accounts and Aboriginal oral history refer to a number of conflicts between staff of the Amity Point pilot station, established on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) in 1826, and Aboriginal people. |
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c. 1833 | Clontarf Hill (Hamilton Hill Swamp),south of Fremantle, WA, massacre of Aboriginal people believed to have occurred during Acting Governor Ellis's search for Yagan. | |
1833 | Moorgumpin (Moreton) Island, QLD Massacre of Aboriginal people at the top of a large lagoon on the southern end of Moreton Island (Moorgumpin), now eroded into the sea. The attack may have been the last in a series of reprisals between Aboriginal people and soldiers stationed on Minjerribah. |
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1833 | 11 July | Perth area, WA, Yagan killed. For more information: Yagan: https://www.noongarculture.org.au/yagan/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yagan |
1833–34 | Convincing Ground, between Portland and the Surrey River, VIC | |
1834 | Acton peninsula, ACT, then in NSW. Now National Museum of Australia, Canberra site. | |
1834 | 28 October | Battle of Pinjarra, WA |
1834 | Fairy Bower Falls, now in Morton National Park, near Bundanoon, NSW, believed from oral history to be a site where Aboriginal people were massacred. | |
1835 | Mt Mackenzie, near the Gloucester River, NSW | |
1835 | 25 April | Near Tabratong, NSW, Richard Cunningham, botanist with Thomas Mitchell's expedition, killed by Aboriginal people 84 kms south-east of Nyngan. |
1835 | 11 July | Darling River, near Menindee, NSW, Major Thomas Mitchell, and party encounter ‘hostile’ Aboriginal people. Several killed and wounded. |
1836 | Fraser Island, QLD, Captain James Fraser, and possibly crew of the shipwrecked Stirling Castle, speared. | |
1836 | 27 May | Mt Dispersion near Euston, NSW, between Mildura, NSW and Robinvale, VIC, Major Thomas Mitchell, and party set an ambush for ‘hostile’ Aboriginal people the party believed they had encountered on the Darling River in 1835. Seven Aboriginal people killed. On 27 April 2020, in the lead up to the 184th anniversary of the massacre, the New South Wales government gazetted the Mount Dispersion Massacre Site as a Declared Aboriginal Place. News about, and details of the declaration, are on the News page of this website under “Mount Dispersion Declared an Aboriginal Place”, posted on 4 June 2020. |
1836 | July | Werribee River, 35 kms south-west of Melbourne, VIC |
1836 | July | Williamstown, 10 kms south-west of Melbourne, VIC |
1836 | August? | York area, WA |
1836 | 17 October | Barwon River, Barrabool Hills, 20 kms south-east of Colac, VIC |
1837 | Encounter Bay, near Victor Harbour, SA | |
1837 | Geelong area, VIC | |
1837 | Gravesend, west of Warialda, NSW | |
1837 | Western VIC | |
1837 | February | Birregurra, near Colac, VIC |
1837 | 28 March | Cowie Creek, Geelong, VIC |
1837 | July | Vasse, WA |
1837 | November | Leigh River, 60 kms west of Geelong, VIC |
1837 | November | East of Reedy Lake on the banks of the Goulburn River between today's Kirwan Bridge and the Goulburn Weir, VIC, overlander Fitzherbert Mundy and his men killed at least six Aboriginal people including women and children, wounding others. References: Waranga Dreaming, Vol. 1, 2019; Richard Broome, Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800, 2005; Rushworth Chronicle, 1953; Robert Brough Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria, Government Printer, 1878 |
1837–38 | Summer | Near Golf Hill Station, Yarrowee River, north of Inverleigh, VIC |
1837–1844 | Port Fairy area, VIC | |
1838 | Berpengary, QLD, (26 miles, (c. 42 kms) from Nundah), Aboriginal people attack Moravian missionary Pastor Gottfried Haussman. He is badly wounded but escapes. | |
1838 | Central Victoria | |
1838 | Crampton's Corner, north side of the McIntyre (Mcintyre) River (Cowbawn Coonigal), QLD | |
Mid-1838 | Gwydir River, NSW | |
1838 | Kilcoy Station, north-west of Moreton Bay, QLD | |
1838 | Perth, WA | |
1838 | Tarrone Station near Port Fairy, VIC | |
1838 | Terry Hie Hie, NSW | |
1838 | 26 January | Slaughterhouse Creek (Waterloo Creek/Millie Creek) Massacre, south-west of Moree, NSW This famous massacre most likely happened on 26 January 1838. It was among 'clashes' that occurred between colonists (mounted police and vigilantes) and the Gamilaraay between December 1837 and January 1838. Roger Millis tells the story of how the land in this area of New South Wales was stolen from First Peoples in: Waterloo Creek: The Australia Day massacre of 1838, George Gippsland and the British conquest of New South Wales, McPhee Gribble, 1992 |
1838 | March | On the way to Port Adelaide, SA |
1838 | 12 March | Torrens River, Adelaide, SA, coroner finds labourer, Enoch Pegler, was speared to death by an unknown Aboriginal man or men about 8 March. |
1838 | March/April? | West of Bendigo, VIC |
1838 | 4 April | Learmonth Station, 13 kms south of Ballarat, VIC |
1838 | 10 April | Banks of the Yarra River, Hawthorn, Melbourne, (now site of Scotch College), VIC |
1838 | 11 April | Battle of Broken River (Faithfull Massacre) near Benalla, VIC, additional killings of Aboriginal people followed at Murchison and Wangaratta.More information, for example: Battle of Broken River, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Broken_River In 1838, following this massacre and series of reprisals, 'police huts' were built along the route from Sydney to Melbourne 'to enforce law and order': Bruce Pennay, 'Nine People and a Police Hut at Bungambrawatha,' Albury & District Historical Society Bulletin, June 2022, pp. 2–4 |
1838 | After 11 April | Murchison, Ovens River, VIC Additional killings after Battle of Broken River |
1838 | June | Merino Downs Station near Henty, VIC |
1838 | June | North-east of Malmsbury near Kyneton, VIC |
1838 | June | Waterloo Plains, VIC |
1838 | 10 June | Myall Creek Massacre, near Inverell, NSW (See Friends of Myall Creek: http://myallcreek.org/; Report of the Myall Creek Massacre, 10 June 1838, State Archives and Records of New South Wales; the Australian Frontier Conflicts website: Bibliography, NSW Map, News, Resources and Timeline. Also Dr Timothy Bottoms, The Frontier Series, ‘Myall Creek Massacre, Sunday 10 June 1838’: https://cairnshistory.com.au/content/uploads/2021/07/The-Frontier-Series-Myall-Creek-Massacre-Sunday-10-June-1838-TFS003.jpg) |
Mid-1838 | Gwydir River, NSW | |
1838 | July | Confluence of Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers, NSW |
1838 | July | Pyrenees Range above Trawalla, VIC |
1838 | July | Thomas Learmont’s station, Addington, 20 kms north-west of Ballarat, VIC |
1838 | Winter | Darlington Station, 16 kms north-west of Lancefield, VIC |
1838 | October | Merino Downs Station near Henty, VIC |
1838 | October | Spring Valley (Murndal), Wannon River near Merino Station, VIC |
1838? | October | Murdering Flat, Clover Flat, Wannon River, near Casterton, VIC |
1838 | November | Spring Valley (Murndal), Wannon River near Merino Station, VIC |
1838–1839 | Central Victoria | |
1838/39? | Tamworth, NSW | |
1838–1841 | Bathurst, NSW (Wiradjuri Wars) | |
c. 1839 | Glenormiston Station, near Terang, VIC | |
1839 | Lake Colac, 5 kms north of Colac, VIC | |
1839 | Longhorne's Ferry, Victor Harbour, SA | |
1839 | Tamworth, NSW | |
1839 or 1840 | Between Colban and Campaspe Rivers near Bendigo, VIC | |
1839 | Murdering Gully (Puuroyup), Mount Emu Creek, Camperdown district, VIC | |
1839 | 8 January | Brewarrena (Brewarrina) Station, NSW, hut keeper, Irish convict Dennis Denay, ambushed and killed. |
1839 | February | Maiden Hills, near Lexton, VIC |
1839 | 22 February | Near Brillinball Station, Narrandera area, NSW, John Williams, Michael Byrne's convict servant, speared to death. |
1839 | 28 February | Near Billinbah, Murrumbidgee River, NSW, Aboriginal attack on two convicts, one Aboriginal man shot. |
1839 | April | 11 miles (c. 17.7 kms) north-east of Adelaide, SA |
1839 | May–June | Campaspe Plains massacre, Campaspe Creek, VIC |
1839 | 12 June | Adelaide, SA, hanging of two Kaurna men for murder |
1839 | 20 June | Lake Boga, 10 kms south-east of Swan Hill, VIC |
1839 | 22 June | Mount Ida Creek, near Heathcote, VIC |
1839 | July | Coleraine, VIC |
1839 | July | Gerangamete, VIC |
1839 | July | Mia Mia, VIC, bodies of murdered Aboriginal people thrown into a waterhole in the creek below the local school, according to oral history. |
1839 | July | Mt Alexander, 30 kms south-east of Bendigo, VIC |
1839 | August | North Yanco Station at Cudgel Creek, near Narrandera, NSW, Aboriginal people attacked James Byrne, people chased across river. |
1839 | October | Morgan (Great South Bend), SA, Aboriginal people attack an overlanders party. Overseer Thomas Young killed. Overlanders kill 11 Aboriginal people in retaliation. |
1839 | October | Murray River, above Lake Alexandrina, SA, overlander Peter Snodgrass is attacked. Several Aboriginal people wounded. Sheep driven off. |
1839 | November | Darling River, NSW, overlander Alexander Buchanan's party attacked while crossing the Darling River. A number of Aboriginal people killed, many wounded. Buchanan attacks Aboriginal camp after sheep speared. |
1839 | November | Spring Cart Gully, two miles (c. 3.2 kms) north-east of Morgan, SA |
1839 or 1840 | The Blood-hole (Bloody Creek), Middle Creek, near Glengower Creek, western VIC | |
1839–1840 | Between Coliban and Campaspe Rivers near Bendigo, VIC | |
1839–40 | Goulburn District, VIC? | |
1839–42/7 | Eumeralla War, Mount Napier Station, 20 kms south-east of Hamilton, VIC | |
1839–42 | Port Lincoln, SA, Aboriginal resistance to colonists | |
1839–1842 | Mount Rouse Station or Weerangourt Station, VIC | |
1840s? | Blackadder/Cassons Creek-Red Rock area, NSW | |
1840s? | Green Hills, bank of Red Rock River opposite Red Rock and Station Creek, NSW | |
1840s | Laidley, NSW | |
1840s | Clarence River district, NSW, as the frontier expanded, initially peaceful relations between colonists and Aboriginal people broke down. | |
1840s | Avon River, near York, WA, fighting between colonists and Aboriginal people continues. | |
1840s | Clarence River stations, NSW, in the early 1840s, Aboriginal people from the area between Dorrigo and Kangaroo Creek, launch small attacks on runs in the Clarence River district. | |
1840s | Kangaroo Creek (east of Nymboida), NSW, Aboriginal people continue attacks on colonists holding runs around Kangaroo Creek. | |
1840s | Murdering Flat near Tintaldra, VIC | |
1840s | Murdering Flat, Tooma River near Greg Greg, NSW | |
1840s | Port Fairy, VIC | |
1840s | Wire Fence (Minnie Water), NSW | |
1840s | Red Rock, NSW "Chapter 2 of Singing the Coast, Crying-songs to remember, deals specifically with the Red Rock massacre story from the 1880s from an Aboriginal perspective. Some other sources on the Red Rock massacre are: Wikipedia entry for Red Rock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rock,_New_South_Wales Historical Encounters: https://www.historicalencounters.org/he/red-rock/ '(Re)membering in the Contact Zone: Telling, and Listening to, a Massacre Story Margaret Somerville', University of New England and Tony Perkins, Yarrawarra Aboriginal Corporation, 2008[?] https://thealtitudejournal.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/53.pdf Red Rock, New South Wales, Fact for Kids https://kids.kiddle.co/Red_Rock,_New_South_Wales 'There were always people here': a history of Yuraygir National Park, Department of Environment and Climate Change, New South Wales, June 2009 https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/cultureheritage/09218ynphistory.pdf (Covers Red Rock or Red Cliff as part of the study.) |
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c. 1840 | Bogan River, NSW, William Lee's run, Aboriginal people attack stockmen while building a stockyard. Three stockmen killed, buried in stockyard. | |
c. 1840 | Hulong (Ulong) Sandhill, near Narrandera, NSW, posses of colonists battle with Aboriginal people. Many driven away, many killed. | |
Early 1840 | Near Mt Rouse, south-western VIC | |
Early 1840 | Mount Napier Station, 20 kms south of Hamilton, VIC | |
1840 | Grampians, VIC | |
1840 | Kunderang Brook, Macleay River area, NSW Apparent massacre of two to three dozen Aboriginal men in retaliation for taking some sheep. Rodney Harrison, Shared Landscapes: Archaeologies of Attachment and the Pastoral Industry in New South Wales, UNSW Press, 2004, pp. 104–105, p. 117) |
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1840 | Long Lagoon Station, QLD | |
1840 | Mount Cole, VIC | |
1840 | Nundah, north Brisbane, QLD, Aboriginal people attack the German Mission more than once, notably in 1840 when 20 to 30 warriors sack the Reverend Schmidt's fields. The mission is forced to keep nightly armed watch over its crops. In retaliation, Schmidt shoots and wounds Aboriginal elders. |
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1840 | January | Coliban River, near Sutton Grange, VIC |
1840 | 13 January | Yering Station, Yarra Glen, VIC |
1840 | February | Merino Downs Station, Wannon River, near Henty, VIC |
1840 | February | Western Australia |
1840 | Bef. February | Tahara Station, Wannon River/McLeods Creek, VIC |
1840 | March | Merino Downs Station, Wannon River near Henty, VIC |
1840 | 8 March | Hamilton, VIC |
1840 | 8 March | Fighting Hills, the Hummocks, near Wando Vale, VIC |
1840 | 10 March | Konong-Woontong Station, VIC |
1840 | April | Merino Downs Station, Wannon River, VIC |
1840 | 1 April | Fighting Waterholes, near Konongwootong Reservoir, VIC |
1840 | 31 May | Near Mt Lindesay, QLD, Aboriginal people kill surveyor Staplyton and his assistant Tuck. |
1840 | June | Colac, VIC |
1840 | June | Muston’s station, east of Mount Rouse, VIC |
1840 | June | Nangeela Station, Glenelg River, near Casterton, VIC |
1840 | 9 June | Near Bowman and Yaldwyn’s run, central VIC |
1840 | June–September | The Grange Station, southern Grampians, 30 kms north-west of Hamilton, VIC |
1840 | July | Western District, VIC |
1840 | August | Henry Dutton’s run, near Ararat, VIC |
1840 | 23 August | Maria Creek near the Coorong (The Coorong Massacre), SA |
1840 | Spring | Middle Creek, Glengower (Campbelltown), VIC |
