Forrest River Massacre - Background

Background

In 1921 two returned servicemen, Leonard Overheu and Frederick Hay, applied for a grant under the War Service Land Settlement Scheme. Nulla Nulla station was excised from the Marndoc Aboriginal reserve with the traditional owners, the King River Aborigines, removed and forced to live on the outskirts of Wyndham. The two men planted cotton, peanuts and kept a small herd of cattle. Hay, along with his friend James Dunnett ran the station while Overheu worked as a bookkeeper in Wyndham to provide cash flow. The first mention of Hay in the Forrest River Mission (later renamed Oombulgurri) diary was 27 May 1923 when an Aborigine reported that Hay had ambushed him and stabbed him repeatedly in the buttocks. The Rev. Ernest Gribble was later forced to assign guards whenever Hay visited the mission to prevent him from molesting the women and he wrote several complaints to the Protector of Aborigines A. O. Neville over Hays behaviour. Another concern was that Hay had trained his dog to attack Aborigines. In January 1924 Hay seriously injured an Aborigine after hitting him over the head with his rifle butt. On 4 March he forcibly took Angelina from her husband and two weeks later mission staff informed Gribble that she was being forced to have sex with both Hay and Dunnett.

Gribble argued with Nulla Nulla over a number of issues which resulted in Sergeant Buckland arbitrating. Buckland found nothing wrong with the situation and Neville accused Gribble of being an over-protective missionary. In late 1924, Sergeant Buckland refused to renew Nulla Nulla's permit to employ Aborigines due to the "continued interference of the women" with Neville later approving the cancellation and adding a memo that, should Dunnett be employed by any other station, they would also have their permits cancelled.