Massacre at Bradshaw Station (1)

Date: 11 Dec 1895 – 31 Dec 1895
Place: Bradshaw Station (1)
Event type: massacre
Direct violence: Yes
Historian of the Victoria River District, Darrell Lewis (2018, pp 65-66) noted: 'An account of the mass killing of Aborigines on Bradshaw survives as oral history. According to Pauline Rayner (pers. comm.) her father, Peter Murray, who owned Coolibah and Bradshaw from 1958 to 1963 and remained on the station for a further five years, was told the following story by an old Aborigine named Johnson: '"Bradshaw station had continual trouble with bush blacks breaking into the station store and stealing bags of flour, tobacco and so on. Eventually the station whites decided to leave a bag of flour laced with poison in the store. The bag was stolen and a big mob of Aborigines were poisoned"'. The mass poisoning took place in late 1895.
Notes:
CorroborationRating: **
LanguageGroup: Ngarinman
Victims: Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
VictimsDead: 15

People involved

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Sources

  • Lewis, 2018, pp 65-66. See also Lewis, 2004, p 229.

Event mentions

  • Massacre at Bradshaw Station (1)
    11 Dec 1895 – 31 Dec 1895 — Bradshaw Station (1) — massacre
    Historian of the Victoria River District, Darrell Lewis (2018, pp 65-66) noted: 'An account of the mass killing of Aborigines on Bradshaw survives as oral history. According to Pauline Rayner (pers. comm.) her father, Peter Murray, who owned Coolibah and Bradshaw from 1958 to 1963 and remained on the station for a further five years, was told the following story by an old Aborigine named Johnson: '"Bradshaw station had continual trouble with bush blacks breaking into the station store and stealing bags of flour, tobacco and so on. Eventually the station whites decided to leave a bag of flour laced with poison in the store. The bag was stolen and a big mob of Aborigines were poisoned"'. The mass poisoning took place in late 1895.
    Source: Lewis, 2018, pp 65-66. See also Lewis, 2004, p 229.