| Site Name | Gordon Creek |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Ngarinyman, Karrangpurru, Nungali, Malngin, Wardaman, Ngaliwurru, Bilinara |
| Present State/Territory | NT |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | SA |
| Police District | Gordon Creek |
| Latitude | -16.565 |
| Longitude | 131.006 |
| Date | Between 1 Aug 1894 and 2 Aug 1894 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Victims Killed | 6 |
| Victims Killed Notes | |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Mounted Police |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Firearm(s) |
| Narrative | Mounted Constable William Willshire, who was notorious for killing Aboriginal people, wrote the following account alluding to the massacre of a group of people and the capture of young women (1896, p 47), 'A civilised blackboy belonging to a Justice of the Peace in the Lower Victoria district was murdered by the wild natives of the Gregory River. I started out from Gordon Creek with the native police to arrest the offenders if possible. On arriving in the locality the first thing we observed was a beautiful savage maiden, who in her startled movements was a graceful as a stag. She ran screaming through the gnarled overhanging branches to escape capture and warn the male portion of our advent. But let me inform my readers that this untutored beauty was too late. The black trackers were on the spot before she could give warning by her screams. She had only seen me in the first place; the auxiliaries were in ambush, and closer to her than I was. When all was over my boys brought her and some others to our camp.' |
| Sources | Willshire, Land of the Dawning, 1896, p 47. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | ** |
