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First Contact in the Upper Hunter Valley

1788 witnessed the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney, but more than thirty years would pass before the first colonists arrived in the upper Hunter Valley. Between 1818 and 1821 Benjamin Singleton and John Howe led exploratory parties along the Great Divide from Windsor under the instructions of Governor Lachlan Macquarie. These men are credited with discovering the rich grasslands and the vast forests of the upper Hunter Valley and the town of Singleton and Howe’s Valley are a legacy of these men’s efforts.

The anxiety and fear of Aboriginal people by Singleton and his group clearly evident in the following extract, which occurred on the Tuesday 5th May 1818:

Deep Gully’s to the westward to get Water Halted the Night about 8 o’clock Disturbed by the Voice of Natives Cracking of Sticks an Rolling By the Stones Down towards us every man of us arose an fled from the fire secreting ourselves behind trees with our guns.

John Howe led an exploratory party along the mountain ranges to the Hunter Valley in the following year and a second journey in 1821. As a result the rich lands of the Hunter Valley became known to the colonists including the discovery of a large river teeming with fish. Howe believed the lands were ideal for sheep and cattle and wrote in his journal:

It is the finest sheep land I have seen since I left England ... The grass on the low ground equals a meadow in England and will grow as good a swath and is like the native grass where old stockyards have been.

Howe continued his journey until he reached Maitland and from this time the Hunter Valley became a target of colonization. Several colonists were ordered by Governor Brisbane to survey the lands along the river, including Henry Dangar who wrote:

From 1822, when the valley contained no people, save its few [Aboriginal inhabitants, to November, 1825, no less than 372,141 acres were appropriated to 792 persons, 132,164 acres were allotted for church and school purposes, and 100,000 acres reserved in various parts by the Government.

Aboriginal people living in the Hunter Valley resisted these incursions on their lands from the outset. In the summer of 1824 Henry Dangar leading a survey party of five men were forced by around 150 Aboriginal men to withdraw. The Australian reported on the 23rd December 1824:

From Dartbrook they proceeded on to the Liverpool Plains, across the dividing range which separates the waters of the Hunter’s River from the waters of the Western Country. On the borders of these they met with a large body of natives ... by whom they were attacked unawares: one of their party having been struck by a spear in the head.

With the assistance of guns the survey party managed to make their way to the sanctuary of Dr. Bowman’s farm.

A Forceful Response

The next decade witnessed hundreds of colonists arriving in the Valley to occupy Crown Land grants for thousands of sheep and cattle. These land grants occupied prime locations along the Hunter River and the settlers quickly intensified efforts to exclude Aboriginal people from these properties and the resources of the land. Denied access to land and, resources, and improprieties endured by Aboriginal women, resulted with the situation deteriorating into a state of warfare. On the 4th September 1826 Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld, the missionary to Aboriginal people at Lake Macquarie wrote:

But Alas! the blood of the Blacks begin to flow, we are in state of warfare up the country here - two stockmen have been speared in retaliation for the 4 natives who were deliberately shot without any trial or form whatever. Martial Law is the cry of the Settlers and there be many who are grieved that a man is come to seek the welfare of the Aborigines.

Pp 15 - 17

Source:
Wannin Thanbarran
A History of Aboriginal and European Contact in Muswellbrook and the Upper Hunter Valley
Greg Blyton, Deirdre Heitmeyer and John Maynard
Umulliko Centre for Indigenous Higher Education
The University of Newcaste
A project of the Muswellbrook Shire Council Aboriginal Reconciliation Committee