| Site Name | Archer River (2), 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 | Cooktown |
| Latitude | -13.238 |
| Longitude | 142.995 |
| Date | Between 2 Jun 1889 and 14 Jun 1889 |
| Attack Time | Day |
| Victims | Aboriginal People |
| Victim Descriptions | Aboriginal |
| Victims Killed | 20 |
| Victims Killed Notes | MWC |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Native Police, Settler(s), Stockmen/Drover(s) |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Dispersal |
| 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 Kaanjui camps in the Batavia River (Wenlock) area. It is estimated that more than 100 Kannjui were killed with more than 20 killed at each camp. This incident took place at camp No. 4. |
| 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