1840 | October | Dr Officer’s station, near Lake Bolac, 50 kms south of Ararat, western VIC |
1840 | October | Boisdale and Bushy Park stations, 25 kms north of Sale, VIC |
1840 | October–December | Nuntin Station, Gippsland, VIC |
1840 | November | Murdering Flat, Wannon River, between Sandford Bridge and Glenelg River junction, VIC |
1840 | 21 December | Pyrenees Range, VIC |
1840 | 22 December | Boney Point, Gippsland, VIC |
1840–1841 | Woodlands Station, Wimmera River near Crowlands, VIC | |
1840–1850 | Gippsland, VIC (see also individual locations below): | |
Boole Boole, Gippsland, VIC | ||
Holland's Landing, VIC | ||
Lake's Entrance, VIC | ||
Medusa Point, VIC | ||
The Heart, VIC | ||
1840s–50s | Salt Creek near Mt Muirhead, SA | |
1840s–60s | Northside of Brisbane, QLD, as the Brisbane area was colonised, no allowance was made officially for Aboriginal camps. Creeks acted as de facto barriers between colonised areas and locations where Aboriginal people could live unmolested. When colonists strayed into such locations they were often harassed, robbed or subjected to violence. While Europeans allowed some traditional Aboriginal camping grounds to remain, they attacked others. Some of the incidents, that occurred on the north side of Brisbane in the 1840s–1860s period, are included individually in this timeline. |
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1840s–60 | Breakfast Creek, Brisbane, QLD, for Aboriginal people, a 'front line' against encroaching British colonisation. The area was the location of clashes between colonists and Aboriginal groups. Aboriginal warriors such as Billy Barlow, Commandant, Dalaipi, Dundalli, Harry Pring, Tinkabed and Yilbung were all visitors to the prosperous Breakfast Creek camps. |
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c. 1841 | South-western VIC | |
c. 1841 | Piccaninny Waterhole, Springbank, Glenelg River, south of Casterton, VIC | |
1841 | Butchers (Boxes) Creek, Gippsland, VIC | |
1841 | Darkie (Darkie’s) Point, New England, NSW, colonists pursue a group of about 200 Aboriginal people, shooting at and forcing many over cliffs to their deaths. |
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1841 | Glenormiston, VIC | |
1841 | Near Lake Lonsdale, VIC | |
1841 | Lexington, VIC | |
1841 | Maffra, VIC | |
1841 | Massacre (Murdering Island), Murrumbidgee River, about 8 km south-east of Narrandera, NSW, local landholders massacre an unknown number of Aboriginal people. | |
1841 | Mt Bainbridge, VIC | |
1841 | New England Area, NSW | |
1841 | Orara River, NSW | |
1841 | Port Fairy, VIC | |
1841 | Portland, VIC | |
1841 | Junction Wannon and Glenelg Rivers, VIC | |
1841 | January | Gleeson Run, Hutt River, Clare, SA |
1841 | January | Morphet Run, Wakefield River, 20 kms north-east of Balaklava, SA |
1841 | February | South Australia, two Ngarrindgeri men hanged for murders of Maria shipwreck survivors. |
1841 | 7 February | 14 Mile Creek (Far Creek/Glenmona Station), Bet Bet Creek, west of Maryborough, VIC |
1841 | 7 February | Loddon River, VIC |
1841 | 21, 22, 27 February 7 March | Vasse region, WA, Wonnerup massacre For more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonnerup_massacre https://maryblight.com/2022/03/18/the-1841-wonnerup-massacre/ |
1841 | March | Mount Cole, VIC |
1841 | April | Rufus River, NSW, overlanders Henry Inman and Henry Field attacked after crossing the Rufus River. South Australian Governor Lawler despatches a punitive police party but recalls it. A retaliatory party of colonists encounters 300 Aboriginal people, kills eight in a fight. Colonists repulsed, return to Adelaide. |
1841 | 1 April | Central Victoria |
1841 | 22 April | Clarence River, NSW, squatter Peter Cunningham Pagan, speared to death about a mile from his hut, after an armed pursuit of Aboriginal people. They enter the hut looking for food as it becomes scarce after the arrival of colonists in the area. |
1841 | April/May | Clarence River area, NSW, colonists shoot many Aboriginal people in retribution for the spearing of Pagan. Mundi, then a child, is shot through an ear. He is one of only a few Aboriginal people to survive the attack. |
1841 | 13 May | Lake Bonney at Langhorn's Crossing, Rufus River, 22 kms west of Renmark, SA |
1841 | June | Near Mount Sturgeon Station, Wannon River, VIC |
1841 | June | Vasse region, WA, Wonnerup Massacre |
1841 | 2 June | Konongwootong Creek, near Coleraine, VIC |
1841 | June–July | Burrumbeep, south of Ararat, VIC |
1841 | July | Burrumbeep, south of Ararat, VIC |
1841 | July | Hall’s outstation, Hall’s Gap, VIC |
1841 | July | Good Morning Bill Creek, near Mount William, VIC |
1841 | 31 July | Brisbane, QLD, Merridoo and Neugavil wrongfully executed, on a cross-arm of the Brisbane windmill (observatory tower), for murders of Stapylton and Tuck. |
1841 | July–August | William Kirk’s station, Burrumbeep, VIC |
1841 | August | Mt Emu, VIC |
1841 | August | Mt William, VIC |
1841 | 25 August | Murray River, VIC |
1841 | 27 August | Lake Minninup, near Augusta, WA |
1841 | 27 August | Rufus River Massacre, NSW Details, for example on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufus_River_massacre |
1841 | About 6 October | Near Harmers Haven, near Watson's Hut, about 1.5 kilometres west of Cape Paterson, VIC. Two whalers, William Cook (possibly of Sydney), and a man known as 'Yankee" (possibly an American) are shot and killed by Tasmanians believed to have included Maulbouheenner, Tunnerminnerwait (Jack of Cape Grim), Pyterrunner, Planobeena and Truganini. Historians have suggested various theories about why the killings took place: self-defence, retribution for abuse and/or the killing of Pyterruner's husband, Probelattener, or mistaken identity? Read more about this incident in the article by Sandy Guy in Traces: ‘Uncovering the Past’, Volume 2, 2018, pp. 16–19. |
1841 | 27 October | Leighton Station, Hopkins River, VIC |
1841 | December | Port Fairy, VIC |
1841–42 | Burrumbeep, VIC | |
1841–1842 | Barton Station, head of Mount William Creek, VIC | |
1841–1842 | Lexington, La Rose and Mokepilly Stations, VIC | |
1842 | Balaklava, Wakefield River district, SA | |
1842 | Brisbane Valley, QLD | |
1842 | Bruthen Creek, Gippsland, VIC | |
1842 | Callandoon district, McIntyre River, QLD, two hut keepers killed during a series of Aboriginal attacks. Pastoralists and police retaliate. | |
1842 | Dutton’s farm, Port Lincoln, SA | |
1842 | Evans Head (Goanna Headland) Massacre, NSW, reprisal for Pelican Creek deaths (see below). See also Richmond River massacres on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_River_massacres | |
1842 | Giggabarah Massacre, Blackall Ranges, west of Nambour and the Mary River, QLD, Fifty to 60 Giggabarah people poisoned with arsenic. Source: Dr Timothy Bottoms, ‘The Frontier Series’, Far North Queensland History, Poisoning of Indigenous People, https://cairnshistory.com.au/content/uploads/2021/07/The-Frontier-Series-Poisoning-of-Indigenous-People-%E2%80%A81842-Giggabarah-Massacre-TFS004.jpg |
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1842 | Hindmarsh Valley c. 10 kms from Port Lincoln, SA | |
1842 | Kilcoy Station, QLD | |
1842 | Net nat uungo, near Donald McKenzie’s station, Crawford River, south-western VIC | |
1842 | Nyngan Massacre, north of Nyngan, NSW | |
1842 | Pelican Creek Tragedy, north of Coraki, NSW, five European men killed at Pelican Creek. Some details on Wikipedia under Richmond River massacres: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_River_massacres |
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1842 | Port Lincoln area, SA | |
1842 | Skull Creek, Gippsland, VIC | |
1842 | Streaky Bay, SA | |
1842 | Near Tabratong, Bogan River, NSW, severe conflict between William Lee's men and Aboriginal people. During a drought, First Nations people camped at a waterhole, attack William Lee's employees after the men tried to force the people to leave. Five of Lee's men are killed, one survivor with severe wounds. Aboriginal people slaughtered in a reprisal by Lee, his men and police. Governor Gipps cancels Lee's squatting licence because of multiple attacks on, and killings of, Aboriginal people. | |
1842 | Warndaa, Boggy Gully, near Black Swamp, west of Merrang House, south-western VIC | |
1842 | Weereangourt or Mount Rouse Station, VIC | |
1842 | Whiteside, Morton Bay, QLD | |
1842–?? | Mt Remarkable, Melrose and Woolmington, near Port Augusta, SA | |
1842 | 3 January | Eumeralla Station, south-western VIC |
1842 | February | Tarrone Station, Moyne River, 19 kms north of Port Fairy, VIC |
1842 | 3 February | Bungaree Station, Clare, SA |
1842 | 10 February | Kapunda, Light River, SA |
1842 | 24 February | Lubra Creek, Caramut Station, near Lubra Creek/ Penshurst-Caramut Road crossing, VIC |
1842 | 24 February | Muston’s Creek, VIC |
1842 | 24 April | Biddle’s station, Port Lincoln, SA |
1842 | 24 April | Coffin Bay, 50 kms north-west of Port Lincoln, SA |
1842 | Early May | Pillaworta Station, end of Arno Bay, Eyre Peninsula, SA Unknown number of Aboriginal people killed by soldiers in retribution for the killing of colonists in the Port Lincoln district earlier in 1842. |
Mid-1842 | Biddle’s station, Port Lincoln, SA | |
1842 | August | Tahara or Spring Valley Station, south-western VIC |
1842 | September | Mount Rouse, VIC |
1842 | October | Mount Shadwell Station, south-west VIC |
1842 | October | Tarrone Station, Moyne River, 19 kms north of Port Fairy, VIC |
1842 | 10 December | Port Fairy, VIC |
Bef 1843 | Grampians, VIC | |
Bef 1843 | Darlot, VIC | |
Bef 1843 | Lake Colac, VIC | |
1842 or 1843 | Spring Creek Station, 16 kms south-west of Caramut, VIC | |
1842–1852 | Awamolands north of Bribie Island, Caloundra, or Marcoola, QLD, Some Aboriginal men possibly wounded. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, pp. 6–7) |
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1842–1852 | Mandandanji Land War, southern QLD | |
1843 | Fitzroy River, VIC | |
1843 | Grampians, VIC | |
1843 | Mudall Station, Bogan River, NSW, Aboriginal people attack stockmen while moving sheep on Balfour's holding. Two stockmen killed. Holdings abandoned after three more stockmen killed. | |
1843 | Portland Bay area, VIC | |
1843 | Warrigal Creek, Gippsland, VIC | |
1843 | Western district, VIC | |
1843–1846 | Rosewood Scrub, QLD, from this impenetrable area of bush, Multuggerah continues attacks on drays and travellers as far as the Darling Downs. Rosewood Homestead (now Glenore Grove) is repeatedly under siege. Colonists possibly construct a makeshift 'fort' on the property that they take turns in manning. |
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1843–1849 | Castlemaddie or Ettrick pastoral runs, VIC | |
1843 | January | Broughton River, near Port Pirie, SA |
1843 | 7 April | Port Lincoln, SA, Nultia publicly executed on Biddle’s station. |
1843 | 7 April | Bungaree Station, Clare, SA |
1843 | June | Neighbourhood of Bungaree Station, Clare, SA |
1843 | June | Warrigal Creek, VIC |
1843 | August | Koroite Station, Wannon River, VIC |
1843 | August | Wannon River, VIC |
1843 | 6 August | Victoria Range, western VIC |
1843 | 13 August | Near Mount Zero, VIC |
1843 | September | Headwaters, Crawford River, south-western VIC |
1843 | 12 Sept | Lockyer Valley, QLD, Battle of Meewah (Battle of One Tree Hill) (Mount Tabletop or Table Top Mountain). Aboriginal people led by Multuggerah. See Bibliography and Books on this website and Ray Kerkhove and Frank Uhr, The Battle of One Tree Hill: The Aboriginal Resistance That Stunned Queensland, Boolarong Press, 2019 |
1843 | October | On road between Portland and Kanawalla Station, Wannon River, south-west VIC |
1843 | 9 November | Glenelg River near Harrow, VIC |
1844 | Bluff Rock, near Tenterfield, NSW, conflicting versions of the details of Bluff Rock massacre exist. It is believed 'settlers' threw Aboriginal people from the rock in a reprisal. | |
1844 | Deepwater area, north of Glen Innes, NSW | |
1844 | Maffra, VIC | |
1844 | 17 October | Near Bolivia Station, Deepwater area, NSW |
1844–45 | Port Augusta, SA (Port Augusta War) | |
1844 | 25 January | Mullagh Station, 11 kilometres north of Harrow, VIC |
1844 | 15 April | Grampian Range, VIC |
1844 | May | Grampian Range, VIC |
1844 | 15 May | 100 kilometres north of the Pyrenees Range, VIC |
1844 | July | Adelaide, SA |
1844 | 13–14 July | Mt Bryan, 30 kms north-north-east of Burra, SA |
1844 | August | Mt Gambier, SA |
1844 | 19 October | 40 kilometres north of Longerenong Station, VIC |
1844 | November | Near Lake Leake, SA |
1845 | Deepwater, north of Glen Innes, NSW, possible reprisal murders of Aboriginal people in response to widespread cattle and sheep stealing in the area. (See Rodney Harrison, Shared Landscapes: Archaeologies of Attachment and the Pastoral Industry in New South Wales, UNSW Press, 2004, p. 105) | |
1845 | Douralie Creek, Macleay region, NSW | |
c. 1845 | Grampians, VIC | |
1845 | Gilbert River, far north QLD, explorer Leichhart's naturalist, Gilbert fatally speared. | |
1845 | Hendersons Creek, Macleay area, NSW | |
1845 | Kunderang Station, Upper Macleay, NSW Two shepherds and their wives killed. Sheep stolen. Retaliatory killings of Aboriginal people. Numbers unknown. (See Rodney Harrison, Shared Landscapes: Archaeologies of Attachment and the Pastoral Industry in New South Wales, UNSW Press, 2004, pp. 105–6) |
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1845 | Mt Remarkable, 45 kms north of Port Pirie, SA | |
1845 | Quorn, Gawler Ranges, SA | |
1845 | Upper Macleay River, NSW, Aboriginal people killed under a cliff. | |
1845 | Wivenhoe, Brisbane Valley, QLD, John Uhr killed during an Aboriginal attack. | |
c. 1845 | Henderson's Creek, Macleay area, NSW | |
c. 1845 | Sheep Station Bluff, Macleay area?, NSW | |
c. 1845 | Wabra Station, Macleay area, NSW | |
1845 | 15 April | Deepwater area, NSW |
1845 | May | Near Rivoli Bay, 70 kms north-west of Mt Gambier, SA |
1845 | July | Mt Arapiles, VIC |
1845 | July | Victoria Plains, WA |
1845 | 11 July | West of Horsham, VIC |
1845 | September/October? | Mount Lindesay, Richmond River district, QLD, Thomas Mather, resident of South Brisbane, and a man, who went by the nickname “the Bush Lawyer”, killed apparently, during an Aboriginal attack. The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 10 October 1845, p. 3; The Moreton Bay Courier, Saturday 6 February 1847 |
