1830s

1830

Bungaree dies on Garden Island and is buried at Rose Bay. His grave is now lost. One of his wives, Queen Gooseberry, is later buried close by.

1831

Betsy Madden, an ancestor of the modern Madden family, is identified as living at Botany. (V16, ‘A family history’)

1832

A Government document recalls 'Bos’n Mahroot calls at the office repeatedly about some land at Botany, promised to him by the governor, and on which he has two huts. His land is a ten acre (3 ha) lease situated on the swampy Botany Bay shore line close to Bumborah Point. (Vincent Smith p. 152)

Balls Head, near Milsons Point, is still being used as an occupation site judging by the melted glass and lead found in the cave midden.

1833

Not many Koori people appear to be living or even visiting the inner city. They live in secluded areas like Balls Head or Lavender Bay, or withdraw up the harbour to areas like Concord or Parramatta.

1834

Numberri is one of several Aboriginal people from the far South Coast of NSW who visit Sydney and camps in the Domain. (Vincent Smith p. 54)

1837

At the Parramatta Native Feast, lists of people are drawn up who people who attend. Some give their place of residence or tribe as Duck River, Kissing Point, or Concord. For example, William Wilson and Bollan (Mary) are living at Kissing Point in 1836. The Kissing Point people seem to have moved to Duck River after 1836. Koories remain till now at Kissing Point probably because of the wealthy emancipist James Squire.. Squire’s family may have continued to assist Aboriginal survivors until the end of the 1830s. Michael Flynn speculates how the Duck River people supported themselves: ‘they may have followed a traditional lifestyle along the Duck River around what became the Clyde Railway workshops in the 20th century. The returns for blankets suggest that most of or all of the Koori people from Kissing Point, Duck River and Concord have disappeared, or are living elsewhere, by 1842. (Vincent Smith pp. 106-7)

1838

The execution of the Myall Creek murderers probably affects Koori people living in Sydney. Hostility from this case may make it harder to obtain employment and barter.

The Aborigines Protection Society holds its first meeting in Sydney.

Governor Sir George Gibbs establishes The Aboriginal Protectorate to appoint protectors or guardians of the Aborigines especially in the frontier districts. The Protectorate lasts until 1849.

1839

Cockatoo Island is an important indigenous site. After Goat Island, it becomes the designated site for Aboriginal prisoners. However most of the Indigenous men confined there die. Booral is one of 16 who die there between 1839 and 1853.