| Site Name | Mitchell River, Far North Queensland This massacre is part of a group of massacres |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Kunjen / Kokomini |
| Present State/Territory | QLD |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | QLD |
| Police District | Somerset |
| Latitude | -15.757 |
| Longitude | 142.199 |
| Date | 18 Dec 1864 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Victims Killed | 30 |
| Victims Killed Notes | men |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Explorer(s), Stockmen/Drover(s) |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Opportunity |
| Weapons Used | Carbine(s) |
| Narrative | In December 1864, the brothers Frank and Alexander Jardine were leading a droving expedition from Rockhampton to Somerset at the tip of Cape York where their father was the magistrate for the entire region. On 18 December 1864, two days after a massacre to the south, they reached the Mitchell River and set up camp. According to the Jardines, they were immediately attacked by 70 or 80 Aboriginal warriors. '[T]heir [spears] now coming much too close to be pleasant (for some of them were thrown a hundred yards) the three [horsemen] turned suddenly on their pursuers, and galloping up to them, poured in a volley, the report of which brought down their companions from the camp, when the skirmish became general. The natives at first stood up courageously, but either by accident or through fear, despair or stupidity, they got huddled in a heap, in, and at the margin of the water, when ten carbines poured volley after volley into them from all directions, killing and wounding with every shot with very little return, nearly all their spears having been expended in the pursuit of the horsemen. About thirty being killed,the leader thought it prudent to hold his hand, and let the rest escape. Many more must have been wounded and probably drowned, for 59 rounds were counted as discharged' (Byerley 1867, np). |
| Sources | Byerley, FJ 1867, Gutenberg online, np. https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/e00026.html (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | * |
Colonial Frontier Massacres
in Australia, 1788-1930
