| Site Name | Mission Beach (2) This massacre is part of a group of massacres |
| Aboriginal Place Name | |
| Language Group | Djiru |
| Present State/Territory | QLD |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | QLD |
| Police District | Cardwell |
| Latitude | -17.906 |
| Longitude | 146.097 |
| Date | Between 15 Mar 1872 and 31 Mar 1872 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Victims Killed | 92 |
| Victims Killed Notes | |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Native Police, Police |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Boat |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Firearm(s), Carbine(s) |
| Narrative | Following the killing of eight Djiru people by Lt Sabben RN and a group of sailors on Mission Beach while searching for survivors of the 'Maria' massacre in late February 1872, Cardwell Police Magistrate R.B. Sheridan ordered Sub-Inspector Johnstone and a detachment of native police troopers to 'inflict decisive punishment'. Johnstone, his detachment and volunteer riflemen attacked and burned down every Djiru camp they could find in the vicinity of Mission Beach, possibly between Cardwell and Cooper Point, and slaughtered 93 Djiru men, women and children (Bottoms 2013, pp.115, 134-6). |
| Sources | Moresby, 1876, p 30 http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1301151h.html; Bottoms, 2013, pp 115, 134-136. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | ** |
Colonial Frontier Massacres
in Australia, 1788-1930
