Later when teamsters arrived at the storehouse, they were shocked to find the horribly mutilated bodies of the five men and that all the goods had been stolen or totally destroyed.
[2] It is believed that some Aboriginal people from north of the Tweed River had murdered some Europeans and that the murderers had fled south towards the Richmond River On the night prior to the raid, the police contingent which included both Native Police trackers and European troopers, stayed at James Ainsworth's father's Public House, 'The Sailor's Home'.
The Nyangbal East Ballina clan of the Bundjalung Nation had a camping ground on the slope of the hill facing the valley near Black Head.
When the Aboriginal survivors eventually returned to the camp, they sought no reprisals and took no revenge against the Native Police trackers and European troopers involved in the massacre.
][3] There is an Aboriginal oral tradition that tells stories of escape, of people who were shot and were laid to rest in the forests north of the camp, and of those who were driven off the cliff at Black Head.
After taking the flour to their camp, the older people and children of the Nyangbal tribe refused to eat the damper as it was a new food.