Site Name | Ravensthorpe (Conconurup/Kukenarup/Carracarrup) |
Aboriginal Place Name | |
Language Group | Minang Noongar |
Present State/Territory | WA |
Colony/State/Territory at the time | WA |
Police District | Ravensthorpe South West region |
Latitude | -33.582 |
Longitude | 120.047 |
Date | Between 1 Oct 1880 and 30 Nov 1880 |
Attack Time | Day |
Victims | Aboriginal People |
Victim Descriptions | |
Victims Killed | 30 |
Victims Killed Notes | 30-50 |
Attackers | Colonisers |
Attacker Descriptions | |
Attackers Killed | 0 |
Attackers Killed Notes | |
Transport | |
Motive | |
Weapons Used | Pistol(s), Winchester(s) |
Narrative | [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) |
Sources | Brockway 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 | *** |