Mistake Creek massacre

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The massacre at Mistake Creek on Kiya strain of Aborigines found in March of 1915 at East Kimberley instead. There are oral accounts of the kija and reports from the local police about this conflict, in which seven or eight kija were murdered. Two of the employees of the former police constable Rhatigan were undoubtedly involved in this massacre. Rhatigan's involvement is believed but has not been proven. Although he was arrested after the massacre, the police investigation does not document anything in this regard.

procedure

There were disputes between the Kija and one of the employees of Rhatigan, Wynn, an Aborigine of an unknown tribe, in the run-up to the massacre. Rhatigan's involvement is unclear, as the killers rode his horses and used his handguns, but the police reports provide no evidence. It can be assumed that he at least supported the massacre, since he had to assume, driven by Wynn, that the Aborigines had stolen a cow, slaughtered it and then consumed it. In reality, the cow was just missing and was found after the massacre.

Rhatigan was arrested by the police and Wynn was killed by an Aboriginal police tracker after the massacre. The other Rhatigan worker, Nipper, also an Aboriginal of an unknown tribe, surrendered to the police.

Public disputes

In 1989, 84 years after this incident, a public discussion began when it was discovered that the year of the massacre was incorrect as 1930 and the crime had occurred in 1915. In this discussion, the incident was portrayed as an Aboriginal dispute over a woman on a ranch. It was believed that Rhatigan was accused because Wynn and Nipper rode his horses and carried his handguns with them. In a newspaper report of November 27, 2002, the following is stated regarding the investigation of the police into Rhatigan's involvement in the massacre: “ It needs little imagination to conceive that that reluctance could well be heightened in a case where a former police constable [Rhatigan] was involved. "(German: It takes little imagination to understand that the aversion was very high in a case involving a former police constable [Rhatigan].)

The oral tradition of the kija reports that Rhatigan led the massacre, believing Wynn's testimony that his cow was stolen and slaughtered.

The massacre is firmly anchored in the traditions of the Kija and the Aboriginal painter Queenie McKenzie has depicted the process in a picture from 1990, "Mistake Creek Massacre". In 2006 this picture was no longer exhibited by the selection committee of the National Museum of Australia in the dispute over History Wars in Australia.

The investigation of this crime has not been brought to any court.

Memorial and commemoration

Years ago, the Sisters of the Order of St. Joseph, who looked after the Aborigines in the east of the Kimberley, erected a small memorial at the foot of the tree to mark the place of the massacre. A memorial day of the massacre is held here every year.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ decrying the memories of Mistake Creek , Sydney Morning Herald on 26 November 2002
  2. ^ Truce, and Truth, in history wars , Sydney Morning Herald, April 19, 2004