1 ACTIVITY 1 VISITING THE SCENE OF THE EVENTS Watch the video clip and answer the following questions:

: 1. Describe the environment around Coniston. What does it look like? What might it have been like in 1928?

2. How might visiting this place help you to understand the events of the past better?

3. What do we learn about the leader of the police party, William George Murray? Does this surprise you?

4. How might Murrays background help us understand what happened?

5. According to Aboriginal researcher Teresa Napurulla Ross: a. Who killed Brooks?

b. Who helped?

c. Why was he killed?

d. How might this have been justifiable according to Aboriginal law?

6. What was the police response to his killing?

7. How might this response have been justifiable according to Australian law?

8. What happened to Kamalyarrpa Japanangka (Bullfrog)? Does this surprise you? ACTIVITY 2 BACKGROUND EVIDENCE GIVEN TO BOARD OF INQUIRY

2 Look at the information about the background to the massacre and summarise relevant information for each of the questions in the table bellow. Background to the Coniston Massacre Which different Aboriginal groups were in the area?

What were the missionaries trying to achieve? How did most Europeans react to them? What were the attitudes of Aboriginal people to the pastoralists?

What were the attitudes of the Europeans to the Aboriginal people?

How was drought affecting water resources?

Was the drought reducing the availability of natural foods?

What was the nature of police activity in the area?

What was the overall state of relations between Aboriginal people and pastoralists? ACTIVITY 3 UNDERSTANDING THE TWO POLICE EXPEDITIONS

3 1. Working in groups, look at one of the following pages of evidence from William Murray and answer the questions on the timeline. Be ready to report your answers to the other groups. NOTE: The timeline includes two separate police expeditions: Murrays first expedition the Brooks expedition resulting in 17 recorded deaths and the arrest of two men. Murrays second expedition the expedition with Morton to arrest Aboriginal men who had attacked him resulting in 14 recorded deaths. 2. Answer the questions in column B of the Board of Inquiry Summary Table bellow leave column C blank for the moment. Board of Inquiry Summary Table A Key Issues B Evidence from the Board of Inquiry C Other evidence not given to the Board of Inquiry

1. Why were the two police parties sent out? 2. What did Murray say he was trying to achieve? 3. What evidence was there for Murray to suspect each of the Aboriginal groups he came across in the involvement of Brooks death? 4. According to Murrays evidence, how did he try to peacefully arrest them? 5. According to Murrays evidence, why were so many suspects killed? 6. According to Murrays evidence, how many people did he not arrest? 7. According to Murrays evidence, why did he let these people go free? 8. According to the evidence, did Murray commit any crimes or were the killings able to be explained? TASK 4 STUDYING ABORIGINAL ACCOUNTS

4 1. Complete the Summary of Aboriginal Evidence of the Killings Table bellow. Documents 1-5 are evidence of events at specific places; documents 6-7 are not specific to a place. Deaths Tipinpa Who? Locations Dingo Hole Wajinpulungk Not specified

How many?

How?

Why?

By whom?

2. Add any new ideas to column C of the Board of Inquiry Summary Table. ACTIVITY 5 FINAL EVIDENCE

5 Summarise this evidence into the Board of Inquiry Summary Table to help you answer questions 1-8. Information from document 1 should go in column B; documents 2-11 go in column C.

ACTIVITY 6 COMING TO A CONCLUSION Indicate whether you agree or not with each statement.
Aspect Your Conclusion

6
Prob. Yes The drought meant that Aboriginal people were starving Aboriginal people and Europeans generally got on well Unrest was caused by settlers taking over Aboriginal land and waterholes Unrest was caused by missionaries preaching equality Settlers and Aboriginal people respected each others laws and culture There were too few police to enforce European law Was killed by Japananga (Bullfrog) alone Was killed by several people Was killed by a large group Was killed out of sexual jealousy Was killed because he broke Aboriginal law Was killed because he abused Aboriginal women Was killed because Japananga was angry Was a coward Was a hero Was a murderer Was acting to enforce Aboriginal law Were punitive expeditions to terrorise Aboriginal people Were acting to enforce the law Deliberately killed as many Aboriginal people as possible Only killed those resisting arrest Killed 31 people Killed about 70 people Killed 100-200 people Communicated effectively with Aboriginal people Killed everybody they met Killed only guilty people Killed women and children Told the truth Told lies Told the full story Told only those parts of the story that suited him Acted bravely and was a hero Acted as a coward and was murderer Was just a policeman doing his job Was fair and impartial Heard from all the available witnesses Was unfair and a whitewash Achieved justice Was completely unjust Not Sure Prob. No

Background

Brooks

Japananga (Bullfrog)

Police expeditions

Constable Murray

The official inquiry