Mistreatment of aborigines was at a level in 1845 where the commissioner of police drew attention to the atrocious treatment in the Rivoli Bay District : In 1848 , the Avenue Range Station massacre occurred in the Guichen Bay region of South Australia . At least 9 indigenous Bungandidj Wattatonga clan people were allegedly murdered by the station owner James Brown who was subsequently charged with the crime . The case was dropped by the Crown for lack of European witnesses . Until that year , blacks were unable to testify under oath . Christina Smith 's source from the Wattatonga tribe refers to 11 people killed in this incident by two white men . The cause of the massacre was the theft of sheep for food
Avenue Range Station massacre
Avenue Range Station massacre
Bungandidj people