Killings at Moogooloo Hill

The events remembered as the Killings at Moogooloo Hill took place in 1882–1883, during a period of rapid pastoral expansion across the Gascoyne. As stations spread across Aboriginal Country, Traditional Owners experienced the loss of access to land and resources, disruption to cultural life, and increasing violence. Conflict between Aboriginal people and pastoral settlers became a tragic feature of this frontier period.

This account has been passed down through generations of the Dodd family and was recorded by Tommy Dodd Jr. in 1967. It preserves an important Aboriginal perspective on events that have remained part of the collective memory of local communities.

According to Tommy Dodd’s account, a group of around forty Aboriginal men attacked several white men near the Kennedy Ranges, followed by the killing of two station workers. One of those men was Brackell, an overseer at Middalya Station.

Police records identified Nanna-cro, also known as Billy, as Brackell’s killer. Oral history and historical statements suggest the conflict may have arisen after Brackell developed a relationship with Billy’s wife, Jinny, although the exact circumstances cannot now be known with certainty.

After Brackell’s death, Billy and Jinny fled towards Moogooloo Hill carrying flour and clothing. Along the way they met a group of Aboriginal people from the Lyons River. The groups camped together, shared food and continued their journey.

As station workers, accompanied by Aboriginal trackers, searched for Billy, they encountered other Aboriginal groups. According to Tommy Dodd’s oral history, these encounters became violent reprisals. People who were not directly involved in Brackell’s death were reportedly attacked and killed over successive days.

Billy was eventually captured, convicted of Brackell’s murder and executed by hanging at Rottnest Island Prison in 1883. For Aboriginal families across the region, however, the violence did not end with his capture. The killings at Moogooloo Hill became part of a much broader history of frontier conflict, leaving deep and lasting trauma for communities whose stories were seldom recorded in official accounts.

Today, Tommy Dodd’s story stands as an important reminder that the history of the Gascoyne is told through both written records and Aboriginal oral histories. Together, they help us better understand the experiences, resilience and enduring memory of the Aboriginal people who lived through this period.