Site NameBatavia area (1), Chulangun Campground
This massacre is part of a group of massacres
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name
Language Group, Nation or PeopleKaanju
Present State/TerritoryQLD
Colony/State/Territory at the timeQLD
Police DistrictCooktown
Latitude-13.117
Longitude142.99
DateBetween 1 Jun 1889 and 15 Jun 1889
Attack TimeDay
VictimsAboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
Victim DescriptionsAboriginal
Victims Killed20
Victims Killed NotesMen, women and children.
AttackersColonists
Attacker DescriptionsNative Police, Stockmen/Drover(s), Overseer(s)
Attackers Killed0
Attackers Killed Notes
TransportHorse
MotiveReprisal
Weapons UsedSnider(s)
NarrativeOn 11 May 1889, a group of Kaanju warriors were alleged, in a night time attack, to have killed Edmund Watson, a worker at Pine Tree Station (now Archer River Roadhouse) near Mein Telegraph station on Cape York Peninsula and severely wounded another station worker, James Evans (BC, 28 May 1889, p 5). On 18 May Sub-Inspector Frederick Urquhart, left Thursday Island for Mein Telegraph Station (BC, 20 May 1889, p5) and when he arrived, he put together a party of 40 armed men on horseback, comprising three detachments of native police, Watson's brother and overseers and stockmen in the region. In early June the party set off to disperse the Kaanju on the right hand side of the telegraph line in the Batavia (Wenlock) River area. Over the next two weeks, the party carried out five massacres of the Kaanju (Bottoms, 2013, p 124).
SourcesBrisbane Courier, 20 May 1889, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3496350; 28 May 1889, p 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3496688; Queenslander, The, 1 June 1889, p 1013 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19814504; Vogan, 1890, p 137; Loos, 1982, p 61; Bottoms, 2013, p 124. (Sources PDF)
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