The Battle of Minderoo single work   poetry  
Composed: Aug 1869
Issue Details: First known date: 1918... 1918 The Battle of Minderoo
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Notes

  • The 1935 publication asserts no knowledge of the authorship. The 1918 partial publication asserts authorship as Richmond Thatcher's brother, Charles. See Peter Gifford's essay for further details.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Sunday Times [Perth] 20 October 1918 7645485 1918 newspaper issue 1918 pg. 8
    Note: No author attributed. Partial publication only (approximately half the poem).
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Western Mail 21 February 1935 29591362 1935 newspaper issue 1935 pg. 9
    Note: Editor's note:
    Sorting the files in one of the strong-rooms in their St. George's-terrace office recently, an old-established firm of chartered accountants found a type-written document, headed "The Battle of Minderoo." The paper is yellow and stained with age, and members and staff of the firm have no idea as to how the document got into the strongroom nor what its relationship is to any person with whom the firm had business dealings. The first portion consists of verse and the second and third seem to be notes on which the author proposed to compose further verse. It is reprinted here-under as it is typed. Perhaps some reader may be able to throw some light on its mysterious authorship.
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Studies in Western Australian History no. 32 2018 29591753 2018 periodical issue 2018 pg. 93-94

Works about this Work

The Battle of Minderoo Peter Gifford , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Western Australian History , no. 32 2018; (p. 89-94)

This article introduces and contextualises the poem ‘The Battle of Minderoo’ written in 1869 and depicting an attack on the Thalanyji people, the traditional inhabitants of the area, by ‘white’ colonists. They had travelled to the Pilbara in search of land, becoming pearlers and merchants and taking up huge pastoral leases, and meeting Aboriginal resistance to the expropriation of their land with violence, first in what has become known as the Flying Foam massacre of 1868 and then in the ‘battle’ for Minderoo the following year.

Source: Abstract.

The Battle of Minderoo Peter Gifford , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Western Australian History , no. 32 2018; (p. 89-94)

This article introduces and contextualises the poem ‘The Battle of Minderoo’ written in 1869 and depicting an attack on the Thalanyji people, the traditional inhabitants of the area, by ‘white’ colonists. They had travelled to the Pilbara in search of land, becoming pearlers and merchants and taking up huge pastoral leases, and meeting Aboriginal resistance to the expropriation of their land with violence, first in what has become known as the Flying Foam massacre of 1868 and then in the ‘battle’ for Minderoo the following year.

Source: Abstract.

Last amended 19 Feb 2025 11:22:30
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