The following is a list of massacres and mass murders that have occurred in Australia and its predecessors (numbers may be approximate).
Many massacres not listed here may instead be found in the list of massacres of indigenous Australians.
For attacks which injured many people but didn't kill very many people, see below.
| Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Non-fatal injuries | Notes |
|---|
| Cape Grim massacre | 10 February 1828 | Cape Grim, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) | 0030|30}} | Unknown | Massacre of Indigenous Australians by four shepherds. |
| Convincing Ground massacre | 1833–34 | Portland, Victoria | 0200|60–200}} | Unknown | Massacre of Indigenous Australians after a heated dispute between whalers and Aboriginal tribes. |
| Pinjarra massacre | 28 October 1834 | Pinjarra, Western Australia | 0040|14–40}} | Massacre by British colonists led by Governor Stirling against the Pinjarup people. |
| Waterloo Creek massacre/Slaughterhouse Creek massacre | January 1838 | Waterloo Creek, NSW | 0041|40–70}} | Unknown | Massacre of Indigenous Australians as part of a clash between mounted police and Indigenous Australians. |
| Myall Creek massacre | 10 June 1838 | Myall Creek, NSW | 0030|27-30}} | Unknown | Massacre of Indigenous Australians. The attack was racially motivated, and subsequently the colonists who carried out the attack were hanged. |
|
| Murdering Gully massacre | 1839 | Mount Emu Creek, near Camperdown, Victoria | {{sort|0040|35–40}} | Unknown | Massacre of Indigenous Australians undertaken by Frederick Taylor apparently in retaliation to Aborigines having killed the colonists' sheep. |
| Campaspe Plains massacre | June 1839 | Campaspe Creek, Central Victoria | 0040|up to 40}} | Unknown | Massacre of Indigenous Australians led by commander Charles Hutton as a reprisal raid against Aboriginal resistance to the invasion and occupation of their lands. |
| Shipwreck survivors of the Maria massacred | 1840 | Coorong, SA | {{sort|0025|25}} | Ship travelling from Port Adelaide to Hobart was shipwrecked on the SE coast of South Australia, with all surviving the wreck. The survivors were being guided to safety by the local Narrindjeri people, but were massacred. |
| Gippsland massacres | 1840-1850 | Gippsland, VIC | 0450|300-1000}} | Unknown | Massacre of Indigenous Australians, combined with the introduction of diseases by the British Colonists which also contributed to the heavy losses of the Aborigines. The technical superiority of the Europeans' weapons gave the Europeans an absolute advantage over the Aborigines and, as a result, very few white settlers died during the course of the massacres. |
| Hospital Creek Massacre | 1859 | Brewarrina, NSW | 0030|300-400}} | Unknown | Massacre of Indigenous Australians. A stockman at Walcha Hut on the Lawson run was warned by Aborigines to release an Aboriginal woman. He refused, and both he and the woman were killed. In retaliation, the settlers shot a large number of Aboriginal men, women and children in what became known as the Hospital Creek Massacre. |
| Cullin-la-ringo massacre | 17 October 1861 | Central Queensland | 0019|19}} | 0000|0}} | Massacre of newly-arrived white settlers by Indigenous Australians. In response, "sixty or seventy" Aborigines were massacred by a vigilante party of eleven heavily armed white settlers accompanied by two Aboriginal trackers.[1] |
| Flying Foam massacre | February–May 1868 | Flying Foam Passage, WA | 0150|20–150}} | Unknown | Massacre of Indigenous Australians after a series of confrontations between white settlers and Aboriginal people near the Flying Foam Passage. |
| Palmer massacre | August 1878 | Palmer River, Queensland | 0150|20–150}} | Unknown | Massacre by Cantonese and Pekinese against each other.[2] |
| Ching family murders | 16 November 1911 | Alligator Creek, Mackay, Queensland | 0006|6}} | 0000|0}} | George David Silva murdered six members of the Ching family by shooting and bashing. Silva was hanged at Boggo Road Gaol in Brisbane on 10 June 1912. |
| Battle of Broken Hill | 1 January 1915 | Broken Hill, New South Wales | 0004|4}} | 0007|7}} | [3]{{Better source>reason=per WP:CIRCULAR|date=February 2018}} |
