| Narrative | Coomanderoo station was taken up by Jack Frayne and Matt Wilson in September 1903. Lewis (2021, p 155) wrote: "Old Jimmy Manngayari told me of a massacre close to the homestead: 'Yeah, they bin shoot 'im, oh, big mob! They bin shoot 'im there. Right on the river. They [Aborigines] bin just have a camp, you know, 'longa, 'longside a water. Well, kadia [whiteman] was come and kill 'im first thing in the morning now. Shoot 'im. That all about, they [Aborigines] bin kill 'im ngarin, kill 'im bullock - milker got a bell. They bin kill 'im ... and they bin eat 'im. Alright – that kadia bin quieten 'im down, quieten 'im, and feed 'im up [made friends with the Aborigines]. Now after that kadia bin turn in, muster 'im [Aborigines] all about, and put 'im all in a heap – now he bin start shootin' the lot. Shoot the lot – no one bin get out. That's where the kadia bin do, early days'." Charola and Meakins (2016, pp 70-71) also wrote of this massacre, noting that Jack Frayne is implicated in the early massacres on what is now Limbunya Station: "In 1903, Frayne and Mat Wilson obtained a Pastoral Permit for the area between Stirling Creek, the West Baines and Humbert River. Frayne built a small homestead at Kunja Rockhole (Kanyjalurr) on the banks of Kunja Creek within the boundaries of Limbunya. He called the station Kunja Station. In 1920 he moved the homestead to Kumanturru (Coomonderoo Spring) which is on the edge of Pumuntu, a sandstone area now in Kildurk Station. Manngayarri people reported to Darrell Lewis that a large massacre of Malngin people occurred there. Malngin people had sought refuge at Pumuntu because they had killed a milking cow at Kumanturru near the old homestead and had cooked it downstream." |
