Site NameRavensthorpe (Conconurup/Kukenarup/Carracarrup)
Aboriginal Place Name
Language GroupMinang Noongar
Present State/TerritoryWA
Colony/State/Territory at the timeWA
Police DistrictRavensthorpe South West region
Latitude-33.582
Longitude120.047
DateBetween 1 Oct 1880 and 30 Nov 1880
Attack TimeDay
VictimsAboriginal People
Victim Descriptions
Victims Killed30
Victims Killed Notes30-50
AttackersColonists
Attacker Descriptions
Attackers Killed0
Attackers Killed Notes
Transport
MotiveReprisal
Weapons UsedPistol(s), Winchester(s)
Narrative"Many years ago, jambed down a deep crevice between two huge rocks, lay a whitened human skull, and with a boy's curiosity I asked the pioneers of the district (the Dunn brothers) if they knew anything about it. In explanation I was told the following story by Mr. Walter Dunn (now deceased)... [After John Dunn’s death] The remaining members on the station were then granted licence to shoot the natives for a period of one month, during which time the fullest advantage was taken of the privilege. Natives were shot from the station through Lime Kiln Flat, Manjitup and down to where Ravensthorpe is now situated. In the course of their guerrilla warfare, the whites arrived one day at the Carracarrup Rock Hole, and, knowing it was a watering place for the blacks, they crept quietly over the hill until they could peer down into the hole. There they saw two natives who had just risen from drinking. Two shots broke the stillness of the gorge and two dusky souls were sent home to their Maker. The bodies were left lying at the rock hole where they dropped as a grim reminder to the rest of the tribe of the white man’s retribution." (Western Mail, 17 October 1935, p 8)
SourcesBrockway 1998, pp 429-445; De Landgrafft https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2015-05-22/kukenarup-memorial-opened-in-ravensthorpe/6490332; Western Mail, October 17, 1935, p 8 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/38944566 (Sources PDF)
Corroboration Rating***