‘A rifle lying across her arm’: the suspicious death of 13-year-old ‘half-caste’ Cissy Brennan

Abstract

This article explores the death of 13-year-old ‘half-caste’ Cissy Brennan in far north Queensland in 1910. The entangled accounts of police constables, the Government Medical Officer, family and community members, and news reports, reveal how these narratives are buried deep within the coronial structures and colonial discourses of the inquest file. The article argues that the witness testimonies in the magisterial inquiry, including the findings of the police constables, and Government Medical Officer, became the dominant narrative in writing about Aboriginal female bodies within coronial law, creating a flawed and fragmentary historical account.