| Mowla Bluff massacre | 1916 | Kimberley, Western Australia | 0400|Up to 12[4]}} | 0000|0}} | Massacre of Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal Men, women and children were rounded up and subsequently shot and their bodies burned. |
| Forrest River massacre | May–July 1926 | Kimberley Region of Western Australia | 0011|11}} | Unknown | Massacre of Indigenous Australians by law enforcement. |
| Coniston massacre | 14 August – 18 October 1928 | Coniston, Northern Territory | 0170|60–170}} | Unknown | Probably the last known massacre of Indigenous Australians. |
| Boulder & Kalgoorlie bombings | 1 February 1942 | Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia | 14|14}} | 15 | Bombing of a boarding house containing 30 people in Boulder, Western Australia.[5] |
| Hope Forest massacre | 6 September 1971 | Hope Forest, SA | 0010|10}} | 0000|0}} | Rampage killing by Clifford Bartholomew, who shot dead ten members of his family.[6] |
| Whiskey Au Go Go fire | 8 March 1973 | Fortitude Valley, Queensland | 0015|15}} | Unknown | Arson attack that killed 15 people and injured many more at a nightclub. |
| Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing | 13 February 1978 | Sydney, New South Wales | 0005|5}} | 0011|11}} | Terrorism, bomb attack on hotel where world leaders were staying. 2 garbage collectors and 1 police officer died. |
| Campsie murders | 24 September 1981 | Campsie, New South Wales | 0005|5}} | 0000|0}} | Rampage killing by Fouad Daoud, who shot dead five members of his family before killing himself.[7] |
| Party Shooting Spree | 18 April 1982 | Canley Heights, New South Wales | 2 | 8 | Peter Sinfield, his brother Derek Sinfield along with friend Adrian John Mills, armed variously but Peter Sinfield with a rifle, gatecrashed a party and fired several shots that killed two people and severely wounding eight others. |
| Inland Motel murders | 18 August 1983 | Uluru, Northern Territory | 0005|5}} | 0000|16}} | Vehicular attack by Douglas Crabbe, who drove a truck into the bar of the Inland Motel after being refused service.[8] |
| Wahroonga murders | 1 June 1984 | Wahroonga, New South Wales | 0005|5}} | 0000|0}} | Rampage killing by John Brandon, who shot dead five members of his family before killing himself.[9] |
| Milperra massacre | 2 September 1984 | Milperra, New South Wales | 0007|7}} | 0028|28}} | Shootout between two rival motorcycle gangs. One bystander was among those killed in the incident. |
| Pymble shooting | 23 January 1987 | Pymble, NSW | 4 | Richard Maddrell went to the family home of his former girlfriend, shot her and 3 others.[10] |
| Top End Shootings | June 1987 | Top End, Northern Territory | 0005|5}} | Spree killing by Joseph Schwab over a five-day period. Shot dead by police. |
| Hoddle Street massacre | 9 August 1987 | Clifton Hill, Victoria | 0007|7}} | 19 | A spree shooting by Julian Knight. |
| Canley Vale Huynh family murders | 10 October 1987 | Canley Vale, New South Wales | 0005|5}} | Rampage killing by John Tran, who shot dead five members of a family. |
| Queen Street massacre | 8 December 1987 | Melbourne, Victoria | 0008|8}} | 5 | A spree shooting/murder–suicide by Frank Vitkovic. |
| Oenpelli shootings | 25 September 1988 | Oenpelli, Northern Territory | 5 | 0000|0}} | Rampage killing by Dennis Rostron, shooting six members of his family at a remote Arnhem Land outstation in Oenpelli.[11][12] |
| Surry Hills shootings | 30 August 1990 | Surry Hills, New South Wales | 0005|5}} | 0007|7}} | A spree shooting by Paul Anthony Evers who killed five people and injured seven with a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun at a public housing precinct in Surry Hills before surrendering to police.[13] |
| Strathfield massacre | 17 August 1991 | Strathfield, New South Wales | 0007|7}} | 6 | A spree shooting/murder–suicide by Wade Frankum. |
| Central Coast massacre | 27 October 1992 | Terrigal, New South Wales | 0006|6}} | 1 | A spree shooting by Malcolm George Baker. |
| Greenough Family Massacre | 21 February 1993 | Greenough, Western Australia | 4 | 0 | William Patrick Mitchell (Bill Mitchell) murdered Karen MacKenzie and her three children with an axe at their remote rural property in Greenough, Western Australia. |
