Last Tuesday marked 90 yearssince the lastrecorded massacre of Aboriginal people in Australia.

The murder of a white dingo hunter by a Warlpiri tribesman led to a spate of revenge killings of Aboriginal people in Central Australia in 1928.

Officially, 31 Aboriginal people died at the hands of Constable George Murrayand other policemen who embarked on a vengeful rampageover the death of murdered dingo hunter Fred Brooks.

The mass slaughter of IndigenousAustralians, which historians estimate could exceed well beyond 60, later became known as the Coniston Massacre.

The perpetratorswere nevercharged nor convicted.

An official inquirydeemed the brutal killings of Aboriginal people, including women and children, were in fact justified.

What happened?

Brooks, a 67-year-old white dingotrapper who worked at Coniston Station, north-west of AliceSpringsagreed to supply a local Aboriginal man named Bullfrog with food in exchange for the chance to sleep with his wife.

Brooks failed to deliver on his promise to Bullfrog despite usinghis wife for sexual enjoyment.

On August 7, 1928,Brooks was killed in anattackbyBullfrog and his uncle Padirrka.

Soon after the murder, Brooks was foundburied head first in a rabbit hole.

Coniston Station owner Randall Stafford immediately notified local police following word of the grim discovery.

Constable Murray was called to investigate the crime but withoutthoroughly looking into the incident,instigated a killing spree of local Aboriginal people.

Policemen embark on killing spree

Almost aweek after Brooks death, Constable Murray took with him eight men and ventured toa Walbiri camp near Coniston Station where they collectively shot 23 people, leaving two men and one woman, all unarmed, dead.

The following day, the group of policemen fired a hail of bulletsat four Aboriginal men they spotted atCockatoo Creek30 kilometres from the Walbiri camp.

One man waskilled while the otherssuccessfully fled the scene.

Anotherfive Aboriginalmen were shot dead by the so-called Police Party a few days later.

On August 24,Constable Murray called off thekilling spreeand produced a report to thegovernment,admitting he andhisaccomplices murdereda total of 17Indigenous Australians, citing self-defence.

The court unanimously ruled thePolice Partysactions were warranted.

According to the Commonwealth Government in 1929:If a massacre was intended, is it likely that Constable Murray would have dismounted from his horse on each occasion and alone gone amongst the natives at the risk of being killed, to effect arrests when all the party could have remained mounted and, from a distance of safety, wiped out all the blacks?

Butthe retaliatorykillings of Aboriginal people did not stop there.

On September 24,Constable Murray was called toinvestigate an incident at Coniston Station wherebyJohn Morton, a pastoralist notorious formistreatingAboriginal staff,wasambushed and assaultedbya group of Aboriginal men.

Instead of inquiring into the reported attack,Murray andMorton went on a three-week long punitive expedition.

Contrary to Constable Murrays claim that theyjointlykilled 14 Aboriginal locals,residents believe up to 100 people weremurdered within the space of three weeks.

A memorial plaque was unveiled in Alice Springs in 2003 to commemorate the victims of theConistonMassacre, a haunting period still painfully felt by Aboriginal people today.

This article was published by The New Daily on the 6th of August 2018. It was written by Christiane Barro.