O'Leary of the Underworld : the untold story of the Forrest River Massacre / Kate Auty.
Material type:
TextPublisher: Collingwood, VIC : La Trobe University Press, 2023Copyright date: ©2023Description: xv, 269 pages : illustrations, facsimiles, maps, portraits ; 24 cmContent type: text | still image Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9781760643980Subject(s): Massacres -- Western Australia -- Kimberley | Trials (Murder) -- Western Australia | Aboriginal Australians -- Western Australia -- Kimberley | Aboriginal Australians -- Crimes against | Kimberley (W.A.) -- History -- 20th century | Australia -- History -- 1922-1929 | Australia -- Race relations -- History -- 20th centuryDDC classification: 994.042 Summary: A powerful investigation that reveals the deep injustices inflicted on Aboriginal people in the Kimberley in the 1920s In June 1926, a posse of police officers and white civilians murdered at least twenty Oombulgurri people at Forrest River in the Kimberley. After the massacre, a conspiracy of silence descended. Witnesses vanished. Charges against two of the officers were dropped for insufficient evidence. One of the massacre's perpetrators was Bernard O'Leary, a former soldier whose land holding was known as 'the underworld'. At the 1927 Royal Commission into the killings, O'Leary was portrayed by his lawyer as a simple honest backwoodsman who was framed. In this powerful account, Kate Auty argues that O'Leary was in fact 'vicious, brazen and a bullshitter', with 'a propensity for brutality'. Although never charged, he played a leading role in the murders, and his duplicitous testimony thwarted the commission's work. In electric prose, Auty depicts O'Leary as a merciless killer, while the apparatus that concealed his crimes is portrayed with great realism and clarity. Driven by both forensic and moral judgement, the book exposes the injustices embedded in Australian settlement history, and the culture of denial that has prevented truth-telling in this country.
| Item type | Current library | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| wnor- Book | Northam Northam Adult Nonfiction | 994 .042 AUT (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 31111085761409 |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
A powerful investigation that reveals the deep injustices inflicted on Aboriginal people in the Kimberley in the 1920s In June 1926, a posse of police officers and white civilians murdered at least twenty Oombulgurri people at Forrest River in the Kimberley. After the massacre, a conspiracy of silence descended. Witnesses vanished. Charges against two of the officers were dropped for insufficient evidence. One of the massacre's perpetrators was Bernard O'Leary, a former soldier whose land holding was known as 'the underworld'. At the 1927 Royal Commission into the killings, O'Leary was portrayed by his lawyer as a simple honest backwoodsman who was framed. In this powerful account, Kate Auty argues that O'Leary was in fact 'vicious, brazen and a bullshitter', with 'a propensity for brutality'. Although never charged, he played a leading role in the murders, and his duplicitous testimony thwarted the commission's work. In electric prose, Auty depicts O'Leary as a merciless killer, while the apparatus that concealed his crimes is portrayed with great realism and clarity. Driven by both forensic and moral judgement, the book exposes the injustices embedded in Australian settlement history, and the culture of denial that has prevented truth-telling in this country.
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