| Site Name | Mirki Massacre |
| Aboriginal Place Name | |
| Language Group | Yolgnu |
| Colony | SA |
| Present State/Territory | NT |
| Police District | |
| Coordinates (imprecise to approx. 250m) | -12.104,134.911,0 |
| Date | Between 1 Jan 1889 and 31 Dec 1896 |
| Attack Time | Night attack, surviving children murdered the following day. |
| Aboriginal People Killed | 100 |
| Aboriginal People Killed Notes | Possibly hundreds, certainly dozens of Aboriginal people from a camp named Mirki. |
| Non-Aboriginal People Killed | 0 |
| Non-Aboriginal People Killed Notes | |
| Attacker Category | Colonists |
| Attacker Details | |
| Motive | Reprisal for cattle killing carried out by Aboriginal people from Mirki. |
| Type Of Motive | Reprisal for cattle killing |
| Weapons Used | Firearms |
| Notes | |
| Narrative | Aboriginal people from a camp at Mirki were killing cattle on Florida Station, near Milingimbi. After confessing to cattle killing, an Aboriginal person was murdered. In a surprise night attack, the adults at the camp were murdered and the surviving children were murdered the following day.
The Aboriginal people at the camp hid in trees at the night and the ?Balanda? shot up at them - ?And they all just went falling down onto the ground. Every one of them, just lying there, and not only a few, lots of them.?
|
| Sources | Read and Read 1991: 19-24; Gaunt 1934: (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | * |
