List of massacres in Australia

This is a list of massacres and mass murders that have occurred in Australia and its predecessor colonies (some historical numbers may be approximate). Many of the massacres not listed here may instead be found in the list of massacres of Indigenous Australians. A mass murder involves the murder of four or more people during the same incident.

Massacres and mass murders

Incident	Year	Location	Deaths	Injuries	Notes
Batavia massacre	1629	Houtman Abrolhos, Western Australia	110+	Unknown	Massacre of survivors after the sinking of Dutch merchant ship Batavia following a mutiny.
Cape Grim massacre	10 February 1828	Cape Grim, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)	30	Unknown	Massacre of Indigenous Australians by four shepherds.
Convincing Ground massacre	1833–1834	Portland, Victoria	60–200	Unknown	Massacre of Indigenous Australians after a heated dispute between whalers and Aboriginal tribes.
Pinjarra massacre	28 October 1834	Pinjarra, Western Australia	14–40		Massacre by British colonists led by Governor Stirling against the Pinjarup people.
Slaughterhouse Creek massacre	January 1838	Waterloo Creek, New South Wales	40–70	Unknown	Massacre of Indigenous Australians as part of a clash between mounted police and Indigenous Australians.
Myall Creek massacre	10 June 1838	Myall Creek, New South Wales	27-30	Unknown	Massacre of Indigenous Australians. The attack was racially motivated, and subsequently the colonists who carried out the attack were hanged.
Murdering Gully massacre	1839	Mount Emu Creek, near Camperdown, Victoria	35-40	Unknown	Massacre of Indigenous Australians undertaken by Frederick Taylor apparently in retaliation to Aboriginals having killed the colonists' sheep.
Campaspe Plains massacre	June 1839	Campaspe Creek, Central Victoria	up to 40	Unknown	Massacre of Indigenous Australians led by commander Charles Hutton as a reprisal raid against Aboriginal resistance to the invasion and occupation of their lands.
Shipwreck survivors of the Maria massacred	1840	Coorong, South Australia	25		Ship travelling from Port Adelaide to Hobart was shipwrecked on the SE coast of South Australia, with all surviving the wreck. The survivors were being guided to safety by the local Narrindjeri people, but were massacred by them.
Fighting Hills massacre	1840	Wando Vale, Victoria	40-80	Unknown	Massacre of indigenous Australians led by the Whyte brothers and servants of Victoria's western district.
Fighting Waterholes massacre	1840	Coleraine, Victoria	up to 60	Unknown	Second massacre of indigenous Australians by the Whyte brothers and servants of Victoria's western district.
Gippsland massacres	1840–1850	Gippsland, Victoria	300-1000	Unknown	Massacre of Indigenous Australians, combined with the introduction of diseases by the British Colonists which also contributed to the heavy losses of the Aboriginals. The technical superiority of the Europeans' weapons gave the Europeans an absolute advantage over the Aboriginals and, as a result, very few white settlers died during the course of the massacres.
Avenue Range Station massacre	September 1848	Avenue Range, South Australia	8-11	Unknown	Massacre of Indigenous Australians by James Brown of the South East of South Australia. He was never convicted, despite the magistrate who committed him for trial observing that there was "little question of the butchery or the butcher".
Hospital Creek Massacre	1859	Brewarrina, New South Wales	300-400	Unknown	Massacre of Indigenous Australians. A stockman at Walcha Hut on the Lawson run was warned by Aboriginals to release an Aboriginal woman. He refused, and both he and the woman were killed. In retaliation, the settlers shot a large number of Aboriginal men, women and children in what became known as the Hospital Creek Massacre.
Cullin-la-ringo massacre	17 October 1861	Central Queensland	19	0	Massacre of newly arrived white settlers by Indigenous Australians. In response, "sixty or seventy" Aboriginals were massacred by a vigilante party of eleven heavily armed white settlers accompanied by two Aboriginal trackers.
Flying Foam massacre	February–May 1868	Flying Foam Passage, WA	20–150	Unknown	Massacre of Indigenous Australians after a series of confrontations between white settlers and Aboriginal people near the Flying Foam Passage.
Bradshaw massacre	26 November 1905 (approx)	Victoria River, Northern Territory	7	0	Four white men and three Aboriginal boys massacred with tomahawks by Aboriginal prisoners being transported by boat to Palmerston to stand trial for the earlier murder of two white men. One Aboriginal boy survived and reported the incident.
Ching family murders	16 November 1911	Alligator Creek, Mackay, Queensland	6	0	George David Silva murdered six members of the Ching family by shooting and bashing. Silva was hanged at Boggo Road Gaol in Brisbane on 10 June 1912.
Battle of Broken Hill	1 January 1915	Broken Hill, New South Wales	4 (plus 2 perps.)	7	Spree shooting by two Ghans gunmen – Terror attack – by modern definition.
Mowla Bluff massacre	1916	Kimberley, Western Australia	up to 12	0	Massacre of Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal Men, women and children were rounded up and subsequently shot and their bodies burned.
Botanic garden massacre	1924	Melbourne	4 (plus 1 perp.)	2	Mass shooting; perpetrator committed suicide.
Forrest River massacre	May–July 1926	Kimberley Region of Western Australia	11	Unknown	Massacre of Indigenous Australians by law enforcement.
Coniston massacre	14 August – 18 October 1928	Coniston cattle station	60–170	Unknown	Massacre led by Northern Territory police constable William George Murray. The last known officially sanctioned massacre of Indigenous Australians.
Boulder & Kalgoorlie bombings	1 February 1942	Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia	14	15	Bombing of a boarding house containing 30 people in Boulder, Western Australia.
Narella Street massacre	18 February 1957	Brisbane, Queensland	6 (plus 1 perp.)	1	Marian Ryszard Majka killed 6 & injured a baby in two houses on Narella Street in Brisbane before taking his own life.
Hope Forest massacre	6 September 1971	Hope Forest, South Australia	10	0	Rampage killing by Clifford Bartholomew, who shot dead ten members of his family.
Whiskey Au Go Go fire	8 March 1973	Fortitude Valley, Queensland	15	Unknown	Arson attack that killed 15 people and injured many more at a nightclub.
Connellan air disaster	5 January 1977	Alice Springs Airport, Northern Territory	4 (plus 1 perp.)	5	Suicide attack on Alice Springs Airport.
Campsie murders	24 September 1981	Campsie, New South Wales	5 (plus 1 perp.)	0	Rampage killing by Fouad Daoud, who shot dead five members of his family before killing himself.
Inland Motel murders	18 August 1983	Uluru, Northern Territory	5	16	Vehicular attack by Douglas Crabbe, who drove a truck into the bar of the Inland Motel after being refused service.
Wahroonga murders	1 June 1984	Wahroonga, New South Wales	5 (plus 1 perp.)	0	Rampage killing by John Brandon, who shot dead five members of his family before killing himself.
Milperra massacre	2 September 1984	Milperra, New South Wales	7	28	Shootout between two rival motorcycle gangs. One bystander was among those killed in the incident.
Pymble shooting	23 January 1987	Pymble, New South Wales	4		Richard Maddrell went to the family home of his former girlfriend, shot her and three others.
Top End Shootings	June 1987	Top End, Northern Territory	5 (plus 1 perp.)		Spree killing by Joseph Schwab over a five-day period. Shot dead by police.
Hoddle Street massacre	9 August 1987	Clifton Hill, Victoria	7	19	A spree shooting by Julian Knight.
Canley Vale Huynh family murders	10 October 1987	Canley Vale, New South Wales	5		Rampage killing by John Tran, who shot dead five members of a family.
Queen Street massacre	8 December 1987	Melbourne	8 (plus 1 perp.)	5	A spree shooting/murder–suicide by Frank Vitkovic.
Oenpelli shootings	25 September 1988	Gunbalanya, Northern Territory	5	0	Rampage killing by Dennis Rostron, shooting five members of his family at Molgawo, a remote Arnhem Land outstation near Gunbalanya (formerly known as Oenpelli).
Surry Hills shootings	30 August 1990	Surry Hills, New South Wales	5	7	A spree shooting by Paul Anthony Evers who killed five people and injured seven with a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun at a public housing precinct in Surry Hills before surrendering to police.
Strathfield massacre	17 August 1991	Strathfield, New South Wales	7 (plus 1 perp.)	6	A spree shooting/murder–suicide by Wade Frankum.
Central Coast massacre	27 October 1992	Terrigal, New South Wales	7	1	A spree shooting by Malcolm George Baker.
Greenough Family massacre	21 February 1993	Greenough, Western Australia	4	0	William Patrick Mitchell (Bill Mitchell) murdered Karen MacKenzie and her three children with an axe at their remote rural property in Greenough, Western Australia.
1993 Cangai siege	March 1993	Cangai, New South Wales	5	0	Leonard Leabeater, Robert Steele and Raymond Bassett went on a nine-day rampage resulting in their taking hostages in a siege in a farmhouse at Hanging Rock Station in Cangai.
Wollongong Knife Murders	1994	Wollongong, New South Wales	4	0	Ljube Velevski, used a knife to kill his wife and three children in their Berkeley home near Wollongong in 1994.
Hillcrest murders	25 January 1996	Hillcrest, Queensland	6 (plus 1 perp.)	0	Mass shooting. Peter May shot dead six members of his family before killing himself.
Port Arthur massacre	28 April 1996	Port Arthur, Tasmania	35	24	A spree shooting by Martin Bryant. Remains the deadliest mass shooting in Australia.
