Massacre at La Grange

Date: 4 Apr 1865 – 6 Apr 1865
Place: La Grange
Event type: massacre
Direct violence: Yes
In 1865 Frederick Kennedy Panter, aged 28, James Richard Harding, aged 25, and William Henry Goldwyer, aged 34, set off from Roebuck Bay to explore the La Grange coastal area. They did not return from the trip and the local colonists suspected they had been killed by local Yawru Karajarri people. Noted explorer Maitland Brown led an expedition to search for the men. In April 1865 they found them speared and clubbed to death (Scates, 1989). The expedition party including David Franciso and Lockier Burges launched a punitive expedition with one member George Leake stating 'it is our bounden duty to ascertain how and where they have fallen: and if by violence, avenge them' (Forrest 1996, p 18). On 6 April 1865 the party engaged a local group and killed up to 20 people (Leake cited in Scates, 1989, p 28). A large monument was erected in Fremantle Park to Goldwyer, Painter and Harding. In the early 2000s, the monument was altered to acknowledge the Aboriginal people killed in the reprisal massacre (Mills and Collins).
Notes:
CorroborationRating: ***
LanguageGroup: Yawru, Karajarri
Victims: Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
VictimsDead: 15

People involved

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Sources

Event mentions

  • Massacre at La Grange
    4 Apr 1865 – 6 Apr 1865 — La Grange — massacre
    In 1865 Frederick Kennedy Panter, aged 28, James Richard Harding, aged 25, and William Henry Goldwyer, aged 34, set off from Roebuck Bay to explore the La Grange coastal area. They did not return from the trip and the local colonists suspected they had been killed by local Yawru Karajarri people. Noted explorer Maitland Brown led an expedition to search for the men. In April 1865 they found them speared and clubbed to death (Scates, 1989). The expedition party including David Franciso and Lockier Burges launched a punitive expedition with one member George Leake stating 'it is our bounden duty to ascertain how and where they have fallen: and if by violence, avenge them' (Forrest 1996, p 18). On 6 April 1865 the party engaged a local group and killed up to 20 people (Leake cited in Scates, 1989, p 28). A large monument was erected in Fremantle Park to Goldwyer, Painter and Harding. In the early 2000s, the monument was altered to acknowledge the Aboriginal people killed in the reprisal massacre (Mills and Collins).
    Source: Scates, 1989, pp 21-31; Forrest, 1996, pp 15-16; Australian News for Home Readers, 25 August 1865, pp 1 & 9; Mills and Collins https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-29/explorers-monument-added-to-not-torn-down-or-vandalised/8853224; Drake-Brockman, H 'Brown, Maitland (1843���1905)', ADB, Vol 3, 1969. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/brown-maitland-3080