| Site Name | Canning Stock Route - Well No. 46 |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Martu |
| Present State/Territory | WA |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | WA |
| Police District | Various Kimberley, Pilbara, Gascoyne |
| Latitude | -20.641 |
| Longitude | 126.287 |
| Date | Between 6 Jan 1912 and 11 Apr 1913 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | |
| Victims Killed | 14 |
| Victims Killed Notes | 10 -15 |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Settler(s), Police |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Snider(s), Revolver(s), Winchester(s) |
| Narrative | In January 1911 a party of three drovers, George Shoesmith, James Thompson and an Aboriginal stockman known as 'Chinaman', were killed by Aboriginal people at Well 37. In September 1911, Sergeant R.H. Pilmer led a police punitive expedition to find the culprits and ensure the stock route remained open. The police made no arrests, but the expedition was considered a success after Pilmer acknowledged killing at least 10 Aboriginal people. Later newspaper reports, (Daily News, May 21, 1912, p 8) put the figure at 14. Pilmer wrote in his diary: 'The most exciting and disastrous incident of the whole journey happened on 16 November while the party was spelling the camels at Well 46. The men were whiling away their time by reading or doing odd jobs when they were suddenly attacked by a band of 25 Aborigines. Fourteen Aborigines formed an advance party, and each armed with two whackaburras they came running down a gravelly slope towards the camp. Going outside the camp Sergeant Pilmer called and motioned them to sit down, but they still came on, it being evident they were trying to get close quarters with the police. The invaders reached the camp but were not close enough to use their weapons when the police opened fire. Six natives fell dead while another was killed about twenty yards away. Three were wounded but they escaped with the others who immediately took to their heels' (Pilmer cited in Clement, 1989b, pp 130-151). |
| Sources | 'Shooting Aborigines', Daily News, May 21, 1912, p 8 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/79898128/7816557; Clement 1989b, pp.130-151;
'Stock Route Murders, Fourteen Dispersed,' Kalgoorlie Miner, December 9, 1911, p 8 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91329964 (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | *** |