Murder suicide	28 June 1997	Richmond, Tasmania	4 (plus 1 perp.)	0	Peter Shoobridge cut the throats of his four daughters whilst they slept then took his own life with a rifle after cutting off one of his hands with an axe.
Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel fire	23 June 2000	Childers, Queensland	15	unknown	Arson attack by Robert Paul Long, which killed 15 international backpackers.
Churchill Fire	7 February 2009	Churchill, Victoria	10	unknown	Arson attack by Brendan Sokaluk that killed ten people, during the Black Saturday bushfires period.
Lin family murders	18 July 2009	North Epping, New South Wales	5	unknown	Blunt instrument attack that killed five members of the Lin family.
Quakers Hill nursing home fire	18 November 2011	Sydney	11		Arson attack by Roger Kingsley Dean, a nurse, which killed 11 people.
Hunt family murders	9 September 2014	Lockhart, New South Wales	4 (plus 1 perp.)	0	Murder–suicide, mass shooting, familicide. Geoff Hunt killed his wife and three children before turning the gun on himself.
Cairns child killings	19 December 2014	Cairns, Queensland	8	1 (self-inflicted by suspect)	Stabbing attack and Familicide. Eight children aged 18 months to 15 years killed. Thirty-seven-year-old woman also found injured. The woman, Raina Mersane Ina Thaiday, was later charged with the murder of the children, seven of whom were hers, plus her niece.
January 2017 Melbourne car attack	20 January 2017	Melbourne	6	27	Vehicular attack. Dimitrious (James) Gargasoulas drove a Holden Commodore into Bourke St Mall, resulting in the deaths of six people and injuring 27 others. Should not be confused with the December 2017 Melbourne car attack which only killed one person.
Osmington shooting	11 May 2018	Osmington, Western Australia	6 (plus 1 perp.)	0	Murder–suicide, mass shooting, familicide. A grandfather shot his four grandchildren at their home, his daughter, his wife, and then himself.
September 2018 Bedford massacre	9 September 2018	Bedford, Western Australia	5	0	Stabbing, familicide. Five people were fatally stabbed or bashed in a house in the suburb of Bedford near Perth. The victims were two women, one girl aged 3, and two girls aged 18 months. In April 2019, 25-year-old Anthony Harvey pleaded guilty to murdering his five family members. Should not be confused with the 1879 Cape Bedford Massacre against aboriginal people.
2019 Darwin shooting	4 June 2019	Darwin, Northern Territory	4	1	Spree shooting. Four people were killed and one person suffered a critical leg injury in a mass shooting allegedly carried out with a prohibited pump-action (Category C) shotgun. The shooter, 45-year-old Benjamin Glenn Hoffman, was charged with four counts of murder and later pleaded guilty to three counts. The shooter had been released from prison on parole in January 2019 and was wearing a GPS-tracked electronic monitoring bracelet at the time of the offence.
Camp Hill carjacking	19 February 2020	Camp Hill, Queensland	4 (plus 1 perp.)		Domestic violence incident. Rowan Baxter set fire to his estranged wife's car, killing all four occupants, before committing suicide at the scene.
Wieambilla Police shooting	12 December 2022	Wieambilla, Queensland	3 (plus 3 perp.)		Constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, and a neighbour, Alan Dare, were murdered on 12 December 2022 at a rural property in Wieambilla. The perpetrators, brothers Gareth and Nathaniel Train, and Gareth’s wife, Stacey Train, were later shot and killed by Queensland police.

Attacks causing multiple non-fatal injuries

Mass violent attacks which caused many injuries but few deaths.

• Sydneicy Yugoslav General Trade and Tourist Agency bombing – in 1972, 16 people were wounded by a bomb planted at Yugoslav tourism agencies. Nobody was killed.
• Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing – in 1978, a bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, injuring 11 people and killing 3.
• Russell Street bombing – in 1986, 23 people were wounded when a car bomb ignited outside a Police Building. One of the wounded, a female police officer, died later of injuries from the explosion.
• December 2017 Melbourne car attack – in December 2017, a man drove a car into pedestrians, injuring 18 people (including himself) and killing 1. Should not be confused with the January 2017 Melbourne car attack.

Murders over an extended period of time

Main articles: List of serial killers by country § Australia, List of Australian criminals § Serial killers, and Timeline of major crimes in Australia

See also

Indigenous massacres and conflicts:

• List of massacres of Indigenous Australians
• Australian frontier wars

Terrorism:

• Terrorism in Australia
• List of terrorist incidents in Australia

Crime:

• Crime in Australia
• List of Australian criminals
• Timeline of major crimes in Australia