Gday...

1582  -     Today is April Fool's Day, a time of famous hoaxes and pranks. 

1874  -     The Forrest brothers depart Geraldton in search of a stock route to the east. 

1897  -     Aboriginal tracker Jandamurra, who led the rebellion to defend his land from white man, is killed.

Jandamurra, or 'Pigeon', was an Australian Aboriginal police tracker assisting in the capture of Myall Aborigines of the Kimberley region in northwestern Australia, who were spearing stockmen and their stock. Over the course of several evenings, Jandamurra was helping to guard the Aborigines in the police station overnight. During this time, they managed to convince Jandamurra to join their cause. Jandamurra shot the police constable and freed the Aborigines. He then led the others in an attack on a convoy of white settlers, thus procuring horses, guns and other supplies. The Aborigines eluded capture by hiding in the caves and surroundings of isolated Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek.

The rebellion lasted several years as the men fought against the white men encroaching on Bunaba land. In 1894, a police posse tracked down the Aborigines, and both white men and Aborigines were killed. It was thought Jandamurra was among the dead, but he escaped after playing "possum". The police then recruited an excellent Aboriginal tracker from the Pilbara. This tracker, who knew the ways of Aboriginal mysticism and had no fear of Jandamurra, tracked down Jandamurra, killing him at Tunnel Creek on 1 April 1897.

Cheers - John