The Waterloo Creek massacre (also Slaughterhouse Creek massacre) refers to a series of violent clashes between
mounted police
Mounted police are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. Their day-to-day function is typically picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and increasingly in t ...
, civilian
vigilantes
Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority.
A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...
and
Indigenous Gamilaraay
The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Au ...
peoples, which occurred southwest of
Moree,
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, Australia, during December 1837 and January 1838. The Waterloo Creek Massacre site is listed on the
New South Wales Heritage Register
The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...
as a place of significance in frontier violence leading to the murder of Gamilaraay people.
The events have been subject to much dispute, due to wildly conflicting accounts by various participants and in subsequent reports and historical analyses, about the nature and number of fatalities and the lawfulness of the actions. Interpretation of the events at Waterloo Creek was raised again during the controversial "
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 ...
" which began in the 1990s in Australia.
The events
A
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
mounted police detachment was dispatched by acting
Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales
The Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales is a government position in the State of New South Wales, Australia, acting as a deputy to the Governor of New South Wales. The office was first created in October 1786, before the arrival of the Fir ...
Colonel
Kenneth Snodgrass, to track down the
Namoi,
Weraerai and
Kamilaroi
The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Aust ...
people who had killed five stockmen in separate incidents, on recently established pastoral runs on the upper
Gwydir River
Gwydir River (locally wɑe̯də, a major inland perennial river of the Barwon catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes, and Orana districts of New South Wales, Australia.
Th ...
area of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
. After two months the mounted police, consisting of two sergeants and twenty troopers led by Major James Nunn, arrested 15 Aboriginals along the
Namoi River
The Namoi River, a major perennial river that is part of the Barwon catchment of the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes districts of New South Wales, Australia.
The Namoi River rises on the we ...
. They released all but two, one of whom was shot whilst attempting to escape.
['' Historical Records of Australia'' p. 251.] The main body of
Kamilaroi
The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Aust ...
eluded the troopers, thus Major Nunn's party, along with two stockmen, pursued the
Kamilaroi
The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Aust ...
for three weeks, from present-day
Manilla on the
Namoi River
The Namoi River, a major perennial river that is part of the Barwon catchment of the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes districts of New South Wales, Australia.
The Namoi River rises on the we ...
north to the upper
Gwydir River
Gwydir River (locally wɑe̯də, a major inland perennial river of the Barwon catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes, and Orana districts of New South Wales, Australia.
Th ...
.
[Ryan p. 36] On the morning of 26 January, in a surprise attack on Nunn's party, Corporal Hannan was wounded in the calf with a spear, and subsequently four or five Aboriginals were shot dead in retaliation.
The Aboriginals fled down the river as the troopers regrouped, rearmed and pursued them, led by the second-in-command, Lieutenant George Cobban. Cobban's party found their quarry about a mile down the river at a point now known as Waterloo Creek, where a second engagement took place.
The encounter lasted several hours and no Aboriginals were captured.
'Disproportionate force'
As there had been no declaration of martial law or other authorising legislation, the police lacked authority to use more than reasonable force proportionate to any risk to the safety of persons or property. Nobody at all had a licence to kill.
The troopers may therefore have used disproportionate force directed towards individuals who posed little or no risk. "There was a suspicion that the troopers might have acted as an ill-disciplined military force rather than as a regular police force."
Official inquiry
On 5 March 1838, Nunn submitted a report on his expedition to the newly arrived
Governor Gipps.
Within the following month the colony's
Executive Council (the Colonial government constituted by the Governor and his advisers) accepted a recommendation of the Attorney General
John Plunkett
John Hubert Plunkett (June 1802 – 9 May 1869) was Attorney-General of New South Wales, an appointed member of the Legislative Council 1836–41, 1843–56, 1857–58 and 1861–69. He was also elected as a member of the Legislative As ...
, that there be an official inquiry into the expedition, including the Aboriginal deaths.
The colonial government and the Colonial Office in England were both conscious of a need to extend the rule of law to Aboriginals as well as other "British subjects" in the Colony.
