Site NameBranch Creek, Wollogorang Station
Aboriginal Place NameUnclear
Language GroupGarrawa
Present State/TerritoryNT
Colony/State/Territory at the timeSA
Police DistrictBorroloola
Latitude-17.227
Longitude137.983
DateBetween 15 Jul 1886 and 17 Jul 1886
Attack TimeDay
VictimsAboriginal People
Victim Descriptions
Victims Killed15
Victims Killed NotesGarrawa men, women and children
AttackersColonists
Attacker DescriptionsPastoralist(s)
Attackers Killed0
Attackers Killed Notes
TransportHorse
MotiveReprisal
Weapons UsedFirearm(s)
NarrativeRoberts (2005, p 201) wrote: "Lawrence Wells, a member of the border survey party, called at Westmoreland station in August 1886 where he learned of a massacre on Wollogorang [Station]. At a place called The Pocket, on Branch Creek, he was told that 'many natives had been shot by the whites for cattle-spearing - the gins and picaninnies sometimes sharing the same fate'. Among the station managers and stockmen in this border country, Wells observed, were 'rough, hard cases, quite capable of retaliating and taking the law into their own hands' for the spearing of cattle."
SourcesRoberts, 2005, p 201. (Sources PDF)
Corroboration Rating*