Of the Daly River Coppermine reprisal massacres, Senior Murrinh-patha man, the late Bill Parry, said:

Alright, the whitemen had no wives, no-one to sleep with, they had no women...the whitemen were insistent – they demanded the women, and they took the women off the Aboriginal men... and they slept with those women at the Coppermine...alright, the Malak Malak were pining for their women, they were without their women (Smith, 2024, p 142).

Region

The Daly River is 220km southwest of Darwin and forms part of the Douglas Daly region. The significant Aboriginal community of Nauiyu (formerly known as the Daly River Mission) is in the region, as are the communities of Peppimenarti, Thamarrurr, Nganmarriyanga and Wadeye. The Daly River, which originates at the junction of the King, Katherine and Flora Rivers, is about 320km long and empties into Anson Bay in the Timor Sea. The Mary River, also in the Top End, is 150km east of Darwin and forms part of Kakadu National Park. It is known for its spectacular wetlands, birdlife and saltwater crocodiles. The Mary, which is about 225km long, is one of eight that form the Northern Territory floodplain system. It has many tributaries and empties into Van Diemen Gulf.

Narrative

A combination of factors led to this war, including agricultural and mining pursuits as colonists fanned out along the overland telegraph line and pastoral stations were established, but a common factor for many clashes were attacks by Aboriginal men to rescue women who had been abducted and subjected to sexual slavery. The Daly River War included but was not limited to those circumstances of provocation.

Earliest indications of trouble brewing were on the goldfields at Yam Creek with reports of tools being pilfered from miners (NTTG, 26 December 1873, p 4). In October 1874 a miner named August Henning was killed by Aboriginal people on the road from the goldfields to Darwin (Reid, 1990, pp 53-54; Kelsey, 1975; 32).

In early June 1875, John Lewis and his party were en route to western Arnhem Land to establish the Coburg Cattle Company pastoral lease. They were attacked by Kunwinjku warriors at the East Alligator and killed in the order of 20 people (NTTG, 7 August 1875, p 2; Lewis, 1922, pp 140-143).

Violence intensified following the killing of Charles Johnston, head of the Daly Waters Telegraph Station, at Roper Bar on 29 June 1875. Mungarrayi warriors were held responsible. The ensuing reprisal massacre from 24 July at Mount McMinn was carried out by an overlanding party of nine travelling from Queensland to Darwin and led by William Batten and George de Lautour. This was the first of five reprisal massacres. The others were Crescent Lagoon, Harris Lagoon and the Calder Range in August, and Mole Hill in September 1875 (Roberts, 2009, np; Wilson, 2008, pp 221-222; Reid, 1990, pp 66-67; Roberts, 2005, p 140; NTTG, 18 September 1875, p 2).

In January 1878, teamster James Ellis was murdered at Granite Crossing, The Shackle. A punitive reprisal party led by Mounted Constable William Stretton shot at least 17 of the suspected warriors near the Daly River. An unknown number of others were shot by a civilian reprisal party, possibly for the same reason or in reprisal for the wounding of two Chinese miners at Yam Creek at about the same time (Evening Journal, 21 January 1878, p 3; NTTG, 26 January 1878, p 2; Reid, 1990, p 70).

The war intensified further following an event known as the Daly River Coppermine Massacre on 2 September 1884 in which three miners, John Landers, Henry Hauschildt and Johannes Noltenius were speared as they retreated to their camp at the Mount Hayward Copper Mine. On arrival they discovered their cook, Thomas Schollert, dead. A reprisal operation was carried out by Mounted Constable George Montagu and took in Argument Flat (Evening Journal, 4 June 1885, p 3; Austin, 1992, pp 15-16) and Marrakai Station along the Mary River. Montagu’s report documented 20-30 Aboriginal deaths, but other contemporary reports suggest between 70-150, and modern estimates are higher. Inspector Paul Foelsche also led a reprisal party. A third, civilian, party led by former police officer August Lucanus was split into three groups and armed by the government (Lucanus in Clement & Bridge, 1991, p 16). It was not accompanied by any police and did not account for ammunition used (Markus, 1974; Wilson, 2000, pp 271; Nettelbeck, 2004, p 193; Morris, 2019, pp 33-43; Smith, 2025, pp 29-31).

Poison was deployed as a weapon in later years. At Stapleton Siding in 1895, more than 100 Kungarakan people died after eating poisoned damper (McGuinness, 1991, p 8; Murgatroyd, 2001, p 6; Toohey, 1981, p 39).