1845 | December | Western Port, VIC |
Bef 1846 | Streaky Bay, SA | |
Early 1846 | Outside Anderson's Inn, Burbank (Lexton), VIC | |
1846 | Crystal Brook, near Mt Remarkable, SA | |
1846 | "Murdering Stumps", Tabratong Station, NSW, Aboriginal reprisal attack on William Lee's station employees at night. All but one employee killed. Dates for this incident in the Tabratong area vary from 1841, 1842, 1846, or 'before 1850'. The varying dates and sometimes differing descriptions for this conflict suggest that there was more than one incident that occurred on the Bogan in the 1840s to 1850s. | |
1846 | Rosewood Scrub, QLD In 1846 Multuggerah brings 500 warriors to Rosewood Homestead, almost starving out the occupants. Visitors and Rosewood Homestead residents form a party, storming Multuggerah's camp, killing him and many others. Other Aboriginal leaders such as Jackey, Uncle Marney and King Billy appear to operate from Rosewood Scrub in later years. |
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1846 | Strathalbyn, 22.99 kms (14.29 miles) from Mt Barker, SA | |
1846 | Victoria Park Aboriginal camp, north Brisbane, QLD, Constable Peter Murphy and party burn camp and shoot Aboriginal people. |
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1846 | February | Wimmera River, later site of the Ebenezer Aboriginal Station, VIC |
1846 | 6 February | Mullagh Station, 11 kilometres north of Harrow, VIC |
1846 | April | Pyrenees Range, VIC |
1846 | 28 June | Avoca River, near Charlton, VIC |
1846 | August | Aire River mouth, Cape Otway, VIC |
1846 | August | Sterling’s station, south-east SA |
1846 | 20 October | North Pine, south-east QLD, Aboriginal people led by Milbong Jemmy murder Andrew McGregor and Mrs Shannon with waddies. Mr Shannon later attacked but escapes. |
1846 | October | Eagle Farm, Brisbane, QLD, Milbong attacks Mr Richardson, robs his house. |
1846 | October | Doughboy Creek, (now part of Hemmant), Brisbane, QLD, Milbong attacks sawyers, is shot, dies almost immediately. |
1846 | September | Rivoli Bay, 65 kms north-west of Mt Gambier, SA |
1846 | November | Gippsland, VIC |
1846 | 11 November | Near North Avenue, Guichen Bay, Robe, SA |
1846 | December | Snowy River, VIC |
1846, 1847 | Wickham Park, north Brisbane, QLD, Yilbung took regular bags of flour for his people from millworkers at the Windmill (now a hotel and restaurant on Wickham Terrace) as a ‘monthly rent’. He was imprisoned for this ‘impertinence.’ |
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1846–47 | Central Gippsland, VIC | |
1847 | Clarence River, NSW | |
1847 | Kilcoy Station, Upper Brisbane River, QLD, station hands set a trap, putting aresenic-laced flour in hut. Aboriginal people rob the hut, many die after eating the flour. | |
1847 | Mount Eccles, VIC | |
1847 | Mount Talbot, VIC | |
1847 | January | Robe, SA |
1847 | April | Eumeralla district, south-western VIC |
1847 | Mid-April | Whiteside Station, QLD (Established on the North Pine River) |
1847 | 20 May | Euremete and Lyne Stations adjoining Branxholme, south-western VIC |
1847 | July | Mount Napier, VIC |
1847 | August | Mt Gambier, SA |
1847 | 11 September | North Pine, Brisbane district, QLD, Aborigines, led by Dundalli, kill William Waller and badly wound William Boller. James Smith escapes. |
1847 | September | Goodar near Callandoon, QLD, James Marks kills an Aboriginal man. |
1847 | 13 October | Mary River, Maryborough district, QLD, George Furber and friend attacked by Aboriginal assistants while building a wool shed. Furber is wounded; his friend killed. Furber later retaliates shooting the Aboriginal men who attacked him. |
1847 | October | Mount Talbot, VIC |
1847 | 25 November | At, or near, Anderson and Mills’s public house, Buninyong, VIC |
1847 | c. 28 November | Kangaroo Creek run, south-east of Nymboida, Clarence River district, NSW.More than 20 Aboriginal people die after eating poisoned flour given to them by run-holder Thomas Coutts. |
1847–49 | Mt Abundance, near Roma, QLD, Aboriginal people kill seven Europeans. | |
c. 1847–c. 1850 | Bunya lands (Blackall Ranges and Bunya Mountains, QLD, Hundreds of fatalities. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier war on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 7) |
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1847–1851 | Aroona Station, Orroroo, north-west of Hawker, SA | |
1848 | Butcher's Tree, near Brewarrina, NSW , massacre of Aboriginal people. (See Rodney Harrison, Shared Landscapes: Archaeologies of Attachment and the Pastoral Industry in New South Wales, UNSW Press, 2004, p. 154) |
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1848 | Escape River, tip of Cape York, Qld, explorer Edmund Kennedy speared, dies in the arms of Aboriginal tracker, Jackey Jackey. | |
1848 | Maryborough, QLD, Aboriginal people kill George Furber and his brother-in-law in the bush. | |
1848 | Tingun Station, near Roma, QLD, Aboriginal people attack James Blythe and drive him off the station. | |
1848 | Umbercollie, QLD | |
1848 | Waterloo Bay (Elliston), SA | |
1848 | Wimmera district, VIC | |
1848 | February | Murrumbidgee station, Murray area, VIC |
1848 | 31 March | Port Lincoln, SA |
1849 | Avenue Range Station, Mount Gambier area, SA | |
1849 | Balonne and Condamine Rivers, QLD | |
1849 | Bigumbul (Bigambul), QLD | |
1849 | Brown’s run, near Robe, SA | |
1849 | Carbucky, QLD | |
1849 | Fowlers Bay, WA, public execution of Wirangu men, (public executions banned). | |
1849 | Mt Wedge Station, Elliston, SA, public execution of Nawu men (public executions banned). | |
1849 | Paddy Island (also known as Paddy's Island. Formerly known as Coodes Island), upper Burnett River, QLD See also entry below on Gin Gin Station, 4 June 1849) |
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1849 | Port Lincoln, SA | |
1849 | Severn River, QLD | |
1849 | Victoria Park Aboriginal camp, north Brisbane, QLD, 24 soldiers of the 11th Regiment burn camp and shoot Aboriginal residents. |
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1849 | 4 June | Gin Gin Station (now part of the town of Gin Gin), Burnett area, QLD, Following the establishment, by Gregory Blaxland and William Forster, of Gin Gin station in 1848, tensions grew between the newcomers and the Taribelang-Bunda people on whose Country the pastoralists intruded. Aboriginal people kill shepherds, the Pegg brothers, on 4 June 1849. More about this frontier violence is covered, for example by Arthur Laurie, ‘Early Gin Gin and the Blaxland Tragedy’, presentation to the Historical Society of Queensland, 27 November 1952, copy available on the website of the library of the University of Queensland, and in Renee Coffey's University of Queensland's Honours Thesis, ‘Frontier violence in Gin Gin: a history of murder, massacre and myth’, access at: https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:319766 See also: Rachael Knowles, "Suppressed stories of slaughter immortalised in public artwork, National Indigenous Times, 19 March 2020 Wikipedia entry on Paddy Island: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddy_Island, last edited 18 January 2024 |
1849 | Aft 4 June | The Cedars, QLD(about 14 miles, or 22.5 kms) from Gin Gin. Gregory Blaxland, the Thompson brothers and friendly Aboriginal people kill 'scores of blacks' in a disproportionate reprisal for the Pegg brothers' deaths. (See entry above). More about this massacre is recounted by Arthur Laurie in a paper, ‘Early Gin Gin and the Blaxland Tragedy’, presented to the Historical Society of Queensland on 27 November 1952. (Note: some of the language used in this paper is highly offensive today). Another source for what happened at Gin Gin and vicinity in 1849, is Renee Coffey's Honours Thesis, ‘Frontier violence in Gin Gin: a history of murder, massacre and myth’, School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, The University of Queensland, 2006. Access to this thesis is at: https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:319766 |
1849 | 26 June | Wannon River, western VIC |
1849 | October | South-east SA |
1840s–1850s | Murderers’ Flat, Darlots Creek, near site of Lake Condah Aboriginal Mission, VIC | |
1850 | Breakfast Creek, Brisbane, QLD, colonist 'residents' living near Breakfast Creek petition the government for police protection from Aboriginal attacks. |
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1850 | Brodribb River, at the Mllly (Mille) or Cabbage Tree Creek, near Orbost, VIC | |
1850 | Gippsland, VIC | |
1850 | Murrindal near Orbost, VIC | |
1850 | Breakfast Creek, Brisbane, QLD, colonist 'residents' living near Breakfast Creek petition the government for police protection from Aboriginal attacks. |
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1850 | Paddy Island, Burnett River, QLD, a punitive party of squatters and station hands from Gin Gin and surrounding properties kill hundreds of Aboriginal people on Paddy Island. Many escape by swimming the river and disappearing into the Woongarra Scrub. | |
1850 | Woolooga and Widgee, north-west of Gympie, QLD, At Woolooga, north of Widgee, Frank Murray was killed and 'a lot of sheep taken'. Murray was one of two (a shepherd) or more fatalities. There were also 'several' injuries and stock losses in a 'war' between colonists and Aboriginal people. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 11) |
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1850 | March | Yuleba Creek, QLD Between January 1850 and August 1851, Commissioner Roderick Mitchell, with the help of Native Police, tried to put down resistance from the Mandandanji people against Europeans who were encroaching on, and taking, Mandandanji lands. Violence continued. Many Aboriginal people were killed in a massacre near Yuleba Creek in March 1850. |
1850 | August | Gin Gin Station, QLD, Aborigines ambush and kill Gregory Blaxland near the station homestead. |
1850s | Blackfellow’s Creek, Barmera, SA | |
1850s | Cobdolgla Station, 40 kms south-west of Renmark, SA | |
1850s | Dreamtime Beach, Pooningbah (Fingal Head), NSW The Aboriginal name for Fingal Head that separates the Tweed River from the Pacific Ocean, is 'P[B]ooingbah' or 'Mynjung Booning' meaning ‘place of the echidna’ reflecting the shape of the basalt outcrop at the top of the headland. There is a report of a massacre site on Dreamtime Beach, Fingal, dating from the 1850s: https://2011onthebench.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/every-story-tells-a-picture/ |
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1850s | Kandanga/Amamoor Creek, QLD An early Kandanga colonist recalled Aboriginal people stealing sheep from Manumbar and bringing them to Kandanga Creek. According to historian Ian Pedley, 'marauders' killed a shepherd and stole an entire flock of sheep, driving them nearly 30 miles (48 kms) east, firing the bush behind them to keep pursuers away. They were chased for several days. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020 p. 11) |
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1850s | Kandanga/Amamoor Creek, Imbil, QLD A posse of colonists, police and a Black tracker, massacre Aboriginal people attending a feast near Amamoor Creek. Possibly many fatalities, including of innocent Aboriginal people. These killings were reprisals for the death of a shepherd and for the theft of a flock of sheep from Manumbar. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020 p. 19) |
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1850s | Kingston Ferry, 10 kms west of Barmera, SA | |
1850s | North-east of Lake Bonney, SA | |
1850s | Mt Serle (Searle), 50 kms east of Leigh Creek, SA | |
1850s | Teewah Beach, Noosa area, QLD, a massacre of Aboriginal people is believed to have taken place on Teewah Beach. See entry for c. 1854–1860 "Near Teewah". | |
1850s | Widgee Station, Mary Valley, QLD Mass shooting of Aboriginal people as part of an on-going 'war' between Widgee Head Station staff and First Nations people. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 18) |
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1850s–1860s | Boomerang Point, south of Rotamah, Lake Reeve, 20 kms s-e of Bairnsdale, VIC, massacre of Aboriginal people | |
1850s–1860s | Kandanga Range Road near Amamoor, QLD One or more killings of Aboriginal people in this area. Aboriginal man shot while taking bark from a tree. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 20) |
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1851 | Maranoa, QLD | |
1851 | Breakfast Creek, Brisbane, QLD Forty Aboriginal warriors raid Bullock's property, destroying crops. Joining with another party of 200, they raid Cash's property further north. A large party of eight mounted men and colonists attack Aboriginal camps in reprisal. Despite the camps being empty the 'posse' burn down and destroy whatever they can. |
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1852 | Fraser Island, QLD See, for example, Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 19) |
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1852 | Isla Station, Dawson River, QLD, Aborigines kill McLaren near the station homestead. | |
1852 | Rawbelle Station, QLD, an Aboriginal man named Davey kills Adolphus Trevethan. | |
1852 | Yaroomba/Coolum, Sunshine Coast, QLD Five castaways from the Thomas King shipwreck killed by Aboriginal warriors. Only two survivors make it back to Brisbane after a marathon walk. James Smith, a survivor of a previous frontier attack, recognises warrior-leader Maki-Light (Moggy Moggy) as one of the ringleaders in the attack. It was believed to be a reprisal for a hanging his party mistakenly believed to be occurring in Brisbane at the time. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, December 2020, pp. 11–12) |
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1852 | May–July | Yamboucal Station, near Surat, QLD |
1852 | 22 August | 'Meldrum Massacre', Bald Hills Station, Armidale district, NSW Murders, allegedly committed by Aboriginal people, of colonists John Meldrum, Mary Mason and her two children, aged 3 and 18 months. The murders may have been in retaliation for the poisoning of Aboriginal people, with arsenic-laced flour, by other colonists. |
