Forrest River Massacre - Aftermath

Aftermath

Lumbia was imprisoned on Rottnest Island until the prison was closed in 1929 when he was transferred to the Broome Regional Prison. In 1935 he was sent to the Moola Bulla settlement near Halls Creek. In 1936 he walked 270 mi (430 km) to the Forrest River Mission and no attempts were made to return him to finish his sentence. In December 1944 Lumbia killed his second wife, Waldjanurri, and was sentenced to death for murder the following year; he escaped and was recaptured but was determined to have been wrongly convicted and was released after serving two weeks for the escape. Sent back to Moola Bulla he contracted leprosy and returned to Forrest River where he died in 1950.

The massacres caused a serious disruption in the region's mortuary customs as a large number of people were missing and without bodies the customary funeral ceremonies could not be held. To satisfy traditional customs of responsibility, a series of tribal investigations followed.

It was found that Hay's desire for Anulgoo contributed to Lumbia's arrest and the resulting massacres, and Anulgoo was speared to death in August 1927. Aldoa, whom Gribble had assigned to help find Lumbia was sentenced to death for helping the patrol bring in the victims. Ernest Unbah who was under arrest when St Jack found Hay's body was sentenced to tribal punishment for confirming Tommy Doort's interpretation of the tracks at the scene. Matthew Munjara was likewise sentenced for giving evidence before the Royal Commission. All three took refuge at the mission where tribal justice was forbidden. In April 1928 Unbah and Munjara led Stuart Wajimol into the bush where Aldoa killed him. The traditional lawmen had offered Aldoa a pardon in exchange for the murder of Wajimol who was under sentence of death for coveting Eura's wife (Eura had died of influenza and, as he had eloped with Eura's wife who by tradition was to marry Eura's brother, Wajimol was held responsible for his death). Gribble held a full enquiry and sent the report to Neville who refused to hand it over to the police. Aldoa, Unbah and Munjara were arrested but the Aborigines, mission and Neville refused to cooperate and the three were acquitted.