Massacre at Waterloo Creek, Jews Lagoon

Date: 26 Jan 1838
Place: Waterloo Creek, Jews Lagoon
Event type: massacre
Direct violence: Yes
On 26 January 1838, twenty six mounted police under the command of Lt Cobban and accompanied by several stockmen and settlers drove a party of Gamilaraay warriors into Snodgrass Lagoon, now known as Jews Lagoon, and shot and killed at least forty of them. The massacre was allegedly in reprisal for the spear wound of a mounted police trooper two hours earlier. The massacre took place at the end of a month-long operation by mounted police in search of Aboriginal warriors led by Major J W Nunn (Milliss 1992, pp 183-96). In the ensuing inquiry into the massacre, Sergeant John Lee said that 'from forty to fifty blacks were killed.' (HRA, I, XX, p 251). A party of local squatters who visited the site later reported that 'sixty or seventy' Aborigines were killed, 'some of them ... shot like crows in the trees.' (SMH, 2 July 1849, p 2) The Rev. L. E. Threlkeld, (Gunson 1974, vol 1, p 145) in his annual report for 1838 to the NSW Colonial Secretary, said that 'two or three hundred' were killed. This number could be the tally of Nunn's month long operation against Gamilaraay people in the region.
Notes:
CorroborationRating: ***
LanguageGroup: Gamilaraay
Victims: Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
VictimsDead: 40

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Sources

Event mentions

  • Massacre at Waterloo Creek, Jews Lagoon
    26 Jan 1838 — Waterloo Creek, Jews Lagoon — massacre
    On 26 January 1838, twenty six mounted police under the command of Lt Cobban and accompanied by several stockmen and settlers drove a party of Gamilaraay warriors into Snodgrass Lagoon, now known as Jews Lagoon, and shot and killed at least forty of them. The massacre was allegedly in reprisal for the spear wound of a mounted police trooper two hours earlier. The massacre took place at the end of a month-long operation by mounted police in search of Aboriginal warriors led by Major J W Nunn (Milliss 1992, pp 183-96). In the ensuing inquiry into the massacre, Sergeant John Lee said that 'from forty to fifty blacks were killed.' (HRA, I, XX, p 251). A party of local squatters who visited the site later reported that 'sixty or seventy' Aborigines were killed, 'some of them ... shot like crows in the trees.' (SMH, 2 July 1849, p 2) The Rev. L. E. Threlkeld, (Gunson 1974, vol 1, p 145) in his annual report for 1838 to the NSW Colonial Secretary, said that 'two or three hundred' were killed. This number could be the tally of Nunn's month long operation against Gamilaraay people in the region.
    Source: Gunson 1974, vol. I, p. 145; BPP 1839, vol. 34, Paper 526; HRA, I, XX, 244-57; https://doi.org/10.26181/22300285.v1; SMH, July 2, 1849, p 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28646745; Milliss 1992, pp 175-77, 183-96; Ryan 2003, pp 33-43; Town and Country Journal, 28 February, 1874.