The Mistake Creek massacre was a
massacre of Indigenous Australians that took place in
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
in 1915.
Massacre
On 28 March 1915,
between 8
and 32
Gija people
Gija, also spelt Gidja and Kija, alternatively known as the Lungga, refers to Aboriginal Australians from the East Kimberley area of Western Australia, about 200 km south of Kununurra. In the late 19th century pastoralists were fiercely r ...
were shot and killed, and their bodies burned, at Mistake Creek in the
East Kimberley.
Exactly who was responsible and why the massacre occurred have remained uncertain,
but the perpetrators are believed to have been an ex-policeman and telegraph linesman from
Warmun
Warmun Community (also known as Turkey Creek) and Warmun are a township and locality in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, located on the Great Northern Highway, northeast of Perth, Western Australia. The closest populated town is Hal ...
(then known as Turkey Creek) called Michael
[ "Mick" Rhatigan and two of his Indigenous employees, Jim Wynne and Nipper.] Rhatigan had been involved in earlier massacres of Aboriginal people during his time as a police constable, including one in 1895 where around 20 people were killed.
According to Gija oral history, the motive was the mistaken belief that one of Rhatigan's milking cows had been killed and eaten by members of the camp that was attacked. The oral history accounts state that Rhatigan was directly involved in the massacre, with Wynne and Nipper assisting. There is some suggestion that Wynne, who was not Gija himself, had encouraged the massacre in some way, possibly due to a dispute over a woman. The Gija oral history seems to have been derived from accounts given by survivors of the massacre.
Aftermath
Rhatigan and Nipper were arrested. Wynne was shot dead by police whilst trying to escape after he was seen near one of the bodies. A coroner's inquest
A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jur ...
held at Turkey Creek acquitted Rhatigan of any wrongdoing, while Nipper was ordered to face trial for the murder of eight people. Wynne's death was ruled a "justifiable homicide", and the constable who shot Wynne was commended by the jury for his "promptness" in shooting him as he was allegedly "a most dangerous character". Nipper was later found not guilty and was released, and later worked at the police stables in Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
.[
Rhatigan remained a telegraph linesman at Turkey Creek until his death in 1920.] His son, John Rhatigan
John Joseph Rhatigan (18 June 1907 – 9 November 1970) was an Australian politician who was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1953 to 1968, representing the seat of Kimberley.
Biography
John Rhatigan ...
, became a long-serving Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the la ...
politician in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House, Perth, Parliament House in the Western Australian capi ...
.
Differing versions
In 2001 controversy arose following a visit by the Governor General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...
, William Deane
Sir William Patrick Deane (born 4 January 1931) is an Australian barrister and jurist who served as the 22nd governor-general of Australia, in office from 1996 to 2001. He was previously a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1982 to 19 ...
, to the site of the massacre. According to columnist Miranda Devine
Miranda Devine (born 1 July 1961) is an Australian columnist and writer, now based in New York City. She hosted ''The Miranda Devine Show'' on Sydney radio station 2GB until it ended in 2015. She has written columns for Fairfax Media newspapers ...
, reporting on historian Keith Windschuttle
Keith Windschuttle (born 1942) is an Australian historian and former board member of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
He was editor of '' Quadrant'' from 2007 to 2015 when he became chair of the board and editor-in-chief. He was the pub ...
's version of events, Deane personally apologised for the events at Mistake Creek and for other frontier killings by white people, mentioning Rhatigan and his employees had committed the massacre over the mistaken belief that a cow had been stolen. Windschuttle asserted that there were no Europeans involved in the massacre, and that it was a drastic escalation of a dispute over a woman. He stated that Wynne and Nipper were the only ones involved, starting a debate on the actual details of the massacre.
Windschuttle's account was vigorously rebutted by WA historian Cathie Clement, who also said the Windschuttle's reporting of Deane's visit was factually incorrect, and that he did not actually make an apology at all, citing the original sources of that story. She also stated that Windschuttle's version of the reporting of events passed down in oral history and related by Patrick O'Brien was incorrect, and had been corrected by O'Brien.[
Later research has shown that the oral and visual histories are significant, and today they are given more weight than they were in the past, when they were often dismissed in favour of colonial representations of history.]
In art
Gija people from Warmun (Turkey Creek) community have depicted the massacre in their artworks.
A painting by well-known Aboriginal artist Queenie McKenzie
Queenie McKenzie (Nakarra) (formerly Oakes, or Mingmarriya) (c. 1915 – 16 November 1998) was an Aboriginal Australian artist. She was born on Old Texas Station, on the western bank of the Ord River in the East Kimberley.
Early life
M ...
depicting the massacre was bought by the National Museum of Australia
The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...
in 2005, but was not put on display as it was claimed to depict an "event which never occurred". Ian McLean, University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...
's Hugh Ramsay chair of Australian Art History, said that this was a political decision, made in the era of the "history wars
The history wars is a term used in Australia to describe the public debate about the interpretation of the history of the European colonisation of Australia and the development of contemporary Australian society, particularly with regard to th ...
". In July 2020 it was put on display as part of a new exhibition titled ''Talking Blak to History'' at the Museum.[
]
See also
* List of massacres of Indigenous Australians
References
{{reflist
1915 in Australia
Massacres in 1915
20th century in Western Australia
March 1915 events
Massacres of Indigenous Australians