| Site Name | Crescent Lagoon, Northern Territory |
| Aboriginal Place Name | |
| Language Group | Mangarrayi |
| Colony | SA |
| Present State/Territory | NT |
| Police District | |
| Latitude | -14.858 |
| Longitude | 133.749 |
| Date | Between 5 Aug 1875 and 15 Aug 1875 |
| Attack Time | day |
| Victims | Aboriginal People |
| Victims Killed | 40 |
| Victims Killed Notes | |
| Attackers | Colonisers: Mounted Police |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Rifles, Pistols |
| Narrative | Following the killing of Charles Henry Johnston at Roper Bar on 29 June 1875, by Mangarrayi warriors, two reprisal parties, one led by Corporal George Montagu comprising 10 men and the other, also of 10 men, led by senior telegraph officer, Jonathan Little, and brother in law of Johnston, arrived at Roper Bar on 2 August and buried Johnston's remains. On 5 August the two parties started up the Roper River to Crescent Lagoon and returned on 15 August. It is estimated that 40 Mangarrayi people were slaughtered. This is the second massacre in the Mole Hill series. |
| Sources | NTTG,September 18,1875, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144448 1875, p 2; December 4 1875, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144612; December 25, 1875, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3144666; Wilson, 2008, pp 221-222; Roper River Police Station Heritage Assessment Report, 2015:9-11; Roper Bar Land Claim Report, 1982: 3; Austin 1992 HSNT:15-16; Roberts 2005: 116-122.
(Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | *** |
