| Site Name | Batavia area (3), Archer River (2) This massacre is part of a group of massacres |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Kaanju |
| Present State/Territory | QLD |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | QLD |
| Police District | Cooktown |
| Latitude | -13.238 |
| Longitude | 142.995 |
| Date | Between 2 Jun 1889 and 14 Jun 1889 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Victims Killed | 20 |
| Victims Killed Notes | Men, women and children. |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s) |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Snider(s) |
| Narrative | Two weeks after the Aboriginal killing of Edward Watson at Pine Tree Station in early May, 1889, Sub-Inspector Frederick Urquhart arrived at nearby Mein Telegraph station and collected a party of 40 armed men on horseback, comprising three detachments of native police, Watson's brother and settlers and stockmen from the Cape York region and in early June commenced a two-week campaign of dispersal of five Kaanju camps in the Batavia River (Wenlock) area at five sites (Bottoms, 2013, p 124). |
| Sources | Brisbane 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, 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) |
| Corroboration Rating | * |
Colonial Frontier Massacres
in Australia, 1788-1930
