| Site Name | Bathurst Plains |
| Aboriginal Place Name | |
| Language Group | Wiradjuri |
| Colony | NSW |
| Present State/Territory | NSW |
| Police District | Bathurst |
| Latitude | -33.543 |
| Longitude | 149.588 |
| Date | 31 May 1824 |
| Attack Time | dawn |
| Victims | Aboriginal People |
| Victims Killed | 6 |
| Victims Killed Notes | Killed: M at least 6, F; Probable: M F; Possible: M F; Wounded: M F |
| Attackers | Colonisers: Stockman/Drover |
| Attackers Killed | 1 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | Killed: M F; Wounded: M F |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | muskets, blades, swords |
| Narrative | ‘After Wiradjuri speared a stockman, five of the victim’s workmates, John Johnston, William Clark, John Nicholson, Henry Castle and John Crear, asked their overseer, William Lane for weapons and horses. They rode out armed with four muskets and a sword, but returned that evening claiming they had not seen any Aborigines. The discovery two weeks later of three bodies led to the men’s admission that they had killed them in a skirmish with thirty spear-wielding warriors. The five men were charged with manslaughter and found not guilty, though Saxe Bannister, the NSW attorney-general, wondered why, if they had truly fought a group of men, the bodies found were of three women.’ (Connor: 2002:57-58) |
| Sources | Cox et.al to Brisbane, June 3, 1824, NLA mfm N 257 Reel 6065: SRNSW CSO 4/1779; William Lawson Junior to Nelson Lawson, June 14, 1824, Lawson, Old Ironbark: 37; Connor 2002: 57-60; SG 29 July, 1824 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2183077. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | *** |
