| Site Name | Lagoon near Nicholson River |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | |
| Present State/Territory | QLD |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | QLD |
| Police District | No police district at that stage |
| Latitude | -17.956 |
| Longitude | 138.833 |
| Date | Between 2 Dec 1876 and 20 Dec 1876 |
| Attack Time | |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | |
| Victims Killed | 20 |
| Victims Killed Notes | |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Police |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Firearm(s) |
| Narrative | William Batten, a former assistant to George De Lautour, was returning to 'the settled districts' of Queensland with his colleague Aitken. Both resigned from De Lautour's party (Roberts, 2005, pp 38-39) and reached the Nicholson on 2 December where Batten gave some rations to a large number of Aboriginal people then was killed by six or seven Aboriginal men with nulla nullas while Aitken was 300m down the river fishing for dinner (Queenslander, 26 Jan 1878, p 20). Aitken fired at them, killing one.
These were thought to be the same people who had recently been driven from a station on the Gregory River for cattle killing, 'The scene of the murder is only about thirty-five or forty miles from the Messrs. Watson's station on the Gregory, from which station it is stated the murderers had been driven for spearing cattle.' (Queenslander, 26 Jan 1878, p 20) Aitken reported to police at Normanton and a punitive expedition led by Sub-Inspector Lyndon Poingdestre (including both Aitken and De Lautour) departed six days later. The matter was also mentioned by another reporter in The Queenslander: 'This, the Bynoe Native Mounted Police camp, is the basis of protection to the settlers for no less a distance than to the boundary west and Creen Creek east; and shortly after having visited it the officer (Sub-inspector Poindestre), according to instructions, proceeded to the Nicholson, nearly 200 miles distant, upon the news of the murder of Mr. Batten reaching Normanton.' (Queenslander, 10 Aug 1878, p 587 A traveller in the area later reported the site of the Batten's murder (and so the destination of the punitive expedition) to be a lagoon half a mile from the Nicholson River, and about 50 miles south west of Burketown (this could be any number of locations in a broad area), and that the Aboriginal people had been 'deservedly punished': 'Camping at a fine lagoon (Emu), alive with waterfowl, half a mile from the river and about fifty miles south-west of Burketown, close to the spot at which a few weeks later Mr. Batten was murdered by the blacks, for which outrage they have been deservedly punished (his fleshless remains, by the way, have since received Christian burial), we are suddenly disturbed during the night, not by backs, as we at first supposed, but by a large mob of wild cattle as they are making their way to water, and shortly after daylight a few are observed on the plains a long way off.' (The Queenslander, 5 Oct 1878, p 12) |
| Sources | Roberts, 2005, pp 38-39 The Queenslander, 26 Jan 1878, p20 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/19764341 The Queenslander, 10 Aug 1878, p 587 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/19775427/2239821 The Queenslander, 5 Oct 1878, p 12 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/19776523 (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | * |
Colonial Frontier Massacres
in Australia, 1788-1930
