The Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars (1794–1816) were a series of conflicts where British forces, including armed settlers and detachments of the British Army in Australia, fought against Indigenous clans inhabiting the Hawkesbury River region and the surrounding areas to the west of Sydney. The wars began in 1794, when the British started to construct farms along the river, some of which were established by soldiers.Macintyre, Stuart (1999). A Concise History of Australia. Cambridge Concise Histories (First ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .
The local Darug people raided farms and murdered settlers until Governor Macquarie dispatched troops from the 46th Regiment of Foot in 1816. These troops patrolled the Hawkesbury Valley and ended the conflict by killing 14 Indigenous Australians in a raid on their campsite. Indigenous Australians led by Pemulwuy also conducted raids around Parramatta during the period between 1795 and 1802. These attacks led Governor Philip Gidley King to issue an order in 1801 which authorized settlers to shoot Indigenous Australians on sight in Parramatta, Georges River and Prospect areas.
Many of the Aboriginal nations occasionally allied themselves to the British settlers in order to conquer more land for their tribes, and just as quickly returned to a state of war against the settlers. The Indigenous Australians fought in the Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars using mostly guerrilla-warfare tactics; however, several conventional battles also took place. The engagement resulted in the defeat of the Hawkesbury river and Nepean river Indigenous clans who were subsequently dispossessed of their lands.
With the expansion of European settlement, large amounts of land was cleared for farming, which resulted in the destruction of Aboriginal food sources. This, combined with the introduction of new diseases such as smallpox, caused resentment within the Aboriginal clans against the settlers and resulted in violent confrontations, coordinated by men such as Pemulwuy.
Background
Aboriginal people of the Sydney region The Sydney region comprised a variety of nations that were united by a common language. These nations were the Eora who lived along the coast, the Tharawal to the south, the Dharug to the northwest and the Gandagara to the southwest. Within the language groups there were several clans. The Eora people generally comprised three main clans known as the Cadigal, Wanegal, and the Cammeraygal, and several smaller ones. The Dharug people, however, were the largest dialect of the Sydney region and consisted of the Wangal, Kurrajong, Boorooberongal, Cattai, Bidjigal, Gommerigal, Mulgoa, Cannemegal, Bool-bain-ora, Cabrigal, Muringong and the Dural clans. A clan typically numbered between 50 and 100 people.
The colony
Following Britain's loss of its American colonies during the American Revolutionary War, economic situations in Britain forced it to establish new colonies. After explorer James Cook wrote that he had claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain when standing on Possession Island in 1770, it was decided that a penal colony would be set up there to help relieve Britain's jails as well as to prevent French influence from growing in the Pacific.
The arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 at Port Jackson marked the beginning of the colonization of Australia. At the time it was used as a penal colony to which criminals and political dissidents were sent as punishment, however, a small number of free settlers also took up land. The penal colony had been established at Port Jackson (present-day Sydney) which was the traditional land of the Cadigal people. The penal colony had a population of around one thousand and for the first few years struggled to adapt to the Australian climate.
Conflicts 1789: Skirmish at Botany Bay
In March 1789, sixteen convicts marched to Botany Bay with the intention of plundering the natives of their fishing-tackle and spears. They had armed themselves with whatever tools they could find such as hatchets, shovels, and clubs. As they arrived near the bay a body of natives ambushed them, and in the skirmish most of the convicts fled.
Those who fled back to the camp alerted the military to the attack. An officer with a detachment of marines quickly rushed to their aid, however they were too late to repel the natives which left one convict dead and seven severely wounded. Arthur Phillip sought no vengeance against the natives for this event as the convicts had hostile intentions, and instead dealt punishments on the convicts involved.The Settlement at Port Jackson, by Watkin Tench, Chapter III
1789 Hawkesbury Clans meet Bereewolgal
In July 1789 Governor Phillip's group met the first two Indigenous men from the area. They exchanged gifts of animal hair and a spear for a hatchet and newly shot duck. The spear was refused, as it appeared to the party to be an item of necessity for the tribesman. The clans called the Hawkesbury river Dee-rab-bun, recorded variously as Deerubbun and Dyarubbin.
1790: Attack on Governor Phillip
On 7 September 1790, upon hearing news of a gathering of natives at South-head near Broken Bay, Governor Phillip and three others made their way towards the reported happenings. When the boat arrived at Manly Cove, the natives were found busily consuming on a whale. Governor Phillip stepped out unarmed and accompanied by one seaman, Lieutenant Waterhouse.
Phillip called out for Bennelong, a native whom he befriended, and discoursed for some time at the pleasure of seeing his old acquaintance. Gifts were traded between them and continued for more than half an hour until a native armed with a spear came forward and stopped at a distance of twenty to thirty yards from the party. Phillip extended his hand and called to him, advancing at the same time. However, as the governor came nearer to the native it only seemed to terrify him further and subsequently fixed his lance in his throwing-stick and aimed it at him.
