Site NameMitchell River, Far North Queensland
This massacre is part of a group of massacres
Aboriginal Place Name
Language GroupKunjen / Kokomini
Present State/TerritoryQLD
Colony/State/Territory at the timeQLD
Police DistrictSomerset
Latitude-15.757
Longitude142.199
Date18 Dec 1864
Attack TimeDay
VictimsAboriginal People
Victim DescriptionsAboriginal
Victims Killed30
Victims Killed Notesmen
AttackersColonists
Attacker DescriptionsExplorer(s), Stockmen/Drover(s)
Attackers Killed0
Attackers Killed Notes
TransportHorse
MotiveOpportunity
Weapons UsedCarbine(s)
NarrativeIn 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).
SourcesByerley, FJ 1867, Gutenberg online, np. https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/e00026.html (Sources PDF)
Corroboration Rating*