| 1993 Cangai siege | March 1993 | Cangai, New South Wales | 0005|5}} | 0000|0}} | Leonard Leabeater, Robert Steele and Raymond Bassett went on a nine-day rampage resulting in their taking hostages in a siege in a farmhouse at Hanging Rock Station in Cangai. |
| Hillcrest murders | 25 January 1996 | Hillcrest, Queensland | 0006|6}} | 0000|0}} | Rampage killing by Peter May, who shot dead six members of his family before killing himself.[14] |
| Port Arthur massacre | 28 April 1996 | Port Arthur, Tasmania | 0035|35}} | 0024|24}} | A spree shooting by Martin Bryant. |
| Murder suicide | 28 June 1997 | Richmond, Tasmania | 005|5}} | Peter Shoobridge cut the throats of his four daughters whilst they slept then took his own life with a rifle after cutting off one of his hands with an axe.[15] |
| Wright St Bikie murders | 8 October 1999 | Adelaide, Australia | 0003|3}} | 002|2}} | Hell's Angels feud (mass shooting).[16] |
| Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel fire | 23 June 2000 | Childers, Queensland | 0015|15}} | unknown | Arson attack by Robert Paul Long, which killed 15 international backpackers. |
| North Ryde, NSW triple murder. | 10 July 2001 | North Ryde, N.S.W. | 3 | Sef Gonzales killed both parents and sister by bashing, strangling and stabbing.[17] |
| Monash University shooting | 21 October 2002 | Melbourne, Victoria | 002|2}} | 005|5}} | Mass shooting attack by Huan Yun "Allen" Xiang. |
| Singh family murders | 22 April 2003 | Brisbane, Australia | 3 | Triple homicide of Singh siblings by the eldest sisters boyfirend, Max Sica.[18] |
| Poulson family murders | 15 September 2003 | Wilberforce, New South Wales | 4 | Four-year-old Marilyn, one-year-old Sebastian and their grandfather Peter were murdered by Phitack Kongsom, who then killed himself.[19] |
| Oakhampton Heights Shooting | 20 March 2005 | Hunter Valley, New South Wales | 4 | Mass shooting attack and familicide . Sally Winter uses a firearm to kill her husband, two children, and herself.[20] |
| Winchelsea drowning | 4 September 2005 | Winchelsea, Victoria | 3 | Robert Farquharson deliberately drove his car into a dam drowning his three sons.[21] |
| Annerley arson | February 2006 | Annerley, Qld. | 3 | Errol Graham Hayes set fire to the Annerley home shared by former lawyer Theresa Marchetti, their son Joshua and her then partner Mark Christensen killing all three.[22][23] |
| Churchill Fire | 7 February 2009 | Churchill, Victoria | 0010|10}} | unknown | Arson attack by Brendan Sokaluk that killed ten people, during the Black Saturday bushfires period. |
| Lin family murders | 18 July 2009 | North Epping, New South Wales | 0005|5}} | unknown | Blunt instrument attack that killed five members of the Lin family. |
| 2011 Hectorville siege | 29 April 2011 | Hectorville, South Australia | 0003|3}} | 0003|3}} | Siege attack where Anthony Carbo murdered three people and injured three more including two police officers. |
| Quakers Hill nursing home fire | 18 November 2011 | Sydney, NSW | 0011|11}} | Arson attack by Roger Kingsley Dean, a nurse, which killed 11 people. |
| Rozelle fire murders | 4 September 2014 | Rozelle, New South Wales | 0003|3}} | 0002|2}} | Arson murder by Adeel Khan which killed three and injured another two.[24] |
| Hunt family murders | 9 September 2014 | Lockhart, New South Wales | 0005|5}} | 0000|0}} | A mass shooting and familicide by Geoff Hunt who killed his wife and three children before turning the gun on himself. |
| Wedderburn shooting | 23 October 2014 | Wedderburn, Victoria | 0005|3}} | 0000|0}} | A mass shooting and siege by Ian Francis Jamieson who shot a husband and wife, after stabbing their son to death. |
| 2014 Sydney hostage crisis | 15 - 16 December 2014 | Sydney, NSW | 0008|3}} | 0001|1}} | Siege. A lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held hostage twenty customers and eight employees of a Lindt chocolate café located at Martin Place for 16 hours. The NSW Police Tactical Operations Unit shot Monis dead, after he executed a hostage. In the exchange, one person was hit by police bullet fragments, causing accidental death. |
