In May 1865, after leading a shooting raid upon a camp of Aboriginal people at Pearl Creek near the modern day town of Duaringa, Inspector Cecil Hill was assassinated in a surprise revenge attack. Hill was the first Native Police officer in Australia to be killed in the Australian frontier wars. Chief Inspector G.P.M. Murray sent sub-Inspector Oscar Pescher and his troopers to conduct a series of reprisal raids in the district. Pescher's detachment was later reinforced by officers Blakeney and Bailey and their 12 troopers, the combined forces effecting a large massacre in the Expedition Range.