Site Name | Archer River (1), Batavia area (Wenlock) This massacre is part of a group of massacres |
Aboriginal Place Name | |
Language Group | Kaanjui |
Present State/Territory | QLD |
Colony/State/Territory at the time | QLD |
Police District | Cook town |
Latitude | -13.159 |
Longitude | 142.96 |
Date | Between 2 Jun 1889 and 14 Jun 1889 |
Attack Time | Day |
Victims | Aboriginal People |
Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
Victims Killed | 20 |
Victims Killed Notes | Men, Women and Children |
Attackers | Colonisers |
Attacker Descriptions | Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s) |
Attackers Killed | 0 |
Attackers Killed Notes | |
Transport | Horse |
Motive | Reprisal |
Weapons Used | Snider(s) |
Narrative | In June 1889, sub-Inspector Frederick Urquhart commanded a group of 40 armed men on horseback, comprising 3 detachments of native police, as well as settlers and stockmen, in a two week campaign of dispersal of the Kaanjui people at Cape York. Archer River (1) is the third of 5 massacres of the Kaanjui people. It is estimated that about 20 Kaanui were killed at each campsite. |
Sources | Vogan 1890, p.137; Loos 1982, p. 61; Bottoms 2013, p124. (Sources PDF) |
Corroboration Rating | ** |