| Site Name | Wenlock, 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 | -12.91 |
| Longitude | 142.943 |
| Date | 11 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 | Following the killing of Edmund Watson at Pine Tree station on the Upper Archer River on Cape York by Kaanjui warriors in early May 1889, Sub-Inspector Frederick Urquhart was despatched to the nearby Mein Telegraph station where he formed a party of at least 40 armed men comprising three detachments of native police, the brother of Edmund Watson and stockmen from every cattle station in the area with the purpose of giving 'the blacks a lesson' (Vogan, 1890, p 137). According to Timothy Bottoms, in early June the party went to Merluna Station for rations, left there on 9 June and on 11 June 'came up with them on Batavia (Wenlock) River... dispersed them and recovered telegraph wire, iron pins and insulators in their camp' (Bottoms, 2013, p 124). This is the first of the five killings the party carried out over a week in the region. It is estimated that at least 20 Kaanjui were killed at each camp. |
| Sources | Vogan, 1890, p 137; Loos, 1982, p 61; Bottoms, 2013, p 124. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | ** |
Colonial Frontier Massacres
in Australia, 1788-1930
