George Montagu

George Montagu (14 February 1843 – 26 August 1904) was a police officer who worked for much of his career in the Northern Territory of Australia while serving with the South Australia Police.

He was involved in a series of massacres of Aboriginal Australians including at Mole Hill and in the Daly River Region. His actions during the massacres in the Daly River led to a formal enquiry into his actions by the South Australia government in 1886 which found him innocent of wrongdoing. Inspector Paul Foelsche, who had authorised the reprisals, called the massacres "a picnic with the natives". It was a persistent belief of Aboriginal people in the region that the murders of the four European men where, in themselves, in retaliation for assaults on Aboriginal women.

In another act of reprisal for the same murders, at least six Ngan'gimerri people were killed at Argument Flat on 27 September 1884; it is unclear, however, whether Montagu was directly involved in this incident.

Reporting on these massacres soon drew the attention of the press, particularly after damning comments made by Robert Morice, the Northern Territory's colonial surgeon and Protector of Aboriginals, who revealed the size and scale of the attacks.

Despite this, papers in the Northern Territory continued to defend Montagu and called the 'southern press' "a pack of drivelling idiots" and "holy howlers", arguing that Montagu had taken "meted out a well-deserved punishment" and that the community should thank him. This controversy led to an inquiry being held into the incident/s in 1886 which found Montagu innocent of any wrongs. Montagu and the other men involved in the massacres denied that they had seen any dead bodies in their punitive expedition (despite what was clearly stated in Montagu's report).

Shortly after this he was transferred back to Adelaide where he worked in several different police stations, including at Murray Bridge, Mount Gambier and Kapunda until his resignation on 31 October 1902.

Later life and death After his resignation from the police force, Montagu moved to Victoria where he worked for some time as an auctioneer in Lilydale.

He died on 26 August 1904 in Fitzroy, a suburb of Melbourne.