Site Name Mt McMinn, Northern Territory (1)
Aboriginal Place Name
Language Group Mangarrayi
Colony SA
Present State/Territory NT
Police District
Latitude -14.806
Longitude 134.582
Date 19 Jul 1875
Attack Time day
Victims Aboriginal People
Victims Killed 40
Victims Killed Notes Mangarrayi
Attackers Colonisers: Overlander
Attackers Killed 0
Attackers Killed Notes
Transport Horse
Motive Reprisal
Weapons Used Rifles, Pistols
Narrative Following the killing of CH Johnston, station master at Daly River Telegraph station, and the wounding of of Abram Daer and William Rickards by Mangarrayi warriors at Roper Bar on 29 June 1875, Daer and Rickards were too weak to bury Johnston so they wrapped the body in tarpaulin and included a note telling what had happened, placed the bundle under a tree and set off for Daly River which they reached on 13 July. While 3 reprisal parties were being organised, an overlanding party from Darwin to Queensland and led by George De Lautour and William Batten arrived at Roper Bar where they read the note left by Daer and Rickard. On 19 July they decided to exact their own revenge on a camp of Mangarrayi people at nearby Mt Minn. It is estimated that they shot 40 Mangarrayi people. They left a note reporting what they had done and continued on their journey.
Sources NTTG, 18 September 1875:2; Roberts 2005: 115-119. (Sources PDF)
Corroboration Rating **