Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

Congratulations on your appointment, Deputy Speaker Llew O'Brien. Two weeks ago I attended the Hetti Perkins aged-care facility in Alice Springs to recognise the achievements and the 100th birthday of Mr Japanangka, now Kumunjayi because of cultural reasons. He was born at Coniston in the Northern Territory in January 1920. Kumunjayi passed away on 31 January this year. His first language was Anmatyerre, his second language was Warlpiri, and his home community was Yuelamu on Mount Allan station.

The Coniston massacre of 1928 was the last documented massacre in Australia. Conservatively, over 60 Aboriginal men, women and children were murdered in the Central Desert region over several months. Kumunjayi was a witness to these murders, including, grossly, that of his mother. The massacre was not a single event but a series of raids following two other events. The first was the murder of Frederick Brooks, a white dingo trapper, on 7 August 1928 at Yurrkuru—Brookes Soak—after a dispute with an Aboriginal man, Bullfrog Japanangka, who believed that this man was living with one or more of his wives. Many innocent Aboriginal people were caught up in the violence that followed. A reprisal party, led by Constable George Murray, set out from Coniston station on 16 August and killed five people that day. By the time they returned to Coniston station on 30 August at least 17 people were dead. The killings continued around the region until mid-October.

A board of inquiry began in late 1928. It found that 31 Aboriginal people had been killed by Constable George Murray and others following the murder of Brooks. There were a minimum of six sites where killings were officially recognised by the board to have taken place between August and November 1928. Aboriginal people of the region mention other places where they say killings took place, but these were not mentioned in the board of inquiry. Shamefully, the board of inquiry also found that Murray and his party had acted in self-defence. How could they possibly do that? The board and its findings were widely criticised for having no Aboriginal witnesses, except tracker Paddy, and no counsel for Aboriginal people, and because the evidence was not made public.

The murder of so many people has long been a cause of deep sadness for Aboriginal people in the region whose families suffered from the cruelty. The lack of acknowledgement by the non-Aboriginal community of what occurred during those fateful months of 1928 increased the despair felt by Aboriginal people about this shameful moment in Australian history. The story still remains vivid and painful to the descendants of those who were so cruelly taken. Many people still talk about their family members who were gunned down during ceremony or hunting.

The effect of the Coniston killings is felt widely in Central Australia. It scattered people far and wide. Some never returned to their country. In 2018 the families of an estimated 100 murder victims, alongside members of Constable Murray's family, travelled to the remote outstation of Yurrkuru, Brookes Soak, approximately three hours north-west of Alice Springs, to commemorate with songs, dances, speeches and prayers the 90th anniversary of these killings. In an act of reconciliation, over 500 people gathered to join together to share the truth about this colonial past with the families of the victims and the perpetrators. The event was a practical example of truth-telling: Australians, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, officially uniting so the nation can move forward. Constable Murray's great-niece, Liza Dale-Hallett, said of the commemoration:

We were warmly welcomed. We came together with our shared histories to openly speak about the trauma and suffering of the past. We believe that facing our history, Australia's history, is so important to our future. These story are not being heard. This history is not just yours and ours. It is every Australian's history. It is important that Australians open their hearts to listen to understand how important this past is for all of our futures.

Jupurrurla Kelly, the chairperson of the Central Land Council, said:

It's good that the descendants of Constable Murray and his trackers commemorate this sad anniversary with our families. It shows that individual people can become reconciled by telling the truth.

Kumunjayi, who died at the end of January, was a leader in the Central Land Council. He got his land back at Mount Allan station in 1988 after a protracted fight with the Northern Territory government. He was a performer, an artist and, in his younger days, a stockman. He featured in Australian films, including Rabbit-proof fence.

The old man's life saw the near extinction of his community when he was a child. He grew up experiencing and knowing the detailed raw emotional story and fate of his family killed in the Coniston massacre. He lived to fight for his community's control of their land. He also lived to see the reconciliation of families from both sides of the Coniston massacre—an event of national significance to all Australians. Rest in peace, old man.

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