Site Name | Leopold Ranges - West Kimberley |
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
Language Group, Nation or People | Bunuba, Nyikina |
Present State/Territory | WA |
Colony/State/Territory at the time | WA |
Police District | Fitzroy Crossing - West Kimberley |
Latitude | -17.5 |
Longitude | 124.75 |
Date | Between 1 Jun 1892 and 31 Aug 1892 |
Attack Time | Day |
Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
Victims Killed | 7 |
Victims Killed Notes | |
Attackers | Colonists |
Attacker Descriptions | Police |
Attackers Killed | 0 |
Attackers Killed Notes | |
Transport | Horse |
Motive | Reprisal |
Weapons Used | Revolver(s), Winchester(s) |
Narrative | On 8 June 1892 Kerralin, Meralmaddie, Merrigal, Yemin, Jinkymarra and a man named Packer, an ex–station hand from Lillamaloora Station, speared Robert Henry, Robert Allen and Thomas Henry with Robert Allen and Thomas Henry killed. A police party led by PC Armitage took over a month to find Packer and shoot him. They then shot another seven Aboriginal men and arrested one more. PC Armitage, who had previously been arrested in late 1889 for unlawful killing, pointedly stated 'the natives were camped in a very rough place and it was a matter of impossibility to effect the arrest of them alive' (Owen, 2016, pp 231-233). |
Sources | ''Two men murdered and third wounded by natives on the Leopold Ranges - Police Corporal Holmes, Derby, [Thomas Henry; Robert Allen; William Amitage; Robert (?) Goodridge; Thomas Yates; Robert Henry; 'Barrier Station;' Ernest Black]', SROWA, AN 24, Cons. 527, File 939/1892; Owen, 2016, p 296-297; Western Mail, June 18, 1892, p42 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33075265. (Sources PDF) |
Corroboration Rating | *** |