1852 | 22 August | Queen Street, Brisbane, QLD, Davey, an Aboriginal man, hanged for the murder of Adolphus Trevethan. |
1852 | September | Mt Aden, near Port Lincoln, SA |
1852 | 30 September | Bordertown, SA |
1853 | Bunya lands (Blackall Ranges and Bunya Mountains), QLD, invasion (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, pp.7–8) |
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1853 | 3 December | Sandgate, Brisbane area, QLD, Aboriginal people attack Tom Dowse and family. The Dowses escape with their lives. Incident leads to the establishment of a Native Police camp at Sandgate headed by Lt. Wheeler. |
1853–54 | Black Head, East Ballina, NSW, Native police kill between 30 and 40 Bundjalung people near the old East Ballina Gold Course. More information: Monument Australia: https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous/display/21079-east-ballina-massacre-site National Library of Australia, Trove: "An East Ballina Massacre”, (From the reminiscences of James Ainsworth), The Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate, Saturday 14 October 1922: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/171989519 Richmond River Massacres (refers to the 'East Ballina massacre'): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_River_massacres |
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1853–54 | Imbil (Yabba Creek)/Imbil Island, QLD Several fatalities during a ‘collision’ between Native Mounted Police and ‘warring’ Aboriginal groups who joined forces against the police. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 8) |
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c. 1854 | Miriam Vale, QLD | |
1854 | Granville, QLD | |
1854 | Nundah, north Brisbane, QLD, 60 Aboriginal warriors surround a colonist's homestead, pulling up all crops. | |
1854 | Tiereyboo, QLD | |
1854 | 19 September | Mt Brown, east of Port Pirie, SA |
1854 | 25 December | Mt Larcom Station, Port Curtis district, QLD, Aboriginal people murder five of Young's employees while he is visiting Gladstone. Native Police pursue murderers, killing many. |
c. 1854–1860 | Near Teewah Beach, Noosa area, QLD Teewah Massacre: ‘a number of fatalities’, possibly perpetrated by the Native Police, led by Lt John Bligh. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, pp. 19–20) |
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1855 | Middlecap Station, Franklin Harbour, Cowell, SA | |
1855 | 5 January | Queen Street, Brisbane, QLD, Dundalli hanged. |
1856 | Wangerriburra/Mt Wetheren, NSW | |
1856 | Werribone, QLD | |
1856 | Towel Creek, Macleay River, NSW | |
1856 | 10 January | South Australia, four Banggarla men hanged for murder and sheep stealing. |
1856 | December | Hornet Bank, Dawson River, QLD |
1856–57 | ||
1856–57 | Hornet Bank, Dawson River, QLD | |
1857 | Mt Serle (Searle), SA | |
1857 | 27 October | Upper Dawson River, QLD, Hornet Bank Massacre (Fraser family), Hornet Bank Station, Dawson River Basin Example of sources: Dr Timothy Bottoms, ‘Hornet Bank Massacre’, ‘The Frontier Series’, Far North Queensland History Series: https://cairnshistory.com.au/content/uploads/2021/07/The-Frontier-Series-Hornet-Bank-Massacre-1857-TFS001.jpg |
1857–1858 | Dawson River district, QLD, retaliatory massacres of hundreds of Yeeman people Example of sources: Dr Timothy Bottoms, ‘Hornet Bank Massacre’, ‘The Frontier Series’, Far North Queensland History Series: https://cairnshistory.com.au/content/uploads/2021/07/The-Frontier-Series-Hornet-Bank-Massacre-1857-TFS001.jpg |
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1858 | John Jacob’s run, Arkaroola Creek, 100 kms east-north-east of Leigh Creek, SA | |
1858 | Fairymead, QLD | |
1858 | Maryborough, QLD | |
1858 | Nundah, north of Brisbane, QLD Nundah colonists decide on a ‘pre-emptive strike’ against a local Aboriginal camp after becoming frightened by a war-making corroboree and threats from Aboriginal warriors. The colonists fire shots into the camp. While Aboriginal deaths and injuries are unknown, the camp is abandoned for two months. As revenge, Aboriginal survivors disperse and kill many cattle on the Pine Rivers. |
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1858 | Tibradden Station, Victoria River district, inland from Geraldton, WA | |
1858 | 6 April | Eurombah Station, Dawson River area, QLD, Aboriginal people kill two shepherds. |
1859 | Breakfast Creek, Brisbane, QLD
Five police destroy Aboriginal camps near Breakfast Creek, kill and injure at least two of the 100 Aboriginal camp residents. |
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1859 | Hospital Creek, near Brewarrina, NSW, massacre of about 300 Aboriginal men, women and children. For more information search Monument Australia, the National Library of Australia's Trove, the State Library of New South Wales's Gather website, and Wikipedia | |
1859 | Lake Bolac Station, western VIC | |
1859 | c. March | Upper Irwin River, mid-west WA |
1859 | September | Near Brisbane QLD , shooting of an Aboriginal woman and injuries to two children. |
1860 | Bendemere, QLD, Frederick Carr's Native Police detachment kills unknown number of Aboriginal people. | |
1860 | Fassifern, QLD, Frederick Wheeler's Native Police detachment kills unknown number of Aboriginal people. | |
1860 | Flinders Peak, near Ipswich, QLD, Frederick Wheeler's Native Police detachment kills unknown number of Aboriginal people. Inquest or inquiry into the deaths of Tommy and an unknown Aboriginal person concludes they were killed by the Native Police. |
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1860 | Kenilworth Station, QLD Possibly up to 10 fatalities and/or loss of stock. Kenilworth station was established on the edge of the Bunya Bunya Reserve, so may have been attacked. Historian Ian Pedley's account of a massacre of colonists at Kenilworth in 1860 could be drawing on a distorted memory of killings at Hornet Bank in 1857, as no soldiers, who had allegedly been sent out against ‘the Blacks’, were apparently used against Aboriginal people in Queensland after 1849. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 13) |
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1860 | Kenilworth/Kenilworth Bluff, QLD Oral traditions of Kabi Kabi, and descendants of colonists, report a massacre of Aboriginal people at Kenilworth Bluff, an important Aboriginal bora ground, signalling, spiritual and burial site. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, pp. 20–21) |
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1860 | Maryborough, QLD, John Bligh's Native Police detachment kills unknown number of Aboriginal people. February 1860 Inquest or inquiry into the death of the Aboriginal man, Darky, concludes Native Police shot him. | |
1860 | Venus Bay, 60 kms south-east of Streaky Bay, SA. Execution of more Nawu men | |
1860 | Venus Bay, 60 kms south-east of Streaky Bay, SA | |
1860 | 25 June | Attack Creek (Goaranalki), Stuart Highway, 74 kms north of Tennant Creek, NT, Warumungu attack on explorer John McDouall Stuart and party. Stuart turns back. No reported deaths or injuries to Warumungu people or explorers. |
1860 | November/December | Rockhampton area, QLD Native Police Troopers, Toby and Gulliver are arrested and charged with the rape and murder of Fanny Briggs. Trooper Ballantyne is also charged in December 1860 but later released. Gulliver shot dead while escaping, after admitting his part in the Briggs murder. Trooper Alma, possibly implicated but never charged, shot while trying to escape from Rockhampton Gaol. |
1860s | South Ballina, NSW Mass attempt at poisoning of people from the Nyangbal clan of the Bundjalung Nation. About 150 adults die after eating poisoned damper. Wikipedia entry on the Richmond River Massacres refers to the South Ballina massacre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_River_massacres |
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Early 1860s | "Waterview", north Bundaberg, QLD | |
1860s | Doonan, (today a rural locality between Sunshine Coast and Shire of Noosa), QLD William Cash and Andrews Jones beat off an attack by a group of Aboriginal people. Doonan is not far from Murdering Creek. This may have been one of the incidents that provoked the massacre of Aboriginal people at Murdering Creek in mid-1864. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 15) |
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1860s | South of Gympie, past Seven Mile Hotel on 'Brisbane Road', QLD Aboriginal man lures Frank Luke into bush, where he is almost speared and robbed. Luke could hear warriors making call signals to each other as they were preparing to attack him. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 15) |
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Late 1860s | Lolworth Massacre (N*****'s Bounce), north QLD Gudjala people shot by the Hann brothers, William and Frank. Example of sources: Dr Timothy Bottoms, ‘The Frontier Series’, Far North Queensland History Series: https://cairnshistory.com.au/content/uploads/2021/07/The-Frontier-Series-Lolworth-Massacre-Niggers-Bounce-late-1860s-TFS002.jpg |
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1861 | Albinia Downs, QLD | |
1861 | Breakfast Creek, Brisbane, QLD Aboriginal people drive off colonists' drays and rob travellers. Constable Griffin and two mounted police raid Aboriginal camp and make arrests. |
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1861 | Bulloo, QLD, conflict between members of the Burke and Wills expedition and Aboriginal people. | |
1861 | Dawson River, QLD An inquest or inquiry into the death of ex-Trooper Tahiti, concludes in July 1861 that he was shot by the Native Police. |
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1861 | Near Emerald, QLD | |
1861 | Fairfield Station, QLD,William Moorhead's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. An inquest or inquiry concludes in December 1861 that at least one Aboriginal person, name unknown, was shot by the Native Police. |
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1861 | Flinders River, QLD, Native Police kill 12 Aboriginal people in a clash over the right to camp at a fresh water spring. | |
1861 | Maranoa, QLD | |
1861 | Medway Ranges (Central Highlands), QLD | |
1861 | Manumbar, QLD, Rudolph Morisset's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1861 | Planet Creek, Springsure district, QLD, Native Police involved in killing Aboriginal people. | |
Early 1861 | Rockhampton area, QLD Native Police Lieutenant Rudolph Morriset shoots an alleged Aboriginal deserter, implicated in the Briggs murder, who had escaped to the bush. |
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1861 | 11 April | ‘Bunya Bunya’ (Jimna/Maleny/Mapleton), Blackall Ranges(?), QLD Lieutenant Wheeler of the Native Police reported that his unit had ‘dispersed’ ‘bunya bunya natives and patrolled bunya bunya lands’. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 21) |
1861 | 10 June | ‘Bunya Bunya’ (Jimna/Maleny/Mapleton), Blackall Ranges(?), QLD Lieutenant Wheeler of the Native Police reported that his unit had ‘dispersed’ ‘bunya bunya natives’ and patrolled bunya bunya lands’. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 21) |
1861 | 17 October | Cullinguringa (Cullin-La-Ringo) Massacre or Wills Tragedy, north of Springsure, QLD Up to 50 Aboriginal people attack and murder 19 of 25 colonists who are setting up a very large 260 square-kilometre (64,000-acre) property on Aboriginal country north of Springsure at Cullinguringa. Nineteen of the 25 men, women and children are killed. The huge squatting party, that included bullock waggons and more than 10,000 sheep, had attracted the attention, not only of Aboriginal people, but of other squatters. At least 300 Aboriginal people are killed in vigilante reprisals and native police patrols that occur over later days and weeks. For sources see, e.g., Dr Timothy Bottoms, ‘Cullin-la-ringo’, ‘The Frontier Series’, Far North Queensland History Series: https://cairnshistory.com.au/content/uploads/2021/07/The-Frontier-Series-Cullin-la-ringo-1861-TFS009.jpg |
1861 | 21–24 October | Springsure area, QLD Following the Cullinguringa (Cullin-La-Ringo) massacre, eleven colonists pursue Aboriginal people they believe to be the perpetrators. The Aboriginal camp is ‘stormed on foot with success’ very early on the morning of 23 October 1861. The number of Aboriginal people injured or killed in the ensuing fight is not recorded. Tom Wills, famous sportsman and son of Horatio Wills, is alleged to have taken part in a reprisal against First Nations' people involved at the Cullinguringa killings. (For more information see the News page on this website.) On 24 October 1861, Native Police Lieutenant William Cave commands a detachment that begins a further pursuit in reprisal against Aboriginal people. Colonists from the Leichhardt District, occupation of which is growing rapidly, call for a bigger native police presence in the district. See also, Dr Timothy Bottoms, ‘Cullin-la-ringo’, ‘The Frontier Series’, Far North Queensland History Series: https://cairnshistory.com.au/content/uploads/2021/07/The-Frontier-Series-Cullin-la-ringo-1861-TFS009.jpg |
1861 | October 1861 | Maranoa River, QLD, in the aftermath of the Cullinguringa (Cullin-La-Ringo) massacre, Native Police kill at least 10 Aboriginal people in a ‘dispersal’ at the Maranoa River. Two Native Police injured. |
1861 | November | Roxburgh (Roxborough) Downs, QLD |
c. 1862 | Cape Upstart, QLD | |
1862 | Breakfast Creek, Brisbane, QLD, Constable Griffin and a trooper ‘disperse’ Aboriginal people in the area. | |
1862 | Caboolture, near Brisbane, QLD | |
1862 | Coongoola, QLD | |
1862 | Dawson River (lower), QLD, Ralph Johnson's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. An inquest or inquiry concludes in December 1862 that the Native Police shot at least one Aboriginal person. | |
1862 | Fowlers Bay, 140 kms west of Ceduna, SA | |
1862 | Tibradden Station, WA | |
1862 | Venus Bay, 60 kms south-east of Streaky Bay, SA | |
1862 | Between 1 and 30 September | Pigeon Creek station, on tributary of the Warrego River, QLD Twenty five bodies [of First Nations people] found after a ‘Native police action’ on the Warrego River. (Jonathan Richards, The Secret War: A True History of Queensland's Native Police, p. 68; Blagden Chambers, Black and White: The story of a massacre and its aftermath, 1988.) |
