The Forrest River massacre, or Oombulgurri massacre, was a massacre of Indigenous Australian people by a law enforcement party in the wake of the killing of pastoralist Fred Hay, which took place in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in 1926. The massacre was investigated by the Woods Royal Commission in 1927 which subsequently determined that 11 people had been killed. Charges were brought against two officers but dismissed for lack of evidence. The Commissions findings have been disputed by journalist Rod Moran, whose analysis has received some academic support while most academic historians accept that a massacre did take place but disagree over the number of victims. Background In 1921 two returned servicemen, Leonard Overheu and Frederick Hay, applied for a grant under the War Service Land Settlement Scheme. Nulla Nulla station was excised from the Marndoc Aboriginal reserve with the traditional owners, the King River Aborigines, removed and forced to live on the outskirts of Wyndham. By late 1925 the Kimberleys had suffered two years of severe drought. Heavy rains in early 1926 filled the waterholes, which resulted in large groups of Aborigines entering the Marndoc reserve, killing cattle for food. Hay and Overheu had been complaining about the spearing of their cattle, claiming it was "part of a conspiracy" against Nulla Nulla by the Rev. Ernest Gribble of the nearby Forrest River Mission (later renamed Oombulgurri). In response, Sergeant Buckland from Wyndham had the station declared a prohibited area under the 1905 Aborigines Act preventing Aborigines from entering or crossing it to reach other areas. On 18 May, Overheu made a formal complaint that a large mob of Aborigines were spearing cattle on the station and along with Aboriginal employee Tommy Doort, his wife Lyddie and two stock boys camped on the lower Pentecost River to await the arrival of police. Constable James St Jack along with Aboriginal trackers Jacob and Windie Joe arrived on 20 May and the group moved to Durragee Hill where they dispersed a mob of 250-300 Aborigines. After the dispersal of the Aborigines, the patrol continued to the Nulla Nulla Homestead arriving after dark to find Hay missing and a search the following morning found Hay's body. Rev Gribble entered a note into the mission log dated 27 May, reporting the "news" that Tommy and Windie Joe had killed Blui-Nua at Durragee Hill and that an old man named Umbillie had been