Riot Act felt uncertain of their power to take action to stop the riots without a reading of the Riot Act. After the riots, Lord Mansfield observed that the Riot Act did not take away the pre-existing power of the authorities to use force to stop a violent riot; it only created the additional offence of failing to disperse after a reading of the Riot Act. The Riot Act was read prior to the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, as well as prior to the Bristol Riots at Queen's Square in 1831. Both are held to be related to the Unreformed House of
Waterloo Bay massacre 1989, Charter re-examined the archival evidence, and concluded that it "appears likely that the rumours relating to the Elliston Massacre have a foundation in fact, and that some form of punitive action did take place on the cliffs of Waterloo Bay, upon which an exaggerated myth had developed." In 1993, Aboriginal people from the west coast were still relating their oral history regarding a massacre, with the recorder of these interviews stating that, "[a]s the Aboriginal oral tradition is of crucial importance to their culture, with traditions handed down from generation to generation, one cannot dismiss their disturbing claims". Foster