1863 | Gayndah, QLD, Joseph Harris's Native Police detachment kills unknown number of Aboriginal people. An Aboriginal man called Jemmy is one of those killed. An inquiry or inquest concludes in April 1863 that the native Police shot Jemmy. Officer Harris is suspended and dismissed for neglect of duty in ‘allowing his troopers out of his control’. |
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1863 | Meteor Creek, Springsure district, QLD, William Sharpe's Native Police detachment kill at least one Aboriginal person. | |
1863 | Mapleton/Obi Obi area, near Mooloolah, QLD A traveller is speared to death in rainforest between Mooloolah and Upper Obi Obi Creek. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 13) |
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1863 | Meteor Creek, Springsure district, QLD William Sharpe's Native Police detachment involved in killing of at least one Aboriginal person. |
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1863 | Tieryboo, Dalby, QLD, Frederick Carr's Native Police detachment kills unknown number of Aboriginal people. An inquest or inquiry concludes in January 1863 that the native Police shot an Aboriginal man named Tallboy. | |
1863 | Yatton, QLD, Marmaduke Richardson's Native Police detachment kills unknown number of Aboriginal people. An inquiry or inquest concludes in September 1863 that the Native Police shot an Aboriginal man called Wallace. Richardson is dismissed. |
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1863 | December | Currimundi/Moffat Beach area, (somewhere between bunya bunya lands (Maleny/Mapleton) and north of Caboolture, QLD Massacre of Aboriginal people near the coast in this area. Lieutenant Wheeler of the Native Mounted Police reported that his unit patrolled the bunya lands ‘to no effect’. Thereafter the unit ‘dispersed large mob of Aborigines near to seacoast’. (‘Dispersal’ was the usual term the Native Mounted Police used for a massacre. A standing battle was referred to as a ‘skirmish’.) (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, pp. 21–22) |
1864 | Eureka near Bundaberg, QLD, Brown's Native Police detachment kills unknown number of Aboriginal people. | |
1864 | Mullewa, WA | |
1864 | Pabaju (Albany Island), QLD | |
1864 | Stuckey and Elders’ run, Umberatana Station, 120 kms west of Lyndhurst, SA | |
1864 | Tibradden Station, WA | |
1864 | c. March | Mooloolah Plains (rural locality in the Sunshine Coast region), QLD Lieutenant Wheeler of the Native Mounted Police reported his troops were ‘”dispersing” natives at Mooloolah’. Inter-tribal tournaments were often held on the Mooloolah Plains. After bunya feasts, large numbers of Aboriginal people went to Mooloolaba, Buderim and Alexandra Headlands to fish and to collect oysters. Wheeler's patrol may have confronted and ‘dispersed’ Aboriginal people around this time. |
1864 | 4 June | Sander’s run, QLD |
1864 | 10 June | Expedition Range, QLD |
1864 | c. Mid- | Murdering Creek near Lake Wyeba, Noosa Heads area, QLD Massacre of Aboriginal people. Many fatalities. See also entry on Lake Wyeba c. 1867–1868 and Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, pp. 26–27. This report puts the date of the massacre as c. 1868–1869. See also entry on Murdering Creek for c. 1868–1869 below. |
1864 | 16 December | North of Nassau River, QLD, Frederick and Alexander Jardine kill nine Kokoberrin warriors. Example of sources: Dr Timothy Bottoms, ‘Jardine's Trip Up Cape York Peninsula 1864’, ‘The Frontier Series’, Far North Queensland History Series: https://cairnshistory.com.au/content/uploads/2021/07/The-Frontier-Series-Jardines-Trip-Up-Cape-York-Peninsula-1864-TFS011.jpg |
1864 | 18 December | Mitchell River, Cape York Peninsula, QLD Battle of the Mitchell, Aboriginal warriors, hurling spears, fight a pitched battle against armed Europeans. Many warriors are killed or injured. No colonists die or injured. In the Battle of the Mitchell, Aboriginal warriors, hurling spears, fought a pitched battle against armed Europeans. Possibly up to 72 First Nations people shot in 11 separate incidents during the Jardines' trip up Cape York. Example of sources: Dr Timothy Bottoms, ‘Jardine's Trip Up Cape York Peninsula 1864’, ‘The Frontier Series’, Far North Queensland History Series: https://cairnshistory.com.au/content/uploads/2021/07/The-Frontier-Series-Jardines-Trip-Up-Cape-York-Peninsula-1864-TFS011.jpg |
1864? | December | Alice River, Cape York Peninsula, QLD More than 31 First Nations people killed (up to 59 killed or wounded) when the Jardine brothers encountered a gathering of about 70 to 80 men who were probably attending a ceremony. Example of Sources: Dr Timothy Bottoms, ‘Jardine's Trip Up Cape York Peninsula 1864’, ‘The Frontier Series’, Far North Queensland History Series: https://cairnshistory.com.au/content/uploads/2021/07/The-Frontier-Series-Jardines-Trip-Up-Cape-York-Peninsula-1864-TFS011.jpg |
c. 1865 | Eudlo Flats, junction of Eudlo Creek and Maroochy River, QLD | |
1865 | Aboriginal people attack two constables. Aboriginal camps in the Breakfast Creek area burnt down again in revenge. |
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1865 | Calliope, QLD, Arthur Beevor's Native Police detachment kills unknown number of Aboriginal people. An inquiry or inquest concludes in October 1865 that an unknown Aboriginal person or persons was/were killed by the Native Police |
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1865 | Dawson River district, QLD, Otto Paschen's Police detachment involved in 'numerous collisions'. | |
1865 | Glenmore, QLD | |
1865 | La Grange Bay area, Kimberley region, WA | |
1865 | Mailman's Gorge, near Aramac, QLD Arthur Beevor's Native Police detachment kills unknown number of Aboriginal people. An inquiry or inquest concludes in October 1865 that an unknown Aboriginal person or persons was/were killed by the Native Police. |
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1865 | Maroochy River at Horseshoe Bend (Bli Bli/Yandina), QLD Up to 200 Aboriginal warriors hold timber cutter (later Constable) George Doyle and companions under siege at his timber-getting hut on the Maroochy River. The incident sparks brutal retaliation. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 13) |
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Strong>1865 | Maroochy River at Horseshoe Bend (probably Bli Bli/Yandina), QLD Timber-getter and later Constable George Doyle creates a booby trap from his hut, using rifles, gunpowder, slug shot, nails and a wedge that would strike matches. This lethal contraption results in the deaths of an unspecified, but large number, of Aboriginal fatalities. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 23) |
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1865 | Moola Bulla, WA | |
1865 | Thouringowa (Thuringowa) Waterhole, QLD | |
1865 | May | Near Rannes, QLD , Native Police Officer, Cecil Hill, killed during an Aboriginal attack. |
1865 | 8 June | Rio Station, Dawson River, QLD, Aboriginal people ambush and kill a European police sergeant and three Aboriginal troopers. Native Police mount a revenge expedition. |
Mid-1860s | Doonella Lake, east of Tewantin, QLD Kabi Kabi leader Sergeant (King) Brown and 20 warriors confront Mr Hay demanding food. Brown strikes Mr Hay on the head as he bends down. Hay manages to retrieve his revolver, fires shots on the ground around the group who then flee. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 14) |
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Mid-1860s | West of Rockhampton, QLD | |
1860s–1870s | Cooloothin Creek, Sunshine Coast/Noosa area, QLD According to Kabi tradition, a massacre of Aboriginal people occurred at Cooloothin Creek, possibly in the 1860s/1870s. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 25) |
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c. 1865–1870 | Maroochy River (Bli Bli?), QLD Puram shot on the Maroochy River, most likely at Bli Bli, while diving for kombo (shipworm), renowned in the area. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 23) |
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c. 1865–1870 | Ninderry Station, QLD Kabi Kabi rainmaker Karal (Banjor or 'Banjo') shot at and nearly died from poisoned flour. Karal recalled poisoning of other Aboriginal people at Ninderry Station. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 24) |
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Mid to late 1860s | Bundaburra(h) Creek, near Forbes, NSW, Aboriginal people poisoned with strychnine, then 'thrown in the river near Bundaburra(h) Creek'. | |
c. 1866 | Chesterton (Pigeon Creek), QLD | |
1866 | Banana, QLD Native Police officer, Edward Seymour, kills an Aboriginal woman. An inquiry or inquest concludes in February 1866 that the Native Police killed the woman. Seymour was discharged in 1868 after his position was abolished. (Jonathan Richards, The Secret War: A True History of Queensland's Native Police, p. 259) |
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1866 | Imbil run, near Gympie, QLD Large numbers of Aboriginal people gather on the Imbil run, killing two heifers and threatening local squatters with more ‘destruction’. Sub-inspector Fruedenthal and troopers visit Imbil run but take no action as their horses were ‘all knocked up’. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 14) |
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1866 | Mooloolah River (Old Daisy's Place), waterhole, Glenview area, QLD Three Kabi Kabi men, Captain Piper, Tommy Skyring and Johnny Griffins, kill and rob botanist William Stephens while assisting him on an expedition in the Glenview area. Constable Nalty and later Sub-Inspector Frudenthal (Freudenthal?), with troopers, search for the three men without success. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 14) |
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1866 | Pearl Creek, QLD | |
1866 | Perch Creek, QLD | |
1866 | December | Lake Perigundi, Cooper’s Creek Tirari Desert, 110 kms north-east of Marree, SA |
1867 | Breakfast Creek, Brisbane, QLD Fifteen Aboriginal people steal a boat and ransack a cutter. Sub-Inspector of Police Gough burns Aboriginal camps in the Breakfast Creek area. |
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1867 | Goulbolba Hill, Central QLD | |
1867 | Kin Kin Creek, and area between Lake Cootharaba and Kin Kin, QLD While heavy logging is happening in the area, Abraham Boyd kills up to 20 Aboriginal men with a rifle and booby-trap during a siege of his hut. Abraham Luya is also besieged at his Kin Kin hut. Whether any Aboriginal people were killed is not known. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, pp. 24–25) |
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1867 | Morinish, QLD, Myrtil Aubin's Native Police detachment kills unknown number of Aboriginal people. An inquiry or inquest concludes in March 1867 that the native Police shot an Aboriginal man named Tommy. Aubin is dismissed. |
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1867 | Paroo River, south-west QLD, William Hill's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1867 | Stawell River, QLD | |
1867 | The Leap, north-west of Mackay, QLD | |
1867 | Turtle Head Island, north QLD | |
1867 | Widgee Creek and Glastonbury Creek, head of, west of Gympie, QLD Aboriginal groups use the Widgee Scrubs as a stronghold and rainforest as a cover. Reports of ‘depredations’ on colonists' cattle. Loyau claims land had to be won from First Peoples ‘acre by acre’ of bloodshed. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 16) |
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c. 1867 | Broadsound district, QLD | |
c. 1867 | Kin Kin Creek, near confluence with Lake Cootharaba, towards northern end of lake, Noosa area, QLD Abraham Luya and Major Alexander Boyd claim to have been verbally abused, physically threatened, and held under siege for between one and three days at their timber-getting huts on Kin Kin Creek. Alexander Boyd uses this incident for creating a booby trap that killed many warriors. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, pp. 14–15) |
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c. 1867–1868 | Lake Wyeba, near Noosa, QLD Colonists from Maryborough bring cattle to feed around Lake Wyeba. The colonists shoot at Aboriginal people after they speared some of the animals. Possibly some wounding or fatalities of Aboriginal people. The site of this incident was the lake shore where today's Noosa aerodrome is located. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 25) |
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1868 | Albert Downs, Gregory River, QLD, Aboriginal people rob station of firearms, axes, food and other supplies. 'Dispersed by the law of the carbine'. No loss of lives or injuries reported. | |
1868 | Burdekin, QLD | |
1868 | Cassidy's Station, Leichhardt River, QLD, Aboriginal people attack station, 'dispersed by the law of the carbine'. No deaths or injuries reported. | |
1868 | Gregory River, QLD | |
1868 | Grosvenor Downs, QLD | |
1868 | Inverleigh, QLD | |
1868 | Kimberleys, WA | |
1868 | Mailman's Gorge near Aramac, QLD, more than 25 Aboriginal people slaughtered. | |
1868 | Norman River, QLD Aboriginal people kill Cannon, Manson and a number of Chinese employees on Liddie and Hetzer's station. |
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1868 | South of Burketown, QLD, Uhr massacre Uhr's Native Police detachment slaughter Aboriginal people. |
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1868 | February–May | Flying Foam Passage, King Bay, Murujuga (Burrup Peninsula), WA, Flying Foam Massacres of Aboriginal people. More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonnerup_massacre https://maryblight.com/2022/03/18/the-1841-wonnerup-massacre/ |
1868 | October | Lake Tyers, VIC |
1868 | 17 December | North Creek Station, Nebo, QLD, Aboriginal people murder JT Collins. |
