The massacre took place at Irbmangkara, a permanent water stretch of the Finke River about 200 kilometres (120 mi) south-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia.

[3] The account of what occurred at Irbmangkara is based on the writings of Lutheran anthropologist, linguist and genealogist Carl Strehlow, but the people of Hermannsburg have stated that the events have remained a shaping factor in the area's local politics.

Kalejika paid a visit to Irbmangkara, and then told some Upper Southern Aranda men that Ltjabakuka, the aged and highly respected ceremonial chief of Irbmangkara, together with some of his assistant elders, had committed sacrilege by giving uninitiated boys men's blood to drink from a shield into which it had been poured for ritual purposes.

[4] According to historian Geoffrey Blainey, the party of Aboriginal warriors sent to avenge the sacrilege and selected Running Waters [as the place where the Southern Arrernte could be readily be surprised], "and timed their secret raid for... when their enemies were cooking their meals before making their beds on the ground".

Finally, according to the grim custom of warriors and avengers, they broke the limbs of the infants, leaving them to die "natural deaths".

[16] He also stated that there was independent evidence of subsequent attacks, one of a hunter survivor of the 1875 incident, Nameia, in 1890;[14] and where local constable William Willshire had been involved in the deaths of Aboriginal people at nearby Tempe Downs Station in 1891.