December 18.
“A Portrait of Australia With Important Bits Missing” by Glenn Loughrey
Twentieth century killings
“...women, piccaninnies, dogs, old people, young people, middle-sized people — finished them.
The price of resistance was, however, most often the loss of life or capture and exile to work in labour gangs in Wyndham. A meeting of pastoralists from the East Kimberley region was held in 1901 to discuss police protection and pastoralists called for 'methods similar to those employed in North Queensland', that is, the wholesale killing of Aborigines on stations (Clement 1987b: 26). Few massacres on Jaru land have been documented, but the Kija people, on the northern boundary of the study area, are known to have lost many lives through several massacres.
The following quote relates to a punitive expedition following the attempted murder of an Aboriginal stockman in the study area in the 1920s; it is most likely that it was members of the Walmajarri and Jaru who were involved. It was recalled by Grant Ngabidj who was working in the Sturt Creek area and who was about sixteen at the time:
Four Halls Creek policemen and three other white men came out. Somebody told them who the two blackfellers were and they went low down looking around among the bush people. They told them, 'Oh big mob there, longa billabong, longa Wolf junction', and they sneaked up. There may have been about twenty or thirty police boys too. They did not tie them up or take them to the jail house; they murdered the whole lot of them, shot them all: Balgo mob, Sturt Creek mob and Billiluna mob; women, piccaninnies, dogs, old people, young people, middle- sized people — finished them. I was there when it happened but they did not shoot me because I came from this other way and I was a stockman (Shaw 1981:47)
On top of Sturt Creek, the old station on top of the hill. The old people used to spear cattle. Cut 'em up - use a rock. They didn’t know white man owned those bullock. Hungry for a feed and the bullock was easy to catch. White man came along and caught them. And that’s when kartiya started shooting those people. They want to shoot them like a dog. Shoot them like a bullock. For stealing cattle
They took them to Sturt Creek. Tied them between two big trees, in chain. White blokes started shooting from one end and other end. And they meet up in the middle. Finish. That tree was full of blood
They get a horse, put a rope along their neck and drag them to the well. Chuck them in - whole lot. Get ’em kerosene. Pour ’em in ado then light 'em. Burn all the black fella in that well after shooting them
We mob bin kids. We were playing in the water, Sturt Creek Station Little ones, lampam-lampam. Me and my brother was there. Watch 'em all them dead fellow. We used to see them dragging 'em those body with a horse. We bin hear 'em shoot 'em till they were finish. Drag them again, two bronco horse Take them back to the well. Make 'em full again. All them dead bodies bin make that well come right full, kankami. Kankami means right full. When they bin go up burn them with kerosene Bin go down again.
Bone - kiji. That white one now. Body. Bone for everyone. Every place, all our families. Light 'em, you can see that smoke. Spirit going up, spirit of them dead people. From there you can look all the ashes; and bone You can see the ashes there now. [1]
Information from the Kimberley Aboriginal Language Centre.MIRLI-MIRLI -WANGKALALTUKURLU, Kutjungka Parish Weekend March 15/16, 1997 Parish Newsletter, Year 5, No 10,1997, Lent Story Number 4 Clancy and Spieler - Sturt Creek Massacre.
Acknowledgment: Pamela A Smith, 'Into the Kimberley: the invasion of the Sturt Creek Basin (Kimberley region, Western Australia) and evidence of Aboriginal resistance', Aboriginal History, Vol. 24 (2000) pp. 70-71 n.4.