The Dharug people

 

They are the Traditional Custodians of this land. The Dharug people's connection to the Hawkesbury River, the central feature of the region, stretches back over 20,000 years. Their territory encompasses the land around Wisemans Ferry and extends across the Cumberland Plain, including parts of present-day Blacktown, Penrith, and the Blue Mountains, and south to Appin, along the Nepean River. The river itself, Dyarubbin (the Dharug name for the Hawkesbury River), was central to their way of life, providing fish, eels, water birds, and mussels. The river also served as a means of transportation in bark canoes.

 

They lived sustainably with the land, practicing controlled burning to manage vegetation and create a diverse environment that was rich in food and resources.

​​

The Invasion

​

The invasion of Europeans in 1788 and the subsequent establishment of the colony of New South Wales profoundly impacted the Dharug people. By the early 1800s, with the establishment of the Hawkesbury settlement, tensions between the local Aboriginal population and the European settlers escalated. The colonisers, seeking to cultivate the fertile land along the Hawkesbury River, stole their land and restricted access to the river and its resources, which led to increasing conflicts.

​

Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s decree in 1810 to move settlers to higher ground due to flooding further strained relations with the Dharug, and the forced displacement contributed to ongoing tensions. By 1830, after several skirmishes between the Dharug and European colonisers, the Hawkesbury district became a frontier of conflict.

The Dharug were displaced from their traditional lands, with violence, from dispossession to massacres, including the Richmond Hill Massacre in 1794 and the Appin Massacre of 1816.

​

Richmond Hill Massacre (1794-95)

​

This massacre a stark reminder of the violent conflict between the Darug people and British settlers, as colonial expansion encroached upon the traditional lands of the Darug and other First Nations peoples. In 1794, over 400 British settlers arrived on the lands of the Darug along the Hawkesbury River, seizing fertile land to build farms. They destroyed Indigenous yam beds and planted crops like Indian corn, which became a new food source. When the corn ripened, Indigenous people, facing hunger and the destruction of their food sources, began taking the maize in order to survive.

​

Settlers responded with violence. They fired on unarmed Indigenous people, killing several and capturing others, including infants. As tensions escalated, a Darug boy was murdered by a settler, with the killer justifying the act by calling the boy a "spy." This was a gross misrepresentation of Indigenous practices, where young boys were often sent forward to scout or initiate peaceful contact. In retaliation, the Darug people attacked settler camps, and the cycle of violence spiraled.

​

In response to this resistance, the British colonial government sent soldiers to crush the uprising. In 1795, under orders from Acting Governor William Patterson, 62 soldiers were dispatched to the Hawkesbury River with instructions to kill any Aboriginal people they found and to hang their bodies as a warning. In the dead of night, soldiers raided Indigenous camps, killing seven or eight people. The bodies were quickly removed, and five prisoners were taken to Parramatta, one of whom was a woman carrying a baby shot through her body. The baby later died from the wounds.

​

The colonial response of dehumanisation and brutality was rationalised by settler accounts, which framed it as a necessary action to "civilise" the land, erasing the longstanding history and sovereignty of the Darug and other Aboriginal peoples. The massacre was not an isolated event but part of a broader campaign of dispossession, displacement, and destruction that continues to echo through the generations.

​

Today, a memorial stands at Richmond Hill, marking the site of this colonial violence. The memorial serves as a place of remembrance and healing. It was established through grassroots efforts, with Dharug man Chris Tobin playing a key role in its creation. Tobin, whose family has long been active in preserving Dharug history, explains that the memorial is about recognising the resistance of the Darug people to invasion and celebrating their strength in the face of colonial oppression.

​

The memorial is a vital place that challenges  the myth of peaceful settlement and highlighting the ongoing struggle for justice and recognition. It's about uplifting the memory of those who fought to protect their Country and their culture, and ensuring that the voices of the Darug and other First Nations peoples are heard and respected.

​

Appin Massacre (1816)

​

The Appin Massacre remains one of the most devastating and tragic events in the history of Aboriginal resistance to colonial violence. In April of that year, after years of conflict between the Colonial settlers and the Dharawal, Dharug, and Gandangara peoples, Governor Lachlan Macquarie ordered a military attack on the Dharawal people in the Cow Pastures region. Led by Captain Wallis, the troops set out under the cover of darkness to hunt down the Dharawal, resulting in the massacre of many, and marking Australia’s first military-led slaughter of Aboriginal people.

​

This brutal act, carried out under colonial authority, was not just an attack on lives, but an assault on culture, displacing survivors from their homelands. Many fled across their Country or beyond, and their traditional ways of life, stories, and customs were forever disrupted.

​

The damage was further compounded by the introduction of diseases, which decimated the populations of the Dharawal, Dharug, and Gandangara peoples. The impact of the Appin Massacre, along with the ongoing violence of dispossession, remains a painful reminder of the colonial damage and pain inflicted on Aboriginal communities and their struggle for justice.

​

Dharug people today

 

Many Dharug people today still live in the area, and their descendants maintain strong cultural ties to their ancestral lands.The Dharug & Lower Hawkesbury Historical Society, formed in 1983, plays an important role in preserving the region’s history. Located on Wisemans Ferry Road, between Wisemans Ferry and Spencer, it is housed in a state heritage-listed stone chapel, built in 1855.

 

The Society is dedicated to the research, collection, and presentation of the history of the Hawkesbury region, with a particular focus on local Aboriginal history and the past and ongoing impact of colonisation on the Dharug people.

 

One of the Society’s major undertakings is the preservation of the former Wesleyan Chapel at Gunderman, which serves as a community space and a hub for historical research and cultural education.

 

Kate Grenville, in her novel The Secret River, drew inspiration from the history of Solomon Wiseman and his interactions with the Dharug people. Grenville’s fictional account of early European settlers reflects the painful history of Aboriginal-European interactions in the area.

 

The Dharug and other Aboriginal nations, such as the Darkinjung, who lived to the north and west of the Hawkesbury, have long been part of the region’s narrative of conflict and survival.

​