WEST KIMBERLEY PLACE REPORT - Department of Sustainability ...

Jandamarra's notoriety and the success of the Bunuba's resistance in foiling capture
had forced the Western Australian Government to send a quarter of its police force to
the Kimberley, where only one percent of the European population lived (Pedersen
2007). Special Constables Blythe, Pilmer and Lawrence's campaign was '…brutal in
it's execution and devastated many innocent Aboriginal groups between Derby and
Halls Creek' (Green 2008, 41). Police mounted several reprisal ambushes against
innocent Nyikina, Mangala, Worrorra and Gooniyandi people. The Western
Australian parliament and the Colonial Office in London launched an independent
inquiry into the campaign which largely exonerated the colonial authorities from
charges of excessive violence (Allbrook 2009).
Magic powers and a clever military strategist
Jandamarra's recovery from his wounds and his ability to evade police capture and
disappear into the limestone landscape gave him legendary status among his own
people and the colony. Aboriginal people believed he had Jalnggangurru (magic)
power. Contemporary accounts say he could '[f]ly like a bird and disappear like a
ghost…he was two separate beings. His body was a physical manifestation of a
hidden spirit living secretly in a small water-soak near his Tunnel Creek sanctuary'
(Pedersen and Woorunmurra 1995, 152-3). The Bunuba regarded Jandamarra as
'blessed with qualities owned by spiritually empowered people, allowing him to defy
police bullets, escaping human mortality' (Pedersen and Woorunmurra 1995, 9). The
spirit of his 'life' could only be destroyed by another person of similar magical power
with murderous intent. The black troopers were also known to be fearful of
Jandamarra's alleged powers.
These references to Jandamarra's ability to appear and disappear relate closely to his
intimate knowledge of the Napier and Oscar Ranges. The place is riddled with narrow
passages, chimneys and caves that allowed Jandamarra and others to repeatedly avoid
capture. This twisted, convoluted terrain of the limestone ranges also prevented the
police and pastoralists on horseback from physically entering. The unusual nature of
the landscape, coupled with the accounts of Jandamarra's 'magic power' created both a
physical and psychological barrier for new settlers and the police. Sub-Inspector Ord
later wrote that 'it would not matter if the whole British army were sent here,
[Jandamarra] would still laugh at them from the top of the range' (Pedersen and
Woorunmurra 1995).
Following the Battle of Windjana Gorge, Jandamarra laid low for almost a year,
hiding in the hidden recesses of Tunnel Creek protected by his mother while he
recovered from his wounds (Wilson 1980). This extraordinary place, then unknown to
the police, is located in what is today the Devonian Reef Conservation Park.
Thousands of tourists visit the park each year to walk through the 700 metre tunnel
that runs through to the other side of the range – that no doubt facilitated the
movement of Jandamarra and other Bunuba through their country without police
knowledge (Lowe 1994).
In November 1895, the 'Terror of the Kimberleys' began a new phase of psychological
warfare to confuse, ridicule and exhaust police patrols without violence (Pedersen and
Woorunmurra 1995). Jandamarra's cat and mouse games were an important part of his
strategy to create fear amongst settlers and demoralise the police force desperate for
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