Site Name | Bradshaw Station (2) This massacre is part of a group of massacres |
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
Language Group, Nation or People | Ngarinman, Bilinara |
Present State/Territory | NT |
Colony/State/Territory at the time | SA |
Police District | Gordon Creek/Timber Creek |
Latitude | -15.349 |
Longitude | 130.284 |
Date | Between 1 Jan 1896 and 31 Dec 1896 |
Attack Time | |
Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
Victims Killed | 30 |
Victims Killed Notes | Likely to have been many more. |
Attackers | Colonists |
Attacker Descriptions | Pastoralist(s) |
Attackers Killed | 0 |
Attackers Killed Notes | 0 |
Transport | Horse |
Motive | Reprisal |
Weapons Used | Firearm(s) |
Narrative | Lewis (2004, p 206) puts the date at between 1894 and 1898: 'Just as had happened on other stations in the region, conflict with Aborigines quickly became a dominant aspect of life on Bradshaw. Not long after the sheep arrived the Aborigines began to spear them, and consequently the Bradshaw stockmen fired on Aborigines whenever they saw them. After one instance of sheep spearing, a number of Aborigines are said to have been shot dead and their bodies burned by John McPhee and Hugh Young'. The Northern Territory Times and Gazette (18 Sept 1896, p 2) records Jock McPhee as taking up Willeroo Station in1896. Lewis wrote (2021, p 56) that 'In at least one instance Aborigines who had killed sheep were tracked down and shot by Bradshaw stockmen'. |
Sources | Lewis, 2004, p 206; NTTG September 18, 1896, p 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3332803; Lewis, 2021, p 56. (Sources PDF) |
Corroboration Rating | ** |