| Site Name | Roper Bar |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | Jowar |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Yanyuwa |
| Present State/Territory | NT |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | SA |
| Police District | Elsey Creek Overland Telegraph Depot |
| Latitude | -14.731 |
| Longitude | 134.432 |
| Date | Between 24 Jul 1872 and 25 Jul 1872 |
| Attack Time | Morning |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | |
| Victims Killed | 6 |
| Victims Killed Notes | |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Opportunity |
| Weapons Used | Firearm(s) |
| Narrative | As Roberts (2005, p 25) described the event: 'Walker's party [Joe Walker aka Joe Pettit, Tommy McBride and Billy Banks] travelled a good distance the next day, probably into the country of another tribe, and had no trouble. As the men were having breakfast the following morning at first light, they noticed about fifty Aboriginals in the distance jogging along in their horse tracks. Without waiting to see if they were friendly, Walker said he would "give them a lesson". Jumping on a one-eyed horse he kept saddled near the camp, he galloped straight at the leaders. Only one spear was thrown before they all turned and ran. Joe followed and galloped on to them one at a time, the blind side of his horse on the nig, and he emptied his revolvers on them and then turned back…Joe said "I don't think they will trouble us any more". They didn't and the party saw no more Aboriginals until it reached the Roper River'. This was corroborated by Merlan (1978, p 78): 'Commenting on a later incident in which he and a companion shot some Aborigines farther east towards the Roper Bar Ashwin added: "This was the same tribe which stuck Packard up and other parties since at the same camping place. They attacked Joe Pettit, W Banks and Tommy McBride at the camping place and waterhole. Joe Walker was one of the party...and gave them a lesson. He rode a one-eyed horse and galloped at them and then after them revolver in hand. Tommy McBride told me all about that trip over from Cloncurry in 1872"' (Ashwin cited in Merlan 1978, p 78). |
| Sources | Roberts 2005; Merlan 1978; Ashwin, A.C. Recollections of Ralph Millner's expedition from Kopperamana to the Northern Territory with sheep and horses in 1870-1 (Compiled 1927), South Australian Archives, Adelaide. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | *** |
