Site NameKilcoy Station
Aboriginal Place Name
Language GroupGiggarbarah, Woongunbarah and other groups in transit
Present State/TerritoryQLD
Colony/State/Territory at the timeNSW
Police DistrictBrisbane
Latitude-26.884
Longitude152.584
Date1 Feb 1842
Attack TimeDay
VictimsAboriginal People
Victim DescriptionsAboriginal
Victims Killed60
Victims Killed Notes
AttackersColonists
Attacker DescriptionsShepherd(s)
Attackers Killed0
Attackers Killed NotesKilled: M F; Wounded: M F
TransportFoot
MotiveOpportunity
Weapons UsedPoison
NarrativeOn 1 Febuary 1842, flour laced with strychnine was given to a large group of Aboriginal people at Kilcoy station by two shepherds, resulting in the deaths of at least sixty of them. The shepherds were employed by Evan MacKenzie, lessee of Kilcoy station (SMH, December 5, 1842, p 2). According to Lauer, two escaped convicts, Bracewell and Davis, who had been living with Aboriginal people before being captured, reported that about 14 or 15 tribes had met at Booroon in the 'Great Bunya Scrub' to discuss a response to the poisoning and had formed a council of war resolving on vengeance. (Lauer, 1977, p 47)
SourcesLang, 1847, p 279; Qld Parlt Legislative Assembly, 1861(a), p 19 - Select Ctee in to the Native Police; Queenslander, May 21, 1892, p 987, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19824074; SMH, December 5, 1842 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12426931, Lauer, 1977 https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:1dac35b (Sources PDF)
Corroboration Rating***