Site NameMurdering Island, Narrandera
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name
Language Group, Nation or PeopleWiradjuri
Present State/TerritoryNSW
Colony/State/Territory at the timeNSW
Police DistrictGoulburn
Latitude-34.788
Longitude146.614
DateBetween 1 Jan 1854 and 31 Dec 1854
Attack TimeDay
VictimsAboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
Victim DescriptionsAboriginal
Victims Killed70
Victims Killed Notes
AttackersColonists
Attacker DescriptionsSettler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
Attackers Killed0
Attackers Killed Notes
TransportHorse
MotiveReprisal
Weapons UsedMusket(s)
NarrativeAccording to an article in the Labor Daily, 1 Jan 1926, p 8, the death of Mr Jeremiah Rodgers was noted. 'He was one of the first residents in this [Narrandera] district, having been brought here with his brother Henry, 73 years ago [1853]. His father took charge of Brewarrina Station, and he managed the holding for 26 years... The pastoralists at that time experienced trouble from the blacks, who used to spear the cattle. So troublesome were they that the whites determined to deal with them in a summary manner. The whites drove the natives on to an island below Buckingbong and wrought such havoc in their ranks that the Island is even now known as "Murdering Island"' (Labor Daily, 1 Jan 1926, p 8).
The name 'Murdering Island' was mentioned in 1873 (Wagga Wagga Express and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser, 5 November 1873, p 2). An article in 1895 gave the following account of how the place got its name: 'From the top of the hill also can be faintly discerned, what is described in Boldrewood's novel as the "Murdering Lake," but which is known as the Murdering Island, on which were massacred some thirty-five years ago about 300 blacks. There are said to be two sides to the story. Some say that the only crime the blacks had been guilty of was that of stealing cattle. But certain it is that neither gins nor picanninies were spared. All were murdered on this island, and their bones, I am told, were lying bleaching there for years till a flood washed them away. It is said that an old blackfellow, named Mungo, escaped by diving under the water. I went a long way to have an interview with this old warrior, and found him partly drunk; but when I told him what I required his black eyes flashed beneath his white shaggy eyebrows as he grunted out the ghastly details, which, however, were of so spasmodic a nature that I could not glean much from his ravings. "Yes," he said, "white fellow kill blackfellow, gin, picaninny. What you do white fellow kill another white fellow? — you put him in gaol — white fellow kill black fellow, no matter — black fellow no account"' (Freeman's Journal, 5 January 1895, p 17).
In 1935 the Daily Advertiser reported, 'Another old Narandera identity, Mungo, was fond of describing his escape from death at the time of the massacre of the "Murdering Island," when the settlers rounded up a great number on this little mud island in mid stream, and from either bank shot them down till very few escaped. One of these latter was Mungo, then a boy. He escaped by securing a long hollow reed and holding it in his mouth to breathe through when he dropped under water, as was frequently done by the blacks in catching wild ducks. He lay below the surface for hours till all the firing was over, and must have had a terrible experience. Mungo, in describing his escape from all the bullets that flew about, used to touch various parts of his head and body, saying: "Yes, t'choota me here, t'choota me there, t'choota me every plurry where, and by cri' never touch me"' (Daily Advertiser, 27 May 1935, p3).
SourcesLabor Daily, January 1, 1926, p 8 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/239865993; Wagga Wagga Express and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser, 5 November 1873, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145058073; Freeman's Journal, 5 January 1895, p 17 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article111108623; Daily Advertiser, 27 May 1935, p3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/144557491 (Sources PDF)
Corroboration Rating*