The Cullin-la-Ringo massacre, which occurred in central Queensland on 17 October 1861, was the largest massacre of white settlers by Aborigines in the history of Australia[1].
Nineteen of the twenty-five members of the Victorian squatter Horatio Wills party were 'murdered' in their temporary tent camp on the newly established grazing property of Cullin-la-Ringo.
The nineteen killed was Horatio Spencer Wills, the overseer David Baker and his wife Mrs. Baker, their son David Baker Jnr, their daughter Elizabeth Baker, Iden Baker (a boy) and an infant Baker (8 months old), George Elliott, Patrick Mannion and wife Mrs. Mannion and their 3 children (Mary Ann Mannion, 8 years old; Maggie Mannion, 4 years old and baby Mannion, an infant), Edward McCormac, Charles Weeden, James Scott, Henry Pickering, George Ling and a bullock driver known only as 'Tom' (who had been engaged at Rockhampton.
The six surviving members included James Baker, Wills' son Thomas Wills, John Moore, William Albrey, Edward Kenny and Patrick Mahony who were either absent or in one case had managed to avoid being seen. It was Edward Kenny who subsequently rode on to report the massacre arriving at the neighbouring Rainworth station at one p.m in the morning of the following day. Moore was the only white eyewitness to the event.
Wills' party, an enormous settlement train including bullock wagons and more than 10,000 sheep, had set out from Brisbane eight months earlier to set up a farm at Cullin-La-Ringo, a property formed by amalgamating four blocks of land with a total area of 260 km². The size of the group had attracted much attention from other settlers, as well as the indigenous people.
According to Moore's account, Aborigines had been passing through the camp all day, building up numbers until there were at least 50. Then, without warning, they attacked, murdering all the men, women and children with nulla nullas. The victims defended themselves with pistols and tent poles.
The first avengers to go out in pursue was a vigilante party of eleven heavily armed white settlers assisted by two trackers. The successfully pursued what, judged on 'upwards of fifty' camp fires, was described as 'probably not under 300, and of these 100 may be assumed as the number of fighting men.'
The Aborigines continually used ground which prevented the whites from using their horses to their full;'they chose stony and difficult ground wherever they had it in their power', it was said. Yet still the whites managed to catch up with them and on 'half-past two a.m. on Wednesday morning their camp was stormed on foot with success.'[2]
The date was 27 November 1861 and the actual Aboriginal casualties were from this account very large although no one could see any benefits in going into detail. The avengers, however, were certainly sufficiently satisfied to leave the rest to the native police to take on the next run.