Lieutenant-Governor Grose sends the first group of settlers to take up farms in Darug territory on the banks of the Hawkesbury River near Green Hills (Windsor), 24 miles from Parramatta. In April Judge Advocate Richard Atkins refers to the beheading of two Koori men at Toongabbie. ‘The head of one is brought in and the Lt. Govr [Major Francis Grose] has preserved it, as a present for Dr. Hunter.’ In London, Surgeon John Hunter has died, so the head is sent to Sir Joseph Banks, who later provides the skulls of two ‘New Hollanders’ to the German anatomist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in Gottingen. (Source: Richard Atkins, Journal, 15 April 1794).
In September, two settlers are attacked by Aboriginal people and badly wounded. A few days later, settlers pursue Aboriginal people who have stolen clothing and provisions, killing ‘seven or eight of the plunderers on the spot’. David Collins believes that ‘many natives had been wantonly fired upon’. Raids on the maize (corn) crops are becoming more frequent because they are planted on the same land where once grew the yam fields. Non-military reprisal parties continue, at first by convicts. Payback continues between 1794 and 1799. Collins presents the Hawkesbury frontier as ‘utterly lawless’. The area around Richmond Hill has become the third area of settlement after Sydney Cove and Parramatta. 22 settlers are living here.
The area around Richmond Hill has become the third area of settlement after Sydney Cove and Parramatta. 22 settlers are living here.
