The Hunter census also indicates that during the late-1820s Aboriginal people are adapting to changing social, economic and cultural conditions. They begin to “come in” to live and work on or near homesteads on or near their traditional lands. They also “come in” to settle in or on the fringes of developing townships such as Wollombi, Singleton and Paterson. From 1825, the Australian Agricultural Company takes up extensive tracts of land in the northern Hunter Valley. It quickly becomes the largest importer of sheep.