| Site Name | Mission Beach (2), Peri Expedition This massacre is part of a group of massacres |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Djiru |
| Present State/Territory | QLD |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | QLD |
| Police District | Cardwell |
| Latitude | -17.97 |
| Longitude | 146.098 |
| Date | Between 11 Mar 1872 and 14 Mar 1872 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Victims Killed | 45 |
| 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 wreck of the schooner Maria on Bramble reef on 26 February 1872 after which Djiru people had massacred survivors, Captain Moresby from HMS Basilisk and Lieutenant Hayter sailed on the Peri and landed at Mission Beach with a party of sailors, two native police officers and eleven troopers. They then searched for survivors and attacked camps:
'We next proceeded to Tam o'Shanter's Point,
and from this point to Clump Point (the site of Mr. Sabben's encounter) a most vigorous search was made.
A large camp was found, which was rushed, and several
blacks dispersed. In this camp we found a large quantity
of the murdered men's effects, and some charred bones;
other effects were also found in two other camps to the
southward. This completed all traces of the wrecked men.
In this expedition some few natives were killed, and all the
camps between the points above mentioned were destroyed.' (Sydney Morning Herald, 6 Apr 1872, p 8)
Captain Moresby recorded that, 'On our arrival, Mr. Sabben came and reported his execution of this service to me, and Mr. Sheridan met me with a magisterial requisition for assistance, rendered necessary by the fact that various murders and acts of violence had been committed by the blacks of late near Cardwell. It concluded in these words—"If some immediate action is not taken, no boat will be safe on the coast, and I am afraid that the settlers outside the town, or even the town itself, may be attacked by the savages." I therefore aided him to send his black troopers and their officers to the scene of the latest murder—that of the boat's crew of the "Maria" (there to inflict a decisive punishment), by embarking them on board the "Peri",—sending with them three officers and twelve men of H.M.S. "Basilisk", under the command of Lieutenant Francis Hayter. It is needless to say that I felt it very painful to take such a step, but in Mr. Sheridan's opinion as well as my own it was necessary, not only for the sake of justice, and in the interests of all white men who might hereafter be placed at the mercy of the tribe, but to secure the safety of Cardwell itself. The tribe was surprised before daylight,—several unfortunate blacks were shot down by the native troopers, who showed an unrestrained ferocity that disgusted our officers; and the camp, in which some clothing and effects of the four murdered men were found, was destroyed. This work of justice over, the party returned to Cardwell, bringing with them a little native lad about six years old, whose father had been shot.' (Moresby, 1876, Ch. IV, pp 28-29) Timothy Bottoms estimates that 88 Aboriginal men, women and children were killed overall in the killings carried out during the Peri and Governor Blackall expeditions, 45 of these at Tam O'Shanter Point (Bottoms, 2013, p 135). |
| Sources | Sydney Morning Herald, 6 Apr 1872, p 8 Sydney Morning Herald, 6 Apr 1872, p 8); Moresby https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1301151h.html; Bottoms, 2013, pp 115, 134-136. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | ** |
Colonial Frontier Massacres
in Australia, 1788-1930
