| Site Name | Mt Barnett and Bedford Downs |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Kitja, Worla |
| Present State/Territory | WA |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | WA |
| Police District | East Kimberley |
| Latitude | -16.804 |
| Longitude | 126.004 |
| Date | Between 1 Jan 1921 and 30 Nov 1921 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | |
| Victims Killed | 10 |
| Victims Killed Notes | 10-20 |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Police, Aboriginal Assistant(s), Vigilante/Volunteer(s) |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Rifle(s) |
| Narrative | In 1921, stockman Harry Annear was speared on Bedford Downs station. The reason, an Aboriginal witness called Lightberi stated, was that Annear was raiding camps and stealing young women (SROWA, Cons 430 file 7871/1921). 'The police responded when Police Constable Cooney, a "volunteer" Jack Wilson and five native assistants, proceeded to shoot and terrorise Aboriginal people at Mt Barnett to such as extent that they sought sanctuary in the Forrest River mission. This episode prompted missionary Ernest Gribble to write the first of many letters to Chief Protector of Aborigines A.O. Neville, alerting authorities to what was happening' (Owen, 2016, p 439). Gribble wrote: 'the native trackers [pursuing Annear's killers]… after making themselves friendly to a large camp of natives, had suddenly shot them all in a ravine difficult to escape from. They further state no white police were there only "police boys" [Native Assistants] (SROWA, Cons. 430, File 7871/1921). |
| Sources | WAPD, 'Gribble to Chief Protector of Aborigines', SROWA, Cons. 430, File 7871/1921; See also Department of the North West, 'From Rev. Gribble: Re alleged shooting of natives by Police boys, "Quartpot" and "Long Billy", near Durack River', SROWA, Cons. 653, File 655/1922; WAPD, 'Statement by Lightberi Alias Kitty', SROWA, Cons. 430, File 7871/1921; Green, 1995, p 75; Owen, 2016, p 439. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | *** |
