1837 - 1838

1837

  • October - Aborigines gather at Wellington Valley for secret initiation ceremonies

1838

  • February - Acting-Governor of NSW, Lt-Col Kenneth Snodgrass, approves the creation of a civil police establishment at Wellington Valley. Orders are given for a number of the settlement buildings to be appropriated for the new establishment
  • May - the new Wellington Police arrest two Aboriginal men, `Pretty Boy’ and `Franky’, who are brought before the Bench at Wellington and committed to stand trial in Sydney
  • July 3 - mission house nearly burns down
  • July 21 - William Porter, the mission agriculturalist, arrives at Wellington Valley
  • August 29 - the Watsons move into the former Prisoners' Barracks; “May the little separation rather tend to unite our hearts more closely together” [Gunther Journal]
  • November 1 - Gunther departs for Sydney, having been subpoenaed to appear before the Supreme Court in the murder trial of the Aborigine `Franky’