| Cairns child killings | 19 December 2014 | Cairns, Queensland | 0008|8}} | 0001|1 (self-inflicted by perpetrator)}} | Stabbing attack and Familicide. Eight children aged 18 months to 15 years killed. Thirty-seven-year-old woman also found injured. The woman, Raina Mersane Ina Thaiday, was later charged with the murder of the children, seven of whom were hers, plus her niece.[25] |
| January 2017 Melbourne car attack | March 2017 | Footscray, Victoria | 3 | Darren Patrick Glover murdered three people by setting fire to a disused factory in Footscray. He killed his former partner Tanya Burmeister, 32, her boyfriend David Griffiths, 39, and Ms Burmeister's 15-year-old daughter Zoe, who were squatting in the old Kinnears rope factory in March 2017.[26] |
| Osmington shooting | 11 May 2018 | Osmington, Western Australia | 0007|7}} | 0000|0}} | A murder-suicide, with three adults and four children killed. A grandfather shot his four grandchildren at their home, his daughter, his wife, and then himself.[27] |
| Ellenbrook, W.A. Murders | 9 September 2018 | Bedford, Western Australia | 0005|5}} | 0000|0}} | Five people were fatally stabbed or bashed in a house in the suburb of Bedford near Perth. The victims were two women, one girl aged 3, and two girls aged 18 months.[29] Should not be confused with the 1879 Cape Bedford Massacre against aboriginal people. |
|
Mass violent attacks which caused many injuries but few deaths.
1. ^{{cite news |title=The Sydney Morning Herald |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13055146 |accessdate=2018-06-10 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |publisher=National Library of Australia |date=1861-12-11}}
2. ^Manning Clark, A History of Australia. Vol IV, p 353
3. ^Battle of Broken Hill
4. ^Stephens, Tony (20 May 2002). "Closing the circle on a bloody chapter", The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
5. ^{{cite web|url=http://policewahistory.org.au/HTML_Pages/Boulder_Bomb.html|work=The Western Australian Police Historical Society|title=1942 Boulder & Kalgoorlie Bombings|author=Peter Skehan}}
6. ^{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=u44QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=u5ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5756,1263988|title=Father charged after 10 killed|work=The Age|date=7 September 1971}}
7. ^{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19811007&id=5ktkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GucDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5843,2448861|title=Thrown out of house three days before family was killed Daoud got gun licence from Campsie police|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=7 October 1981}}
8. ^{{cite AustLII|NTSC|63|2004|litigants=R v Crabbe |courtname=Supreme Court (NT)}}
9. ^{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19840626&id=nDdWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mOgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3125,5914688|title=Man killed his family to spare them 'disgrace'|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=26 June 1984}}
10. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.fairfaxsyndication.com/Collection/Richard-Maddrell-Massacre--Pymble--1987-FXB84583|title=Richard Maddrell Massacre Pymble 1987|last=|first=|date=|website=Faifaxsyndication.com|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=17 January 2019}}
11. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/killer-sentenced-to-life-after-shooting-five-could-be-released/news-story/de154017e2fb6b7d498d9f95b0af7f4d=|title=Killer sentenced to life after shooting five could be released|last=Dillon|first=Meagan|work=Ntnews|date=31 January 2013}}
12. ^{{Cite news|url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/killer-sentenced-to-life-after-shooting-five-could-be-released/news-story/de154017e2fb6b7d498d9f95b0af7f4d|title=Killer .............. could be released.|last=|first=|date=|website=Adelaidenow.com.au|access-date=17 January 2019}}
13. ^{{Cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/21/1034561442556.html|work=Sydney Morning Herald|date=21 October 2002|title=Recent random mass shootings in Australia|accessdate=17 September 2010}}
14. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/victory-brisbane-womens-services|title=Victory for Brisbane women's services|date=6 September 2016|website=Green Left Weekly|accessdate=22 March 2019}}
15. ^{{cite web|author=|url=http://www.news.com.au/national/crime/poet-antique-dealer-mass-murderer-peter-shoobridge-cut-the-throats-of-his-four-daughters/news-story/c067ad94747a6ba1282fe8374be0b5a2 |title=Peter Shoobridge: 'Tasmanian devil' Poet murdered his four daughters |website=News.com.au |date=2015-09-08 |accessdate=2018-04-22}}
16. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/adelaide-bikie-violence-four-unsolved-highprofile-murder-cases/news-story/e73eabd2b168c18beb99f73b8a97fc06|title=Our own sordid history of bikie violence|date=19 May 2015|website=Adelaidenow.com.au|accessdate=22 March 2019}}
17. ^{{Cite news|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/man-guilty-of-killing-parents-sister-20040521-gdxw0e.html|title=Man Guilty of Killing Parents Sister|last=|first=|date=|website=Theage.com.au|access-date=4 January 2019}}
18. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/inside-a-killers-mind/news-story/e7d2a7a6f7a7856f578551ef31cbbf16|title=Inside a killer's mind|date=7 July 2012|website=Couriermail.com.au|accessdate=22 March 2019}}
19. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/20/1063625260382.html|title=Killer the perfect son: mother tells - National|website=Smh.com.au|access-date=2018-05-18}}
20. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/shock-and-anger-after-mothers-murder-suicide-20050322-gdkyxr.html|title=Shock and anger after mother's murder suicide|date=21 March 2005|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|accessdate=22 March 2019}}
21. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-07/man-who-drove-sons-into-dam-loses-appeal/4414582|title=Man who killed sons in dam loses appeal|first=court reporter Sarah|last=Farnsworth|date=7 December 2012|website=Abc.net.au|accessdate=22 March 2019}}
22. ^{{Cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-11-27/trial-begins-over-triple-fire-deaths/970592|title=Trial begins over triple fire deaths|last=|first=|date=|website=Abc.net.au|access-date=17 January 2019}}
23. ^{{Cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-12-07/murdered-lawyers-family-welcomes-conviction/981302|title=Murdered lawyers family welcomes conviction|last=|first=|date=|website=Abc.net.au|access-date=16 January 2019}}
24. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/convenience-store-owner-adeel-khan-jailed-for-rozelle-fire-deaths-20160805-gqlv0n.html|title=Convenience store owner Adeel Khan jailed for Rozelle fire deaths|website=Smh.com.au|accessdate = 2017-10-08}}
25. ^{{cite news |title=Australia Cairns: Mother charged with eight murders |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-30567338 |date=21 December 2014 |website=BBC News |accessdate=21 December 2014}}
26. ^{{Cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-25/footscray-factory-fire-triple-murderer-sentenced-to-jail/10845324|title=Footscray factory fire triple murder|last=|first=|date=25 Feb 2019|work=ABC News|access-date=25 Feb 2019}}
27. ^{{Cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-11/seven-people-found-dead-in-margaret-river-murder-suicide/9751482|title=Four children, three adults found shot dead in Margaret River murder-suicide|last=|first=|date=2018-05-11|work=ABC News|access-date=2018-05-11}}
28. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/ellenbrook-triple-murder-accused-rants-in-court-sent-to-psychiatric-facility/news-story/b4b43b9d1285cc4e0cf3035cbc4dbc77|title=Ellenbrook Murder victims named|last=|first=|date=|website=Couriermail.com.au|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}
29. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-10/bedford-family-killed-suspected-mass-murder-police-confirm/10220630|title=Bedford Mass Murder|last=|first=|date=|website=Abc.net.au|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}
30. ^https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/53961290
{{massacres}}