| Site Name | Upper Macleay River |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Dhanggati |
| Present State/Territory | NSW |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | NSW |
| Police District | Port Macquarie |
| Latitude | -30.844 |
| Longitude | 152.674 |
| Date | Between 1 Jan 1845 and 31 Dec 1845 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | |
| Victims Killed | 6 |
| Victims Killed Notes | |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Crowns Land Commissioner, Government Official(s), Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s) |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Firearm(s) |
| Narrative | Geoffrey Blomfield (1981, p 37) cites a paragraph from Mrs H A McMaugh's, 'Early Settlement of the Upper Macleay' (p 6). 'In 1845, Kunderan station was the property of Captain Goblin and he had two shepherds and their wives there, and they were found dead, murdered by the blacks but it was quite a week after the bodies were found and about eight hundred sheep also missing, the matter was reported to the [Crown Lands] Commissioner [Robert] Massie at Kempsey and he in company with John McMaugh and several men from the station tracked the sheep to where the blacks had driven them. They found a large number of them camped under a cliff they immediately showed fight and a battle ensued but the whitemen were well armed and a great number of blacks were killed but the only casualty on the other side was a horse, the men took cover behind the trees and fired at the murderers, a few of the sheep were found but the blacks were so numerous that they killed and ate twenty a night.' Blomfield also heard two separate accounts of the massacre from Aboriginal men, Victor Shepherd and Laurie O'Keefe (Blomfield 1981, p.38). |
| Sources | McMaugh, nd: 6; Blomfield, 1981, p 36-8. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | ** |