c. 1868–1869 | Murdering Creek, southern side of Lake Wyeba, near Noosa, QLD Murdering Creek Massacre Many Aboriginal fatalities are believed to have occurred at Murdering Creek. See also entry on Lake Wyeba c. 1867–1868. (Ray Gibbons 2015, ‘Deconstructing colonial myths: the massacre at Murdering Creek’, Academia online: https://www.academia.edu/12361316/Deconstructing_colonial_myths_the_massacre_at_Murdering_Creek Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, pp. 26–27) |
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c. 1868–1869 | Yandina Run (covered area from Dunethin to Maroochy River between Noosa and Mooloolah), QLD Overseer speared, hundreds of stock lost. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, pp. 16–17) |
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1869 | Bowen district, QLD | |
1869 | Kourareg, on Muralag (Prince of Wales Island), QLD, Aborigines capture captain and crew of a cutter. Kill some crew and a boy. Captain Montgomerie's frigate Blanche, with police aboard, embarks on a punitive expedition against the 'Mt Ernest natives' believed responsible. Three 'chiefs' shot. | |
1869 | Nebo, QLD, Robert Johnstone's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1869 | Woodstock, QLD | |
1870 | Barcoo River, QLD, Edward Wheeler's Native Police detachment kills several Aboriginal people. | |
1870–1890 | Kalkadoon Wars, Mt Isa region, QLD (see also Battle Mountain below) | |
Early 1870s | Battle Hole, Barcoo River, QLD | |
1870s | Gilbert River, QLD | |
1870s | Yandina Creek, near Coolum, QLD Several First Nations people wounded, and some possible fatalities when colonists shoot at Aboriginal people on their way to a bora ring of spiritual significance. The shots are fired from men's quarters on Yandina cattle station, nearby which were several bora rings. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 27) |
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1870–1890 | Kalkadoon Wars, Mt Isa region, QLD (see also Battle Mountain below) | |
1871 | Cloncurry, QLD
An inquest or inquiry into the death of an unknown Aboriginal person concludes that WD Uhr shot the person. Charges dismissed. |
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1871 | Gilberton, QLD, deadly clashes between Aboriginal people, miners and Native Police. | |
1871 | Somerset, QLD, Frank Jardine allegedly shoots four Native Police troopers, three apparently survive but try to escape by sea in a canoe a month later. | |
1871 | Tiaro, QLD An inquest or inquiry concludes in June 1871 that Police Constable McMullen shot an Aboriginal man named Bungaree. |
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1872 | Aramac, Barcaldine region, QLD, Frederick Maier killed. | |
1872 | Near Cardwell, QLD, Aboriginal people kill some survivors of the Maria shipwreck, help others. | |
1872 | Near Cardwell, QLD, Native Police involved in reprisals against Aboriginal people believed to have killed Maria shipwreck survivors. | |
1872 | Cloncurry, QLD, Alexander Salmond's Native police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1872 | Clump Point, Mission Beach, QLD, Robert Johnstone's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1872 | Coast Track (the Savannah Way), Gulf Country, NT (Multiple killings) | |
1872 | Opposite Coonanglebah (Dunk) Island, QLD, Djiru massacre | |
1872 | Gladstone, QLD, Native police detachment kills Aboriginal people. Inquiries or inquests concluded in August (for and Aboriginal man called Billy) and in September 1872 for Harry and Tommy, that the Native Police under the command of Alexander Douglas had shot them. |
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1872 | Herbert River, far north QLD, Charles Shairp's Native Police detachment kills an Aboriginal woman. An inquest or inquiry concludes in September 1872 that an Aboriginal woman called Cassey was shot by the native Police. Shairp or Sharpe is dismissed. |
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1872 | Hinchinbrook Island, QLD | |
1872 | Mt Leonard, QLD | |
1872 | Newcastle Waters area, NT | |
1872 | Sweers Island, QLD | |
1872 | Tambo, Barcoo River, central QLD, Thomas Williams's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. An inquest or inquiry concludes in October 1872 that Billy and Chow Chow were shot by the Native Police. Williams is dismissed. |
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1872 | Near Yaamba, north of Rockhampton, QLD | |
1872 | Valley of Lagoons, QLD, Johnstone's Native Police detachment alleged to have killed Aboriginal people. | |
1872 | Wombinderry Waterhole, QLD | |
1872 | Wyandotte (Whyandot) Station, QLD Dr Timothy Bottoms mentions Wyandotte Station in Chapter 8, ‘Dark Deeds in the Northern Rainforests––the Tully and Cairns Districts’, on p. 137 of his book, Conspiracy of Silence: Queensland’s Frontier Killing Times, Allen & Unwin, 2013. This reference relates to the activities of ‘Mr. Johnson’ (Acting Sub-Inspector Robert Johnstone) at Wyandotte (also spelt ‘Whyandot’) Station in 1872. Richard Bird Hall wrote a letter to the Editor of the Brisbane Courier from Alice River, Townsville on 27 July 1872 about the treatment of First Nations people, including at ‘Whyandot’, by Acting Sub Inspector Johnstone. Mr Hall’s letter was published in the Brisbane Courier on 10 August 1872, p. 5 (available on the National Library of Australia's Trove Newspaper database). |
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1872 | 24 April | Welford Downs Station (formerly Walton Downs Station), Barcoo River area, QLD, Aborigines murder Richard Welford, squatter and Henry Hall, stockman, while they are sawing a tree. |
1873 | Aramac, Barcaldine region, QLD, John Carroll's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1873 | Opposite Double Island, QLD | |
1873 | Herbert River, QLD, Johnstone's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1873 | Massacre Sandhill, QLD | |
1873 | Normanby, QLD, Aulaire Morisset's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1873 | Palm Cove, QLD, Johnstone's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1873 | Pearl Shellers’ Revenge, south-west of Somerset station, far north QLD | |
1873 | North of Pine Creek, NT | |
1873 | Skull Creek, near Nebo, QLD | |
1873 | St Lawrence, QLD Native Police detachment under the command of Alexander Douglas, shoot Aboriginal men, Charley and Dickey. Inquiries or inquests conclude in July and August respectively that the Native Police shot the men. |
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1873 | April | Green Island, off Cairns, QLD |
1873 | 10 July | Green Island, off Cairns, QLD |
1873 | 22 November | Gilberton goldfield, QLD, Aborigines kill two Chinese prospectors, two reported missing. |
1873 | c. December | Battle Camp ‘collision’, far north QLD, European prospectors and Native Police engage in armed battle with Aboriginal tribespeople. Hundreds of Aboriginal people killed, about four Europeans speared to death. |
c. 1873 | Elderslie station, Diamantina River, QLD Carroll's Native Police from Aramac slaughter many Aboriginal males on the station. |
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1874 | Bloomfield River, far north QLD, while trying to find a shorter route from the coast to the Palmer goldfield, Edward Dumaresq's Native Police detachment is involved in a number of killings of Aboriginal people. | |
1874 | Breakfast Creek, Brisbane, QLD Mounted police ‘disperse’ occupants of Aboriginal camps in the area. |
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1874 | Gilberton, QLD, Henry Finch's Native Police detachment involved in killings of Aboriginal people. | |
1874 | Herbert River, QLD Native Police shoot Trooper Sam. An inquiry or inquest concludes in October 1874 that the Native Police shot Trooper Sam. |
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1874 | Skull Creek, 50 kms south of Barrow Creek, NT | |
1874 | Traveston Station and Cootharaba, QLD Three Aboriginal warriors attack and rob a Chinese worker in the bush, then threaten Mr Campbell of Traveston Station, demanding money and challenging him to a fight. The warriors ‘completely sacked’ Cootharaba hut, later hiding out at Mt Cooroy. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 17) |
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1874 | June | Green Island, off Cairns, QLD |
1874 | Late | Palmer River area, QLD, Aboriginal people kill Straher family. |
1874–75 | Blackfellow’s Creek, far north QLD | |
1875 | Aramac, QLD Native Police Officer John Carroll is implicated in the shooting of Trooper Echo. An inquest or inquiry concludes in October 1875 that the Native Police killed Trooper Echo. Carroll is charged with murder of a trooper and the flogging of an Aboriginal woman but the case is dismissed. He is dismissed in 1876 for the murder of a trooper. |
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1875 | Miriam Vale, QLD, Native Police officer, Alexander Douglas involved in Aboriginal killings. An inquiry or inquest concludes in May 1875 that an Aboriginal person called Comey, was shot by the Native Police under Douglas's command. |
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1875 | Palmer River area, QLD, reprisals against Aboriginal people following Straher deaths | |
1875 | 30 June | Roper Bar, near Roper River, NT, Charles Johnston killed by Aboriginal people. |
1875 | July? | Roper River (Mole Hill to mouth), NT, punitive expeditions after Johnston's murder |
1875 | 7 August | Roper Bar, near Roper River, NT, Abram Daer killed by Aboriginal people. |
c. 1875 | Irpmankara massacre, NT | |
1876 | Banchory Station near Clermont, QLD Native Police officer Frederick Wheeler charged with murder of an Aboriginal man named Jemmy. An inquiry or inquest concludes in January 1876 that the Native Police killed Jemmy. Wheeler charged with the Banchory murder and is dismissed. Despite charges, Wheeler is allowed to remain free. Wheeler disappears. Dies in Java 1882. (Timothy Bottoms, Conspiracy of Silence, pp. 86, 87; Jonathan Richards, Chapter 8 ‘”Many were killed from falling over the cliffs”: The naming of Mount Wheeler, Central Queensland’, in Ian D Clark, Luise Hercus and Laura Kostansk eds, Indigenous and Minority Placenames: Australian and International Perspectives, ANU Press and Aboriginal History Inc., 2014, pp. 147–16.) In 2007 Darumbul people are awarded native title on Mt Wheeler. After Darumbal lobbying, name of Mt Wheeler is changed to Gai'i in 2018. On 21 April 2022 Queensland Government grants Darumbal people freehold title and control over a 13.5-hectare reserve where a massacre of 300 Aboriginal people took place at the foot of Gai'i. |
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1876 | Creen Creek, QLD, Native Police detachments led by Armit and Poingdestre kill Aboriginal people. | |
1876 | Kennedy River, QLD | |
1876 | Yandina, QLD One Aboriginal woman wounded and possibly many others in a ‘dispersal’ of Aboriginal people camped near the Yandina (Maroochie) Hotel. Police were called in to break up an inter-tribal fight that the Low family believed might have escalated into an attack on their homestead. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, p. 28) |
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1876 | March | Mistake Creek, near Clermont, QLD |
c. 1876 | Kangirr Creek, QLD | |
1877 | Corella Downs and vicinity, NT, Aboriginal people killed in punitive expedition after murders of Fred Jeffries and his Aboriginal assistant. | |
1877 | Townsville, QLD, an inquiry or inquest concludes in February 1877 that Constable MacNeill shot an Aboriginal man called Jackey. |
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1877 | Valley of Springs Station near Cox River, NT, Aboriginal people killed after Bird murder. | |
1877 | 2 December | Coast Track (the Savannah Way), near Nicholson River, NT, William Batten murder |
1877 | Aft 2 December | Coast Track, near Nicholson River, NT, punitive expeditions after Batten killing |
c. 1877 | Western QLD, Skull Hole Massacre | |
1878 | Douglas River, north-west of Pine Creek, NT | |
1878 | Coast Track (the Savannah Way), near Limmen Bight River, NT | |
1878 | Near Daly River, NT | |
1878 | Murray Island, QLD | |
1878 | February | Range west of Cairns, QLD |
1878 | February | Tuck-au-noo, far north QLD, Aboriginal people allegedly murder W Bird in retaliation for kidnapping three members of the local tribe. |
1878 | 31 August | Smithfield near Cairns, QLD |
1878 | 13 December | Near Limmen Bight River, NT, murder of William Travers |
1878 | Aft December | Coast Track near Limmen Bight River, NT, Aboriginal people killed in punitive expedition after Travers murder. |
1878 | August | Whitsunday Islands, QLD, Aboriginal attack on the schooner Louisa Maria and her crew. Native Police reprisals led by George Nowlan. |
Late 1878 | Cooktown district, far north QLD | |
1878? | Warroo Station, St George, QLD | |
c. 1878–1879 | Skull Hole (Creek), or Bladensburg Massacre, western Queensland Example of sources: Dr Timothy Bottoms, ‘Skull Hole, Bladensburg Massacre, 1878–79’, ‘The Frontier Series’, Far North Queensland History Series: https://cairnshistory.com.au/content/uploads/2021/07/The-Frontier-Series-Skull-Hole-Bladensburg-1878-9-TFS005.jpg |
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1879 | Cape Bedford, far North QLD | |
1879 | Near Cooktown, QLD, Stanhope O'Connor's Native Police detachment involved in killing Aboriginal people. | |
1879 | Glengyle, QLD | |
1879 | Mossman River, QLD, George Nowlan's Native Police detachment involved in killing Aboriginal people. | |
1879 | Ravine, QLD | |
1879 | Woonomo Billabong, Suleiman Creek, north-west QLD | |
1879 | Selwyn Range, QLD | |
1879 | September | Mulgrave River, near Cairns, QLD |
1879 | Thursday Island, QLD | |
1879 | c. December | Woonamo (Wonomo) Billabong (Waterhole), Suleiman Creek, north-west QLD Kalkadoon men kill four Russian cattlemen led by Bernard Molvo. A reprisal massacre involving the Native Police ensues. For more details see: Dr Timothy Bottoms, ‘Woonamo (Molvo) Killings and subsequent massacre 1879’, ‘The Frontier Series’, Far North Queensland History Series: https://cairnshistory.com.au/content/uploads/2021/07/The-Frontier-Series-Woonamo-Molvo-Killings-and-Massacre-1879-TFS006.jpg |