Country / People / Language group / Nation

Yam Creek 1873: Wagiman, Mayall, Arigoolia and Jawoyn

East Alligator 1875: Kunwinjku

Daly Waters 1875: Mungarrayi

Daly River 1884: Woolwonga, Malak Malak, Murrinh Patha, Ngan'gikurrunggurr

Stapleton Siding 1895: Kungarakan

Notable People

Named Aboriginal people

• Jemmy, Tommy, Long Legged Charley and Ajibbing Wagna, tried for the Coppermine murders (North Australian, 26 December 1884, p 3).
• Jacky McGrath, leader of a ‘large mob’ camped at or near Rum Jungle (NTTG, 4 October 1884, p 2).
• Boko Jackey, Neddy Lewis and Louis, murdered in Daly River reprisals (Register, 7 February 1885, p 7).

Colonists

Colonial forces:

Miners, South Australia Police, Civilians

Police:

Corporal George Montagu, Mounted Constable Charles Luck, Mounted Constable Cox, Mounted Constable Allan Macdonald, Mounted Constable Robert Stott (Kimber, 1990, np), Inspector Paul Foelsche, Mounted Constable Summers, Mounted Constable Wilson (see various newspaper reports listed in references) and Constable James Foster Smith (Wilson, 2000, p 83).

Miners: 

Thomas Schollert, John Landers and Johannes Noltenius, Henry Hauschildt, murdered at Mt Hayward Copper Mine for abducting and abusing women. A man named Roberts was with them but apparently survived (Markus, 1974, p 12; Wilson, 2000, p 271; Nettelbeck, 2004, p 21; Morris, 2019, pp 33-43).

Other civilians:

• John Lewis, attacked at East Alligator (NTTG, 7 August 1875, p 2; Lewis, 1922, pp 140-143).
• Charles Bridson, George Stanley and John Maliff (aka Jack the Rajah) who were attacked at Argument Flat (NTTG, 4 October 1884, p 2).
• William Batten and George de Lautour, leaders of a civilian reprisal party in 1875 after Johnston’s murder at Roper Bar (Roberts, 2009, np; Wilson, 2008, pp 221-222; Reid, 1990, pp 66-67; Roberts, 2005, p 140; NTTG, 18 September 1875, p 2).
• James Ellis, killed at the Shackle (Evening Journal, 21 January 1878, p 3).
• Former Constable August Lucanus (Clement & Bridge, 1991, p 16).
• Dr Robert J Morice, Colonial Surgeon and Protector of Aborigines (Evening Journal, Thursday 4 June 1885, p 3).

Contributor: Robyn Smith, 2026

Recommended Reading/Listening

Parsons, JL (Government Resident) Quarterly Report on the Northern Territory, 11 November 1884, Legislative Council of South Australia, Adelaide (see p 13): https://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/catalogue_resources/58793.pdf

Purtill J ‘“Forgotten” Woolwonga tribe demand recognition 130 years after “extermination”’ in ABC News, 24 September 2014: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-24/indigenous-woolwonga-demand-recognition-after-extermination/5765212

Smith R ‘The Original Archive: deep diving in Australia’s recorded history’ in Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2025, No 2, pp 28-40.

Toohey, Justice B (1981) Aboriginal Land Commissioner’s Report, Finniss River Land Claim, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

References

Austin T (1992) Simply the Survival of the Fittest: Aboriginal Administration in South Australia’s Northern Territory 1863-1910, Historical Society of the Northern Territory, Darwin. pp 15-16.

Clement C and Bridge PJ (Eds) (1991) Kimberley Scenes, Hesperian Press, Perth.

Daly HW (1887) Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, London, pp 257-263.

Kelsey DE (1975) The Shackle: A Story of the Far North Australian Bush, Lynton Publications, Adelaide.

Kimber RG ‘Robert Stott (1858-1928)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 12, 1990, Australian National University, Canberra.

Lewis, J (1922) Fought and Won, WK Thomas & Co, Adelaide.

Markus (1974) From the Barrel of a Gun: the oppression of the Aborigines 1860-1900, Victorian Historical Association, Melbourne.

McGinness J (1991) Joe McGinness Son of Alyandabu, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane.

Morice RJ ‘Aborigines in the Northern Territory’ in Evening Journal, 4 June 1885, p 3.

Morris G (2019) Edge of sacred: exploring the life stories of the Nauiyu community. An investigation into trauma and the traditional healing practices of a remote Aboriginal community, PhD thesis, Charles Darwin University.

