The Forrest River massacre is a name given to an event that followed an event in May 1926, when Fred Hay, a pastoralist, was speared and killed in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The police investigation that followed led to accusations of a massacre perpetrated by the law-enforcement party, and a subsequent Royal Commission.
Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Wood Royal Commission and subsequent trials
- 3 Accusations of false claims
- 4 References
- 5 Further reading
- 5.1 Primary sources
- 5.2 Secondary sources
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History
The police patrol, led by Constables Steph Stewart and Denis Regan, left Wyndham on June 1, to hunt for the killer. In the first week of July, Lumbia, the accused man, was brought into Wyndham. In the months that followed, rumours circulated of a massacre by the police party. The Rev. Ernest Gribble of Forrest River Mission (later Oombulgurri) alleged that 30 people had been killed by the police party. A Royal Commission, conducted by G. T. Wood sent an evidence-gathering party and heard evidence regarding Gribble’s allegations. The Royal Commission found that 11 people had been massacred and the bodies burned. In May 1927, St Jack and Regan were charged with the murder of Boondung, one of the 11. However, at a preliminary hearing, Magistrate Kidson found there was insufficient evidence to proceed to trial. Subsequent attacks on the credibility of Gribble led to his departure from the region.
Wood Royal Commission and subsequent trials
The 1926 Wood Royal Commission had concluded that the police patrol killed 11 Aborigines at three sites in the vicinity of the Forrest River Mission (now Oombulgurii). Two police officers, Constables St Jack and Regan were subsequently charged with the murder of one Boondung at Dala, but the case against them was dismissed for lack of evidence. Green portrayed the alleged massacres as the culmination of years of violence between police and pastoralists against Aboriginal people in the Kimberleys and not an aberration, but part of a culture of decades of violence.
Accusations of false claims
In January 1968, Dr Neville Green interviewed Leopold Overheu’s brother Charles on audiotape
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They all got together up there and there was a bloody massacre because I think they shot about three hundred natives all in one hit and there was a hell of a row over it. It was all published in the papers and somebody let the cat out of the bag and anyhow the government and the judges in those times they realised what the trouble was and the whole thing was hushed up you see. |
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In 1999, journalist Rod Moran published a book Massacre Myth which reviewed the evidence and argued that the massacre was a fabrication by Gribble.
Moran’s argument was that no eyewitnesses or survivors were ever found. Gribble had a history of making false claims about mistreatment of Aborigines and was known to have had a history of mental illness. The evidence-gathering party found no graves but retrieved a large quantity of bones from the alleged massacre sites. Of the bones found, some were too damaged to be forensically identified as either human or animal (using the methods available at the time). Those bones intact enough to be identifiable were all animal bones. No bones positively identifiable as human were retrieved from the alleged massacre sites. Of the people listed as missing by Gribble, Moran was able to account for all but one as not being killed in the massacre, from mission and police records. One woman had been killed by her husband before the Hay killing and another was listed twice.
References
- ^ Quadrant Magazine, Volume XLVI Number 9 - September 2002, Moran’s 1st comment about Green’s book
- ^ Quadrant Magazine, Volume XLVII Number 6 - June 2003, Green’s 1st comment about Moran’s book
- ^ Green, Neville (1995) The Forrest River massacres Fremantle, W.A. Fremantle Arts Centre Press ISBN 1863681094.
- ^ Moran, Rod (1999) Massacre myth : an investigation into allegations concerning the mass murder of Aborigines at Forrest River, 1926 Bassendean, W.A. Access Press ISBN 0864451245
- ^ Quadrant Magazine,Volume XLVII Number 7 - July-August 2003 Green’s 2nd comment about Moran’s book
- ^ Quadrant Magazine, Volume XLVII Number 11 - November 2003 Moran’s 2nd comment about Green’s book
Further reading
Primary sources
- Police file Acc 430, 5374/1926 at the WA State Records Office.
- Report of Commissioner G.T. Wood, “Inquiry into alleged killing and burning of bodies of Aborigines in East Kimberley and into police methods when effecting arrests”, WA Votes and Proceedings 1927, Paper No.3
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