The first party of settlers in the region of Sackville Reach is driven back by intense Aboriginal attack. Their isolation and the narrow river flats hard up against steep rocky ridges make the farmers easy targets. Karskens, p. 449. Governor Hunter requests more guns for the settlers. Cottages are burned down and the soldiers set out from Parramatta to Prospect. If the farmhouses are well protected, the Darug attack the maize fields instead. Often an attack on a farm even if beaten off is punished by “payback”, that is, the murder of another person, usually a convict, soon afterwards.