Murgatroyd, Warren (2001) Mt Grace Resources NL Magnesium Mine, Batchelor, NT, Environmental Impact Assessment, Anthropological Component, Initial Report, November 2001, URS Australia Pty Ltd.

Nettelbeck A (2004) ‘Writing and remembering frontier conflict: the rule of law in 1880s central Australia’ in Aboriginal History, Vol 28, pp 190-206.

Parsons, JL (Government Resident) Quarterly Report on the Northern Territory, 11 November 1884, Legislative Council of South Australia, Adelaide (see p 13): https://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/catalogue_resources/58793.pdf

Purtill J ‘“Forgotten” Woolwonga tribe demand recognition 130 years after “extermination”’ in ABC News, 24 September 2014: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-24/indigenous-woolwonga-demand-recognition-after-extermination/5765212

Reid B (2020) Power and Protection: the contest between the Government Residents and the medical Protectors of the Aborigines in South Australia’s Northern Territory, Historical Society of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Roberts T (2005) Frontier Justice: A History of the Gulf Country to 1900, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane.

Roberts, T ‘The brutal truth: What happened in the Gulf Country’ in The Monthly. November 2009: https://www.themonthly.com.au/november-2009/essays/brutal-truth

Smith R (2024) Licence to Kill: massacre men of Australia’s north, Historical Society of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Smith R ‘The Original Archive: deep diving in Australia’s recorded history’ in Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2025, No 2, pp 28-40.

Toohey, Justice B (1981) Aboriginal Land Commissioner’s Report, Finniss River Land Claim, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

Unattributed ‘Corporal Montagu’s Report’ in North Australian, 8 January 1886, p 2.

Unattributed ‘Murder by the Natives’ in Evening Journal, 21 January 1878, p 3.

Unattributed ‘Murder by the Natives’ in Evening Journal, 21 January 1878, p 3.

Unattributed ‘Reprisals on Blacks in the Northern Territory’ in SA Register, 12 February 1886, p 5.

Unattributed ‘The Alleged slaughter of blacks in the Northern Territory’ in The Evening Journal (SA), 12 February 1886, p 3.

Unattributed ‘Things and Others’ in North Australian, 27 November 1885, p 2.

Unattributed ‘Yam Creek’ in Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 26 December 1873, p 4

Wilson, WR (Bill) (2000) A Force Apart? A history of the Northern Territory police force 1870-1926, PhD thesis, Charles Darwin University.

Wott P ‘Black Outrages in the Northern Territory’ in Register, 7 February 1885, p 7.

Timeline Map >

The following lists references to some people involved in this conflict. More may be added in future.

If an individual or group is mentioned more than once in an article, only one instance from that article is referenced. If they are mentioned in more than one article there is a record for each article. Where possible, links are provided to the article to read the full account. The sentence quoted may contain poor quality uncorrected text from Trove OCR.

Country/Nation/People/Language indicates which Indigenous group people belonged to. Different people in different places prefer different terminology, and sometimes the 'belonging' relates to one of these not another. In many cases, due to colonists' limited knowledge, the archival record may indicate only use generic terms (eg: 'blacks' or 'Murrimbidgee blacks'). In the absence of any other detail, it is assumed it is the people of that region (eg: Wiradjuri).

Listed are:

• Named Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander people. This includes people involved in violent action, or in some other way involved, such as messengers. In many cases only the colonists' name (alias or aka - 'also known as') for the person is available.
• Unnamed individuals or groups of people. This is as specific as possible. If a group is mentioned, we indicate that group, then if an individual is mentioned, we also list that individual. These numbers should not be tallied to arrive at a total, as that would result in double counting. Estimates of numbers of people effected, of combatants directly involved in action, or of non-combatant victims, should be derived from population estimates and understanding of cultural roles, as well as information in sources.
• Colonists involved in the conflict. This list includes people whose stock, runs or huts were raided, or were involved in violent actions. In most cases colonists are named. In some cases someone involved may be referred to by their role only or as belonging to a run, or the owner of the run, eg: 'a shepherd' or 'Mr Smith's hutkeeper'.
• Indigenous Auxilliaries Auxiliaries are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people working for, or acting on behalf of colonists. This may be voluntarily or by coercion. This includes people such as trackers, workers and Native Police. The distinction is not always clear cut and some individuals acted on both sides of the conflict or changed sides.

Named Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

Name / Alias:

Unnamed People

Colonists and Auxiliaries