Differing Views From Historians
In more recent times historians have differed on the site of the collision and the number of casualties.
Historian RHW Reece concluded that the site was at the junction of the Slaughterhouse Creek and the Gwydir River, and that sixty or seventy Aborigines had been killed.
Military historian Peter Stanley claims at least fifty Aborigines were killed.
Historian Lyndall Ryan considered that Sergeant Lee's estimate of 40 to 50 killed was the most reliable.
Keith Windschuttle contends that what occurred at Waterloo Creek was a legitimate police action in which at most three to four Aborigines were killed in the second encounter.
Read more about this topic: Waterloo Creek Massacre
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