Phillip thought to retreat would be more dangerous than to advance and so he called out "Weeree Weeree" (bad; you are doing wrong). Watkin Tench reports in his journal that Phillip took out his dirk (dagger) and threw it on the ground to show he meant no harm but the aboriginal man was frightened by the noise of this action. His words fell on deaf ears and the native fired his lance, striking the governor on his right shoulder, as the native immediately retreated into the woods. Instant confusion on both sides took place as spears were thrown in all directions, and Phillips party retreated to the boat. On board the vessel, a seaman fired his musket into the natives but it is not known if any were killed.
Apprehension for the safety of the party took place and Lieutenant Long and a detachment of marines were immediately sent to escort them back in case a native ambush were to finish the party off. Upon arriving at Manly Cove, they were greeted by three natives who said that the man who had wounded the governor belonged to a tribe from the Broken Bay area and that they highly condemned what he had done. It was later discovered that Wileemarin was responsible for the attack. Tench reports that it was a "misapprehension" and placed no blame on Wileemarin. Governor Phillip survived his wounds and ordered that there were to be no retaliatory attacks made against the natives, arguing that it was just a mistake.The Settlement at Port Jackson, by Watkin Tench, Chapter IX
1790, Murder of John McIntyre
On 9 December 1790, a marine sergeant and three convicts, including the governor's gamekeeper, McIntyre, went out on a shooting party. After they passed the northern arm of Botany Bay they decided to stay at a hut formed of boughs which had been erected by other sportsmen who hunted for game at night. At about 1:00 am the sergeant was awakened by rustling bushes and assuming it to be from a kangaroo called to his comrades, who immediately drew their weapons.
However, on closer inspection the origin of the noise was found to be two natives armed with spears. McEntire attempted to defuse the situation by laying down his gun and telling his comrades not to be afraid. He then began speaking with the natives in their own language, and they slowly retreated about as McEntire followed them. Without warning, one of the natives jumped on a fallen tree and launched his spear at McEntire, which lodged in his left side. McEntire immediately withdrew to rejoin his party and alerted them to what had happened. Two of the armed marines set out in pursuit of the natives but they had already escaped. They then escorted the wounded man back to the colony, arriving in Sydney at 2 am the next morning. Surgeons examined McEntire's wound and proclaimed that it was mortal. Following this, McEntire apparently confessed of "crimes of the deepest dye", although he denied killing any natives.
Colbee and several other natives came to visit McEntire, telling him that it had been Pemulwuy who had attacked him and that he lived at Botany Bay. The surgeons wanted to remove the spear but the natives violently opposed this, saying that he would die if the shaft was taken out. However, on 12 December it was deemed necessary and so the surgeons successfully removed it. The spear penetrated McEntire about 7-and-a-half inches through his ribs and into the left lobe of his lungs. The spear itself consisted of a wooden barb with several smaller barbs made from stone fastened onto it with yellow gum. McEntire eventually died on 20 December 1790.The Settlement at Port Jackson, by Watkin Tench, Chapter XII, 1790
1790–1791: Governor Phillip's military expeditions
Governor Phillip was convinced the attack on McEntire had been unprovoked. There had been similar attacks against unarmed men in the past, in which some settlers had been killed or seriously wounded, and he believed that the natives had to be punished to deter them from any future attacks. Phillip ordered Lieutenant Tench to gather his company of marines and lead an expedition against the Bidjigal in retaliation for the attack on McIntyre. He ordered that two Bidjigal were to be captured and ten killed; these ten were then to be beheaded and the heads returned to the settlement. Tench swiftly suggested an alternative and less bloodthirsty plan, that six Bidjigal be captured and brought to Sydney Cove but that none be killed out of hand.Moore 1987, pp. 117–118
Tench's proposal was accepted, although Phillip ordered that if it was not possible to capture six Bidjigal alive, they were to be killed. The expedition was also to destroy all weapons of war, but were given strict instructions not to destroy anything else and were not to harm any women and children. Governor Phillip reasoned that seventeen convicts had been either killed or wounded since 1788 and he firmly believed the Bidjigal to be the principal aggressors. The goal of the military expedition, according to the governor, was "to convince them of...[British]...superiority and to infuse an universal terror, which might operate to prevent farther mischief". At the same time, he declared it unlawful for soldiers or settlers to injure or fire on a native except in self-defence, or to take any of their possessions.Keith Vincent Smith, "Australia's oldest murder mystery", Sydney Morning Herald 1 November 2003 accessed 26 February 2014