Qualla: Coniston Massacre https://qualla.com/coniston-massacre en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:27 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/q/u/n/4/coniston-massacre-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Coniston Massacre https://qualla.com/coniston-massacre Coniston Massacre: Introduction https://qualla.com/coniston-massacre/ Photo credit Donald and Isabel Dowling, CC BY-SA 4.0. The inquiry convened in Darwin in 1929 had a built-in conclusion. Constable William George Murray had led eleven separate punitive expeditions across Central Australia between August and October 1928, killing at least 31 Aboriginal people — though Aboriginal oral histories and later analysis put the true figure closer to 200. The inquiry exonerated him completely. When asked why he had taken no prisoners in a region hundreds of miles from any settlement, Murray told the court: "What use is a wounded black feller a hundred miles from civilisation?" The remark was not held against him.

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Image: Donald and Isabel Dowling | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/u/n/4/coniston-massacre-wp/qun4-coniston-massacre-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Coniston Massacre: The Fourth Year of Drought https://qualla.com/coniston-massacre/ Photo credit Donald and Isabel Dowling, CC BY-SA 4.0. Central Australia in 1928 was in its fourth consecutive year of severe drought. Waterholes that had sustained Warlpiri, Anmatyerre, and Kaytetye people for generations were drying up. The new cattle stations had fenced off permanent soaks, the only reliable water left, and statio...

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Image: Donald and Isabel Dowling | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/u/n/4/coniston-massacre-wp/qun4-coniston-massacre-the-fourth-year-of-drought.mp3 0:06 2 full Coniston Massacre: The Killing of Fred Brooks https://qualla.com/coniston-massacre/ Photo credit Donald and Isabel Dowling, CC BY-SA 4.0. Fred Brooks, 61, had worked as a station hand on Randall Stafford's Coniston Station since World War I. In July 1928, he took up dingo trapping for the ten-shilling bounty on scalps. Stafford warned him that Aboriginal people in the area had been threatening, and that he and his ...

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Image: Donald and Isabel Dowling | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/u/n/4/coniston-massacre-wp/qun4-coniston-massacre-the-killing-of-fred-brooks.mp3 0:06 3 full Coniston Massacre: The Punitive Expeditions https://qualla.com/coniston-massacre/ Photo credit Donald and Isabel Dowling, CC BY-SA 4.0. Murray arrived at Coniston Station on 14 August and began what would become eleven separate expeditions. He was accompanied by station workers and volunteers, moving through country where Warlpiri, Anmatyerre, and Kaytetye people lived. The killings were spread across a vast area...

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Image: Donald and Isabel Dowling | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/u/n/4/coniston-massacre-wp/qun4-coniston-massacre-the-punitive-expeditions.mp3 0:06 4 full Coniston Massacre: Exoneration and Memory https://qualla.com/coniston-massacre/ Photo credit Donald and Isabel Dowling, CC BY-SA 4.0. Murray returned to Darwin as something of a hero. The inquiry found his actions justified; he was not charged. The Coniston massacre remained largely absent from mainstream Australian historical consciousness for decades. It was not until the 1980s and 1990s, as the broader histo...

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]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/u/n/4/coniston-massacre-wp/qun4-coniston-massacre-exoneration-and-memory.mp3 0:06 5 full