On 6 April 1838 the Executive Council decided to issue regulations in the form of a government notice announcing that there would be an inquiry (that is, a coronial inquiry) into the death of any Aboriginal at the hands of a Colonist in the same way as that held when the death of a Colonist occurred through violence or suddenly. However, the decision to publish this Inquiry notice was delayed, with the Executive Council deciding to defer publication until after "public excitement" (about the
Myall Creek murderers' executions) had abated.
On 14 August 1838 the Legislative Council appointed a Committee of Inquiry into "the present state of Aborigines", to be presided over by the Anglican Bishop,
William Broughton.
Gipps's own inquiry into the Nunn expedition was delayed. He claimed to be unable to produce eyewitness evidence from mounted police owing to demands on police attendance elsewhere, and he could not afford to alienate the police volunteers upon whom policing then depended.
Additionally, Colonists away from urban areas were tending to take the law into their own hands.
Some argue that there was a breakdown in law and order, affecting the capacity of the NSW Government to govern.
Although the Nunn inquiry was reactivated on 22 July 1839 at the Merton Courthouse, New South Wales, there were no convictions and the matter was dropped. The only eyewitness accounts of the fatal main engagement were provided by Lieutenant Cobban and Sergeant John Lee. Its outcome did not result in any further judicial proceedings.
Attorney General Plunkett was reluctant to prosecute any of Nunn's expeditionary force, due to the time delays, the unavailability of reliable evidence and popular opposition.
The Executive Council decided to take no further action. It accepted that the Aboriginal deaths at Waterloo Creek were the consequence of the police, led by a military officer, acting honestly even if mistakenly or unwisely, under orders and in execution of their duty, to repel an "aggressive attack" by Aboriginals.
Police statements
Lieutenant Cobban claimed he rode to the rear of the group and found a large cache of Aboriginal weapons in the bush and secured them.
When he returned to the river, he admitted to seeing two Aboriginals being shot, trying to escape and believed that at most three or four Aborigines had been killed in the conflict.
Sergeant John Lee was with the main detachment of mounted police that pursued the Aboriginals into the river. He claimed that forty to fifty Aboriginals were killed.
Later historians' views
More recently, historians and other commentators have offered varying accounts of the site of the conflict and the number of casualties.
*R. H. W. Reece: The site was at the junction of the Slaughterhouse Creek and the Gwydir River, and 60 or 70 Aboriginals were killed.
*
Lyndall Ryan
Lyndall Ryan, (born 1943) is an Australian academic and historian. She has held positions in Australian Studies and Women's Studies at Griffith University and Flinders University and was Foundation Professor of Australian Studies and Head of Sc ...
: Sergeant Lee's estimate of 40 to 50 killed is the most reliable.
*Roger Milliss: 200-300 Gamilaraay people were killed around the site of Snodgrass Lagoon at the Lower Waters of Waterloo Creek.
Waterloo Creek Massacre Site
On 25 June 2021, the Waterloo Creek Massacre site at 3837 Millie Road, Jews Lagoon was declared a site of state heritage significance as "a place of frontier conflict" and listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register.
The site is recognised as a significant place as a place of memorial for the Aboriginal community that honours the resistance and resilience of their ancestors. Located along the Waterloo/Millie Creek waterway the site has been largely degraded with only remnant vegetation including
leopardwood,
weeping myall,
brigalow
''Acacia harpophylla'', commonly known as brigalow, brigalow spearwood or orkor, is an endemic tree of Australia. The Aboriginal Australian group the Gamilaraay peoples know the tree as Barranbaa or Burrii. It is found in central and coast ...
and
silver-leaved ironbark.
See also
*
List of massacres of Indigenous Australians
Numerous clashes involving Indigenous people (on the continent "Australia") occurred during and after a wave of mass immigration of Europeans into the continent, which began in the late 18th century and lasted until the early 20th century. The ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waterloo Creek Massacre
Conflicts in 1838
Massacres in 1838
Crime in New South Wales
Deaths by firearm in New South Wales
1838 in Australia
Australian National Heritage List
19th century in New South Wales
Massacres of Indigenous Australians
Police misconduct in Australia
January 1838 events
1830s crimes in Australia