Police speech stuns descendants gathered at site of outback mass killing

The old Forrest River Mission and Oombulgurri townsite sits near the banks of the Forrest River. ( Supplied: Steve Cutts) Link copiedShareShare articleThere was not much left of the bodies of the people killed at Forrest River. Charred fragments of bone, and small piles of teeth. The men and women had been shot and burnt in large makeshift bush ovens. Ronnie Morgan grew up hearing the stories of what happened. "My great-grandparents said they went out there with other people from the mission and put the remains into hessian bags," he says. "And they buried them here, under a rubble of rocks, and put up this cross." The white crucifix, made of steel piping, sits atop a hill, looming over the old Forrest Mission in remote northern Western Australia. It's the only visual marker of a mass killing that became a national scandal. Now, on the 100th anniversary of the Forrest River massacre, the descendants of some of those killed are returning. "This is not a blame game, and we're not trying to make people feel bad" Ronnie says. "But this is part Australian history, as dark as it is. "Let's bring it to the surface, and be honest about it, and then maybe we can start to move forward." As boats and bush planes deliver people to the remote site, Ronnie doesn't know there's one guest with a surprise in store. The Forrest River massacre occurred in 1926 on Balanggarra country in the north Kimberley. The number of deaths has been disputed, but the basics were laid out in a Royal Commission held in Perth the following year. A white pastoralist was fatally wounded by an Aboriginal man named Lumbia during a violent altercation at a remote creek bed. A heavily armed party of 13 police and civilians set off on horseback to catch the killer. Over a period of several weeks they rounded up and murdered at least eleven people, at three different sites. The initial police investigation and subsequent royal commission uncovered forensic evidence including "charred bone", "pieces of teeth" and an "improvised oven" constructed from large flat stones. Locals insisted many more had died, which Commissioner George Wood acknowledged in his findings: "Some 30 natives, who had been visiting the [Forrest River] Mission… have not been seen there since June of last year. This fact is of immense significance in view of the alleged wholesale massacre of natives…" In recent years, some writers have challenged the narrative, pointing out inconsistencies in the evidence, attacks committed by local Aboriginal people, and the unreliability of oral history. What's undisputed is that it was a violent time in northern Australia, with the arrival of white settlers triggering conflict over land, women and cattle. For decades brutal practices such as whipping and neck-chains occurred out of sight of much of the rest of Australia. Newspaper articles from the time suggest the Forrest River massacre cut through to the national public consciousness, with headlines describing "mutilated bodies" and "the wholesales slaughter of natives". Despite that, no one was ever convicted for the killings. Murder charges laid against the young policemen who led the patrol were dismissed due to a lack of evidence. Ultimately, the only person to serve jail time was Lumbia, the Aboriginal man whose bloody fight with pastoralist Frederick Hay triggered the entire episode. His never-before published prison photo remains in the State Records Office in Perth, a melancholy mugshot from a century ago. Balanggarra people grew up hearing disturbing accounts of the killings. A man named Daniel Evans, who was living at the Forrest River Mission at the time, recounted his family's story to The Bulletin in 1961. "There was people camping near the river. They shot the old people in the camp and threw them in the water," he said. "They took the women on a chain to a separate grave, then the police boys made a big bonfire… when they saw the big flame of fire getting up, then they started shooting the women… they threw them in the flame of fire to be burned to bits. "Nowdays, at Umbali, you can hear ghosts crying in the night, chains, babies crying, troopers' horses, chain jingling." The account is impossible to verify, but it matches with the forensic evidence collected at the time. Colin Morgan's grandparents were also living on the Forrest River Mission. "My grandfather told me the police took the chains off the people and told the people to gather firewood," he said. "They piled up the wood, and then they were shot, and they were thrown on the pile of wood and burnt." The centenary memorial is held in the bright sunshine of a dry season day. Travelling to the old Forrest River Mission has not been easy, with large tides cutting off boat access and charter planes costing thousands of dollars. The descendants of those killed remain scattered across the Kimberley, living in isolated townships. Adding to their sadness is that the Oombulgurri communi

Police speech stuns descendants gathered at site of outback mass killing

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