Site Name | Bootanell Swamp/Springs Greenough |
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
Language Group, Nation or People | Naaguja, Nanda |
Present State/Territory | WA |
Colony/State/Territory at the time | WA |
Police District | Geraldton - Midwest region |
Latitude | -28.896 |
Longitude | 114.683 |
Date | Between 3 Jun 1854 and 11 Aug 1854 |
Attack Time | Day |
Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
Victim Descriptions | |
Victims Killed | 15 |
Victims Killed Notes | 15-30 |
Attackers | Colonists |
Attacker Descriptions | Shepherd(s), Police |
Attackers Killed | 0 |
Attackers Killed Notes | |
Transport | |
Motive | Reprisal |
Weapons Used | Musket(s), Sword(s), Bayonet(s) |
Narrative | This incident relates to retaliation for threats of cattle killing and threats on the lives of colonists including the spearing of shepherds. The local Aboriginal group made threats to Lockyer Burgess that they would kill his sheep 'when they wanted.' Deputy Superintendent of police, John Nicol Drummond, with a group of station hands from nearby property holdings conducted a massacre of the Aboriginal people who had allegedly been killing stock from the Bootenall (Greenough) area, with Drummond and his force attacking their refuge at Bootenall swamp/springs. Over the next couple of months follow up raids occurred on the Aboriginal people living on the Irwin, Bowes and Chapman Rivers around Geraldton (Pashley, 2002, pp 53–56). |
Sources | Pashley, 2002, pp 53–56. (Sources PDF) |
Corroboration Rating | ** |