| Site Name | Willeroo (1) This massacre is part of a group of massacres |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Bulinara / Wardaman / Karrangpurru |
| Present State/Territory | NT |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | SA |
| Police District | Gordon Creek |
| Latitude | -15.463 |
| Longitude | 131.587 |
| Date | 20 Oct 1892 |
| Attack Time | Evening |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Victims Killed | 30 |
| Victims Killed Notes | Those killed had looted Willeroo Station and were assumed to be responsible for Syd Scott's murder. |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Stockmen/Drover(s) |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Firearm(s) |
| Narrative | Following the killing of GS Scott, manager of Willeroo station in October 1892, two posses were formed to avenge his death (see also Willeroo #2). The first was led by station owner Lindsay Crawford who rode to Willleroo Station and when he realised that Aboriginal people had taken guns and ammunition from the store he and the party, 'charged' the Aboriginal camp and retrieved some of the weapons. However he gave no indication of the number of Aboriginal people killed. Lewis (2004, pp 243-244) noted: 'A decade later Hely Hutchinson, who passed through Willeroo with drover Rose on his epic trek with cattle from Lissadell Station in 1905, and who met many of the early residents, wrote that [Lindsay] Crawford had "found the myalls gloriously drunk and capering about the house like a mob of black devils". Crawford then avenged Scott's death, in a terrible manner, and the "gruelling" he gave the myalls on that occasion is still spoken of by the niggers in those parts as the Israelites of old told to their children the horror of the wrath of the Lord, when he sent plague, pestilence and famine into their lands as a correction for their misdeeds... He and his half-caste dealt out white man's justice with their Winchesters, and when the police arrived from Pine Creek, a couple of days later, they found plenty of employment burying the sons of darkness".' The police were Troopers Dooley and Freeman. A John Giles reported to the Northern Territory Times and Gazette(November 11, 1892, p 3) that "There were no niggers visible when Mr. Crawford arrived on the Tuesday morning, but that evening he accidentally discovered there were from thirty to forty camped in the horse paddock, about half a mile from the station. Mr. Crawford and his party [which was not named, but which included Messrs GS Scott, brother of the murdered man, and Sayle, Frayne, Clarke and Diamond] charged their camp and found Mr. WS Scott's saddle and bridle and some other things". It is not stated how many Aboriginal people were killed. |
| Sources | Lewis, 2004, pp 243-244; NTTG October 21, 1892, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3322638; November 4, 1892 p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3322752; November 11, 1892 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3322818 ; Willshire, 1895, p 8; Morrison, https://www.australianfrontierconflicts.com.au (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | *** |
Colonial Frontier Massacres
in Australia, 1788-1930
