D'Urville describes a pay-back ceremony

The explorer D’Urville describes a complicated pay-back ceremony, possibly near Newtown, attended by nearly all the Sydney clans. Part of the day seemed to D’Urville to be more like a fighting tournament than a free-for-all. The clan chiefs warned the whites to keep well out of the road for spears were being thrown in all directions. (J.L.Kohen, The Darug and their Neighbours, Darug Link, 1993, pp. 72-4)

  • Jules Dumont d urville
  •  Map of NSW, 1825 courtesy of the National Library