| Site Name | The Granites |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Warlpiri |
| Present State/Territory | NT |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | NT |
| Police District | Timber Creek |
| Latitude | -20.599 |
| Longitude | 130.416 |
| Date | Between 1 Apr 1912 and 30 Apr 1912 |
| Attack Time | |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Victims Killed | 6 |
| Victims Killed Notes | |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Police |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Opportunity |
| Weapons Used | Firearm(s) |
| Narrative | Alice Springs historian Dick Kimber wrote:
'Major Jangala told the following account, which can be dated to 1911-1912. Major learnt it from his father.
'A Mounted Policeman with two Native Constables travelled from the Overland Telegraph Line out into Warlpiri country. He arrested six men near the Granites, and commenced the journey back to the Telegraph Line. One Warlpiri man, who had been resting in the shade about 50 to100 metres away when the arrests were made, had crawled and then run away while the arrests were being made, but when sure of his safety then returned and followed the patrol. 'He was able to obtain water and camp a short distance off the line of march because he knew the rockholes and soakages of the country. Very occasionally he "finger-talked" to the prisoners, suggesting possibilities of escape, but had to be extremely careful, and normally stayed out of sight except at sundown and sunrise. 'Each night the prisoners were chained to trees with neck-chains, one to a tree so that they could not readily contrive an escape. After a few days the policeman made a decision. He was friendly in manner as he gave each man along an almost straight line of trees some breakfast and a drink of water, and Major envisaged him saying to each prisoner, "Sorry old man". When they had finished their meal and drink, he and the Native Constables stood off at a short distance and shot them all. They took the chains off, left the men who were shot for the wedge-tailed eagles, falcons, crows and dingoes, and rode back towards the Overland Telegraph Line. 'The man who had been following the group fled, and became the teller of the story. … I have no reason whatsoever to doubt Major Jangala's story. I knew him for years, travelled his country with him, and he was a man of strong character and integrity. I therefore do believe that an unknown policeman, not wishing to go through the trouble of long travel with Warlpiri prisoners and a court case, committed murder in the name of rough frontier justice well south-east of The Granites in about 1912' (Alice Springs News, 8 Oct 2003). This could have been a response to a story that appeared in the NT Times and Gazette on 25 November 1910 (p 2): 'OUTRAGE BY NATIVES. A brief telegram was received in Darwin on Thursday morning from Hall's Creek, W.A., stating that a prospector named John Stewart was killed by natives at Granite Hill, 60 miles south east of Tanami, on the morning of 3rd inst., his head being battered to a pulp with a tomahawk. Stewart went to water horses at a soak three quarters of a mile from camp. He was armed with a Winchester rifle and revolver, fully loaded, which the blacks have taken and made off in a westerly direction. The police are endeavoring to make arrests. Stewart is supposed to have a brother and sister living at Spring Hill, Carag Carag, Victoria' (NTTG, 25 Nov 1910, p 2). |
| Sources | Kimber, R 'Centre's rough frontier justice' in Alice Springs News, 8 October 2003, np: https://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/1036.html Northern Territory Times and Gazette 'Outrage by Natives', 25 November 1910, p 2: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3266329/829844 (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | * |
Colonial Frontier Massacres
in Australia, 1788-1930