1880 | Horse (Horso) Creek, Kimberley region, WA The introduction of cattle and other European animals onto Aboriginal Country caused much damage to traditional sites and waterholes, also upsetting the ecological balance. As in other colonies, as Europeans expanded their pastoral and mining interests in Western Australia, traditional food and water resources were disturbed, if not destroyed. In attempts to protect their country, Aboriginal people often had to hunt cattle from their lands, also resorting to killing them for food when traditional game was scarce or disappeared. At Horso (Horse) Creek about 1880 Europeans shoot a group of Gija people for driving off bullocks. To hide the evidence of the murders, the Gija people's bodies are burnt. Later the mother of a boy, who escapes the killings, finds him hiding in the carcass of a bullock. | |
1880 | Lake Cowal, The Bland, central-western NSW, local landholders massacre Aboriginal people. There was just one survivor, a baby, William Joseph Punch (1880–1917). He was rescued, only to give his life in World War I. Read William Punch’s story on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Punch. The Australian War Memorial devotes a page to him: https://www.awm.gov.au/learn/schools/resources/anzac-diversity/aboriginal-anzacs/william-punch. The National Archives of Australia also records aspects of Punch’s life and war service: https://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/person/201425 | |
1880 | Normanton district, QLD An inquiry or inquest concludes in February 1880 that Constable Hedges shot Aboriginal Trooper Brandy. |
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1870s/80s | Mimosa Station, south-west of Temora, NSW, a hired hand shot and killed up to 1,000 Aboriginal people in this area. George Main in his book, Heartland: the regeneration of rural place, UNSW Press, p. 23 mentions Dame Mary Gilmore’s recollection as a child of hearing of a hired hand working on Mimosa Station who had tracked down and shot an Aboriginal man for taking a sheep. Gilmore also claimed that the hired hand had “slaughtered perhaps a thousand clanspeople”. Main’s source was Mary Gilmore’s poem, ‘The hunter of the black’ in The Passionate Heart and Other Poems, Angus & Robertson, 1969 [1948], pp. 66-8. | |
Early 1880s | Clohesy River, near Kuranda, QLD | |
Early 1880s | Moonjaree, QLD | |
1880 | March | Cocanarup, Phillips River, WA For more information: https://theaustralianlegend.wordpress.com/2016/10/03/the-cocanarup-massacre/ |
1880 | 20 May | Coast Track (now called the Savannah Way), Limmen Bight River, NT, murder of John Barry |
c. 1880 | Butchers Creek area, QLD, according to Ngadjonji oral history, fighting erupts between colonists and Aboriginal people after Europeans interfere with Aboriginal women while their men are away from camp. Some colonists are speared, many Aboriginal people shot. More Aboriginal people shot in later incidents. | |
1880s | Near Booroloola, NT | |
1880s | Calvert Hills, NT | |
1880s | Koonchera Point, Birdsville, central-western QLD, Mindiri Massacre | |
1880s | Koonchera Sandhill (Dune), SA | |
1880s | Mt Drysdale, north of Cobar, NSW More information about killings at Mt Drysdale is available on sites such as: Mt Drysdale, New South Wales: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Drysdale,_New_South_Wales Bonzle, Mt Drysdale, New South Wales: http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=302038&d=notes&cmd=sp&c=1&x=145.8678&y=-31.1681&w=40000&mpsec=0 Erskine, J., E. Ohlsen, Brad Steadman, 1997, Mt. Drysdale: A Report on the Aboriginal Cultural Significance, prepared for the Western Zone of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Sydney: Cultural Heritage Services Division. “Special Places for Aboriginal communities–Aboriginal places which tell us stories”, Bush Matters, Summer, 2003, p. 8, https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/howyoucanhelp/BushMatters2Summer2003Pt2.pdf (Story about Aboriginal place declaration of Mt Drysdale under section 84 of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974) Jeremy Beckett, Tamsin Donaldson with Bradley Steadman and Steve Meredith, The Aboriginal World Around Mount Grenfell, 2003, p. 23. (Refers to accounts of killings at Mt Drysdale in 1884 and as late as 1934). Oz-Ark Environmental & Heritage Management, Draft Bourke Shire Aboriginal Heritage Study, January 2019, p. 42 (Refers to anthropologist Jo Erskine’s research with the Ngiyampaa people in the 1990s and to a massacre at Mt Drysdale mentioned in George Main’s book, Gunderbooka: A ’stone country’ story, Resource Policy and Management, Kingston ACT, 2000, pp. 28–29). Heritage NSW, Monday 14 February 2022, “Billagoe (Mount Drysdale) listed on State Heritage Register”: https://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/celebrate/latest-announcements/new-listing-on-shr/ National Indigenous Times, 17 March 2022: “Decades-long campaign sees Billagoe added to NSW heritage list”: https://www.nit.com.au/decades-long-campaign-sees-billagoe-added-to-nsw-heritage-list/ |
|
1880s | Poeppels Corner, east Simpson Desert, QLD, Wardamba Massacre | |
1880s | Red Rock (Blood Rock), NSW (See also 1840s entries for Red Rock above). | |
1880s | Tinnenburra, QLD | |
1880s | Wollogorang (at the Pocket), NT | |
1880s | Wiryirbi, Clifton Hills, SA | |
c. 1880s | McPherson Creek (at Kawurrungkuma), NT | |
c. 1880s | Wearyan River, near Manangoora, NT | |
c. 1880s | Seven Emus Creek, near Manguwarruna, NT | |
c. 1880s | Calvert Downs (at Waningirrinyi Waterhole), NT | |
c. 1880s | Calvert Downs (at Mawurra Cave), NT | |
c. 1880s | Calvert Downs (at Gabugabuna), NT | |
Late 1880s | Near Cairns, QLD | |
1880s–90s | Florida Station, Arnhem Land, NT | |
1880s–90s | Hodgson Downs, NT | |
strong>c. 1880s–1900 | Landers Shoot/Palmwoods, Blackall Ranges?, QLD Possible massacre of Aboriginal people between the 1880s and 1900, referred to as the ‘Dark Legacy’ tale. (Ray Kerkhove, Mapping Frontier War on the Sunshine Coast/Noosa Region, 2020, pp. 28–29) |
|
1880s–c. 1926 | ‘The Killing Times’, Kimberleys, WA The Ruby Plains Massacre that took place during 'The Killing Times' was one example of how pastoralists dealt with Aboriginal resistance to European incursions. To record Aboriginal oral history of such events that most likely were not included in official European archives, Rover Thomas painted a series of 'killing times' paintings. Among this series were paintings of the massacre at Ruby Plains Station where Aboriginal people were shot for killing a bullock and later decapitated. |
|
1881 | Bibhoora near Mareeba, QLD | |
1881 | Lizard Island, north of Cooktown, QLD, Mary Watson and baby disappear from a fishing station after Chinese manservants speared. Aboriginal people blamed for killings. Native Police Inspector Harvey Fitzgerald leads punitive killing raids on the coast north of Cooktown. | |
1881 | Normanton, QLD, Aboriginal people kill sub-inspector Dyas. | |
1881 | Victoria Downs, QLD An inquiry or inquest concludes in January 1881 that Constable Cameron shot an Aboriginal man named Jamie. |
|
1881 | Woolgar, QLD, Native Police officer Henry Kaye killed during an Aboriginal attack. Native Police reprisals follow under command of William Nichols. | |
1881 | 2 June | Rosie Creek, Coast Track (Savannah Way), NT, Patrick McNamara killed by Aborigines. |
1881 | September | Cocanarup, Phillips River, WA |
1882 | Cloncurry, QLD, Frederick Urquhart's Native Police kill Kalkadoon people. | |
1882 | Elsey Station, near Elsey Creek, NT | |
1882 | Elsey Station, NT | |
1882 | Elsey Station, near Strangways River, NT | |
1882 | Jinparrak (Old Wave Hill Station), NT, Aboriginal man shot in the back for trying to take a bucket and some billies. | |
1882 | Leigh Creek, SA | |
1882 | McKinlay Ranges near Cloncurry, QLD, Native Police cadet, Marcus La Poer Beresford, killed in Aboriginal attack. | |
1882 | Ochre Trail on Beltana Station, Leigh Creek, SA | |
strong>1882 | Taroom, QLD, an inquiry or inquest concludes in October 1882 that Constable Wright killed an Aboriginal man named Toby. | |
1882 | Tudu (Warrior) Island, Torres Strait, QLD | |
1882 | 16 June | Elsey Station, NT, Aboriginal people murder Duncan Campbell |
Late 1882 | Margaret River, eastern edge of the Fitzroy Valley, WA | |
1882 | November | Between Granite Creek (later Mareeba) and Cairns, QLD |
c. 1882 | Coast Track (the Savannah Way) at Calvert River, NT | |
1883 | Coast Track (the Savannah Way) at Skeleton Creek, NT, Aboriginal people killed in a punitive expedition after a horse is speared. | |
1883 | Cooloolah, Cloncurry district, QLD, Alfred Smart's Native Police detachment kills Kalkadoon people. | |
1883 | Massacre Hill, NT | |
1883 | 23 July | Russell River near Cairns, QLD |
1883 | 26 August | Near Russell River, north QLD |
1883 | September | Frasers Creek, NT, Aboriginal murder of John Fraser and Aboriginal assistant |
1883/84 | Warluck (Seale Gorge), NT, British pastoralists massacre Gurindji people. | |
1883–1910 | Victoria River Downs, NT, massacres of Aboriginal people | |
1884 | Battle Mountain (Mount Remarkable), near Mt Isa, QLD, Kalkadoon Wars | |
1884 | Burrundie, NT, 200 km south of Darwin, NT, Woolwonga tragedy | |
1884 | East of Angkwerl, NT, Blackfellows Bones Hill Massacre | |
1884 | Grenada, QLD | |
1884 | Irvinebank inland from Cairns, QLD, Nichols's and Garraway's Native Police detachment kill at least six Aboriginal people. Bodies burnt. Inquiries or inquests conclude in August and November 1884 that the Native Police shot Aboriginal people called Spooendyke, Toby, King Billy, Kitty and two unknown Aboriginal females. Nichols and troopers charged with murder; charges fail. Nichols dismissed. |
|
1884 | McKinlay River, NT | |
1884 | Mistake Creek, Isaac region, QLD, Frederick Urquhart's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1884 | Mulgrave River, QLD | |
1884 | Selwyn Range, QLD | |
1884 | Skeleton Creek, NT | |
1884 | Skeleton Creek, QLD | |
1884 | Skull Pocket, QLD | |
1884 | White Hills, QLD | |
1884 | August | Angkwerl (Anna's Reservoir), Aileron Station, NT |
1884 | August | Russell River, near Cairns, QLD |
1884 | Aug–Dec | Mulgrave River, near Cairns, QLD |
1884 | September | Daly River, NT |
1884 | 21 December | Mulgrave River, near Cairns, QLD |
1884(5)? | Blackall, QLD Native Police under the command of Robert Kyle Little (?) shoot an unknown Aboriginal person. Inquiry or inquest concludes this in October 1884. |
|
1884–1888 | Daly River area, NT, 'Coppermine massacre' and other reprisals | |
1885 | Alexandria Station, NT | |
1885 | Alexandria Station (at Peaker Creek), NT | |
1885 | Battle Creek, Victoria River Downs, NT | |
1885 | Blackall, QLD, Robert Little's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1885 | Elsey Station, NT | |
1885 | Elsey Station, near Chambers Creek, NT | |
1885 | McArthur River, near Kilgour Gorge, NT | |
1885 | Norman River, QLD, Lyndon Poingdestre's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1886 | Near Cairns, QLD | |
1886 | Cockatoo Bora, QLD | |
1886 | Dunganminnie Spring, NT | |
1886 | Limmen Bight River Cave, NT | |
1886 | McArthur River, NT | |
1886 | McArthur River station, NT (various locations) | |
1886 | Malakoff Creek, McArthur River Station, NT | |
1886 | Rosewood Station, NT | |
1886 | 28 July | Between Vanderlin Island and McArthur River mouth, NT |
1886 | August | Yulbarra, Vanderlin Island, NT |
1886 | 6 September | Near Cairns, QLD |
1886 | September | Gregory Creek, NT |
1886 | 18 October | Broadmere outstation, NT, Aboriginal people kill Edward Lenehan |
1886 | 17 November | Kimberleys, WA |
c. 1886 | Yulbarra Creek, Vanderlin Island, NT | |
1887 | Amelia Spring, McArthur River station, NT | |
1887 | Corella Downs station, NT | |
1887 | Corella Downs station and surrounding area, NT | |
1887 | Hall’s Creek, WA | |
1887 | Kimberley, Normanton district, QLD, Daniel Lorigan's and Lyndon Poingdestre's Native Police detachments kill Aboriginal people. Inquiries or inquests conclude in October and November 1887 that the Native Police shot three unknown Aboriginal people. | |
1887 | Valley of Springs station, near Cox River, NT | |
1888 | Near Barron River, QLD, Native Police member John de Linden Affleck shoots Trooper Peter dead. | |
1888 | Diamantina River district, south-west QLD | |
1888 | Ingham, QLD, an inquiry or inquest concludes in January 1888 that Constable Cannon shot an Aboriginal man called Tommy. | |
1888 | Kirrima, QLD | |
1888 | Port Douglas, QLD (see also Barron River above) an inquiry or inquest concludes in September 1888 that Native Police member Affleck shot Trooper Peter. |
|
1888 | Queensland, an inquiry or inquest concludes in December 1888 that Ernest Henry T(?) Carr shot an Aboriginal male called Paddy. |
|
1888 | April | Near Calvert River, NT |
1888 | 12 May | McArthur River, NT |
1888 | 31 December | Corella Downs, NT |
1880s | Late | Near Cairns, QLD |
1888–89 | Boar (Boar's) Pocket near Cairns, QLD | |
1889 | Auvergne Station, NT | |
1889 | Coen, QLD | |
1889 | Jampawurru (Red Lily Spring or Mud Creek), NT | |
1889 | Pine Tree Station, QLD | |
1889 | c. January | Brunette Downs Station, NT |
1889 | Lawn Hill, north-western QLD, Alfred Wavell killed while attempting to arrest Aboriginal man, Joe Flick. | |
1889 | Mein, north QLD, Frederick Urquhart's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1889 | Pine Tree Station, QLD | |
1889–90 | Haddon Corner, SA | |
1890 | Speewah, near Kuranda, far north QLD | |
1890 | Coanjula Creek, near Upper Nicholson River, NT | |
1890 | Bef 11 January | Cadalgo Station, near the Transcontinental Railway, 50 kms west of Haddon Corner, SA |
1890 | West Baines River, NT | |
1890s | East Baines River, NT | |
1890s? | Ganjarinjarri, upper Robinson River, NT | |
Mid-1890s | Speewah, near Kuranda, QLD | |
Mid-1890s | Spring Creek Valley between Cairns and Port Douglas, QLD | |
Mid–1890s? | Flaggy Creek, near Kuranda, QLD | |
Mid–1890s? | Mona Mona, near Kuranda, QLD | |
1890 | July | Lower Barron River, QLD? |
1890s? | Ganjarinjarri, upper Robinson River, NT | |
1890–1896 | Western Australia, conflicts between pastoralists and Aboriginal people | |
1890–1920 | Warmun (Turkey Creek) district, WA | |
