| Narrative | Argyle Station stockman, sly grog dealer and seller of Aboriginal women Richard (Rudolph) Augustus Pilchowski was fatally speared as he camped alone at Eight Mile Creek near Cockatoo Spring [this was possibly Woorrilbel or Cockatoo Lagoon now located in the Keep River National Park] on the NT-WA border in June or July 1913 (Lewis, 2021, pp 5-6). A punitive reprisal expedition was mounted, stockman JRB Love noting that "There are now enough men out to catch half the blacks in the Territory, but they have let the blacks get a fortnight's start, which does not look very smart police work" (Lewis, 2021, p 7). The police party, comprised of Constable McKillian, Constable Carr, Special Constables M Prior, N Durack and A Martin as well as a Mr McDonough, went "east of the Keep River". Constable McKillian's official report, dated July 1913, is silent on the matter of Aborigines killed (Lewis, 2021, pp 7-9). However, "Durack did not find any official records to indicate that any Aborigines were shot by the police party, but she cites a letter written by a local stockman, Roy Phillips, who suggests that this was the case: 'You will be glad to hear that Philchowski [sic] was amply avenged, though I would not say anything about it if I were you.' (Durack, 1983; 290)" (Lewis, 2021, p 9).
An Aboriginal man, Jellibine, was found guilty and sentenced to death for Pilchowski's murder (Northern Times, 27 December 1913, p 3). |
