Massacre at Spear Gully, Halls Creek

Date: 1 Jul 1886 – 1 Sep 1886
Place: Spear Gully, Halls Creek
Event type: massacre
Direct violence: Yes
In June 1886, Halls Creek gold miner Fred Marriot was speared to death by Jaru or Kija people. Police reports attributed the killing to Aboriginal aggression although the reason for this attack was the miner's abduction of an Aboriginal woman and keeping of her for sexual purposes. Other oral history accounts state that the miner gave Aboriginal people poisoned flour (Kimberley Languages Resource Centre 1996, p 37). In July 1886, a group of Halls Creek prospectors organised a punitive expedition and as Robert Tennant Stow Wolfe, a member of the party, stated: 'We all went out and dispersed those niggers' (Clement 2000, p 6; Clement & Bridge 1991, p xiii). Aboriginal oral history accounts and private accounts of this incident differ from the official statistics in the numbers of Aboriginal people shot. In 'Moola Bulla: in the shadow of the mountain', the authors draw from oral accounts and suggest 'as many as 100 Jaru or Kija killed in reprisal for the killing of Merriott [sic] a miner' (Kimberley Languages Resource Centre 1996, p 37). Then there is the private diary of a young prospector, George Hales, who wrote that: 'A number of diggers went out to take revenge. Having bailed up a large number of blacks in a gully who showed fight, they proceeded to slaughter them with repeating rifles. It is certain that a great many were killed, some say at least a hundred' (Hales cited in Green, 1995, p 59).
Notes:
CorroborationRating: ***
LanguageGroup: Jaru, Kitja, Wawarl
Victims: Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People
VictimsDead: 20

People involved

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Sources

  • Clement, 2000, p 6; Clement and Bridge, 1991, p xiii; Kimberley Languages Resource Centre (eds), 1996 Moola Bulla: In the shadow of the mountain, Magabala Books, Broome, p 37; WAPD, Report by Sergt Troy from R. McPhee regarding death of Fred Marriot, Derby Police Station, 3 July 1886, SROWA, AN 5, Acc. 738/3; Lamond, 1971, pp 29-30; Owen, 2003, pp 129-156; Owen, 2016, pp 225-231; Green, 1995.

Event mentions

  • Massacre at Spear Gully, Halls Creek
    1 Jul 1886 – 1 Sep 1886 — Spear Gully, Halls Creek — massacre
    In June 1886, Halls Creek gold miner Fred Marriot was speared to death by Jaru or Kija people. Police reports attributed the killing to Aboriginal aggression although the reason for this attack was the miner's abduction of an Aboriginal woman and keeping of her for sexual purposes. Other oral history accounts state that the miner gave Aboriginal people poisoned flour (Kimberley Languages Resource Centre 1996, p 37). In July 1886, a group of Halls Creek prospectors organised a punitive expedition and as Robert Tennant Stow Wolfe, a member of the party, stated: 'We all went out and dispersed those niggers' (Clement 2000, p 6; Clement & Bridge 1991, p xiii). Aboriginal oral history accounts and private accounts of this incident differ from the official statistics in the numbers of Aboriginal people shot. In 'Moola Bulla: in the shadow of the mountain', the authors draw from oral accounts and suggest 'as many as 100 Jaru or Kija killed in reprisal for the killing of Merriott [sic] a miner' (Kimberley Languages Resource Centre 1996, p 37). Then there is the private diary of a young prospector, George Hales, who wrote that: 'A number of diggers went out to take revenge. Having bailed up a large number of blacks in a gully who showed fight, they proceeded to slaughter them with repeating rifles. It is certain that a great many were killed, some say at least a hundred' (Hales cited in Green, 1995, p 59).
    Source: Clement, 2000, p 6; Clement and Bridge, 1991, p xiii; Kimberley Languages Resource Centre (eds), 1996 Moola Bulla: In the shadow of the mountain, Magabala Books, Broome, p 37; WAPD, Report by Sergt Troy from R. McPhee regarding death of Fred Marriot, Derby Police Station, 3 July 1886, SROWA, AN 5, Acc. 738/3; Lamond, 1971, pp 29-30; Owen, 2003, pp 129-156; Owen, 2016, pp 225-231; Green, 1995.