1880s–c. 1926 | ‘The Killing Times’, Kimberleys, WA The Ruby Plains Massacre that took place during 'The Killing Times' was one example of how pastoralists dealt with Aboriginal resistance to European incursions. To record Aboriginal oral history of such events that most likely were not included in official European archives, Rover Thomas painted a series of 'killing times' paintings. Among this series were paintings of the massacre at Ruby Plains Station where Aboriginal people were shot for killing a bullock and later decapitated. | |
1891 | Adavale, QLD, an inquiry or inquest concludes in November 1891 that Tracker Tommy killed an Aboriginal person called Delta. |
|
1891 | Spring Vale, QLD | |
1891 | 23 February | Tempe Downs Station, Finke River, NT |
1891 | May | near Albury, NSW, Dora Dora murder |
1892 | Auvergne Station, NT | |
1892 | Coolgardie region, WA | |
1892 | Corella Downs (at Corella Creek), NT | |
1892 | Creswell Downs, NT | |
1892 | Cresswell Downs, NT (at Puzzle Creek south), NT | |
1892 | Mapoon, QLD, Native Police shoot Aboriginal people. | |
1892? | Cresswell Downs, NT (at Kiana rockhole), NT | |
1892 | 31 January | Cresswell Downs, NT (at Bowgan Waterhole outstation) |
1892 | August | Myola, near Kuranda, QLD |
1892 | October ff | Willeroo Station, NT |
1893 | September | Rosewood Station, NT |
1894 | Cliffdale Creek, south of Wollogorang, NT | |
1894 | March | Mentana Station, Gulf of Carpentaria, QLD Cumjam arrested for the murder of a 60-year-old worker, Mr Ferguson, on Mentana Station held by Donald McIntyre. (See for example, the Norman Chronicle, The North Queensland Register and the Brisbane Courier between 1894–1895. Whether Cumjam was guilty or not is so far unknown as is the outcome of his arrest. Interestingly, a few months before Ferguson's death, some survivors from the steamship, Kanahooka, that capsized off the Mitchell River, were able their way to Mentana Station through Kokobera country, despite fears that they might meet with ‘hostility of the blacks’. |
1894 | June | Black Gin Creek, NT |
1894 | 7 July | Kalgara (Mount Margaret) district, WA, P. Mack 'tomahawked'. |
1894 | 30 July | Four miles south of Brickey's Soak, Kalgara (Mount Margaret) district, WA, 30 to 40 Aboriginal people, armed with spears and clubs, attack D'Arcy Uhr, Michael Galway and George Alexander at 3.00 pm in the afternoon. A nearby camp of six men assists Uhr's party to save their camp. An Aboriginal man kills one of the intruders on their Country, wounds another. |
1894–1904 | Bradshaw Station, NT | |
1896 | Lakefield, QLD | |
1896 | Ranges, located in the NT, west of Lawn Hill, QLD | |
1896–97 | Cresswell Downs, NT | |
1896-97 | Irringa on Cresswell Creek, NT | |
1896–97 | Minyarrga on Cresswell Creek, NT | |
1896–97 | Radjiji, upper Nicholson River, NT | |
1896–97 | Woodawalla on Cresswell Creek, NT | |
1896 | 17 August | Deebing Creek, QLDStudents at the local Aboriginal mission school and their teacher allegedly shot. |
1897 | Jandamarra, Bonuba leader killed, WA | |
1897 | Proserpine, QLD, an inquiry or inquest concludes in March 1897 that Constable Burke shot Aboriginal man, Charlie Morgan. | |
1897 | January | Jasper Gorge, Victoria River, NT |
1897 | Wollogorang (at Baladuna Waterhole), NT | |
1898 | Smithfield near Cairns, QLD, John Higgins's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1898–1903 | Barron River, Wooroora, and Mt Garnet, QLD, Heenan's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1899 | Wave Hill station, NT | |
Late 1800s | Skull Hole (now in Bladensburg National Park), QLD | |
c. 1900 | Calvert River mouth, NT | |
1900 | 20 July | Breelong, near Gilgandra, NSW, Mawbey and Kerz murders |
1900 | 23 July | Near Ulan, NSW, Alexander McKay murder |
1900 | 24 July | Poggie, near Merriwa, NSW, O'Brien murders |
1900 | 26 July | Near Wollar, NSW, Fitzpatrick murder |
1900 | 31 October | North of Singleton, NSW, Joe Governor shot dead. |
1900s | Emu Lagoon, north QLD | |
1900s | Macumba Station, SA | |
1900s | Mourne (Morn) Pool, near Mildura, VIC | |
1900s | Near Oodnadatta, SA | |
1901 | 14 January | Dubbo Gaol, NSW, Jacky Underwood hanged for his part in Mawbey and Kerz murders. |
1901 | 18 January | Darlingust Gaol, Sydney, NSW, Jimmy Governor hanged for murders in 1900. |
1902 | Ducie River, Cape York Peninsula, QLD, John Hoole's Native Police detachment kills Aboriginal people. | |
1902 | Near Mapoon, Cape York Peninsula, QLD | |
1903 | Hodgson Downs (at Bailey Creek), NT | |
1904 | Flick Yard, QLD | |
1904 | Kirrima, QLD | |
1905 | Victoria River, NT, Bradshaw massacre | |
1905 | Near Wadeye (Port Keats), NT, massacre reprisal | |
c. 1906 | Murbai, QLD | |
1906–07 | Canning Stock Route, WA | |
1910 | March | Victoria River Downs, NT |
1910s | Emu Lagoon, QLD | |
c. 1910/11 | Gaargarn (Gan Gan), inland from Blue Mud Bay, Yolgnu country, Arnhem Land, NT | |
1911–1918 | Bentinck Island, QLD Roma Kelly tells the story of what happened on Bentinck Island in the 1900s to linguist Nicholas Evans in The McKenzie Massacre on Bentinck Island, published in 2015: ‘In 1911 a man named McKenzie obtained a government lease which, according to Queensland law, gave him titlehold over all of Sweers Island and a large portion of Bentinck Island. In the 1980s Roma Kelly told linguist Nicholas Evans about the brutal massacre led by McKenzie in 1918 at Rukuthi, for which he was never punished.’ |
|
Between 1913–1918 | Pewuly (Bow Hills Police Station), NT, massacre of Gurindji people | |
Before 1914 | ‘Blackfellows' Bones’ near Mount Riddock, north of Alice Springs, NT, massacre of Aboriginal people. The incident, that took place before 1914, included the killing of Charles Perkins' mother's close relatives and her escape from the murderers. Source: Charles Perkins's autobiography, A Bastard Like Me, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1975, p. 19 |
|
1915 | Mistake Creek, near Warmun (Turkey Creek), east Kimberley region, WA | |
1915–16 | Elsey Station, NT | |
1916 | Mowla Bluff Station, Geegully Creek, near Derby, Kimberleys, WA | |
1918 | Auvergne Station, NT | |
1918 | Bentinck Island, QLD | |
Bef 1920 | Near Ngima (Neave River Junction), NT | |
1920s | Canning Stock Route, WA | |
1922 | October | Sturt Creek, south-east Kimberleys, WA |
1920s | Texas Downs Station, Kimberleys, WA | |
1921 | Bedford Downs, WA | |
1924 | Bedford Downs massacre, WA | |
c. 1924 | Tartarr (Blackfellows Knob), NT, massacre | |
1926 | 23 May | Nulla Nulla Station boundary, 35 kms west of Wyndham, WA |
1926 | June | Forrest River, east Kimberleys, WA Fourteen people, including two police constables, kill many Aboriginal men, women and children in punitive raids. For more information: Neville Green, The Forrest River Massacres, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1995 |
1928 | On or about 15 February | Wangkatjunka (Christmas Creek pastoral station), 120 kms east of Fitzroy Crossing, WA Wangkatjunka (Christmas Creek) Massacre, WA: Truth (Perth), Western Australia, Sunday 19 January 1930, pp. 1, 9. See also many other reports of this incident on the National Library of Australia's Trove. Station Manager, Albert Smith, denied allegations of his involvement in this killing of Aboriginal people. A jury found him not guilty after only 10 to 15 minutes' deliberation: "Derby News, March 28, Legal", Northern Times (Carnarvon, WA), Thursday 3 April 1930, p. 4 See also Jack Bohemia and William McGregor, "A massacre on Christmas Creek Station", Journal of Australian Studies, Vol. 16, 1992, Issue, 33, pp. 26–40. |
1928 | 7 August? | Coniston Station, NT |
1928 | 14 August–18 October | Coniston Station and vicinity, NT The ‘Coniston Massacre’ was not one incident, but a series of conflicts between colonists and Aboriginal people that took place over a wide area of Central Australia on and around Coniston Station and nearby stations in 1928. Among the known locations of killings that occurred are: Jarrarlyku (Curlew Waterhole), Kunajarrayi (Dingo Waterhole), Tomahawk Waterhole, Janangpa (Boomerang Waterhole), Warlawurrukurlangu, Warranyirrtipa, Patilirri (Tipinba), Kurlurlu, Circle Well, Thimplengkwe (Baxter's Well), Yungarnti, Warlukurlangu, Liirlpari (Whitestone), Kakutu (Cockatoo Creek), Ngarningiri, Yurrkuru (Brooks Soak), Mawu, and west of Yuendemu. (Individual entries where dates are known appear below). In his autobiography, A Bastard Like Me>, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1975, pp. 19–20, Charles Perkins mentions the incident at Brooks Soak (Yurrkuru), about 370 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs. |
1928 | 22 August | Kakutu (Cockatoo Creek), north-east of Yuendemu, NT |
1928 | 23–30 August | West of Yuendemu, NT |
1928 | 27 August | Janangpa (Boomerang Waterhole), Yarlalinji (Lander River), Broadmeadows Station, west of Barrow Creek, NT |
1928 | 16 September | Napperby Station, NT |
1928 | 24 September | Tomahawk Waterhole, Lander River; Dingo Hole, Hanson River, Broadmeadows Station, NT |
1928 | 25 September | Circle Well, north-east of Tomahawk Waterhole, NT |
1928 | 26 Sept ff | Tipinpa (Patirrlirr Creek), 24 kms west of Broadmeadows Station, NT |
1928 | Cockatoo Spring, NT | |
1928 | Dingo Hole, Hanson River, NT | |
1928 | Hanson River, NT | |
1928 | Six Mile Soak, NT | |
1928 | Wajinpulungk, NT | |
1929 | November | Vicinity of Herbert Station, near Camooweal, QLD |
1931 | July | Near Wadeye (Port Keats), NT |
1932 | September | Caledon Bay, Arnhem Land, NT |
1933 | June | Woodah Island, NT |
1933 | November | Blue Mud Bay area, NT |
1934 | Tieyon (Tyonne) Station, SA | |
1934 | Darwin, NT, Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda possibly murdered after release from gaol. | |
1934? | Mt Drysdale (Billagoe), north of Cobar, NSW (See 1880s entry for Mt Drysdale (Billagoe) above). |
|
1937 | 7 April | McArthur River Gorge, NT |
1937 | 19 May | Anningie Station, 50 kms north of Ti-Tree, NT |
1940 | August | Darwin Hospital, NT, Nemarluk dies |
1940 | c. 14 December | Mount Cavenagh Station, south of Kulgera, NT |
1941 | January | Mount Cavenagh Station, south of Kulgera, NT, Lullilicki killed by station overseer, Herbert Kitto. |
1981 | March | Alice Springs, NT Historian Dr Robyn Smyth from the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, during her research for the university's frontier massacres map project in 2022, found an unsolved crime–an attempt at a mass poisoning. Two Aboriginal people, a man and a woman, died and 14 others were admitted to hospital in Alice Springs after unwittingly sharing a poisoned bottle of sherry left deliberately in the grounds of the John Flynn memorial church. |
Dates Unknown | ||
1790s/1800s? | Gadigal/Hunter River nations site, Randwick, Sydney, NSW: possible resistance site | |
Allandale, north QLD | ||
Baryula (on Chastletown Station), south-western QLD | ||
Badtjala Country, QLD The story of this massacre is represented by Fiona Foley in her installation, Annihilation of the Blacks, 1986, National Gallery of Australia: More information at: https://www.artmuseum.qut.edu.au/audio-pages/the-annihilation-of-the-blacks |
||
Bauhinia Downs, NT | ||
Blakney Creek, NSW, rises west by south of Dalton, flows north-east to Lachlan River. Aboriginal oral history of a massacre on this creek. | ||
Blencoe Falls, north QLD | ||
Blunder Creek, north QLD | ||
Bone's Knob, north QLD | ||
Bulloo Downs, south-west QLD | ||
Cattle Creek, north-west QLD | ||
Chastletown Station, south-west QLD | ||
Cheviot Range, central QLD | ||
Cooningheera Waterhole, NT | ||
Cuppa Waterhole, NT | ||
Currawillinghi, south central QLD | ||
Dangeri Waterhole, NT | ||
Donor's Hill Cave Massacre, NT | ||
Evelyn Massacre, north QLD | ||
Flaggy Creek, north QLD | ||
Gilpeppee, western QLD | ||
Granada, NT | ||
Gray Rock, north QLD | ||
Hodgson Downs (at Angus Spring), NT | ||
Hodgson Downs (at Buffalo Hole), NT | ||
Hodgson Downs (at Indi Indi Spring), NT | ||
Hodgson Downs (at Mason Gorge), NT | ||
Hodgson Downs (at Sandy Lagoon), NT | ||
Horse Springs, NT (Gurinji Country)* | ||
Isis Downs, north QLD | ||
Janpa, NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Jirin, north QLD | ||
Jikirrijja (Campbell Springs), NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Jurlakkala (Nero Yard), NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Jutamiliny (Swan Yard), NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Kalidawarra Waterhole, NT | ||
Kiacatoo Station, central-western NSW, the Kiacatoo massacre is immortalised in Kevin Gilbert's poem “Kiacatoo”, published in Inside Black Australia: An Anthology of Aboriginal Poetry, Penguin Books, 1988, pp. 189–90 | ||
Kulpie Waterhole, western QLD | ||
Kumanturru (Coomanderoo), NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Kurturtu, NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Lake Cowal, The Bland, central-western NSW. More than one massacre took place near Lake Cowal. Apart from the one that occurred in 1880, dates of the others are unknown. | ||
Longton, north QLD | ||
Malapa (Old Limbunya Homestead), NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Massacre Inlet, Gulf Country, NT | ||
Massacre Waterfall, Gulf Country, NT | ||
Monkira, NT | ||
Morney Plains, western QLD | ||
Mt Farquharson, north QLD | ||
Ngangi, NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Ngurriya (Midnight), NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Nocaboorara, south-west QLD | ||
Pandie Pandie, SA, south of the NT border | ||
Piyirriri (Farquharson Gap), NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Red Bend, near Forbes, NSW | ||
Rifle Creek, north QLD | ||
Seale Yard, NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Skull Lagoon, north QLD | ||
Spring Creek, Mowbray Valley, north QLD | ||
Springfield, central QLD | ||
Springfield, north QLD | ||
Spring Hill Station, near Wedderburn, VIC | ||
Tanbar, south-west QLD | ||
The Dip, north QLD | ||
Thunderpurty Waterhole, NT | ||
Tinderrys, Southern Tablelands, NSW | ||
Vine Creek, north QLD | ||
Wambiana, north QLD | ||
Waniyi (near Number 2 Bore), NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Wattamondara, near Koorawatha, NSW, Aboriginal people killed then thrown down a well, according to oral history. | ||
Wirrilu (Blackfella Creek), NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Wulupu (Hooker Creek), NT (Gurindji Country)* | ||
Yurruj (Burtawurta), NT (Gurindji Country)* |
Compiled by Jane Morrison 2012–2023, Updated 5 October, 6, 7, 8 November 2022, 31 May 2023, 11 July 2023, 1, 5, 6 February 2024.