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My Mother’s Country Part 1 (2001)

play May contain names, images or voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
clip Tobacco education content clip 2

This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

A young woman and two older women tell us the stories passed on from their old people about the massacre of Aboriginal people by white men in 1928. Painted depictions of the story run beneath the voice-over, giving it a chilling tone.

Curator’s notes

by Romaine Moreton

In what has become known as the Coniston Massacre, Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye peoples were killed. In the absence of textual records of the massacre by way of film or photographs, the recount of the atrocity has survived through oral history. In this clip, we hear people retell the stories told to them of the Coniston Massacre, and the use of paintings to illustrate their story is one that is not only creative, but also necessary in the absence of pictorial evidence. The Coniston Massacre took place during a severe drought, and competition for resources was intense. The whites involved in the killings were acquitted, and the blame for the killings rested with the Indigenous people themselves, whom Constable William Murray described as his attackers.

Teacher’s notes

provided by The Le@rning FederationEducation Services Australia

This clip shows three women describing the 1928 Coniston massacre in the Northern Territory. They recount stories passed on by older people about a group of white men who pursued and killed Kaytetye, Anmatyerre and Warlpiri people. One woman says her grandfather was placed in chains when he approached the white men to ask for tobacco. The stories are combined with paintings depicting the massacre and a soundtrack of music, people screaming and gunshots. Two of the women speak in Warlpiri, which is subtitled.

Educational value points

  • The clip demonstrates how stories of the killings carried out by white men in the Coniston massacre have been passed on. Two of the women identify the sources of their accounts – one identifies her father, Johnny Nelson, and the other the old people who used to talk about the massacre. The story of the massacre is well known among Indigenous people in central Australia but is not well known among non-Indigenous Australians.
  • The Coniston massacre was a series of murders carried out in 1928 by a vigilante party led by Constable William Murray. Between 31 and 100 Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye people were killed in raids from August to October at six or more sites near Coniston Station, 268 km north-west of Alice Springs.
  • The raids were in retaliation for the murder of Frederick Brooks, a white dingo trapper, by Bullfrog (Japanangka), a Warlpiri man. Local Indigenous stories agree that Bullfrog was motivated by anger resulting either from his wife (or wives) being with Brooks or from Brooks failing to pay Bullfrog enough in rations. Wildly exaggerated accounts circulated among pastoralists that up to 40 men had set upon Brooks.
  • In the period leading up to the massacre, tensions between white pastoralists and Indigenous people were high. Pastoralists and their cattle had moved into the country of local Indigenous people and an extended drought had increased competition for scarce resources. Pastoralists were vociferous in calling for action against those who speared and ate their cattle. Indigenous people were alarmed by reports of a massacre in the East Kimberley region.
  • In the absence of photographs or film the clip uses interviews, voice-overs, paintings of the massacre and re-creations to vividly depict the Coniston massacre from an Indigenous perspective. The images and sounds reinforce the oral history accounts and evoke a sense of the terror and confusion of the massacre.
  • Many people not only lost family as a result of the massacre, but were scattered far from their country to the north-east and north-west. Many groups have never returned. That then made it easier for local pastoralists to increase their land holdings. For the Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye peoples the massacre caused deep grief and major cultural dislocation.
  • The accounts in the clip, which describe men, women and children being hunted down, contradict the claim made by Constable Murray and his party that he acted in self-defence. An inquiry set up by the Australian Government following the massacre found Murray’s actions were justified. Only one Indigenous person gave evidence to the inquiry and no legal counsel was provided for Indigenous people. The inquiry’s report set the official death toll at 31.

This clip starts approximately 12 minutes into the documentary.

A young woman and two older women tell us the stories passed on from their old people about the massacre of Aboriginal people by white men in 1928. Painted depictions of the story and sound effects run beneath the interviews.
Woman 1 They killed everyone there. Some ran away and tried to hide somewhere and there was killing, getting little kids, little babies, hitting them against the trees, killing them. Some people tried to fight back with spears and boomerang and the women ran away with the kids, the children, tried to hide the babies, put the babies, tried to hide them.
Woman 2 (Speaks Warlpiri) That was before our time. The old people used to tell us about it. I remember this story well. The old people told me all the stories about when the white man came here. The white man came and started killing them at the creek. People were running everywhere. The Aboriginal people were sitting at the creek. Frightened, they ran away. The other mob hid inside the hollow paper bark tree. When they saw the white man had gone, they came out.
Woman 3 (Speaks Warlpiri) The white man came here shooting people. There were Kaytetye, Anmatyerre and Warlpiri people. They were shooting the women and children. They shot the old people as well. My grandfather didn’t know what was going to happen and asked them for tobacco. He didn’t know — he just went over to them and asked for some tobacco. The police said, ‘Put your hands up.’ They just told him to put his hands in the air. Then they chained his hands, legs and neck. This story was told to me by my father Johnny Nelson.