Massacre at Kangaroo Creek, Clarence Pastoral District

Date: 29 Nov 1847
Place: Kangaroo Creek, Clarence Pastoral District
Event type: massacre
Direct violence: Yes
In December 1847, Crown Lands Commissioner, Oliver Fry, based at Grafton, was told by a stockman and at least one Aboriginal man that on 29 November 1847, squatter Thomas Coutts had poisoned 23 Aboriginal people by offering them damper laced with arsenic at his station at Kangaroo Creek. In January 1848 Fry set off for Kangaroo Creek Station to investigate. He found human remains at the Aboriginal camp on the station but they were too decomposed for analysis. He ordered the arrest of Coutts, charged him with murder and sent him to Sydney on the ship Phoenix under armed guard. In the Sydney magistrate's court he was bailed for 1,000 pounds to appear in the Supreme Court in May 1848. In May however, he was discharged for lack of evidence. The stockman who reported the crime was under arrest for another crime and the Aboriginal witnesses were prevented by law from presenting evidence in court (MMHRGA, February 2, 1848, p 3). However, the Attorney General, J.H. Plunkett, was 'in no moral doubt' that Coutts had poisoned the Aboriginal people and caused their deaths (Lydon, 1996, pp 159-60).
Notes:
CorroborationRating: ***
LanguageGroup: Gumbaynggnir
Victims: Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
VictimsDead: 23

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Sources

Event mentions

  • Massacre at Kangaroo Creek, Clarence Pastoral District
    29 Nov 1847 — Kangaroo Creek, Clarence Pastoral District — massacre
    In December 1847, Crown Lands Commissioner, Oliver Fry, based at Grafton, was told by a stockman and at least one Aboriginal man that on 29 November 1847, squatter Thomas Coutts had poisoned 23 Aboriginal people by offering them damper laced with arsenic at his station at Kangaroo Creek. In January 1848 Fry set off for Kangaroo Creek Station to investigate. He found human remains at the Aboriginal camp on the station but they were too decomposed for analysis. He ordered the arrest of Coutts, charged him with murder and sent him to Sydney on the ship Phoenix under armed guard. In the Sydney magistrate's court he was bailed for 1,000 pounds to appear in the Supreme Court in May 1848. In May however, he was discharged for lack of evidence. The stockman who reported the crime was under arrest for another crime and the Aboriginal witnesses were prevented by law from presenting evidence in court (MMHRGA, February 2, 1848, p 3). However, the Attorney General, J.H. Plunkett, was 'in no moral doubt' that Coutts had poisoned the Aboriginal people and caused their deaths (Lydon, 1996, pp 159-60).
    Source: HRA I, xxvi, p 392, 396 https://opal.latrobe.edu.au/articles/book/Historical_records_of_Australia_Series_I_Governors_despatches_to_and_from_England_Volume_XXVI_October_1847-December_1848_edited_by_Frederick_Watson_/22300309; Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, February 2, 1848, p 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article713447; Lydon 1996, p 151-175.