Coniston massacre
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The Coniston massacre was the last known massacre of Indigenous Australians, people of the families from the Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye groups were killed. The massacre occurred in revenge for the death of dingo hunter, Frederick Brooks, killed by Aborigines in August 1928 at a place now known as Yukurru, (also Brooks Soak).
Official records at the time stated that thirty-one people were killed. A member of the punitive party for the first few days and the then owner of Coniston station (Mr Randall Stafford) estimated that at least twice that number were killed. Some historians estimate that at least sixty Aboriginal men, women and children were killed; others estimate as many as 110 were killed. [citation needed]
A police constable from Barrow Creek and WW1 veteran (serving at Gallipoli and on the Western Front with the 4th Australian Light Horse), William George Murray, led a series of punitive raids against Aboriginal camps right across Central Australia over several weeks. A later board of inquiry exonerated Constable Murray, his trackers and the pastoralists and itinerant workers that accompanied him and laid the blame for the violence squarely on Aboriginal people and missionaries.
Member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, John Ah Kit in an adjournment debate on 9 October 2003 stated:
- It must be remembered that the late 1920s was a time of major drought and therefore, in the context of what was still very much the frontier of black/white relations in Australia, the conflict over resources was intense. It was a conflict between the land and its people; and the cattle, and those who had brought with them the guns and diseases that followed. What is often misunderstood is that the Coniston Massacre was no single event, but a series of punitive raids that occurred over a number of weeks as police parties killed indiscriminately. Even Keith Windschuttle, one of the great deniers of frontier violence, acknowledges the savagery and disproportionate nature of the Coniston reprisals. Even he, albeit based only on the unsubstantiated writings of a journalist, agrees that many more died than the official record will admit.[citation needed]
The seventy-fifth anniversary of the massacre was commemorated on 24 September 2003 near Yuendumu organised by the Central Land Council.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Coniston massacre remembered 75 years on ABC Radio National: The World Today - Wednesday, 24 September , 2003
- Mr John Ah Kit, Member for Arnhem: Adjournment debate 9 October 2003 NT Legislative Assembly - Parliamentary Record No: 15
- Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission 'Bringing Them Home' website - 1928
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation Frontier Education history website
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