Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1955), Tuesday 13 November 1928, page 6


NATIVE SLAUGHTER

ALICE SPRINGS HORROR MINISTER'S CRITICISM

DARWIN, Monday.

In a prelude to a sermon in the Dar-win Methodist Church on Sunday even ing, the Rev. Stanley Jarvis, for seven years a missionary in Fiji, said:— 'The recent murder case, in which Frederick Brooks was alleged to have been killed by certain natives near Alice

Springs, was remarkable for the amaz-ing admissions made by the police. It would not be right for him as a mission-ary of the Methodist Church to keep silent when such extraordinary revela-tions were made in the Supreme Court. 'Mounted-constable Murray admitted that he and his party shot down 17 abo-rigines at odd times during the 20 days' hunt for the alleged murderers. It has shocked the community. First, a native was shot over the left eye and lingered in agony for 14 days and then died. Again, according to the published evi-dence, they met a party of natives, one of whom was armed. Murray threw the armed man down and the others rushed for their spears. Murray said he could see they intended to fight, so drastic action was taken resulting in a number of aborigines being ruthlessly shot down. SHOT TO KILL

'In the camp close by were women and children who, in terror, armed themselves with sticks. They are al-leged to have attacked the police party and two women were killed. A few days later some men, women and children were met with. Six men came to the front and threw a couple of boomerangs apiece. These were also shot. 'The constable said he shot to kill. In one instance a bullet from a high-pow-ered rifle passed through one native and killed another. Other natives were met with and some shot, and so the horrors were continued and the sands became blood-stained. Seventeen lives were taken. Two natives were captured and taken to Darwin, 1000 miles away, and the Court acquitted them. 'Who will take them back to their own country? Will they ever get back? Judge Mallam remarked during the re-cital of the tragic events that the police mowed them down wholesale. The people want to know if any others were killed. SHOT FOR WHAT? 'It appears impossible for all those bands of natives to be associated with the murder of Brooks. It looks as if they were shot down at different places just to teach them and other aborigines a lesson.